Change in vegetation cover in East Timor, 1989–1999

Forest resources play a key role and provide many basic needs to communities in developing economies. To assess the patterns of vegetation cover change, as a corollary of resource utilization, satellite imagery, ground truth data, and image processing techniques can be useful. This article is concerned with identifying change in major vegetation types in East Timor between 1989 and 1999, using Landsat Thematic Mapper data. The results highlight a significant level of deforestation and decline in foliage cover. All major vegetation cover types declined from 1989 to 1999, and there was a sizeable increase in degraded woodlands. This decline has had considerable impact on the livelihoods of rural and urban communities. Causes for these changes include: economic exploitation of abundant resources; and implications of transmigration policies implemented during Indonesian rule, resulting in increased competition for land and woodland resources. As the new nation of Timor‐Leste establishes itself, it must consider its current stock and distribution of natural capital to ensure that development efforts are geared towards sustainable outcomes. Without the knowledge of historical patterns of resource consumption, development efforts may, unwittingly, lead to continuing decline in forest resources.     

给水管道振动信号的小波分析及消振研究

某核发电厂部分蒸汽和给水管道振动情况非常严重 ,以致影响到正常的安全生产。笔者从给水管道的测振出发 ,并利用 3层Daubechise对振动信号进行了小波消噪、滤波、重构处理 ,以找到影响管系振动的激励源的主要频域成分。进而利用比较成熟的结构分析软件ANSYS对管系进行了模态分析 ,得到系统的低阶固有频率和振型。根据管道振动的原因 ,在不改变管系主要特征的基础上 ,给出了简单易行的消振措施 ,实际运行情况表明消振方法效果良好。     

复合碳纤维混凝土的结构安全监测方法

提出了一个利用碳纤维混凝土与普通混凝土进行复合,实现结构安全监测的技术方法。根据普通混凝土与碳纤维混凝土之间良好的亲和能力,将碳纤维混凝土浇铸在结构承载的薄弱部分,利用碳纤维混凝土的压敏特性,可以对该部分的服役状态进行监测,获得结构的变形情况;另一方面,利用碳纤维混凝土的基本特性,还可以适当改善结构的承载强度。笔者所提出的复合结构既具有普通混凝土结构的基本特征,又赋予了结构的自我监测功能,比较有效地克服了全碳纤维混凝土结构建造所面临的电阻率波动、骨料石子影响和建设成本等几个方面的技术问题。     

炭法烟气脱硫技术研究进展

炭法烟气脱硫技术经半个多世纪的发展，在脱硫剂、脱硫工艺、脱硫原理及联合脱除氮氧化物和有毒物质等方面取得了许多进展。在概述炭法烟气脱硫技术研究进展的同时，分析了制约炭法烟气脱硫技术发展的原因并对炭法烟气脱硫技术的发展方向提出了几点建议。     

黄荆自然保护区植物区系的初步研究

黄荆自然保护区地处四川盆地与云贵高原的过渡地带,地带性植被为亚热带偏湿性常绿阔叶林,有种子植物165科745属1521种,其中裸子植物9科19属24种,被子植物156科726属1497种.该区特殊的自然条件和复杂的地质构造,使其成为多种植物地理成分的汇集地,并成为我国乃至全世界亚热带(同纬度)地区保存较好的常绿阔叶林植被群落,具有极高的研究价值和生态价值.根据近年来的科学考察,认为黄荆自然保护区植物区系的种类丰富、珍稀特有植物较多、起源古老、区系成分复杂,显示出多方植物交汇的特点.     

自然生态小区建设指导原则及其建设内容探讨--以筠连县大雪山自然生态小区为例

自然生态小区是构建优美生态环境区域的生态“细胞工程”。它根据当地的自然状况和社会经济状况,以较小的经济和社会代价实现一定区域生态环境优美、生态文明有序、生态系统良性循环的社会经济生态综合体。由于自然生态小区的建设是新兴事物,其建设途径还有很多问题值得探讨。在自然生态小区建设投资方面,应当明确生态环境建设投资和生产赢利建设投资,对于前者应当以政府和政策性投资为主,而后者应当是在政策法规规范下的企业投资为主;在发展模式方面,应当促进环境友好的规模化高效益产业,包括有机绿色产业、地方特色产业、民族文化产业等;在效益分配方面,必须要充分考虑整个社区居民资源共享和利益合理分配,实现整个社区生态文明建设和经济发展目标的一致。     

Quantifying and Evaluating Ecosystem Health: A Case Study from Moreton Bay, Australia

As part of the program monitoring the ecosystem health of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, we developed a means for assessing ecosystem health that allows quantitative evaluation and spatial representations of the assessments. The management objectives for achieving ecosystem health were grouped into ecosystem objectives, water quality objectives, and human health objectives. For the first two groups, aspects of the ecosystem (e.g., trophic status) were identified, and an indicator was chosen for each aspect. Reference values for each indicator were derived from management objectives and compared with the mapped survey values. Subregions for which the indicator statistic was equal to or better than the assigned reference value are referred to as “compliant zones.” High-resolution surface maps were created from spatial predictions on a fine hexagonal grid for each of the indicators. Eight reporting subregions were established based on the depth and predicted residence times of the water. Within each reporting subregion, the proportion that was compliant was calculated. These results then were averaged to create an integrated ecosystem health index. The ratings by a team of ecosystem experts and the calculated ecosystem health indices had good correspondence, providing assurance that the approach was internally consistent, and that the management objectives covered the relevant biologic issues for the region. This method of calculating and mapping ecosystem health, relating it directly to management objectives, may have widespread applicability for ecosystem assessment.     

Improving the Urban Stream Restoration Effort: Identifying Critical Form and Processes Relationships

Stream restoration projects are often based on morphological form or stream type and, as a result, there needs to be a clear tie established between form and function of the stream. An examination of the literature identifies numerous relationships in naturally forming streams that link morphologic form and stream processes. Urban stream restoration designs often work around infrastructure and incorporate bank stabilization and grade control structures. Because of these imposed constraints and highly altered hydrologic and sediment discharge regimens, the design of urban channel projects is rather unclear. In this paper, we examine the state of the art in relationships between form and processes, the strengths and weaknesses of these existing relationships, and the current lack of understanding in applying these relationships in the urban environment. In particular, we identify relationships that are critical to urban stream restoration projects and provide recommendations for future research into how this information can be used to improve urban stream restoration design. It is also suggested that improving the success of urban restoration projects requires further investigation into incorporating process-based methodologies, which can potentially reduce ambiguity in the design and the necessity of using an abundant amount of in-stream structures.     

Effects of payments for ecosystem services on wildlife habitat recovery

Conflicts between local people's livelihoods and conservation have led to many unsuccessful conservation efforts and have stimulated debates on policies that might simultaneously promote sustainable management of protected areas and improve the living conditions of local people. Many government‐sponsored payments‐for‐ecosystem‐services (PES) schemes have been implemented around the world. However, few empirical assessments of their effectiveness have been conducted, and even fewer assessments have directly measured their effects on ecosystem services. We conducted an empirical and spatially explicit assessment of the conservation effectiveness of one of the world's largest PES programs through the use of a long‐term empirical data set, a satellite‐based habitat model, and spatial autoregressive analyses on direct measures of change in an ecosystem service (i.e., the provision of wildlife species habitat). Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat improved in Wolong Nature Reserve of China after the implementation of the Natural Forest Conservation Program. The improvement was more pronounced in areas monitored by local residents than those monitored by the local government, but only when a higher payment was provided. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of a PES program depends on who receives the payment and on whether the payment provides sufficient incentives. As engagement of local residents has not been incorporated in many conservation strategies elsewhere in China or around the world, our results also suggest that using an incentive‐based strategy as a complement to command‐and‐control, community‐ and norm‐based strategies may help achieve greater conservation effectiveness and provide a potential solution for the park versus people conflict.     

The effects of adaptation measures on hurricane induced property losses: Which FEMA investments have the highest returns?

This paper evaluates the relative effectiveness of FEMA expenditures on hurricane induced property losses. We find that spending on FEMA ex-ante mitigation and planning projects leads to greater reductions in property losses than spending on ex-post adaptation programs – specifically, a one percent increase in annual spending on ex-ante risk reduction and warning projects reduces damages by 0.21 percent while a one percent increase in ex-post recovery and clean-up spending reduces damages by 0.12. Although both types of program spending are effective, we find the marginal return from spending on programs that target long-term mitigation and risk management to be almost twice that of spending on ex-post recovery programs. With the predicted increases in the frequency and severity of North Atlantic hurricanes in the future, our findings suggest there are important potential gains that could be realized from the further diversification of FEMA spending across project categories.