Vegetation structure, niche width, niche overlap and types of competition in temperate grazingland of Garhwal Himalaya, India

Temperate grazing lands in Garhwal Himalaya are rich in herbaceous vegetation and extensively used for grazing by locally owned livestock. Capillipedium parviflorum is a frequently occurring and dominant grass species under Pine canopy in associate with several herbs. Beside, grazing and extensive fire, interactions among associated species is a determining factor of community structure. In this article the dominant diversity pattern of vegetation in temperate grazing land along two different altitudes and having different slope aspects is described. Interaction between dominant and co-dominant species with their niche appearance and niche overlap measurement was also observed and presented here. South and west facing slopes had maximum species and diversity values while east north facing slopes had higher species dominant. Capillipedium parviflorum and other grasses had maximum niche values and were dominant and co dominant species. Three types of interspecific interaction were observed between species and grasses were observed as succeeding species in all sites of different topographic conditions. Dominant diversity pattern along with resource partitioning and interspecific competition is discussed and presented here.     

不同房间结构下人员疏散的CA模拟研究

采用元胞自动机模型分别对不同房间结构中的人员疏散进行了模拟,重点研究了人员密度和出口条件对疏散时间的影响.结果表明,疏散时间随着人员密度线形增加;根据建筑结构的不同,采用多出口对疏散时间有不同程度的减少.该模拟结果对于出口的设计和人员的安全疏散具有一定的指导意义.     

基于基本顶断裂位置分析剩余煤柱稳定性

为简化支承应力表达式及全面分析煤柱稳定性,基于基本顶断裂位置建立工作面剩余煤柱载荷力学模型,将指数函数型支承应力曲线简化为与其拟合的幂函数抛物线,推导出剩余煤柱载荷及极限宽度B表达式。计算得出312工作面基本顶断裂位置与非开采帮塑性区边缘距离d为8.6～11.5 m,B为8.06～8.85 m。研究结果表明：随着d增加,煤柱载荷及B均逐渐增大;B随煤层黏聚力与内摩擦角的增加而减小,随煤层埋深、应力集中系数、侧压力系数、煤层厚度及工作面采高的增加而增大。研究结果有助于更加全面地分析煤柱稳定性,为工程实践提供一定理论指导。     

基于修正的两段法对某电站水库松散堆积体岸坡塌岸预测

水库塌岸是影响水电站库区移民工程的重要地质灾害问题,研究其塌岸模式、预测方法并预测最终塌岸宽度是十分必要的。通过对某水电站库区重点库段塌岸进行调查分析,该水电站库区塌岸模式以冲蚀磨蚀型和坍塌型为主;分析几种常用的塌岸预测方法,确定采用修正后的两段法预测该库区塌岸最终宽度;采用现场工程地质调查法、工程类比法等手段确定了库区塌岸预测参数,并对该水电站库区塌岸进行了预测,预测结果表明库区塌岸总长30.5km,塌岸预测最终宽度为5~50m。该研究可为库区移民工程提供重要依据。     

基于均匀试验的混凝土裂缝宽度影响因素分析

桥梁裂缝宽度的大小直接影响桥梁使用过程中的耐久性和安全性,裂缝宽度可以用配筋率、混凝土强度、理论厚度和环境湿度等因素来控制。为了研究以上4个因素对裂缝宽度的影响,以贵州某空心板桥为例,使用Midas/Civil进行建模分析,并用均匀试验设计法来确定各因素的影响程度。结果显示,配筋率以及环境湿度的影响较大,混凝土强度和理论厚度影响较小。所得结论为混凝土桥梁的设计研究提供了参考。     

Species-specific tuning increases robustness to sampling bias in models of species distributions: An implementation with Maxent

Various methods exist to model a species’ niche and geographic distribution using environmental data for the study region and occurrence localities documenting the species’ presence (typically from museums and herbaria). In presence-only modelling, geographic sampling bias and small sample sizes represent challenges for many species. Overfitting to the bias and/or noise characteristic of such datasets can seriously compromise model generality and transferability, which are critical to many current applications - including studies of invasive species, the effects of climatic change, and niche evolution. Even when transferability is not necessary, applications to many areas, including conservation biology, macroecology, and zoonotic diseases, require models that are not overfit. We evaluated these issues using a maximum entropy approach (Maxent) for the shrew Cryptotis meridensis, which is endemic to the Cordillera de Mérida in Venezuela. To simulate strong sampling bias, we divided localities into two datasets: those from a portion of the species’ range that has seen high sampling effort (for model calibration) and those from other areas of the species’ range, where less sampling has occurred (for model evaluation). Before modelling, we assessed the climatic values of localities in the two datasets to determine whether any environmental bias accompanies the geographic bias. Then, to identify optimal levels of model complexity (and minimize overfitting), we made models and tuned model settings, comparing performance with that achieved using default settings. We randomly selected localities for model calibration (sets of 5, 10, 15, and 20 localities) and varied the level of model complexity considered (linear versus both linear and quadratic features) and two aspects of the strength of protection against overfitting (regularization). Environmental bias indeed corresponded to the geographic bias between datasets, with differences in median and observed range (minima and/or maxima) for some variables. Model performance varied greatly according to the level of regularization. Intermediate regularization consistently led to the best models, with decreased performance at low and generally at high regularization. Optimal levels of regularization differed between sample-size-dependent and sample-size-independent approaches, but both reached similar levels of maximal performance. In several cases, the optimal regularization value was different from (usually higher than) the default one. Models calibrated with both linear and quadratic features outperformed those made with just linear features. Results were remarkably consistent across the examined sample sizes. Models made with few and biased localities achieved high predictive ability when appropriate regularization was employed and optimal model complexity was identified. Species-specific tuning of model settings can have great benefits over the use of default settings.     

Polymorphic color vision in white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus): Is there foraging niche divergence among phenotypes?

Many species of platyrrhine primates are characterised by sex-linked color vision polymorphism. This presents an opportunity to study the biology and ecology of individuals with different phenotypes living in the same group. Several evolutionary processes could maintain polymorphic genes in populations. In this study, we evaluate the hypothesis that foraging niche divergence among monkeys explains the presence of multiple color vision phenotypes. Specifically, we test whether dichromats and trichromats differ in foraging time devoted to cryptic vs brightly colored resources. We did not find any differences in foraging time spent on different food types by dichromatic and trichromatic monkeys in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) living in a tropical dry forest. We conclude that in so far as these variables are concerned, niche divergence does not likely explain color vision polymorphism in our study population.     

Respective influence of habitat conditions and management regimes on prealpine calcareous grasslands

The calcareous grasslands of the south-western French Alps have been poorly studied, although they provide suitable habitat for rare plant species and communities. The separate and combined effects on calcareous grassland communities of habitat conditions (lithology, soil moisture) and management regimes (grazing intensity, cutting regime) were studied using constrained ordination techniques (canonical correspondence analysis with variance partitioning). Among the explanatory variables considered, the most important factor determining floristic composition was lithology, which explained 11.9% of floristic variability, followed by grazing intensity (6.0%). Additive effects of management and lithology explained 23.9% of floristic variability. Species niche amplitude was measured by conditional variances of samples along main ordination axes, in order to define adequate conservation management for the rarest short-lived species with narrow niche breadth on both habitat and management gradients.     

集中荷载下高强箍筋混凝土梁的抗剪性能

通过8根集中荷载下高强箍筋混凝土梁的受剪破坏试验，分析了500MPa箍筋混凝土构件斜截面的剪切承载力及使用阶段的斜裂缝宽度，同时对两组配有蒙皮钢筋的混凝土梁的受剪承载力及斜裂缝宽度进行了对比分析。试验结果表明，此类构件的受力性能与普通钢筋混凝土受剪构件相同，其斜截面受剪承载力仍可按现行《混凝土结构设计规范》有关公式进行计算，并且具有足够的安全储备。同时蒙皮钢筋的配置能够有效地限制裂缝的开展，改善受剪破坏的脆性性能。