Transfer of Taiwanese ideas and technology to The Gambia, West Africa: a viable approach to rural development?

The development of Taiwan's agricultural sector contributed significantly to the country's transformation from virtual poverty after World War II to a modern industrial nation. Success resulted from the use of appropriate technologies, developed through an exceptionally close working relationship between government, research and development institutions, extension services and farmers in Taiwan. As part of their overseas development aid programme, the Republic of China on Taiwan has established Technical Missions in those developing countries where it receives political recognition. Among these is The Gambia, West Africa, where one focus of Taiwan's current Technical Mission is the development of women's market gardens. Although the gardens have proved successful, there is doubt as to whether their achievements will be sustained once Taiwan's Technical Mission in The Gambia has ended. Field research in Taiwan and in The Gambia, based largely on participatory techniques, has revealed that the low-tech methods introduced from Taiwan are appropriate for the Gambian environment. However, much depends on whether women participating in the schemes can commit sufficient time and energy to the gardens, as at present this is a limiting factor. The potential of the gardens may also be constrained by a lack of appropriate institutional infrastructure, particularly the scope for profitable disposal of garden produce. A major conclusion of the article is that successful transfer of appropriate technology to The Gambia is likely to be impeded by poorly developed coordination between groups that proved to be key 'players' in the development of agriculture in Taiwan: government, research and development institutions, extension services and producers.     

Reef fishes recruited at midwater coral nurseries consume biofouling and reduce cleaning time in Seychelles,Indian Ocean

In coral reef restoration, coral gardening involves rearing coral fragments in underwater nurseries prior to transplantation. These nurseries become fish-aggregating devices and attract biofouling. We hypothesised that: (1) the presence of corals at a nursery is critical to recruit fish assemblages and (2) the recruited fish assemblages control biofouling, reducing person-hours invested in nursery cleaning. Three midwater coral nurseries were deployed at 8?m depth for 27 months within the marine protected area of Cousin Island Special Reserve, Seychelles, Indian Ocean. Each nursery consisted of a 6?m×6?m PVC pipe frame, layered with a recycled 5.5-cm-mesh tuna net. Human cleaning effort was calculated based on daily dive logs. Nursery-associated fish assemblages and behaviour were video-recorded prior to harvesting corals after a 20-month growth period and seven months post-coral harvesting. The density (ind. m–2) of blue-yellow damselfish Pomacentrus caeruleus was 12–16 times higher when corals were present than when corals were absent at the nurseries. Fish assemblages recruited into the nurseries included three trophic levels, from herbivores to omnivores, in six families: Ephippidae, Pomacentridae, Labridae (Scarinae), Gobiidae, Siganidae and Monacanthidae. Higher abundance of large fish (total number of individuals) resulted in 2.75 times less person-hours spent in nursery cleaning. These results have important implications for cost-effective coral reef restoration.     

园林专业测量实践教学改革的探讨

阐明了园林专业测量实践教学中存在的问题:课时矛盾突出,教学条件落后,教学手段与方式落后,考评体系不够完善;并为适应园林专业培养目标的需要,提高测量实践教学的效果,提出了相应的改革策略:精选与合理安排教学内容、积极改善教学条件、进行教学手段与方法的改革、建立与完善考评体系。     

园林专业测量实践教学改革的探讨

阐明了园林专业测量实践教学中存在的问题：课时矛盾突出,教学条件落后,教学手段与方式落后,考评体系不够完善;并为适应园林专业培养目标的需要,提高测量实践教学的效果,提出了相应的改革策略：精选与合理安排教学内容、积极改善教学条件、进行教学手段与方法的改革、建立与完善考评体系。     

Domestic Residential Garden Food Production in Melbourne,Australia: a fine-grained analysis and pilot study

Even though cities cover approximately only 3 per cent of the earth's land area, they are often located on what previously was prime agricultural land. In line with what was common historically, many cities around the world are now deliberately seeking to promote and expand agricultural production within their borders. Pressure for change is coming from a number of sources, including both governments and private citizens. Potentially, community gardens and domestic backyard food production have an important role to play in this process, but while there now exists a sizeable body of research on the former, there is a serious lack of data on current productive practices in private domestic gardens. While other researchers have asked householders to estimate garden production, we believe this to be the first project to carefully document measured output by multiple households. The paper presents the results of a fine-grained study of 15 selected householders in metropolitan Melbourne. Participants collected detailed daily information about their food production over a three-month period. In addition, two of the respondents had been keeping daily production records continuously for one or more years. The results demonstrate enormous diversity in the food harvested, as well as some extremely high levels of productivity from relatively small domestic spaces. Participants were also questioned about their motivations for engaging in backyard food production and dealing with surpluses.     

Cultivating the sustainable city: urban agriculture policies and gardening projects in Minneapolis,Minnesota

In the past 20 years, municipal governments across the United States have increasingly tried to incorporate environmental efforts into city business and policies. Urban sustainability has become the key concept around which such activities are organized. Official sustainability plans are most often implemented through indicators and metrics. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, urban gardening, in a variety of forms, has been the focus of ongoing citizen- and NGO-led environmental efforts, as well as municipal measures of sustainability. Here, debates around the recent adoption of a city urban agriculture policy, as well as a program to encourage the installation of raingardens in neighborhoods across the city, reveal some of the rich variations in gardening practices and spaces. These far exceed the relatively narrow official focus on sustainability indicators. Better understanding how urban sustainability initiatives might work with, but also move beyond, indicators may provide directions toward wider visions of sustainable urban life.     

基于GIS的城市园林绿化管理信息系统应用研究

设计了基于GIS的昆明市园林绿化管理信息系统的功能结构,对园林绿化数据中图斑碎片出现的原因进行了说明,并提出了图斑碎片合并的解决方案,实现了图斑碎片的自动合并;根据城市绿地的分类标准与我国城市园林绿化指标计算的制定情况,实现了昆明市绿地规划建设三大指标的计算与分析功能、园林绿地分类与数据更新等功能。     

青岛沿海冬季观果木本植物

主要介绍了青岛沿海地区栽培和野生冬观果树木的种类，开花结果日期，分布状况，生长习性及用途。对栽培种在青岛市沿海新建城镇园林绿化中宜积极应用，野生种宜在沿海苗圃先进行引种驯化再加以推广使用。     

模糊综合评判在土地适宜性评价中应用研究

在十堰市土地利用现状调查的基础上，针对现有坡荒地，通过对制约土地的自然因素和社会经济条件的综合分析，依照土地质量满足对预定用途要求的程度，采用模糊数学的方法，在计算机上完成了坡荒地的宜农、宜林、宜牧、宜园４个适宜类的评价；同时对宜农地进行了更进一步的讨论。     

优质矿物肥料泥炭在农业上的利用与研究

作为一种燃料矿产的泥炭,在农业上具有广泛用途。泥炭中需含腐植酸,且含氮、磷、钾、蛋白质及多种微量元素。并且质轻疏松、通气透水性好等特性。在农业中可用作肥料、饲料和作为生长刺激素,施用效果显著,在园艺方面亦可发挥良好的作用。目前国内外对泥炭需求旺盛,泥炭的开发具有良好的市场前景。