Impact of maximum sustainable yield on independent populations

We investigate a community of independent logistically growing populations under a common harvesting effort which leads to the total maximum sustainable yield (TMSY). It is surprising that in the case of two populations with approximately equal carrying capacities, TMSY is reached while both populations persist, although their biotic potential may differ substantially. In general, however, TMSY with a common harvesting effort implies suboptimal fishing of some populations, overfishing of others and extinction of the rest of the populations. Since extinction of populations is a rule rather than an exception and since a community of independent populations is more robust than an ecosystem with multiple trophic levels, we call for urgent retraction of all legal documents advocating MSY in ecosystems.     

Influx,transport, and accumulation of cadmium in plant species grown at different Cd2+ activities

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) has no known essential biological function, but it is toxic to plants, animals, and humans. A promising approach to prevent Cd from entering the food chain would be to select and/or create Cd‐accumulating plants to remediate contaminated soils or to develop Cd‐excluding plants to reduce Cd flow from soils into foods. The present study was undertaken to examine the differences in Cd influx, transport, and accumulation among five plant species in relation to plant tolerance to Cd toxicity. Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) had the least reduction in dry matter which may be due to its lowest Cd transport rate (TR) to shoots at all Cd levels among the plant species tested. White‐clover (Trifolium repens L.) was the most sensitive species to Cd toxicity, likely because of its highest Cd influx rate (IR) and high TR when plants were grown at low Cd²⁺ activity (≤8 μM). The high tolerance of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) to moderate Cd toxicity (≤14 μM) appeared to be mainly due to the detoxification of Cd inside plant tissue since it recorded the highest TR and relatively high IR for Cd among the tested species. At Cd²⁺ activities up to 28 uM, the Cd uptake ratios of shoot/root for ryegrass were, on average, about 50‐fold and 27‐fold lower than that for cabbage and maize (Zea mays L.), respectively. These results showed that Cd could be easily transported into shoots of cabbage and maize, but was mainly confined to roots of ryegrass. We suggest that influx and transport rates, especially transport rate, could be used as plant physiological parameters for screening Cd‐excluding genotypes among monocotyledonous plants.     

L-asparaginase and L-glutaminase activities in submerged rice soil amended with municipal solid waste compost and decomposed cow manure

The field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) as a soil amendment on L-asparaginase (LA) and L-glutaminase (LG) activities. Experiments were conducted during the wet seasons of 1997, 1998 and 1999 on rice grown under a submerged condition, at the Agriculture Experimental Farm, Calcutta University at Baruipur, West Bengal, India. The treatments consisted of control, no input; MSWC, at 60 Kg N ha^{? 1}; well-decomposed cow manure (DCM), at 60 Kg N ha^{? 1}; MSWC (30 Kg N ha^{? 1}) + Urea (U) (30 Kg N ha^{? 1}); DCM (30 Kg N ha^{? 1}) + U (30 Kg N ha^{? 1}) and Fertilizer, (at 60:30:30 NPK kg ha^{? 1}) through urea, single superphosphate and muriate of potash respectively). LA and LG activities alone and their ratio with organic-C (ratio index value, RIV), straw and grain yield were higher in DCM than MSWC-treated soils, due to higher amount of biogenic organic materials like water-soluble organic carbon, carbohydrate and mineralizable nitrogen in the former. The studied parameters were higher when urea was integrated with DCM or MSWC, compared to their single applications. The heavy metals in MSWC did not detrimentally influence the above-measured activities of soil. In the event of long term MSWC application, changes in soil quality parameters should be monitored regularly, since heavy metals once entering into soil persist over a long period.     

Performance evaluation of a completely stirred anaerobic reactor treating pig manure at a low range of mesophilic conditions

Many Chinese biogas plants run in the lower range of mesophilic conditions. This study evaluated the performance of a completely stirred anaerobic reactor treating pig manure at different temperatures (20, 28 and 38 °C). The start-up phase of the reactor at 20 °C was very long and extremely poor performance was observed with increasing organic loading rate (OLR). At an OLR of 4.3 g ODM L^?1 d^?1, methane production at 28 °C was comparable (3% less) with that at 38 °C, but the risk of acidification was high at 28 °C. At low OLR (1.3 g ODM L^?1 d^?1), the biogas process appeared stable at 28 °C and gave same methane yields as compared to the reactor operating at 38 °C. The estimated sludge yield at 28 °C was 0.065 g VSS g^?1 COD_removed, which was higher than that at 38 °C (0.016 g VSS g^?1 COD_removed).     

赤红壤地区茶叶施用有机无机复肥的效果初探

本试验比较了三种不同Ｎ／Ｋ２Ｏ的有机无机复肥和进口复肥在赤红壤茶园上的施用效果．结果表明，施用有机无机复肥能促进茶树生长，增大茶芽密度．提高茶叶产量，增加茶叶的茶多酚和氨基酸含量；且能增加土壤有机质含量，平衡土壤养分．有机无机复肥中的Ｎ／Ｋ２Ｏ对其肥效的发挥有重要作用，Ｎ／ｋ２Ｏ值以４．５为宜．     

淮北地区小麦高产的生态限制因素与对策

本文在对影响淮北地区小麦高产的生态限制因素进行系统分析的基础上，提出了科学治水、施肥，合理灌溉，培肥地力，优化小麦群体动态结构等高产配套措施．     

区域农业生产脆弱性及干旱诊断分析

以山东区域农业生产作为案例，根据主要作物历年产量波动分析，发现趋势产量年际间变化较为平稳，而气象产量年际间变化幅度较大，说明山东农业生产存在着气候脆弱性。通过对比分析光、温生产潜力和光、温、水生产潜力及气象因子对产量的直接、间接通径系数，得出气象产量主要受降水因索的制约，水分是气候资源组合中的薄弱环节，也是山东农业的主要限制因索。历年作物生长期内降水达不到需水要求的概率为20％～35％。各作物不同生育时段的受旱概率相差较大，最低为7％，高的达50％～85％，这些结果为区域农业生产的减灾防灾提供了依据。     

遥感信息与作物生长模式的结合方法和应用--研究进展

将遥感信息与作物生长模式结合来预测作物产量,是目前的一个热点研究课题.概述了遥感信息与作物生长模式结合的主要方法,包括驱动法和初始化/参数化法,以及最新的一些研究个例.同时还分析了将遥感信息应用到作物生长模式过程中存在和有待改进的问题.     

BANK STABILITY ANALYSIS FOR PREDICTING REACH SCALE LAND LOSS AND SEDIMENT YIELD1

ABSTRACT: When extensive lengths of river become stabilized (e.g., by channel incision), riverbank erosion can result in considerable riparian land loss and the delivery of large volumes of sediment downstream. The ability to predict the stability and failure geometry of eroding riverbanks is therefore an important prerequisite in estimating the rate of bank erosion and sediment yield associated with bank erosion. In this paper, a new stability analysis for layered river banks is introduced. The new analysis differs from many previous analyses in that it takes into consideration the effects of positive pore water pressure in the saturated portion, and negative pore water pressure in the unsaturated portion, of the bank as well as the influence of hydrostatic confining pressure due to the water level in the river. In addition, the failure plane is not constrained to pass through the toe of the bank and the bank profile geometry is not restricted to an idealized special case. The predictive ability of the new bank stability analysis is assessed using data from two field sites. Subsequently, a methodology for applying the bank stability analysis at the scale of the river reach (0.1 to 10 km) is discussed. This method involves the use of empirical models of bed level adjustment to estimate the magnitude of incision at specific locations along the reach, with these estimates used to drive the stability analysis. Application of the new method is demonstrated with an example.     

CORRELATION OF SELECTED WELL WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS WITH SOIL AND AQUIFER HYDROLOGIC PROPERTIES1

ABSTRACT: The geographical distribution of well water specific electrical conductivity and nitrate levels in a 932 km² ground water quality study area in the Fresno-Clovis, California, indicated that frequently areas of lower ground water salinity were also areas of relatively greater soil and aquifer permeability. From these observations and certain assumptions we hypothesized that the quality of the well water should be better in areas with permeable soils and geological formations. Correlation and multiple linear regression analysis supported this hypothesis for well water salinity. However, well water nitrate levels were significantly negatively correlated with only the estimated equivalent specific yield of the aquifer system. The multiple R² values of the most significant multiple linear regression models showed that only a fourth to a third of the variability in well water specific electric conductivity and nitrate levels could be ascribed to the effects of the hydrogeological parameters considered with more than 90 percent confidence. This indicates that three-fourths to two-thirds of the variability in ground water salinity and nitrate levels may be related to land use. Thus, there is considerable room for land use management techniques to improve ground water quality and reduce its variability.