Off-Target Herbicide Deposition Associated with Treating Individual Trees

There are a wide variety of different herbicide treatment methods used to remove single trees. Each method (cut-stump, basal, foliar) has a unique amount of off-target disturbance that should be considered in selecting a treatment for use in management. We quantified the amount of off-target deposition that resulted from four conventional herbicide application methods: 1) basal, 2) cut-stump, 3) high-volume, hydraulic foliar, and 4) low-volume, backpack foliar. Basal and cut-stump herbicide treatments deposited up to 200 and 4000 times more herbicide (a.i. per unit area) at groundline than the low-volume and high-volume foliar treatments, respectively. On a per tree basis, basal and cut-stump treatments deposited nearly six times more total herbicide than high-volume foliar, and 68 times more than low-volume foliar. All of the herbicide deposited off-target landed within 0.6 m of the basal and cut-stump treatments, 3.7 m with the low-volume foliar, and 7.3 m with high-volume foliar methods. Off-target herbicide deposition resulted in affected areas with killed or damaged vegetation ranging in size from 0.36 m² (cut stump) to 7.08 m² (high-volume foliar). Deposition amounts and affected areas were greater with larger trees, compared to smaller ones. We observed that 48% of the total amount of herbicide applied per plot was deposited off-target with cut-stump treatment, compared to only 4% to 11% for the other treatments. We suspect this difference is due to applicator error with the cut-stump treatment, likely related to the type of spray device used to apply the treatment.     

中国西部生态系统的水问题综合评估研究——以三工河流域为例

基于中国西部生态系统综合评估的概念框架,提出了该评估的水问题评估目标和概念框架,并以三工河流域为研究对象,通过对不同年份生态系统服务价值的评估,以人工生态系统和天然生态系统服务功能最大化为原则,确定1987年的生态景观状态组合为生态系统保护的最佳生态目标。在此保护目标下,分别估算了河流廊道和河道外生态需水,判定三工河流域生态需水的阈值区间为17%～24%。其后,结合社会经济需水的预测情况,综合分析了当地居民福利变化的情况,并以河流廊道用水和河道外用水平衡、社会经济内部用水平衡以及生态系统和社会经济系统用水平衡为原则,提出了基于人与生态和谐的水资源配置的对策和建议。     

扬州生态市建设中景观生态规划的应用

在扬州根据景观生态规划的原则，通过对自然、经济和社会条件的分析，形成市域范围内的生态敏感地区分布图，并提出相应的发展对策；在沿江地带，根据自然演变和经济发展，提出扬州沿江地带保护自然发展动力轴线、强化经济轴线的总体布局；根据城市发展目标和廊道建设情况，提出在中心城区沿润扬大桥北接线建设1km的环城绿色廊道，建设城市东西方向的3条绿色廊道和南北方向的两个楔形开放空间，同时沿主要的水网建设沿岸防护廊道，形成作为城市冷桥的绿色网络结构，把城市和郊区联系在一起，加强空气的流通并减轻、预防热岛效应和其他城市弊端。     

EFFECTS OF WOODY VEGETATION ON SANDY LEVEE INTEGRITY1

he influence of woody vegetation on the reliability of a sandy levee was investigated using field data in seepage and slope stability analyses. Field data were collected from selected sites within a 10-km segment of a channel levee on the Sacramento River near Elkhorn, California. Root architecture and distribution were determined using the profile-wall method in which root cross sections were exposed in the vertical wall of an excavated trench. Transects running both parallel and perpendicular to the crest of the levee were excavated at six sites. Each site was dominated by different plant species: five sites were adjacent to trees or woody shrubs, while one supported only herbaceous growth. Lateral plant roots were primarily restricted to, and modified, the near-surface soil horizons to a depth of approximately 1 meter. Root area ratios (RARs) did not exceed 2.02 percent and generally decreased exponentially with depth. At depths greater than 20 cm, mean RARs for sites dominated by wood species were not significantly different from the mean RAB for the herbaceous site. No open voids clearly attributable to plant roots were observed. Roots reinforced the levee soil and increased shear resistance in a measurable manner. Infinite slope and circular arc stability analyses were performed on the landward and riverward slopes under different hydraulic loading conditions. Infinite slope analyses indicated increasing root area ratio from 0.01 percent to 1 percent increased the factor of safety from less than one to more than seven. Circular arc analyses indicated that even the lower measured root concentrations sufficed to increase safety factors for arcs with maximum depths of about 1 m from less than one to about 1.2. Our findings suggest that allowing woody shrubs and small trees on levees would provide environmental benefits and would enhance structural integrity without the hazards associated with large trees such as wind-throwing.     

Effectiveness of Corridors Relative to Enlargement of Habitat Patches

Abstract:  The establishment of biological corridors between two otherwise isolated habitat patches is a common yet contentious strategy for conserving populations in fragmented landscapes. We compared the effectiveness of corridors with the effectiveness of an alternate conservation strategy, the enlargement of existing habitat patches. We used a spatially explicit population model that simulated population size in two kinds of patches. One patch had a corridor that connected it to a larger "source" patch and the other patch was unconnected and enlarged at the periphery by an area the same size as the corridor. Patch isolation, corridor width, patch size, and the probability that individuals would cross the border from habitat to matrix were varied independently. In general, population size was greater in enlarged patches than in connected patches when patches were relatively large and isolated. Corridor width and the probability of crossing the border from habitat to matrix did not affect the relative benefit of corridors versus patch enlargement. Although biological corridors may mitigate potential effects of inbreeding depression at long time scales, our results suggest that they are not always the best method of conserving fragmented populations.     

南京城市西部遗产廊道规划

南京城市西部历史时期是城市的重要边界,现在逐渐演变成老城与新区之间的核心地带,成为公共活动的重要地区,保护其自然、文化遗产和生态环境具有非常重要的意义。在对其现状调查分析的基础上,梳理遗产点的历史概况、现状及其分布情况,提出规划遗产廊道的意义,探讨规划的具体思路,为南京遗产保护提供了新的视角。     

Bidirectional visibility

The percentage of the cross-sectional area of two objects (e.g., vehicles, hikers, or animals) that can be seen from each of their locations in a forested area is generally not the same. There is a directionality to the visibility between them. This is due to the relative positions and sizes of the vegetation and other view-blocking features between the objects. An analytical technique has been developed to help understand bidirectional visibility. Its use entails the construction of a visibility diagram containing the basic visibility information between observers in a given setting. An example is presented showing the use of the visibility diagram to determine visibility between two moving observers in a forested environment. The diagram is also used to determine the differences in the percentage each observer has of the other's visible cross-sectional area (bidirectional visibility). A discussion of the application of the technique in the planning or development of new facilities, as well as in forest and wildlife management, is provided.     

Use of Empirically Derived Source-Destination Models to Map Regional Conservation Corridors

Abstract:  The ability of populations to be connected across large landscapes via dispersal is critical to long-term viability for many species. One means to mitigate population isolation is the protection of movement corridors among habitat patches. Nevertheless, the utility of small, narrow, linear features as habitat corridors has been hotly debated. Here, we argue that analysis of movement across continuously resistant landscapes allows a shift to a broader consideration of how landscape patterns influence connectivity at scales relevant to conservation. We further argue that this change in scale and definition of the connectivity problem improves one's ability to find solutions and may help resolve long-standing disputes regarding scale and definition of movement corridors and their importance to population connectivity. We used a new method that combines empirically derived landscape-resistance maps and least-cost path analysis between multiple source and destination locations to assess habitat isolation and identify corridors and barriers to organism movement. Specifically, we used a genetically based landscape resistance model for American black bears ( Ursus americanus ) to identify major movement corridors and barriers to population connectivity between Yellowstone National Park and the Canadian border. Even though western Montana and northern Idaho contain abundant public lands and the largest wilderness areas in the contiguous United States, moving from the Canadian border to Yellowstone Park along those paths indicated by modeled gene flow required bears to cross at least 6 potential barriers. Our methods are generic and can be applied to virtually any species for which reliable maps of landscape resistance can be developed.     

Forks in the Road: Choices in Procedures for Designing Wildland Linkages

Abstract:  Models are commonly used to identify lands that will best maintain the ability of wildlife to move between wildland blocks through matrix lands after the remaining matrix has become incompatible with wildlife movement. We offer a roadmap of 16 choices and assumptions that arise in designing linkages to facilitate movement or gene flow of focal species between 2 or more predefined wildland blocks. We recommend designing linkages to serve multiple (rather than one) focal species likely to serve as a collective umbrella for all native species and ecological processes, explicitly acknowledging untested assumptions, and using uncertainty analysis to illustrate potential effects of model uncertainty. Such uncertainty is best displayed to stakeholders as maps of modeled linkages under different assumptions. We also recommend modeling corridor dwellers (species that require more than one generation to move their genes between wildland blocks) differently from passage species (for which an individual can move between wildland blocks within a few weeks). We identify a problem, which we call the subjective translation problem, that arises because the analyst must subjectively decide how to translate measurements of resource selection into resistance. This problem can be overcome by estimating resistance from observations of animal movement, genetic distances, or interpatch movements. There is room for substantial improvement in the procedures used to design linkages robust to climate change and in tools that allow stakeholders to compare an optimal linkage design to alternative designs that minimize costs or achieve other conservation goals.     

绕城高速公路走廊的产业发展策略分析——以济南市东绕城高速走廊为例

随着绕城高速公路的建设,国内大城市高速走廊效应日益显著.以山东济南市东绕城高速公路为例,利用SWOT分析方法阐述了绕城高速公路走廊发展的基础条件,明确了产业发展的思路和定位.最后,在总结分析结构提升、重点突破、组团布局、集群发展、品牌联动五大战略的基础上,提出了产业走廊发展所需的人才、科技、投资、资源、基础设施等六大支撑体系.