Improved SWAT Model Performance With Time-Dynamic Voronoi Tessellation of Climatic Input Data in Southern Africa1

Andersson, Jafet C.M., Alexander J.B. Zehnder, Bernhard Wehrli, and Hong Yang, 2012. Improved SWAT Model Performance with Time-Dynamic Voronoi Tessellation of Climatic Input Data in Southern Africa. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 480-493. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00627.x Abstract: In this study, we compared two approaches to obtain climatic time series for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), namely the conventional centroid method and time-dynamic Voronoi tessellation, and assessed the performance of SWAT in simulating discharge and smallholder maize yields in Southern Africa. Climatic time series were estimated with each method. The Voronoi method utilized all available precipitation and temperature data, but the centroid method used only 14.5 and 82.5%, respectively. After centroid processing, sub-basin time series were on average 42 and 63% incomplete, respectively. After Voronoi processing, all time series were complete. SWAT was fed with each climate dataset. Each model setup was independently calibrated and validated against discharge and maize yield. Similar model performance was obtained with both methods for yield. The root mean squared error during calibration was 0.26 and 0.27 t ha⁻¹ for the centroid and Voronoi methods, respectively (p-value: 0.80). However, daily discharge simulations improved significantly with the Voronoi method. The coefficient of determination increased from 0.24 to 0.39 in the calibration period (p-value: 9.6 × 10⁻¹³) and from 0.41 to 0.48 in the validation period (p-value: 3.1 × 10⁻³). The Voronoi method improved the simulation of the river flow regime. The largest improvements were obtained in data scarce situations, at high spatial and temporal resolution, and where the centroid method performed the worst.     

Brassinosteroid alleviates phenanthrene and pyrene phytotoxicity by increasing detoxification activity and photosynthesis in tomato

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of exogenously applied 24-epibrassinolide (BR) on growth, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant systems of tomato seedlings grown under different levels (0, 10, 30, 100 and 300 μM) of phenanthrene (PHE) and pyrene (PYR) in hydroponics. A concentration-dependent decrease in growth, photosynthetic pigment contents, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), maximal quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm), effective quantum yield of PSII (Φ_PSII), photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) has been observed following PHE and PYR exposure. By contrast, non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ) was increased. PHE was found to induce higher stress than PYR. However, foliar or root application of BR (50 nM and 5 nM, respectively) alleviated all those depressions with a sharp improvement in the activity of photosynthetic machinery. The activities of guaicol peroxidase (GPOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) as well as content of malondialdehyde (MDA) were increased in a dose-dependent manner under PHE or PYR treatments. Compared with control the highest increments of GPOD, CAT, APX, GR and MDA by PHE/PYR alone treatments were observed following 300 μM concentration, which were 67%, 87%, 53%, 95% and 74% by PHE and 42%, 53%, 30%, 86% and 62% by PYR, respectively. In addition, both reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) were induced by PHE or PYR. Interestingly, BR application in either form further increased enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidants in tomato roots treated with PHE or PYR. Our results suggest that BR has an anti-stress effect on tomato seedlings contaminated with PHE or PYR and this effect is mainly attributed by increased detoxification activity.     

20世纪90年代以来主要气象灾害对我国粮食生产的影响与减灾对策

干旱、洪涝、风雹和低温四大类主要气象灾害已经成为限制我国粮食增产的主要障碍。近5年的统计结果表明，我国平均每年粮食受灾面积达0．52亿hm^2，粮食损失超过500亿kg。干旱是危害最大的灾种，每年因旱灾损失粮食占气象灾害损失粮食的57％。20世纪90年代以来旱灾的发生较以往大幅度加重。我国农业应该采取的减灾对策为：改善生态环境；加强农业基础设施建设；推广节水灌溉与旱作农业技术；加强农业减灾科学技术研究；完善农业防灾减灾体系；建立农业灾害保险与补贴机制。     

Optimising herbicide dose: a straightforward approach to reduce the risk of side effects of herbicides

Public concern of possible effects of pesticides on human health and the environment has lead to an increased pressure on farmers to optimise their use of pesticides. Reducing pesticide doses below the recommended doses whenever possible is a straightforward approach to reduce the risk of adverse side effects. To adopt this approach decision-making has to be improved. The parameters to consider optimising herbicide doses are: weed flora and growth stage, crop competitiveness, climatic conditions, application technique, formulation/adjuvant and combination with other pesticides. In Denmark this information is provided to farmers through the decision support system ‹Plant Protection Online’. Based on input on weed species and densities, climatic conditions, soil type, crop cultivar and expected yield ‹Plant Protection Online’ will provide farmers with optimum herbicide solution usually with doses lower than standard recommended doses.     

A biome-scale assessment of the impact of invasive alien plants on ecosystem services in South Africa

This paper reports an assessment of the current and potential impacts of invasive alien plants on selected ecosystem services in South Africa. We used data on the current and potential future distribution of 56 invasive alien plant species to estimate their impact on four services (surface water runoff, groundwater recharge, livestock production and biodiversity) in five terrestrial biomes. The estimated reductions in surface water runoff as a result of current invasions were >3000 million m³ (about 7% of the national total), most of which is from the fynbos (shrubland) and grassland biomes; the potential reductions would be more than eight times greater if invasive alien plants were to occupy the full extent of their potential range. Impacts on groundwater recharge would be less severe, potentially amounting to approximately 1.5% of the estimated maximum reductions in surface water runoff. Reductions in grazing capacity as a result of current levels of invasion amounted to just over 1% of the potential number of livestock that could be supported. However, future impacts could increase to 71%. A ‘biodiversity intactness index’ (the remaining proportion of pre-modern populations) ranged from 89% to 71% for the five biomes. With the exception of the fynbos biome, current invasions have almost no impact on biodiversity intactness. Under future levels of invasion, however, these intactness values decrease to around 30% for the savanna, fynbos and grassland biomes, but to even lower values (13% and 4%) for the two karoo biomes. Thus, while the current impacts of invasive alien plants are relatively low (with the exception of those on surface water runoff), the future impacts could be very high. While the errors in these estimates are likely to be substantial, the predicted impacts are sufficiently large to suggest that there is serious cause for concern.     

沙田柚系列专用肥对柚果产量和品质的影响

报道了沙田柚产区土壤养分状况、沙田柚营养需求特性和叶片与果实对营养元素吸收的季节性变化模式、沙田柚果实品质指标与各时期树体营养元素含量的相关性,以及磷肥活化剂的使用。分析了沙田柚产量和品质提高的因素。研制出了沙田柚系列专用肥,并探讨了其使用的效果和经济效益。     

不同臭氧熏气方式对油菜光合速率、生物量和产量的影响

为准确评价臭氧(O3)浓度升高对农作物的影响,运用田间原位开顶气室(open-topchamber,OTC)研究了高浓度O3对油菜光合作用、生物量和产量的影响.实验包括3种O3水平,一种为经活性炭过滤的空气(CF),两种高浓度O3处理:经活性炭过滤后的空气加入恒定浓度为100nL·L-1的O(3CF100);经活性炭过滤后的空气加入具有日变化特征,其平均浓度和剂量与CF100相同的O3(CF100D).结果表明,CF100和CF100D均能使油菜叶片膜透性和H2O2自由基含量增加,光合色素含量和光合速率(photosynthesisrate,Pn)降低,最终导致油菜生物量和产量降低.与CF相比,CF100和CF100D熏气下油菜单位面积产量分别降低3.7%和18.6%.同时,实验还表明,CF100D对油菜的影响大于相同剂量的CF100.以上结果表明:1)高浓度的O(3CF100和CF100D)能够破坏细胞膜系统,减少光合色素数量,降低光合速率,从而降低作物生物量和产量;2)相同平均浓度和剂量的高浓度O3对油菜的影响因熏气方式的不同而有明显差异,目前采用的O3平均浓度和O3剂量指标不能准确评价O3浓度升高对油菜的影响.     

珠芽魔芋弥勒种——从低产到优质高产作物的希望之星

珠芽魔芋是东南亚地区的特色野生魔芋种,适宜在高温高湿环境生长。以珠芽魔芋人工诱导开花进行规模化无性育种,可将魔芋繁殖系数从1位数提高到约330倍。采用催苗技术让种子及叶面球茎提早出苗,可显著延长魔芋生长周期,使魔芋种植周期由3年缩短为1年,实现当年种植收获商品芋,从而避免魔芋种植过程中种植材料反复休眠的固有特性,可使魔芋从低产作物提升为优质高产作物,显著降低种植风险,使魔芋总量大幅增长,市场推广前景十分广阔。     

Modeling of Sediment Yield From Anjeni-Gauged Watershed,Ethiopia Using SWAT Model1

Setegn, Shimelis G., Bijan Dargahi, Ragahavan Srinivasan, and Assefa M. Melesse, 2010. Modeling of Sediment Yield From Anjeni-Gauged Watershed, Ethiopia Using SWAT Model. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(3):514-526. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00431.x Abstract: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was tested for prediction of sediment yield in Anjeni-gauged watershed, Ethiopia. Soil erosion and land degradation is a major problem on the Ethiopian highlands. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the performance and applicability of SWAT model in predicting monthly sediment yield and assess the impacts of subbasin delineation and slope discretization on the prediction of sediment yield. Ten years monthly meteorological, flow and sediment data were used for model calibration and validation. The annual average measured sediment yield was 24.6 tonnes/ha. The annual average simulated sediment yield was 27.8 and 29.5 tones/ha for calibration and validation periods, respectively. The study found that the observed values showed good agreement with the simulated sediment yield with Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) = 0.81, percent bias (PBIAS) = 28%, RMSE-observations standard deviation ratio (RSR) = 0.23, and coefficient of determination (R²) = 0.86 for calibration and NSE = 0.79, PBIAS = 30%, RSR = 0.29, and R² = 0.84 for validation periods. The model can be used for further analysis of different management scenarios that could help different stakeholders to plan and implement appropriate soil and water conservation strategies.     

热处理对脱水污泥溶解特性及厌氧消化性能的影响

分别对脱水污泥在100、130和170℃条件下进行热处理,研究热处理对脱水污泥溶解特性的影响。此外,在半连续式完全混合反应器中进行厌氧消化实验研究不同热处理污泥的厌氧消化性能。实验结果表明,在100、130和170℃条件下,污泥COD溶解率由处理前的5.23%分别提高至20.08%、22.50%和27.20%,脱水污泥热处理规律和效果与高含水率污泥(总固体含量<5%)基本一致。经130℃2 h和170℃30 min高温热处理后污泥甲烷产率显著提高,较原泥分别提高24.64%和38.61%,沼气中甲烷含量稍有降低。