Fire Regime Changes in La Michilía Biosphere Reserve, Durango, Mexico

Abstract: The ability of reserves to maintain natural ecosystem processes such as fire disturbance regimes is central to long-term conservation. Fire-scarred tree samples were used to reconstruct fire regimes at five study sites totaling approximately 230 ha in pine (   Pinus spp.) and oak ( Quercus spp.) forests of La Michilía Biosphere Reserve on the dry east slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Durango, Mexico. Study sites covered a 20-km environmental gradient of elevation, topography, and human land uses. Plant communities ranged from oak-pine to mixed conifer forests. Fires were frequent at all sites prior to 1930, when large-scale grazing of domestic livestock was initiated. Widespread fires have been excluded from four of the five sites since 1945, with an essentially uninterrupted regime of frequent fires continuing only in the reserve core. Xeric sites had many, smaller fires, whereas mesic sites had fewer but larger fires. On a reserve-wide scale, a fire burned on at least one site nearly every year, usually in the dry spring or early summer season, but fire years were rarely synchronous among the sites. Fire occurrence was weakly related to the Southern Oscillation climate pattern; major reserve-wide fire years almost never coincided with wet Southern Oscillation extremes but only occasionally matched dry extremes. Maintenance of the long-term frequent-fire regime in the reserve core is one indicator that the biosphere reserve model has been successful in conserving natural processes, but the protected area is small ( 7000 ha). Because of the key role of frequent-fire regimes in regulating ecosystem structure and function, restoration of the ecological role of fire disturbance is a desirable conservation strategy.     

Coexistence between People and Elephants in African Savannas

Abstract: The decline in the range and numbers of elephants as a result of expanding human activity in Africa is recognized as one of the continent's more serious conservation problems. Understanding the relationship between human settlement patterns and elephant abundance is fundamental to predicting the viability of elephant populations. The prevailing model of human-elephant interaction predicts a negative linear relationship between rising human density and declining elephant density at a coarse (national or subcontinental) scale. Using observed elephant densities and human population data, we tested this prediction in a study area of 15,000 km² in northwestern Zimbabwe. The results did not fit a linear model. Elephant and human coexistence occurs at various levels of human density, up to a threshold of human density beyond which elephant populations disappear. This threshold seems to be related to a particular stage in the process of agriculturally transformed land becoming spatially dominant over the natural woodland that constitutes elephant habitat. Within the contexts of conservation and sustainable development in African savannas, investigating spatial relationships between elephant and human abundance should be a priority topic for future research.     

综合资源立法是资源可持续利用的法律保证

资源的有效保护和永续利用在我国可持续发展战略中占有十分重要的地位。本文分析了我国资源法制建设中存在的问题，阐述了综合资源立法在资源法制建设体系中的意义。     

农业生态系统的氮素循环研究进展

在自然和人为作用的双重驱动下,地球表面氮素的生物地球化学过程及其环境效应成为当前全球变化中区域研究的重要内容。探讨了氮素循环各个过程及其数量特征,对氮素循环模型进行了介绍,并对当前生态系统中氮素循环的研究热点进行了简要的论述。     

广西桂东北地区农业土壤环境若干重金属元素背景值的调查

应用分层抽样统计方法,调查研究广西桂东北地区农业土壤环境Cu、Zn、Pb、Cd、Ni、As、Cr、Hg等8种重金属元素背景值,并分别求算出各元素背景值95％的置信区间。经方差分析,各成土母质间几种元素背景值都有不同程度差异。探讨了该区域农业土壤元素背景值与世界土壤、地壳丰度和国内土壤元素背景值的差异,为开展农业环境科学研究提供依据。     

环境污染事故风险预测评估模式研究

从环境风险到环境污染事故演变的一般规律入手,提出了环境污染事故风险预测评估模式,为环境污染事故风险评估、预防与应急响应提供科学手段。环境污染事故风险预测评估模式的提出,一方面丰富和发展了环境安全与应急响应理论;另一方面,对公共安全、企业安全管理与应急响应等工作具有一定指导意义。     

土壤钙的生物有效性及与其它元素的相互作用

根据国内有关土壤钙素的研究文献、总结了土壤钙的生物有效性.土壤钙与其它元素的相互作用,以及钙在土壤中的固定、移动的研究进展,提出了钙肥的施用原则.其施用原则应该是平衡且适量。     

中空纤维微滤膜污染及阻力分析

选用0．1μm的PVDF中空纤维内压式微滤膜组件，在死端微滤工况下，研究了酵母（平均粒径5．3μm）和高岭土（平均粒径0．7μm）体系在浓度和压力变化时的污染机理及过滤阻力、膜渗透通量的变化规律性。通过恒压堵塞定律积分式的具体形式与实验数据的拟合及根据堵塞过滤定律计算的结果都表明：死端微滤时，酵母体系和高岭土体系均符合滤饼过滤机理。