Neoliberalizing environmental governance? Land trusts, private conservation and nature on the Oak Ridges Moraine

With recent changes in the ways that state agencies are implementing their environmental policies, the line between public and private is becoming increasingly blurred. This includes shifts from state-led implementation of environmental policies to conservation plans that are implemented and managed by multi-sectoral networks of governments, the private sector and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). This paper examines land trusts as private conservation initiatives that become part of neoliberal governance arrangements and partnerships that challenge our conceptions of environmental preservation and democratic participation. The paper starts with an examination of the concept of neoliberalized environmental governance. Next, it addresses the shifting social constructions of property and land in the context of protecting large scale ecosystems. Through a case study of the extension of new environmental governance arrangements on the Oak Ridges Moraine in Ontario, we examine the relationships that have formed between different levels of the state and environmental non-governmental organizations. Finally, we analyze the expansion of land trusts and private conservation initiatives that are predicated on private land ownership and the commodification of nature, the emerging discourses and practices of private conservation, and how these are implicated in the privatization and neoliberalization of nature.     

Dynamic storage: a potential metric of inter‐basin differences in storage properties

The potential for dynamic storage to serve as a metric of basin behaviour was assessed using data from five drainage basins with headwaters on the thick sand and gravel deposits of the Oak Ridges Moraine in southern Ontario, Canada. Dynamic storage was directly correlated with the ratio of variability of δ²H in streamflow relative to that in precipitation. This ratio has previously been shown to be inversely related to basin mean transit time (MTT), suggesting an inverse relationship between dynamic storage and MTT for the study basins. Dynamic storage was also directly correlated with interannual variability in stream runoff, baseflow and baseflow:runoff ratio, implying that basins with smaller dynamic storage have less interannual variability in their streamflow regimes. These preliminary results suggest that dynamic storage may serve as a readily derived and useful metric of basin behaviour for inter‐basin comparisons. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GIS与遥感支持下的南黄海辐射沙脊群现代演变趋势分析

南黄海辐射沙脊群是世界罕见的大型水下泥沙堆积体，具有独特的动力地貌组合。利用1988-1995年的LANDSATTM遥感影像，ERS1SAR影像及1979年编绘地形资料，综合应用GIS与遥感方法，对这一区域在20世纪80-90年代的变化及演变趋势作出分析，其基本演变特征与趋势表现为；沙脊群枢纽地区处于不断的增长，扩张过程；南部区域堆积与侵蚀作用较弱，沿岸潮滩向海淤进；而北部区域变化较强烈，并继续脊槽相间的模式，所取得的结果与该区域动力地貌研究结果相吻合。     

On the rifting dynamics of plate divergence and magma accumulation at oceanic ridge axes

Rifting dynamics at spreading axes is governed by two processes: the large-scale plate divergence and the local magma accumulation in the crust-mantle transition layer. Both evolve simultaneously. A model is developed particularly for the situation in Iceland where a well studied rifting episode occurred in the Krafla volcanic system 1975–1984. Both the divergence and the buoyant rise of magma create tensile deviatoric stress in the axial region, but while divergence generates an altogether extensional stress field, uprising of buoyant melt produces tension only near the axis but compression of the sides. The buoyant rise is driven by the differential pressure gradient in rock and melt. The processes are studied with a two-dimensional finite-element routine. Presently thermal effects are neglected. The model parameters are density difference, size of the buoyant body, externally applied stress field, mechanical properties of rock and melt. Relatively small amounts of divergence and small increases of buoyancy are shown to generate axial tension which can overcome the tensile strength. Axial tension produced by buoyant bodies can even overcome lateral compression. Observed long intervals of quiescence require either large rock strength, quasi-continuous stress relaxation, small buoyant bodies, and/or a compressive deviatoric stress normal to the axis during much of the time between rifting episodes. Buoyant rise and injection of melt must be important in generating compression.     

Assessing basin storage: Comparison of hydrometric- and tracer-based indices of dynamic and total storage

Storage is a fundamental but elusive component of drainage basin function, influencing synchronization between precipitation input and streamflow output and mediating basin sensitivity to climate and land use/land cover (LULC) change. We compare hydrometric and isotopic approaches to estimate indices of dynamic and total basin storage, respectively, and assess inter-basin differences in these indices across the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) region of southern Ontario, Canada. Dynamic storage indices for the 20 study basins included the ratio of baseflow to total streamflow (baseflow index BFI), Q ₉₉ flow and flow duration curve (FDC) slope. Ratios of the standard deviation of the streamflow stable isotope signal relative to that of precipitation were determined for each basin from a 1 year bi-weekly sampling program and used as indicators of total storage. Smaller ratios imply longer water travel times, smaller young water fractions (F _yw, < ~2–3 months in age) in streamflow and greater basin storage. Ratios were inversely related to BFI and Q ₉₉, and positively related to FDC slope, suggesting longer travel times and smaller F _yw for basins with stable baseflow-dominated streamflow regimes. Inter-basin differences in all indices reflected topographic, hydrogeologic and LULC controls on storage, which was greatest in steep, forest-covered headwaters underlain by permeable deposits with thick and relatively uniform unsaturated zones. Nevertheless, differential sensitivity of indices to controls on storage indicates the value of using several indices to capture more completely how basin characteristics influence storage. Regression relationships between storage indices and basin characteristics provided reasonable predictions of aspects of the streamflow regime of test basins in the ORM region. Such relationships and the underlying knowledge of controls on basin storage in this landscape provide the foundation for initial predictions of relative differences in streamflow response to regional changes in climate and LULC.     

Active faulting in the frontal Rif Cordillera (Fes region,Morocco): Constraints from GPS data

The southern Rif cordillera front, between Fes and Meknes, is formed by the Prerif Ridges, which constitute a thrust and fold belt, in contact with the Saïss foreland basin. Geological evidence and regional GPS network data support recent and active tectonics of this Alpine cordillera, with a top-to-the-S-SW motion with respect to stable Africa. A local non-permanent GPS network was installed in 2007 around Fes to constrain the present-day activity of the mountain front. Six GPS sites are located in the Prerif mountain front (jbel Thratt and jbel Zalarh), the Saïss basin and the foreland constituted by the tabular Middle Atlas. Measurements of the GPS network in 2007, 2009 and 2012, over a five year span, seem to indicate that this region is tectonically active and is subjected to significant horizontal motions: (i) a regional displacement toward the SW with respect to stable Africa, showing an average rate of 2 mm/yr; (ii) a southwestward convergent motion between the jbel Thratt with respect to the Saïss basin and the eastern Zalarh ridge, with an average rate of about 4 mm/yr; and (iii) moderate NNE–SSW divergent dextral motion between the Saïss basin and the northern front of the tabular Middle Atlas with an average rate of about 1–2 mm/yr. The regional southwestward motion is related to the activity of the NE–SW sinistral North Middle Atlas-Kert fault zone, which follows the Moroccan Hot Line. Convergence between the Prerif ridges, located at the southern edge of the Rif, and the Saïss basin is accommodated by ENE–WSW striking northward dipping reverse sinistral faults and south vergent folds. In addition, increasing deformation toward the western ridges is in agreement with the stepped mountain front and the development of the arched structures of the Prerif ridges. Normal faults located south of the Saïss basin are responsible for local extension. Whereas the most active deformation occurs in the southern front of the jbel Thratt near Fes, the Saïss foreland basin and the Middle Atlas foreland have only moderate to low tectonic activity, as evidenced by geological and GPS data.     

Midwater fishes collected in the vicinity of the Sub-Polar Front,Mid-North Atlantic Ocean,during ECOMAR pelagic sampling

The ECOMAR project was a multidisciplinary process study conducted in the mid-North Atlantic, coincident hydrodynamically with the Sub-Polar Front (SPF; 48–54°N) and topographically with Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, as part of the Census of Marine Life field project MAR-ECO. Midwater trawling was conducted during the 2007 and 2009 ECOMAR expeditions at 14 stations north and south of the SPF, day and night, in four discrete depth intervals from 0 to 1000 m. A total of 56 species of midwater fishes representing 44 genera and 18 families were collected, several of which are new records for the region and/or were not previously sampled during MAR-ECO sampling. An annotated species list with depth-of-capture data is provided. Three species of the genus Cyclothone (Cyclothone braueri, Cyclothone microdon and Cyclothone pallida) and the myctophid Benthosema glaciale combined to contribute ~88% of all specimens collected. This finding differs from results of previous net-based sampling in the same area, likely due to sampling scheme differences (diel sampling, upper 800 m concentration) and gear selectivity (mesh size, trawl speed). Quantitative data from ECOMAR midwater sampling and the previous 2004 G.O. Sars MAR-ECO expedition are compared. Despite differences in gear between the major MAR-ECO expeditions, abundance estimates of some dominant species were remarkably similar. Data showed that the SPF is an asymmetrical, taxon-specific biogeographic boundary for deep-pelagic fishes in the North Atlantic; the SPF is semi-permeable to some species in one direction, while a strong boundary for species in another direction. Deeper-living fish species did not appear as affected by the SPF as a boundary.     

气候平均场上西太平洋副热带高压双脊线过程可能成因的动力诊断分析

利用NCEP-DOE再分析数据集II,诊断分析了气候平均场上6次西太平洋副热带高压双脊线过程,借助一个两层半大气模式,从动力学上初步揭示了西太平洋热带大气准10天振荡（Quasi Ten-day Oscillation,简称QTO）向西北方向传播与季风槽东伸西撤之间的相互作用过程,探讨了气候平均场上西太副高双脊线可能的形成机制。分析表明季风槽准10天东西振荡是气候平均场上西太副高双脊线形成的主要原因,而季风槽东伸西撤与QTO传播密切相关。进一步分析发现,QTO向西北方向传播,东风切变作用于斜压辐散的经向梯度,在对流中心北侧生成正扰动涡度。QTO在季风槽东侧激发的气旋性扰动涡度,诱导季风槽东伸,侵入副高,造成副高外围变形,形成双脊线。因此,形成西太副高双脊线的主要原因之一可能是西太平洋热带大气QTO。尽管季风槽东伸直接引起副高双脊线发生,但是它只不过是受QTO影响的一种表现。本文仅为诊断结果,其结果还有待于模式敏感性试验的验证。     

中国地理学史上被湮没了的屈大均其人其书

明末清初广东人屈大均著《广东新语》是一部关于岭南历史地理杰作，涉及自然、经济、文化、聚落、民族地理等部门、内容丰富，见解精到，有很高的学术价值。但在中国地理学史上长期湮没无闻，实有失公允。在人文地理学复兴的今天，应重视对该书的研究，给屈大均其人其书予应有历史地位．     

从文化视角探讨广东经济困境

文化作为物质和精神的集合，不能与上层建筑完全等同，它对现代社会尤其是经济发展产生了越来越大的影响。同理，岭南文化与广东经济的近年回落也有着千丝万缕的联系。南粤历史上远离中原，缺乏懦家人文文化的熏陶，当今盲目模仿港澳又妨碍了西方批判精神的渗透。这些历史和现实的因素使得岭南文化有忽略儒家文化对理想人格追求的同时，又没有建立起像西方人文传统中文化所应有的批判力度，而具有庸俗性、肤浅性和短期性不足，造成广东经济发展缺乏企业文化、科技动力和诚信环境，难以适应市场经济、知识经济社会的需要。