Assessment of the Water Quality and Ecosystem Health of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia): Conceptual Models

Run-off containing increased concentrations of sediment, nutrients, and pesticides from land-based anthropogenic activities is a significant influence on water quality and the ecologic conditions of nearshore areas of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia. The potential and actual impacts of increased pollutant concentrations range from bioaccumulation of contaminants and decreased photosynthetic capacity to major shifts in community structure and health of mangrove, coral reef, and seagrass ecosystems. A detailed conceptual model underpins and illustrates the links between the main anthropogenic pressures or threats (dry-land cattle grazing and intensive sugar cane cropping) and the production of key contaminants or stressors of Great Barrier Reef water quality. The conceptual model also includes longer-term threats to Great Barrier Reef water quality and ecosystem health, such as global climate change, that will potentially confound direct model interrelationships. The model recognises that system-specific attributes, such as monsoonal wind direction, rainfall intensity, and flood plume residence times, will act as system filters to modify the effects of any water-quality system stressor. The model also summarises key ecosystem responses in ecosystem health that can be monitored through indicators at catchment, riverine, and marine scales. Selected indicators include riverine and marine water quality, inshore coral reef and seagrass status, and biota pollutant burdens. These indicators have been adopted as components of a long-term monitoring program to enable assessment of the effectiveness of change in catchment-management practices in improving Great Barrier Reef (and adjacent catchment) water quality under the Queensland and Australian Governments’ Reef Water Quality Protection Plan.     

高能重离子辐照下国产RPV钢A508-3的硬化行为

目的 研究在563 K的温度条件下,高能重离子辐照导致国产RPV钢A508-3的硬化行为。方法 使用回旋加速器提供的352.8 MeV Fe²¹⁺对A508-3钢试样进行辐照,使其依次达到0.15、0.30、1.50 dpa的损伤水平。借助辐照终端的梯度减能装置,在样品表面至25 μm的深度范围内产生一个准均匀分布的原子离位损伤坪区,并使用纳米压痕仪和维氏显微硬度计测量了试样的硬度。结果 考虑到压痕尺寸效应的影响,采用Nix-Gao模型对硬度数据进行拟合,由于高能Fe离子产生了较厚的损伤区,辐照试样中的软基效应明显减弱。辐照后的试样出现明显的硬化现象,且随着辐照剂量的增大,硬化增量有饱和趋势。通过辐照前和辐照至0.15 dpa试样的微硬度数据,得出其与纳米硬度之间的线性关系(Hv0=0.85 H0)。结论 借助A508-3辐照前后的硬度数据,计算发现试样的屈服强度增量与辐照剂量之间存在一种幂函数关系,这为A508-3钢中子-离子辐照硬化的映射关系研究提供了基础数据。     

1996-2010年云南省旅游总收入差异的时空变化分析

选取1996-2010年云南省16个市州的旅游总收入为研究对象,综合运用标准差、变异系数、泰尔指数、累计比重等方法分析云南旅游总收入的总体差异,探讨近15年来全省旅游总收入在地带间、地带内和市州际的差异及其变动演进.研究表明,时间上云南省旅游总收入呈现绝对差异不断扩大但相对差异在小幅增长后逐步收敛的特征;空间上,云南省旅游总收入差异明显但不平衡特征正在逐步缩小.云南省旅游总收入的差异主要是由于地带间差异和地带内差异共同导致,地带间差异已有所缓和;滇西北、滇西南、滇东南和滇中地区是地带内差异的最重要来源;旅游资源禀赋、旅游基础设施、旅游发展政策和经济发展水平是云南省旅游总收入的时空差异及其变动的的主要原因.     

低碳经济视角下的城市圈土地节约集约利用评价研究——基于遗传算法的投影寻踪模型

从低碳经济视角出发,运用基于遗传算法的投影寻踪模型对武汉城市圈低碳土地节约基于利用水平进行了评价研究.结果显示,各市低碳土地节约集约利用水平差异较大,发展极不协调,难以有效地实现城市圈协同发展.武汉城市圈应以整体效益最大化为目标,注重保护环境与经济增长相结合,大力发展低碳经济,以协同发展促进低碳土地利用.     

我国燃油税改革效应模拟分析

经历了十几年的讨论,燃油税改革方案终于在2009年出台并实施,改革后燃油税究竟会对我国宏观经济及各部门产生怎样的影响,倍受关注.基于此背景,采用环境CGE模型对改革前后的两种不同燃油税税率进行了量化分析,总体研究得出：从长期发展来看,燃油税改革有利于我国经济结构调整,减少能源消耗和降低碳排放;短期内会增加企业生产成本,抑制宏观经济增长,其中交通运输业和石油加工业受到的冲击最大,应引起有关部门重视.     

The legacy of large dams in the United States

The sustainability of large dams has been questioned on several grounds. One aspect that has been less explored is that the development of dams and reservoirs often enables agricultural expansion and urban growth, which in turn increase water consumption. As such, dam development influences, while being influenced by, the spatial and temporal distribution of both supply and demand of water resources. In this paper, we explore the interplay between large dams, patterns of population growth and agricultural expansion in the United States over the past two centuries. Based on a large-scale analysis of spatial and temporal trends, we identify three distinct phases, in which different processes dominated the interplay. Then, we focus on agricultural water use in the Southwest region (Arizona, California and Nevada) and explore chicken-and-egg dynamics where water supply partly meets and partly fuels water demand. Lastly, we show that the legacy of dams in the United States consists of a lock-in condition characterized by high levels of water consumption, especially in the Southwest, which leads to severe water crises and groundwater overexploitation when droughts occur.     

A review of Australian approaches for monitoring,assessing and reporting estuarine condition: III. Evaluation against international best practice and recommendations for the future

In this final component of a three-part review, we present a national synthesis and evaluation of approaches for monitoring, assessing and reporting estuarine condition across Australia. Progress is evaluated against objective criteria that together provide a model of international best practice. We critically assess the limitations, inconsistencies and gaps that are evident across Australian jurisdictions, and identify common obstacles to future progress. Major strengths and successes are also highlighted, together with specific examples of best practice from around Australia that are transferable to other States and beyond. Significant obstacles to greater national coordination of monitoring and reporting practices include inconsistent spatial scales of management, pluralistic governance structures and the lack of any overarching legislation. Nonetheless, many perceptible advances have been made over the last decade across Australia in estuarine monitoring and health assessment, and there is great potential for further progress. Finally, we provide a list of recommendations to address some of the most pressing limitations and gaps, and support improved future monitoring, assessment and reporting for Australian estuaries.     

A Call for Urgent Monitoring of Food and Water Security Based on Relevant Indicators for the Arctic

This perspective paper argues for an urgent need to monitor a set of 12 concrete, measurable indicators of food and water security in the Arctic over time. Such a quantitative indicator approach may be viewed as representing a reductionist rather than a holistic perspective, but is nevertheless necessary for actually knowing what reality aspects to monitor in order to accurately understand, quantify, and be able to project critical changes to food and water security of both indigenous and non-indigenous people in the Arctic. More relevant indicators may be developed in the future, taking us further toward reconciliation between reductionist and holistic approaches to change assessment and understanding. However, the potential of such further development to improved holistic change assessment is not an argument not to urgently start to monitor and quantify the changes in food and water security indicators that are immediately available and adequate for the Arctic context.