Local level rainfall and temperature variability in drought-prone districts of rural Sidama,central rift valley region of Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine local level spatiotemporal rainfall and temperature variability in drought-prone districts of rural Sidama, Central Rift Valley region of Ethiopia. The study used 129 gridded monthly rainfall and temperature data of 32 years (1983–2014). The gridded rainfall and temperature records were encoded into GIS software and evaluated through different statistical and geospatial techniques. Mann-Kendal rank test and F distribution tests were used to test temporal and spatial statistical significance, respectively, of the data. The analysis revealed that Belg and Kiremt are the main rainfall seasons, constituting 81% of the annual rainfall. Although annual, Kiremt, and Belg rainfall amounts appear to have decreased over time, the decreasing trend is statistically significant only for Belg rainfall records. On the other hand, rainfall standard anomaly results indicated seven droughts of different magnitudes: one extreme, two severe, and four moderate. The study also revealed increasing temperature trends over the years under consideration that are statistically significant. The findings of this study on rainfall contradict other findings obtained around the study area. Thus, climate change adaptations need to focus on location-specific climate data analysis so that the intended adaptive interventions can be successful.     

Revisiting Sustainable Development of Dry Valleys in Hengduan Mountains Region

Dry valleys are a striking geographic landscape in Hengduan Mountains Region and are characterized by low rainfall, desert type of vegetation and fragile environment. Past efforts and resources have been concentrated mainly on rehabilitation of degraded ecosystem and fragile environment, particularly reforestation, while socio-economic development has been largely overlooked. Despite successes in pocket areas, the overall trend of unsustainability and environmental deterioration are continuing. It is important to understand that uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is the root cause of development of dry valleys, and development and formation of dry valleys is a natural process. Human intervention has played a secondary role in development of dry valleys and degradation of dry valleys though human intervention in many cases has speeded up environmental degradation of the dry valleys. It is important to understand that dry valleys are climatic enclaves and an integrated approach that combines rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems and socio-economic development should be adopted if the overall goal of sustainable development of dry valleys is to be achieved. Promotion of niche-based cash crops, rural energy including hydropower, solar energy, biogas and fuelwood plantation is recommended as the priority activities.     

A new radiolarian species Clathrocorys gracilis from northern South China Sea

A new species,Clathrocorys gracilis nov. spec. of Tripocyrtidae (Radiolarians: Nassellaria) from surface water in northern South China Sea, is described in this paper. The new species has four radial beams arising from the cephalic base centre, each foot with cup-shaped structure and ramified bar in the proximal section (near cephalic base), and each wing with a large mesh in the middle, a medium mesh and a small mesh on each side respectively. Project supported by the NSFC (No. 40276044) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KSCX2-SW-101B).     

GROWTH OF NEW ECONOMIC SECTORS IN SECOND-TIER EXTENDED CITIES IN THE CHANGJIANG RIVER DELTA——Case of Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou

1INTRODUCTIONUrbanrelationshipaswellasurbansystemhas beenthemostimportantandlastingdirectioninthestudyofur-bangeographysinceCHRISTALLER(1933)putfor-wardthecentralplacetheory.Alongwiththepaceofglobalizationinthe1980s,somepioneer researchessen-sitivelyexpoundedaworldcitysystem,includingworldcity,internationalcity,nationalcity,regionalcityandlocalcity(FRIEDMAN,1986).Lotsofresearchesfo-cusedonthedevelopingmechanismofthebigcitiesandurbansystemnetwork(GU,2000;ZHOU,1997;CUI,1992;HUeta…     

A New Combination and Two Varieties of Polystigmate Gomphonema （Gomphonemaceae Bacillariophyta） from Heilongjiang Province, China

The authors discribed a new polystigmate combination, Gomphonema turris Ehr. var. okamurae (Skv.) Fan et Bao.comb.nov., and two new varieties, Gomphonema tuttis Ehr. vat. latum Fan et Wang. var.nov. and Gomphonema acum/natum var. obtusum Fan et Bao, var. nov., that were distinguished by frustule morphology under LM. The samples were collected from freshwater of Heilongjiang Province, China.     

On a new species ofPavlova (Prymnesiophyceae) from China

Pavlova viridis sp. nov. is described on the basis of light and electron microscope observations. The material was collected from the coast of haiyang county of Shandong, China. It is characterized by 1) yellowish green to green chloroplast, 2) rudimentary short flagellum 0.3 μm long and hook-shaped, 3) long flagellum with small spherical knob-scales, 4) absence of pyrenoid and stigma, and 5) marine habitat. This new species andP. salina seem to be most closely related to each other but their colour, the insertion of their three appendages, the shape of their knob scales, and their cell periplasts are quite different from one another. Contribution No. 1879 from the Institute of Oceanology, Academia Sinica     

一种计算台风风场的方法

揭示Ｒａｎｋｉｎｅ涡风场模式和Ｊｅｌｅｓｎｉａｎｓｋｉ风场模式之间的联系，并设计了一种台风风场分布模式，它的风速分布曲线落在Ｊｅｌｅｓｎｉａｎｓｋｉ和Ｒａｎｋｉｎｅ涡两个风场模式的风速分布曲线之间，具有一个既优于Ｊｅｌｅｓｎｉａｎｓｋｉ又优于Ｒａｎｋｉｎｅ涡的风速衰减速率，因此它同时克服了Ｒａｎｋｉｎｅ涡模式计算风速偏小和Ｊｅｌｅｓｎｉａｎｓｋｉ模式计算风速偏大的缺点，以一种比较合理的变化趋势向远方衰减，成为一个比较切合实际的台风风场分布模式。同时，文中提出的移行台风风场计算方法对宫崎正卫、上野武夫和Ｊｅｌｅｓｎｉａｎｓｋｉ模式都有一定的改进。     

Paraconchoecia diacanthus n. sp., a new species of planktonic Ostracoda

Ｐａｒａｃｏｎｃｈｏｅｃｉａｄｉａｃａｎｔｈｕｓｎ．ｓｐ．,ａｎｅｗｓｐｅｃｉｅｓｏｆｐｌａｎｋｔｏｎｉｃＯｓｔｒａｃｏｄａ￥ＣｈｅｎＲｕｉｘｉａｎｇａｎｄＬｉｎＪｉｎｇｈｏｎｇ（ＲｅｃｅｉｖｅｄＡｐｒｉｌ１６,１９９３１ａｃｃｅｐｔｅｄＪｕｌｙ２０...     

One new species of free-living marine nematodes (Enoplida,Anticomidae, Cephalanticoma) from the Huanghai Sea

One new species of free-living marine nematodes Cephalanticoma filicaudata sp. nov. from the Huanghai Sea, China is described and illustrated. Cephalanticoma filicaudata sp. nov. is characterized by well developed cephalic capsule, three teeth at the anterior of oesophagus, excretory pore opens posterior to cervical setae, only two cervical setae per file, body length longer than 5 200 μm, tail long and no ventral-lateral seta between the supplement and the cloacal opening. Types are deposited in the College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China.     

中国沿岸水域养殖贝类及其养殖笼网污损苔虫7新种

拟小孔苔虫属Microporella和斑孔苔虫属Fenestrulina均隶于唇口目Cheilostomida有囊亚目Ascophorina皮壳次目 Lepraliomorpha裂孔超科Schizoporelloidea拟小孔苔虫科Microporellidae。这两个属的主要区别在于：拟小孔苔虫属具有鸟头体，而斑孔苔虫属无鸟头体。我们在研究中国沿岸水域养殖贝类及其养殖笼网的污损苔虫时发现，中国一些学者以前所报道的“纤毛拟小孔苔虫”并非 Pallas(1766)所鉴定的种，而是包括不同于纤毛拟小孔苔虫Microporella ciliata Pallas，1766的5个不同的独立种，即本文所描述的拟小孔苔虫属的5个新种：空穴拟小孔苔虫 Microporella vacuatus sp.nov.、小筛网拟小孔苔虫Microporella cribellata sp.nov.、无齿拟小孔苔虫Microporella inermis sp.nov.、异北方拟小孔苔虫 Microporella antiborealis sp.nov.和项链拟小孔苔虫 Microporella monilifera sp.nov.。这5个新种与纤毛拟小孔苔虫的主要区别是:5新种的口刺为2~6根，除无齿拟小孔苔虫的口上卵胞仅具一列边缘孔外，其他4新种卵胞前表面还有分散的穿孔；而纤毛拟小孔苔虫的口刺为6根，口上卵胞细颗粒状，无穿孔。研究中我们还发现前人所定名为“马氏斑孔苔虫”的种并非 Audouin(1826)所描述的种，而是4种不同于马氏斑孔苔虫 Fenestrulina mallusii Audouin，1826的独立种，其中两种不属于污损苔虫的范畴，另外的两种即本文所描述的斑孔苔虫属的两新种，即中华斑孔苔虫Fenestrulina Sinica sp.nov.和东方斑孔苔虫Fenestrulina orientalis sp.nov.。这两个新种与马氏斑孔苔虫的主要区别在于：两新种口刺均为4~6根，受孕个虫有2根裸露的口刺；而马氏斑孔苔虫的口刺为2~3根，受孕个虫无裸露的口刺。