Evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in Australia during 1843–2011

News accounts both reflect and influence public opinion through their noted ‘agenda-setting’ capability. We examined newspaper articles in Australia’s The Sydney Morning Herald from 1843 to 2011 to observe the evolution of media coverage on water issues related to water resources management. The results showed that water supply-related articles have dominated the reporting of water issues since 1843. This emphasis is reflected in the institutions involved and their related policy/management initiatives, as well as the themes of the articles. Extreme events such as flooding and drought have punctuated the historical record of reports on water issues. An economic development-driven tone was overwhelmingly predominant in newspaper articles (85 % of the total); however, there has been a marked decline in the importance of development-driven tone relative to environmental-sustainability oriented tone of articles since 1994. People from academia and NGOs were rarely quoted. Inclusion of wider range stakeholders should be considered as a strategic break-through and natural events should be considered as an “opportunity” to change public opinion on water issues for environmental sustainability.     

Do Conservative Media Provide a Forum for Skeptical Voices? The Link Between Ideology and the Coverage of Climate Change in British,German, and Swiss Newspapers

This study analyzes whether the ideological orientation of a newspaper has an influence on the salience of skeptical arguments (trend, attribution, impact, and response skeptics) in the coverage of climate change in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland, and examines whether certain newspaper titles act as advocates of the skeptical countermovement. A quantitative content analysis of a broad newspaper sample for each country over the course of one year (June 2012–May 2013) was conducted. The results reveal that conservative newspapers do not amplify skeptical voices in general; the difference between conservative and more liberal outlets is only found in the case of impact and response skepticism. Second, in each country, certain conservative newspapers are particularly open to skeptical arguments.     

基于TM影像的弥勒县植被覆盖变化率研究

归一化植被指数（NDVI）是目前用以表征植被覆盖、生长状况的一个简单、有效的度量参数。本文以弥勒县1992年4月及2006年6月的两景不同时期的TM影像数据为基础,提取NDVI植被指数并进行优化处理,做出植被覆盖的基本分类,并将所得数字图像在Arcgis平台上进行面积统计,最后通过统计变化数据得到弥勒县的植被覆盖变化情况。     

1982-2006年中国东部秋季植被覆盖变化过程的区域差异

为进一步认识1982-2006年中国东部秋季植被覆盖变化过程及其区域差异,论文分析了1982-2006年9-10月归一化差值植被指数(NDVI)的多年平均状况和年际变化,并通过聚类分析辨识了NDVI变化过程的主要模态,进而探讨了它们与温度和降水变化的相关关系。结果表明:(1)中国东部秋季森林的覆盖度最高,农田次之,草原最低,并表现出1998年之前趋于增加、此后趋于锐减的变化特征;(2)不同区域植被覆盖变化过程不尽相同,整个研究区植被覆盖变化过程可以分为6种模态,其中①东北地区呈波动上升趋势,②内蒙古高原东北部1982-1998年波动上升、1998年后陡然降低,③华北北部-东北南部呈现跃迁式上升,跃迁年份为1994年,④华北南部表现为先降低后略微增加,趋势转折出现在2000年,⑤江淮地区呈现为1982-1992年波动增加、1992-2006年波动降低,⑥长江及其以南地区表现为陡然下降,突变始于2000年;(3)除了内蒙古高原东北部降水变化能够解释植被覆盖度年际变率的66%以外,华北北部-东北南部的植被覆盖与降水具有正相关关系,秦岭-大巴山-长江中下游及以南地区的植被覆盖与同期温度呈显著正相关,但是降水或温度仅能够解释植被覆盖年际变率的21%,其余地区植被覆盖与气候变化没有显著的相关关系。     

三江源区草地生态系统质量及其动态变化

为探讨三江源区2000—2010年草地植被的时空演变特征,定量评价三江源区草地生态系统质量及其动态变化,采用植被覆盖度和NPP 2个生态参数,分析三江源区草地生态系统的时间变化特征和空间分布规律.结果表明:2000—2010年三江源区草地年均植被覆盖度为26.89%,年均NPP（以C计）为34.35 g/m2,11 a间二者均呈增加趋势.三江源区草地质量具有明显的季节性变化特征,呈南高北低、东高西低的空间分布格局.从11 a的平均结果来看,三江源区草地植被覆盖度在8月达到最大值,约为59.19%;而草地NPP在7月达到最大值,为98.53 g/m2.气温是三江源区草地植被覆盖度变化的主要影响因子,而雨热不同期则造成三江源区草地NPP的年际波动变化.植被覆盖变化是气候变化和人类活动共同作用的结果.研究显示,2000—2010年三江源区草地生态系统质量有所改善,特别是生态工程实施后,草地生态系统质量明显好转.三江源区需在促进农牧业产业升级和资源优化配置的基础上,继续采取积极的减压增效措施,真正实现草畜平衡,达到生态保护的目的.      

The US News Media,Polarization on Climate Change,and Pathways to Effective Communication

The news media are a central source of information about climate change for most people. Through frames, media transmit information that shape how people understand climate change as well as the actions they are ultimately willing to support to address the problem. This article reviews the rise of climate change in the US news media and the emergence of related frames in public discourse. In doing so, it traces the roots of partisan divisions over climate change and highlights the role that events, journalistic practices, technological changes, and individual-level factors such as ideological and partisan identity have played in fostering polarization. The article concludes by identifying the core challenges facing communicators who seek to build consensus for action on climate change and highlights the most viable solutions for achieving success.     

车尔臣河流域土地利用变化及生态环境效应分析

借助ArcGIS与ERDAS软件,以1990年、2000年、2010年遥感影像Landsat TM/ETM为数据源,提取3期车尔臣河流域土地利用/覆盖利用图.在土地利用类型与区域生态风险之间的经验联系基础上,推求出土地利用类型生态风险指数,进而获得研究区域生态安全指数,建立了车尔臣河土地利用类型与生态环境之间的数量关系.同时,在空间尺度上将研究区分为若干特定研究单元,并对整体及局部地区进行生态环境质量动态分析.结果表明:1990—2010年间,车尔臣河流域总体生态环境指数呈逐步升高趋势,但生态环境质量的改善与恶化两种趋势并存,并在特定研究单元上出现明显的区域分异特征;盐碱地向耕地、林地及低覆盖度草地的转化,低覆盖度草地向林地的转化和未利用地向耕地的转化是环境改善的主导因素,林地与中覆盖度草地向盐碱地和未利用地的转化是环境恶化的主导因素.     

Timing crisis information release via television

When and how often to release information on television are important issues in crisis and emergency risk communication. There is a lot of crisis information, including warnings and news, to which people should have access, but most of it is not significantly urgent to interrupt the broadcasting of television programmes. Hence, the right timing for the release of crisis information should be selected based on the importance of the crisis and any associated communication requirements. Using recursive methods, this paper builds an audience coverage model of crisis information release. Based on 2007 Household Using TV (HUT) data for Hefei City, China, the optimal combination of broadcasting sequence (with frequencies between one and eight times) is obtained using the implicit enumeration method. The developed model is applicable to effective transmission of crisis information, with the aim of reducing interference with the normal television transmission process and decreasing the psychological effect on audiences. The same model can be employed for other purposes, such as news coverage and weather and road information.     

Recent Changes in Body Size of the Eurasian Otter <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lutra lutra</Emphasis> in Sweden

We studied geographical and temporal body size trends among 169 adult museum specimens of the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) collected in Sweden between 1962 and 2008, whose sex, year of collection, and locality were known. Skull size and body mass increased significantly in relation to the year of collection, and skull size (but not body mass) was significantly and negatively related to latitude, contrasting Bergmann’s rule and the trend found for Norwegian otters. Latitudinal differences in body size between the two countries may be due to differences in food availability. The temporal increase in body size among Swedish otters resembled that observed for Norway otters, though Swedish otters are smaller with respect to their Norwegian counterparts. Latitude and year represent a combination of environmental factors, including ambient temperature in the year of collection as well as the number of days of ice coverage. We replaced the above factors with mean annual temperature or the number of days of ice coverage, and found that each of these factors explains a similar proportion of the variation in body size as did latitude and year. We hypothesize that this temporal increase in body size is related to a combination of factors, including reduced energy expenditure resulting from increasing ambient temperature, and increased food availability from longer ice-free periods.     

Variance and Uncertainty in the Expected Number of Occurrences in Reserve Selection

Abstract:  Reserve selection often concerns the design of reserve networks for the long-term maintenance of biodiversity. We considered uncertainty in the context of three common reserve-selection formulations, the expected number of populations, proportional coverage of land-cover types, and the probability of having at least one population. By uncertainty, we mean variance in the outcome of any probability-based reserve selection formulation. A typical reserve-selection formulation might ask for the least expensive set of sites that contains n populations per species. It is implicit here that this requirement concerns the expected number of populations, which actually is obtained only with a 50% chance. If the requirement is changed to select the least expensive set of sites that gives n populations per species with a 95% probability, the number of sites required in the solution increases and the identity of the sites is changed toward sites that have high probabilities of persistence (or occurrence) and low associated binomial variance. Anthropogenic threat is one factor that may cause probabilistic uncertainty in the context of proportional area coverage.