Environmental factors have long been shown to influence species distributions, with range limits often resulting from environmental
stressors exceeding organism tolerances. However, these abiotic factors may differentially affect species with multiple life-history
stages. Between September 2004 and January 2006, the roles of temperature and nutrient availability in explaining the southern
distributions of two understory kelps, Pterygophora californica and Eisenia arborea (Phaeophyceae, Laminariales), were investigated along the coast of California, USA and the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico,
by limiting either: (a) tissue nitrogen uptake and storage by adult sporophytes during periods of elevated temperature, and/or
(b) production of embryonic sporophytes by microscopic gametophytes. Results suggest that while adult sporophytes of both
species are tolerant of high temperatures and low nutrients, reproduction by their microscopic stages is not. Specifically,
while E. arborea produced embryonic sporophytes at both 12 and 18°C, temperatures commonly observed throughout the southern portion of its
range, P. californica produced sporophytes at 12 but not at 18°C. As a result, it appears that the southern distribution of P. californica, which ends in northern Baja California, Mexico, may be limited by temperature acting on its microscopic stages. In contrast,
the ability of E. arborea’s microscopic and adult stages to tolerate elevated temperatures allows it to persist in the warmer southern waters of Baja
California, as well as to the north along the California coast where both species co-occur. 相似文献
Tone River supplies most of the water requirements of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area (TMA). Lowering of Tone flow and yearly
fluctuation, however, is causing water shortage along TMA nowadays. This study investigated the future water availability
scenarios under climatic changes. A state-of-the-art approach to utilize the output of several GCM has been demonstrated to
investigate the future water availability scenarios for TMA from the Tone River. An integrated modeling approach for water
balance considering several hydrological risk indices was adopted to quantify the future changes in this case. It is observed
that the future summer precipitation along the Tone basin is going to be increased considerably, while an almost constant
or decreasing trend is observed for winter season. Natural flow availability for winter or spring seasons thus can be crucial
under future scenarios. After reservoir routing, the hydrological risk indices estimated, however, were not found to be changed
significantly due to the presence of a robust reservoir system at the upstream. 相似文献
The implementation of sustainable development may seem a simple concept when written on paper. However to carry-out long term
actions put forward by the Agenda 21 (AG21) at the local level represents one of the main challenges as municipal governments
in general do not have the capacity to effectively implement the process.
Regional environmental assessment (REA) has shown to be effective in supporting decision-making not only to correct environmental
problems due to past unsustainable social-economic developments but also help local governments to implement sustainable actions.
However this requires long-term investments of AG21 plans and projects. The allocation of regular and consistent financial
resources is one of the main ingredients for the sustainable development process. But traditional plans and projects financed
by national and/or international funds may not be sustainable in the long-term because they become dependent on external funding.
Research demonstrate that innovative economic instruments such as ecotaxes represent a feasible alternative to sponsor local
sustainability because taxes are collected permanently by the government and could be invested in continuous actions. Ecotaxes
experiences have provided important reference to structure a municipal incentive model (MIM) to sponsor AG21’s environmental
plans and projects on a long-term (permanent) basis.
However sustainable development cannot be solely through economic investments. A comprehensive municipal environmental management
scheme (MEMS) has been established to support the incentive model. The scheme seeks not only to improve local institutional
framework but also incentive continuous participation of local stakeholders at all levels of society. Participatory events
and the provision of incentives (educational and financial) are key to motivate society to protect the environment and support
actively the sustainable development process as emphasised in the RIO-92 Conference. 相似文献
The combination of concentrated solar power–chemical looping air separation (CSP-CLAS) with an oxy-fuel combustion process for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture is a novel system to generate electricity from solar power and biomass while being able to store solar power efficiently. In this study, the computer program Advanced System for Process Engineering Plus (ASPEN Plus) was used to develop models to assess the process performance of such a process with manganese (Mn)-based oxygen carriers on alumina (Al2O3) support for a location in the region of Seville in Spain, using real solar beam irradiance and electricity demand data. It was shown that the utilisation of olive tree prunings (Olea europaea) as the fuel—an agricultural residue produced locally—results in negative CO2 emissions (a net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere). Furthermore, it was found that the process with an annual average electricity output of 18 MW would utilise 2.43% of Andalusia’s olive tree prunings, thereby capturing 260.5 k-tonnes of CO2, annually. Drawbacks of the system are its relatively high complexity, a significant energy penalty in the CLAS process associated with the steam requirements for the loop-seal fluidisation, and the gas storage requirements. Nevertheless, the utilisation of agricultural residues is highly promising, and given the large quantities produced globally (~?4 billion tonnes/year), it is suggested that other novel processes tailored to these fuels should be investigated, under consideration of a future price on CO2 emissions, integration potential with a likely electricity grid system, and based on the local conditions and real data.
Recently, the New Morris Method has been presented as an effective sensitivity analysis tool for mathematical models. The
New Morris Method estimates the sensitivity of an output parameter to a given set of input parameters (first-order effects)
and the extent these parameters interact with each other (second-order effects). This method requires the specification of
two parameters (runs and resolution) that control the sampling of the output parameter to determine its sensitivity to various
inputs. The criteria for these parameters have been set on the analysis of a well-behaved analytical function (see Cropp and
Braddock, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf. 78:77–83, 2002), which may not be applicable to other physical models that describe complex
processes. This paper will investigate the appropriateness of the criteria from (Cropp and Braddock, 2002) and hence the effectiveness
of the New Morris Method to determine the sensitivity behaviour of two hydrologic models: the Soil Erosion and Deposition
System and Griffith University Representation of Urban Hydrology. In the first case, this paper will separately analyse the
sensitivity of an output parameter on a set of input parameters (first- and second-order effects) for each model and discuss
the physical meaning of these sensitivities. This will be followed by an investigation into the sampling criteria by exploring
the convergence of the sensitivity behaviour for each model as the sampling of the parameter space is increased. By comparing
these trends to the convergence behaviour from Cropp and Braddock (2002), we will determine how well the New Morris Method
estimates the sensitivity for each model and whether the sampling criteria are appropriate for these models. It will be shown
that the New Morris Method can provide additional insight into the functioning of these models, and that, under a different
metric, the sensitivity behaviour of these models does converge confirming the sampling criteria set by Cropp and Braddock. 相似文献
Many administrative jurisdictions have authority over parts of the Great Lakes, sometimes with competing purposes as well as governance at differing scales of time and space. As demand increases for high quality information that is relevant to environmental managers, environmental and natural resource agencies with limited budgets must look to interdisciplinary, collaborative approaches for the collection, analysis and reporting of data. The State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conferences (SOLEC) were begun in 1994 in response to reporting requirements of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the U.S. The biennial conferences provide independent, science-based reporting on the state of health of the Great Lakes ecosystem components. A suite of indicators necessary and sufficient to assess Great Lakes ecosystem status was introduced in 1998, and assessments based on a subset of the indicators were presented in 2000. Because SOLEC is a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional reporting venue, the SOLEC indicators require acceptance by a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the Great Lakes basin. The SOLEC indicators list is expected to provide the basis for government agencies and other organizations to collaborate more effectively and to allocate resources to data collection, evaluation and reporting on the state of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. 相似文献