Desertification in Australia: An eye to grass roots and landscapes

Desertification in some form is estimated to have occurred over about 42% of the 5 million km² of arid and semiarid lands in Australia. The most common form of desertification is loss of perennial grasses from grasslands, savannas, and open woodlands, often with a replacement by inedible shrubs. Desertification continues to be a problem, especially during droughts when grazing pressures reduce ground cover, laying bare landscapes to wind and water erosion. But two national programs, Drought Alert and Landcare, are giving new hope in controlling land degradation. Both use a grassroots approach by promoting action through local pastoralist and farmer groups and by encouraging the use of effective techniques for rehabilitating landscapes. A strategic application of ponding banks and contour traps with an eye to the landscape has proven successful in stopping and reversing desertification processes.     

Environmental impact from agrochemicals in Bali (Indonesia)

Irrigation of paddy has been practised for centuries in Bali, based on the use of upland weirs for diverting river waters to irrigate downstreams lands ranging from upland terraces to flat coastal plains. While in earlier times, traditional irrigation practices have met the island's food needs, in recent decades an increasing population has increased food requirements to levels surpassing the productivity of traditional methods. Government assistance programs were initiated beginning in about 1960, and a major new program, called the Bali Irrigation Project, is now being implemented. These programs recognize that little additional farm lands will be available, hence their objective is to increase productivity through intensified agriculture, including the use of high-yield rice varieties and increasing amounts of agricultural chemicals, including both fertilizers and pesticides. The feasibility study for the Bali Irrigation Project included an evaluation of the pollutional effects of agricultural chemicals used in Bali. The study showed that past use of hard organochlorides has pervasively polluted the island's soil and water resources and, while the Government's programs now use only relatively degradable chemicals, considerable environmental damage has already occurred and much care will be needed in avoiding the use of hard toxics in the future. The study also indicated no adverse effects from increased use of fertilizers.     

Comparison of the statolith structures of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chironex fleckeri</Emphasis> (Cnidaria,Cubozoa) and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Periphylla periphylla</Emphasis> (Cnidaria,Scyphozoa): a phylogenetic approach

The rhopalia and statocysts of Periphylla periphylla (Péron and Lesueur in Ann Mus Hist Nat Marseille 14:316–366,1809) and Chironex fleckeri Southcott (Aust J Mar Freshw Res 7(2):254–280 1956) were examined histologically and showed several homologous characteristics. Differences in sensory area distribution could be connected to a slightly different functionality of equilibrium sensing. In P. periphylla, the statoliths (crystals) grow independently of each other; whereas in C. fleckeri, one large crystal covers the smaller ones. The structures of both statoliths were examined in detail with single-crystal diffraction, microtomography and diffraction contrast tomography. The single compact statolith of C. fleckeri consisted of bassanite as was previously known only for other rhopaliophoran medusae. An origin area with several small oligocrystals was located in the centre of the cubozoan statolith. The origin areas and the accretion of statoliths are similar in both species. Our results lead to the assumption that the single bassanite statolith of C. fleckeri (Cnidaria, Cubozoa) is a progression of the scyphozoan multiplex statolith. It is therefore suggested that the Cubozoa are derived from a scyphozoan ancestor and are a highly developed taxa within the Rhopaliophora.     

Lidar Observations of the Diurnal Behavior of the Cumberland Power Plant Plume

Mobile lidar observations were made downwind of TVA’s Cumberland (Tennessee) power plant as part of the STATE (Sulfur Transport and Transformation in the Environment) program. Vertical profiles of aerosol backscatter have been processed and displayed to show plume structure as an intensity-modulated TV presentation. Available meteorological data, especially the pilot balloon and radiosonde measurements collected during the STATE experiment, have been used to aid in the interpretation of the lidar display. The data show: ? Well defined nighttime plumes, which often tilt or display a layered structure in the shape of a “>”.

? Late morning convective breakup of the plume.

? Well mixed convective plumes during the day.

? Reformation of the layered nighttime plume during the late afternoon.

It appears that the nighttime plume behavior can be related qualitatively to the strong directional shear of the wind with height that often accompanies the stable nighttime atmosphere. The nighttime plume shapes frequently differ markedly from the oval shape one expects of a gaussian plume. Daytime plumes are in better conformance to the expected shape except when constricted by the surface or the top of the mixing layer     

Methane production potential from anaerobic digestion of plant biomass residues and food waste as substrates

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This research aimed to evaluate the production of biogas from anaerobic digestion (AD) using swine manure inoculum associated with different...