咸宁市桂花资源的开发利用

本文通过分析咸宁市桂花资源的生态环境及其开发利用现状,认为目前应以发展桂花旅游为先导,逐步带动桂花资源全面综合的开发利用,并提出了有关对策     

区域旅游资源开发战略理论阐释

旅游资源开发战略是旅游资源开发总思路、总方针的高度凝练和体现,与当地旅游资源状况的相适应情况直接关系到区域旅游的发展状况。就常用的区域旅游资源开发战略进行理论阐述,以期深化理解旅游资源开发主要战略的思想内涵,对旅游规划的制定、旅游资源开发实践活动的开展和区域旅游发展的科学决策有所启示和帮助。     

森林旅游资源开发潜力定量评价研究--以武汉市为例

森林旅游资源定量评价是为发展森林旅游提供更为可靠的依据。研究了森林旅游资源开发潜力的定量方法，对武汉市森林旅游资源开发潜力进行了定量评价，得出了武汉市森林旅游资源的质量等级，为森林旅游的开发提供了可靠的依据。     

发展长三角地区城市文化旅游路径选择——以发展镇江市隐士文化旅游为例

分析了镇江市隐士文化资源的特质和旅游价值,提出了开发镇江市隐士文化旅游资源、发展城市文化旅游的对策,为长三角地区城市文化旅游发展提供参照样本。     

经济欠发达型旅游资源非优区的开发探讨——以山东省阳信县为例

经济欠发达型旅游资源非优区的旅游开发研究是现在旅游开发研究的一个新的视角。由于经济基础、区位条件、资源禀赋的限制，经济欠发达型旅游资源非优区的研究面临种种困难，目前对于此种类型的旅游资源非优区的研究也比较缺乏。以山东省阳信县为例，在对其发展现状分析的基础上，分析其可行性开发条件，并从开发战略和开发策略两个方面对该地区的旅游开发进行了探讨，这不仅对当地的旅游发展具有一定的实践意义，而且对其它同种类型的旅游地的发展也具有一定的借鉴意义。     

秦皇岛北部山区“旅游带”开发模式设计研究——以北港镇长桥岭村旅游开发为例

以秦皇岛市北港镇长桥岭村的旅游开发为例,立足该村的发展状况和资源情况,提出开发以城市周边市民为主要对象的经济作物采摘、农家乐等整合模式旅游项目,并且联合周边旅游资源,打通秦皇岛北部"旅游带",提出了突破季节局限的旅游项目开发模式。     

平潭岛海岛旅游资源开发战略研究

在借鉴典型海岛国家与地区发展海岛旅游经验的基础上,分析了平潭岛海岛旅游资源的基本特征及其分布情况,开发平潭岛海岛旅游资源的优势与存在的问题,旨在为平潭岛海岛旅游资源的科学开发提供参考与建议。     

基于熵权法和COPRAS的乡村旅游资源评价研究——以安徽省桐城市为例

科学合理地评价乡村旅游资源是乡村旅游开发的前提。考虑到乡村旅游开发的需求,本文提出一种熵权法结合COPRAS的乡村旅游资源评价模型,并利用此模型对安徽省桐城市43处乡村旅游资源单体进行综合评价。根据评价结果将43处旅游资源单体分为一级旅游资源单体、二级旅游资源单体和三级旅游资源单体。对一级旅游资源,开发时要秉承"优先开发、重点开发"的原则,做好科学长远规划,深入挖掘资源价值;对二级旅游资源,资源自身价值很高但开发受到外在条件限制的要积极寻找不足,补齐短板,资源各方面均一般的可作为辅助产业进行开发;对三级旅游资源,应从长期的视角保护其完整性,等待发展机遇。     

王莽岭地质公园旅游资源类型及开发建议

建立地质公园是保护地质遗迹资源、普及地学知识、促进旅游发展的一种形式.目前,地质公园旅游资源的不合理开发给公园的可持续发展造成了巨大压力.以山西陵川王莽岭国家地质公园为例,对公园内地质遗迹资源类型进行了系统论述,对人文资源和植物资源进行了概括.针对公园建设和资源开发现状,重点提出了地质遗迹保护和旅游资源开发建议.     

旅游资源向旅游产品转化的对策研究——以钟祥市为例

旅游资源是旅游业发展的物质基础,而旅游资源价值的实现最终体现在旅游产品开发上。以历史文化名城———钟祥市为例,在分析钟祥旅游资源和产品状况的基础上,对旅游资源向旅游产品转化进行了对策性探讨,旨在促进钟祥市旅游的大发展,同时也为区域旅游产品深度开发提供参考。     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

Using Paleo Reconstructions to Improve Streamflow Forecast Lead Time in the Western United States

In water stressed regions, water managers are exploring new horizons that would help in long‐range streamflow forecasts. Oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations have been shown to influence streamflow variability. In this study, long‐lead time streamflow forecasts are made using a multiclass kernel‐based data‐driven support vector machine (SVM) model. The extended streamflow records based on tree ring reconstructions were used to provide a longer time series data. Reconstructed data were used from 1658 to 1952 and the instrumental record was used from 1953 to 2007. Reconstructions for oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations included the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation. Streamflow forecasts using all four oscillations were made with one‐year to five‐year lead times for 21 gages in the western United States. This is the first study that uses both instrumental and reconstructed data of oscillations in SVM model to improve streamflow forecast lead time. SVM model was able to provide “satisfactory” to “very good” forecasts with one‐ to five‐year lead time for the selected gages. The use of all the oscillation indices helped in achieving better predictability compared to using individual oscillations. The SVM modeling results are better when compared with multiple linear regression model forecasts. The findings are statistical in nature and are expected to be useful for long‐term water resources planning and management.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

MANGANESE CYCLE IN IMPOUNDMENT WATER

Manganese entering impounded water will undergo a cyclic transformation. Oxidation precipitates manganese from top waters. At the bottom of the lake, biological activity will render manganese soluble by both intracellular as well as extracellular activity. The study was made to demonstrate that biological reduction and transformation, organometallic complexation, together with the presence of carbon dioxide and the lowering of pH all have some effect on the solubility of manganese. Dissolved manganese may be brought back to top waters during the lake overturn and therefore deteriorates the water quality.     

Provincial development plans in Zimbabwe: an analysis of their content,structure and methodology

Zimbabwean provincial plans were instituted to help in the achievement of the national goal of the creation of an egalitarian, socialist and integrated society. The national goal itself was adopted as an antithesis to the dualist society characterised by spatial, economic, social, politican and technological inequalities that Zimbabwe inherited from colonialism. This meant that provincial plans had to play both a functional (or growth allocating/distribution) and a territorial (or redistribution) role.

This paper reviews their role in achieving the national goal by examining their functions, content, structure and methodology. The paper concludes that because of their nature, provincial plans are not suitable tools for the achievement of the national goal.