Landscape fires as social disasters: An overview of ‘the bushfire problem’

The ‘landscape’, ‘bushfire’ or ‘forest-fire’ problem is exemplified by the destruction of homes and human lives by landscape fires raging out of control. The ‘problem’ involves a series of landscapes (e.g. wildland and suburb), a series of systems (e.g. biophysical system and environmental-effects system), and a series of time phases (e.g. planning phase). It is a multi-stakeholder, multi-variable, multi-scale problem. Land uses, like ‘farmland’, imply a set of specific assets and, therefore, particular perceptions of losses. In all land-use designations, at any one point, fire-proneness may be seen as a function of exposure to ignition sources (embers, burning brands or flame radiation and flame contact) and the ease of ignition. The landscape-fire problem has multiple partial ‘solutions’, not just one overall solution, and these involve social governance, land management (public and private), suppression capacity and personal preparedness. The problem needs to be addressed at multiple temporal and spatial scales in an integrated fashion for the outcome to be of maximal benefit. There will always be a residual risk of severe fire occurrence. Minimisation of residual risk requires effective land management, recurrent funding and the perpetual vigilance of all parties.     

A spatially explicit model to predict future landscape composition of aspen woodlands under various management scenarios

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is declining across the western United States. Aspen habitats are among the most diverse plant communities in this region and loss of these habitats can result in shifts in biodiversity, productivity, and hydrology across a range of spatial scales. Western aspen occurs on the majority of sites seral to conifer species, and long-term maintenance of these aspen woodlands requires periodic fire. Over the past century, fire intervals, extents, and intensities have been insufficient to regenerate aspen stands at historic rates; however the effects of various fire regimes and management scenarios on aspen vegetation dynamics at broad spatial and temporal scales are unexplored. Here we use field data, remotely sensed data, and fire atlas information to develop a spatially explicit landscape simulation model to assess the effects of current and historic wildfire regimes and prescribed burning programs on landscape vegetation composition across two mountain ranges in the Owyhee Plateau, Idaho. Model outputs depict the future structural makeup and species composition of the landscape at selected time steps under simulated management scenarios. We found that under current fire regimes and in the absence of management activities, loss of seral aspen stands will continue to occur over the next two centuries. However, a return to historic fire regimes (burning 12–14% of the modeled landscape per decade) would maintain the majority of aspen stands in early and mid seral woodland stages and minimizes the loss of aspen. A fire rotation of 70–80 years was estimated for the historic fire regime while the current fire regime resulted in a fire rotation of 340–450 years, underscoring the fact that fire is currently lacking in the system. Implementation of prescribed burning programs, treating aspen and young conifer woodlands according to historic fire occurrence probabilities, are predicted to prevent conifer dominance and loss of aspen stands.     

天津市地表水环境氮污染特征及来源解析

以天津市引滦河道、于桥水库、景观河道及主要地表河流的氮营养盐监测结果和工业源、城镇生活源及非点源的排放资料为依据,研究了天津市地表水氮污染水平、特征、变化规律及主要来源。结果表明,主要地表河流总氮、氨氮、硝态氮和亚硝态氮年均值分别为8.83 mg/L、6.10mg/L、0.370 mg/L和0.267 mg/L,污染较严重;景观水体氨氮年平均含量为0.204~9.91 mg/L,均值为1.52 mg/L,污染程度次之。于桥水库主要污染物为总氮,年均值为1.81mg/L,氨氮年均值为0.097 mg/L,污染相对较轻。地表水全年氨氮入河总量为34027.9 t,其中入境河流带入量为18185.1 t,占53.4%,境内源入河量为15842.8 t,占46.6%。境内污染主要来源于工业企业、城镇生活以及城市和农村非点源的排放。其中,工业点源占13.5%;城镇生活源占60%;各类非点源占26.5%。     

碱减量印染废水特征污染物的生物降解特性

利用气相色谱-质谱联用(GC/MS)和液相色谱-质谱联用(LC/MS)对碱减量印染废水特征污染物在不同条件下生物降解产物进行了研究.结果表明,对苯二甲酸(TA)、分散橙4RL、分散蓝2BLN3种特征污染物在好氧环境和厌氧环境中都可以降解,其中TA最容易降解,2BLN次之,4RL的生物降解性能最差.4RL分解过程产生大量对微生物具有很强的抑制作用的苯胺类物质;易降解物质的添加可以增强难降解物质的分解,这种作用在厌氧条件下更加明显.对特征污染物的分解规律进行了分析和推断.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of alpine ecotones: A spatial explicit model targeting altitudinal vegetation shifts

There is general agreement in literature that Alpine vegetation belt ecotones have shown a trend of upward migration in the last few decades. Despite the potential of such shifts as indicators of global change effects in mountain ecosystems, there are relatively few works focused on their assessment in a systematic and spatially explicit way. In this work our aim is to quantify the altitudinal shifts and analyse the spatial pattern dynamics of mountain ecotones. We developed a novel procedure to delineate the current and former state of three characteristic mountain ecotones, which we formalised as forest, tree and tundra lines. Our approach is based on the recognition of altitudinal extreme outposts identified with ecotone locations at a slope scale. The integration of multi-temporal datasets allows the identification and quantification of altitudinal advances and retreats in the outpost locations for a given period. We tested the method in a section of the Italian Alps for the period 1957-2003. Results show a general trend of an increase in altitude for the three ecotones, despite the occurrence of occasional decreases. We estimate decadal altitude increments of 25 m for forest line, 13 m for treeline and 11 m for tundra line. We also identified changes in ecotone spatial morphology between the two dates, with significant implications in connectivity and colonisation dynamics.     

民勤沙尘源区近地面降尘特征研究

借助近地面沙尘暴监测系统进行沙尘暴监测,分析民勤沙尘源区近地面降尘分布特征.结果表明:民勤降尘量与沙尘天气发生频率密切相关,春季3,4月沙尘高发期月降尘量分别为9.0和9.5 mg/cm2.降尘随距地面高度的增加而减小,最大降尘出现在近地面1 m处,月降尘量为9.7 mg/cm2;降尘受下垫面条件影响较大,从荒漠区到绿洲边缘,风速减弱4.11%,总降尘量由25.0 mg/cm2减少到20.6 mg/cm2;绿洲内部受防护林作用,风速减弱30.45%,总降尘量增到24.6 mg/cm2,最大降尘量提高到近地面9 m处,与绿洲防护林冠层平均高度相吻合.风速对近地面20m内的降尘影响明显,平均降尘量2.5 mg/cm2.距地面9 m的高度范围内,降尘随持续时间变化迅速增加,降尘增量可达3.1 mg/cm2.      

秋季嘉兴PM2.5质量浓度特征分析

利用膜采样、颗粒在线称重方法和维萨拉气象仪对2004和2006年秋季嘉兴大气中ρ(PM_2.5)及气象因子进行了分析.结果表明:2004和2006年秋季ρ(PM2.5)分别为(84.7±62.4)和(89.0±61.5) 　μg/m3;ρ(PM2.5)占ρ(PM₁₀) 比例为42%～69%;ρ(PM_2.5)日均值变化大(16.7～345.7 μg/m3),晴天ρ(PM_2.5)约为阴雨天的2倍.ρ(PM_2.5)日变化分析表明,晴天呈双峰双谷现象,晚高峰(16:00—20:00)ρ(PM_2.5)大于早高峰(06:00—10:00),阴雨天日变化不明显.PM_2.5与相对湿度无显著相关性,但在不同相对湿度下PM_2.5与能见度呈显著的负指数关系.东北风和西北风是观测期内当地的主导风向,ρ(PM2.5)高值出现在西南风方向,重污染天气过程形成原因复杂.      

Explaining human settlement patterns in a recreational lake district: Vilas County,Wisconsin, USA

Lakeshore development in Vilas County, northern Wisconsin (USA) is heterogeneous, ranging from lakes that are surrounded by homes and commercial establishments to lakes that have no buildings on their shorelines. Development in this recreational area has increased, and since the 1960s over half of new homes have been built on the lakeshore. We examined building density around lakes in relationship to 11 variables, including in-lake, shoreline, and social characteristics. Buildings in many parts of northern Wisconsin tend to be concentrated around shorelines; in Vilas County 61% of all medium-sized buildings (our proxy for residential development) on private land were ≤100 m of a lake. The probability of development on a lake was largely related to lake surface area, with larger, more accessible lakes showing a higher probability of development. Building density along shorelines varied with travel cost, lake surface area, presence of wetlands, and extent of public land ownership. Building density was greater on larger, more accessible lakes that were surrounded by forest (as opposed to wetlands) and public lands. Gaining a more precise understanding of human settlement patterns can help direct planning and resource protection efforts to lakes most likely to experience future development.     

四川的水资源及其利用

本文叙述了四川水资源的分布特点及其开发利用现状。     

景观环境构成在景观评价中的应用

提出了分析景观环境构成在景观评价中的重要性 ,并以芜湖市朱家桥水泥粉磨站项目为例 ,说明景观环境构成在景观评价中的应用