Estimating net primary production and annual plant carbon inputs, and modelling future changes in soil carbon stocks in arable farmlands of northern Japan

Soil C sequestration in croplands is deemed to be one of the most promising greenhouse gas mitigation options for Japan's agriculture. In this context, changes in soil C stocks in northern Japan's arable farming area over the period of 1971-2010, specifically in the region's typical Andosol (volcanic ash-derived) and non-Andosol soils, were simulated using soil-type-specific versions of the Rothamsted carbon model (RothC). The models were then used to predict the effects, over the period of 2011-2050, of three potential management scenarios: (i) baseline: maintenance of present crop residue returns and green manure crops, as well as composted cattle manure C inputs (24-34 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ applied on 3-55% of arable land according to crop), (ii) cattle manure: all arable fields receive 20 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ of composted cattle manure, increased C inputs from crop residues and present C inputs from green manure are assumed, and (iii) minimum input: all above-ground crop residues removed, no green manure crop, no cattle manure applied. Above- and below-ground residue biomass C inputs contributed by 8 major crops, and oats employed as a green manure crop, were drawn from yield statistics recorded at the township level and crop-specific allometric relationships (e.g. ratio of above-ground residue biomass to harvested biomass on a dry weight basis). Estimated crop net primary production (NPP) ranged from 1.60 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for adzuki bean to 8.75 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for silage corn. For the whole region (143 × 10³ ha), overall NPP was estimated at 952 ± 60 Gg C yr⁻¹ (6.66 ± 0.42 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). Plant C inputs to the soil also varied widely amongst the crops, ranging from 0.50 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for potato to 3.26 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for winter wheat. Annual plant C inputs to the soil were estimated at 360 ± 45 Gg C yr⁻¹ (2.52 ± 0.32 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), representing 38% of the cropland NPP. The RothC simulations suggest that the region's soil C stock (0-30 cm horizon), across all soils, has decreased from 13.96 Tg C (107.5 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) in 1970 to 12.46 Tg C (96.0 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) in 2010. For the baseline, cattle manure and minimum input scenarios, soil C stocks of 12.13, 13.27 and 9.82 Tg C, respectively, were projected for 2050. Over the period of 2011-2050, compared to the baseline scenario, soil C was sequestered (+0.219 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) by enhanced cattle manure application, but was lost (−0.445 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) under the minimum input scenario. The effect of variations of input data (monthly mean temperature, monthly precipitation, plant C inputs and cattle manure C inputs) on the uncertainty of model outputs for each scenario was assessed using a Monte Carlo approach. Taking into account the uncertainty (standard deviation as % of the mean) for the model's outputs for 2050 (5.1-6.1%), it is clear that the minimum input scenario would lead to a rapid decrease in soil C stocks for arable farmlands in northern Japan.     

结构抗震设计中地震动参数选取的几个基本问题

以“小震”名义对设防烈度的折减与老规范用“结构系数”如何确定地震作用是抗震设计的重要环节。自1989版抗震设计规范引入分级超越概率后,同一设防烈度对应多值描述,给正确理解和应用带来困难。梳理了地震作用取值的发展沿革,展示了规范更新并未打破地震作用取值的连贯性,折减效果相当。作为案例应用,指出地震模拟实验中振动台对容纳其厂房的地震作用幅值上限是明确的,不存在超越概率问题。结合对实际震害的思考,指出抗震概念设计远比计算分析重要。     

关于加强环境统计工作的思考

针对江苏省环境统计工作中存在的问题,通过调查研究,提出了加强做好江苏省环境统计工作的有关对策.     

应用数理统计法评价污水去除率

确切的评价污水去除率是界定污水处理效果的依据,本文将数理统计法应用于污水去除率评价中,建立了一种较为科学的定量评价方法,同时还引入了总量监测的内涵.     

Geospatial and Temporal Analysis of a 20‐Year Record of Landsat‐Based Water Clarity in Minnesota's 10,000 Lakes

A large 20‐year database on water clarity for all Minnesota lakes ≥8 ha was analyzed statistically for spatial distributions, temporal trends, and relationships with in‐lake and watershed factors that potentially affect lake clarity. The database includes Landsat‐based water clarity estimates expressed in terms of Secchi depth (SD_Landsat), an integrative measure of water quality, for more than 10,500 lakes for time periods centered around 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. Minnesota lake clarity is lower (more turbid) in the south and southwest and clearer in the north and northeast; this pattern is evident at the levels of individual lakes and ecoregions. Temporal trends in clarity were detected in ~11% of the lakes: 4.6% had improving clarity and 6.2% had decreasing clarity. Ecoregions in southern and western Minnesota, where agriculture is the predominant land use, had higher percentages of lakes with decreasing clarity than the rest of the state, and small and shallow lakes had higher percentages of decreasing clarity trends than large and deep lakes. The mean SD_Landsat statewide remained stable from 1985 to 2005 but decreased in ecoregions dominated by agricultural land use. Deep lakes had higher clarity than shallow lakes statewide and for lakes grouped by land cover. SD_Landsat decreased as the percentage of agriculture and/or urban area increased at county and catchment levels and it increased with increasing forested land.     

基于区间活性数据的定量结构-活性关系

利用贝叶斯统计方法构建了基于区间活性数据的取代苯胺和苯酚类化合物对大型溞(Daphniamagna)24 h急性毒性的定量结构-活性关系模型,并与基于平均数和中位数的点估计活性数据的定量结构-活性关系模型进行了比较.结果表明,前者可以充分利用化合物的活性数据信息,模型具有更好的拟合效果与预测能力以及较宽的应用范围.基于区间活性数据的定量结构-活性关系模型可为生态风险评价等提供更加可靠的预测数据.     

膜生物反应器工艺污水处理厂设计进水水质的确定

城市污水处理厂进水水质是工程设计的基本参数,进水水质的测定分析对污水处理厂的设计具有重要意义。对无锡市城北污水处理厂的现状进水水质进行了调查和分析,提出按照水质指标浓度出现的频率确定污水处理厂设计进水水质的方法,并针对采用的膜生物反应器(MBR)工艺的特点,提出:(1)根据实测数据按照一定的保证概率可以用来确定城市污水处理厂设计进水水质;(2)为了使水质的确定更加符合设计工程的实际情况,根据实测数据分析确定设计进水水质指标时,一般还需要进行趋势性调整和季节性调整;(3)确定合理的指标浓度与流量,以此为依据进行反应池的工艺设计,同时要校核夏季温度高、浓度低、流量大和冬季温度低、浓度高、流量小的工况是否满足处理要求,然后取冬、夏季校核值以及未作季节性调整设计值中最不利情况作为设计值,才能充分保证出水达到处理要求。     

A Bayesian-weighted approach to predicting the number of newly discovered rare species

In natural ecological communities, most species are rare and thus susceptible to extinction. Consequently, the prediction and identification of rare species are of enormous value for conservation purposes. How many newly found species will be rare in the next field survey? We took a Bayesian viewpoint and used observed species abundance information in an ecological sample to develop an accurate way to estimate the number of new rare species (e.g., singletons, doubletons, and tripletons) in an additional unknown sample. A similar method has been developed for incidence-based data sets. Five seminumerical tests (3 abundance cases and 2 incidence cases) showed that our proposed Bayesian-weight estimator accurately predicted the number of new rare species with low relative bias and low relative root mean squared error and, accordingly, high accuracy. Finally, we applied the proposed estimator to 6 conservation-directed empirical data sets (3 abundance cases and 3 incidence cases) and found the prediction of new rare species was quite accurate; the 95% CI covered the true observed value very well in most cases. Our estimator performed similarly to or better than an unweighted estimator derived from Chao et al. and performed consistently better than the naïve unweighted estimator. We recommend our Bayesian-weight estimator for conservation applications, although the unweighted estimator of Chao et al. may be better under some circumstances. We provide an R package RSE (r are s pecies e stimation) at https://github.com/ecomol/RSE for implementation of the estimators.     

The effect of wind direction on ozone levels: a case study

This paper provides an illustrative case study on how the wind direction plays an important role in determining the ozone levels, in a suburb of Houston. Circular correlation and circular regression methods are used in the analysis and the primary goal is to illustrate how circular data analytic methods help in analyzing certain environmental issues. Received: August 2003/Revised: June 2004     

Trends in Rainfall Exceedances in the Observed Record in Selected Areas of the United States1

Bonnin, Geoffrey M., Kazungu Maitaria, and Michael Yekta, 2011. Trends in Rainfall Exceedances in the Observed Record in Selected Areas of the United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(6): 1173–1182. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00603.x Abstract: Semantic differences have led to a gap in the understanding of the impacts of climate change on precipitation frequency estimates. There is popular perception that heavy rainfalls have become more frequent, and that this trend will increase with global warming. Most of the literature examines this question from the point of view of climatology using definitions of “heavy,”“very heavy,” or “extreme” rainfall, which are different from those commonly used by civil engineers. This article identifies the differences in meaning used by the climate and civil engineering communities and examines trends in the observed record in the frequency of exceedances (not trends in magnitudes). Using concepts recognized as the basis for design of the Nation’s civil infrastructure, we look at trends in the number of exceedances of thresholds for a variety of precipitation frequencies and event durations used by civil engineers. We found that the estimated trends in exceedances at one‐day and multiday durations were statistically significant and increasing for the Ohio River Basin and surrounding states but the reverse was true for the Semiarid Southwest (i.e., not significant and decreasing trends). In addition, we found the magnitude of the trends was small for all but the more frequent events and also small with respect to the uncertainty associated with the precipitation frequency estimates themselves.