Wood bison population recovery and forage availability in northwestern Canada

Forage availability was assessed to determine sustainable stocking rates for eight broadly defined vegetation types (Treed Uplands, Treed Lowlands, Mixed Tall Shrub/Sedge, Closed-canopied Willow, and Open-canopied Willow, Meadow, Wetland Grass, Wetland Sedge) for use by wood bison (Bison bison athabascae), a threatened subspecies, in the Canadian boreal forest of northern Alberta. Clip plots (n=108) were used to sample peak availability of herbs and current annual growth of Salix spp. in late summer. Graminoid wetlands dominated by Carex atherodes, Carex aquatilis, Carex utriculata, Scolochloa festucacea, or Calamagrostis stricta produced 1975-4575 kg ha(-1) of fair to good quality forage, whereas treed stands produced < 250 kg ha(-1) of forb-dominated forage (>85% content), which was below a published 25% foraging efficiency threshold of 263 kg ha(-1) for bison. Upland forests that dominate the region produced < or = 1 animal unit day (AUD) of forage per hectare in summer. Most forest understory plants were of poor forage value, suggesting the potential sustainable stocking rate of such areas was actually < or = 0.3 AUD ha(-1), with even lower rates during winter due to snow cover. Herbaceous wetlands contained approximately 78 AUD ha(-1) of forage, but were considered largely unavailable in summer because of flooding and soft organic soils that make access difficult. Conversion of prime foraging habitat to agricultural land, forest expansion due to fire control, and a warmer and wetter climatic regime after the mid-1900s likely contributed to a regional reduction in carrying capacity. It is hypothesized that substantial recovery of the wood bison population toward historical levels will be constrained in northern Alberta by the availability of summer forage, and the limited extent of graminoid wetlands that provide winter foraging habitat.     

The geography of conflict between elk and agricultural values in the Cypress Hills, Canada

Complex ecological issues like depredation and its management are determined by multiple factors acting at more than one scale and are interlinked with complex human social and economic behaviour. Depredation by wild herbivores can be a major obstacle to agricultural community support for wildlife conservation. For three decades, crop and fence damage, competition with livestock for native rangeland and tame pasture, and depredation of stored feed by elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) have been the cause of conflict with agricultural producers in the Cypress Hills, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Tolerance of elk presence on private lands is low because few benefits accrue to private landowners; rather they largely perceive elk as a public resource produced at their expense. Government management actions have focused on abatement inputs (e.g., population reduction; fencing) and compensation, but incentives to alter land use patterns (crop choice and location) in response to damages have not been considered. Nor has there been information on spatial structure of the elk population that would allow targeted management actions instead of attempting to manage the entire population. In this study we analysed the spatial structure of the Cypress Hills elk population, the distribution of the elk harvest in relation to agricultural conflicts, developed models of the spatial patterns of conflict fields, and evaluated compensation patterns for damage by wild herbivores. We propose modifications to current abatement and compensation programs and discuss alternative approaches involving changes to agricultural land use patterns that may reduce the intensity of conflicts with elk, and increase the acceptance capacity of landowners.     

Shrub Encroachment Impacts the Potential for Multiple Use Conflicts on Public Land

Public rangelands in North America are typically managed under a multiple use policy that includes livestock grazing and wildlife management. In this article we report on the landscape level extent of grassland loss to shrub encroachment in a portion of the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve in southwestern Alberta, Canada, and review the associated implications for simultaneously supporting livestock and wildlife populations while maintaining range health on this diminishing vegetation type. Digitized aerial photographs of 12 km of valley bottom from 1958 and 1974 were co-registered to ortho-rectified digital imagery taken in 1998, and an un-supervised classification used to determine areas associated with grassland and shrubland in each year. Field data from 2002 were over-layed using GPS coordinates to refine the classification using a calibration-validation procedure. Over the 40-year study period, open grasslands declined from 1,111 ha in 1958 to 465 ha in 1998, representing a 58% decrease. Using mean production data for grass and shrub dominated areas we then quantified aggregate changes in grazing capacity of both primary (grassland) and secondary (shrubland) habitats for livestock and wildlife. Total declines in grazing capacity from 1958 to 1998 totaled 2,744 Animal Unit Months (AUMs) of forage (−39%), including a 58% decrease in primary (i.e., open grassland) range, which was only partly offset by the availability of 1,357 AUMs within less productive and less accessible shrubland habitats. Our results indicate shrub encroachment has been extensive and significantly reduced forage availability to domestic livestock and wildlife, and will increase the difficulty of conserving remaining grasslands. Although current grazing capacities remain marginally above those specified by regulated grazing policies, it is clear that continued habitat change and decreases in forage availability are likely to threaten the condition of remaining grasslands. Unless shrub encroachment is arrested or grassland restoration initiated, reductions in aggregate ungulate numbers may be necessary.

Methodology of industry scale analysis under the constraint of regional resource capacity using HSY algorithm

This paper develops a methodology of proper scale analysis for regional industry development, which can be used in industry planning with the consideration of regional resource capacities. In the face of different data sources and even data scarcity, alternative methods based on linear programming and quadratic programming algorithms for calculating the resource intensity factors are designed. Based on the empirical study of industrialization, initial scenarios of industry development were set. Using HSY algorithm, sensitive industries that may cause exceeding regional resource capacity can be identified, and the risk of exceeding can be predicted and expressed in probability. Furthermore, a proper scale range can be designed for these sensitive industries according to resource capacity. Taking the case of Dalian city in China, this paper estimated the regional urban development plan, various resources capacities were studied, and land resources were estimated to be the most critical resource for the city. The land resource depletion intensities of different industries are calculated by quadratic programming algorithm. Under the constraint of 427.56 km² available industrial land resources, the electronic and power industries have the most significant impact on total land use, if the scale of power industry exceeds 1.27 billion USD, the probability of land resource capacity breakthrough will be 50%.     

长短桩复合地基承载力发挥系数取值研究

根据水泥土长短桩复合地基试验结果,得到了考虑荷载水平的水泥土长短桩复合地基承载力计算公式。然后,考虑复合地基中桩体、桩间土和复合地基沉降量之间的相互关系,利用现场载荷试验成果,对单桩复合地基和长短桩复合地基的桩间土承载力发挥系数和合理的s/b取值范围进行了对比研究,得到了长短桩复合地基桩间土承载力发挥系数的计算方法。结果表明:长短桩复合地基桩体先于桩间土出现破坏,桩体极限荷载点对应的复合地基s/b值为s/b的上限;当垫层模量Ec为100M Pa时,长短桩复合地基s/b上限为0.0034,对应的桩间土承载力发挥系数为0.29。     

基于化工园区整体风险量分析的安全规划研究

通过对园区安全容量和危险量的分析,得到园区整体的风险评估值;提出并定义园区危安比最大临界点,用其反映园区的最大可接受风险量;运用"二八法则",确定危安比上限;当危安比在3种不同值域区间下,对应的园区安全规划的重点不同;从园区整个生命周期考虑,提出包含各个阶段的园区安全规划主要内容。     

氧化物催化剂对非热等离子体催化降解甲苯的影响

考察了在干燥气氛下不同氧化物催化剂对非热等离子体催化降解甲苯的影响。从甲苯降解率、碳平衡、CO2选择性和O3去除4个方面,对比了氧化物催化剂的介电性能、表面供氧能力和比表面积与多孔结构对反应产生影响的强弱。结果表明,催化剂的介电性能有利于甲苯降解率、碳平衡和O3产量的提高,但对CO2选择性和O3去除的影响极小;一定能量密度下,催化剂比表面积与多孔结构对CO2选择性和O3去除所产生的影响要强于介电性能;催化剂表面供氧能力可明显促进反应的进行,其对反应所产生的影响要强于比表面积与多孔结构。     

无硫膨胀石墨的制备及吸油性能

通过单因子实验考察了无硫膨胀石墨制备过程中氧化剂及插层剂用量、氧化反应及插层反应时间、氧化反应及插层反应温度对无硫膨胀石墨膨胀体积的影响。通过正交实验确定了制备无硫膨胀石墨的最优条件是:石墨(g)∶浓硝酸(mL)∶30%H2O2(mL)∶乙酸酐(mL)=1∶2.25∶0.25∶0.6,在30℃条件下氧化反应60 min,加入插层剂后在60℃条件下插层反应90 min,此条件无硫膨胀石墨的膨胀体积达317 mL/g使用XPS、FT-IR、XRD和SEM对无硫膨胀石墨进行了表征并对其吸油性能和再生性能进行了研究。结果表明,所制备无硫膨胀石墨对原油和柴油的最大吸附量分别为66.3 g/g和62.7 g/g。吸附原油后的无硫膨胀石墨抽滤再生后首次再生率为49.1%,原油的回收率为64.5%。     

浅析规模化畜禽集中养殖环境污染现状及防治对策——以安居区玉丰镇为例

通过实地调查取样分析,结果表明:玉丰镇鸡头寺村和金龟村规模化畜禽集中养殖实际出栏量是土地环境容量1.3倍,土壤中含锌、铜、锰、砷量分别为163.05mg/kg、156.00mg/kg、101.13mg/kg和9.19mg/kg,已造成土壤污染,农田灌溉用水化学需氧量超标准限值503%,地下水和大气受到一定程度的污染。