Management Decentralization and Montane Forest Conditions in Tanzania

Abstract: We examined how differences in local forest‐management institutions relate to disparate anthropogenic forest disturbance and forest conditions among three neighboring montane forests in Tanzania under centralized, comanaged, or communal management. Institutional differences have been shaped by decentralization reforms. We conducted semistructured interviews with members of forest management committees, local government, and village households and measured anthropogenic disturbance, tree structure, and species composition in forest plots. We assessed differences in governance system components of local institutions, including land tenure, decision‐making autonomy by forest users, and official and de facto processes of rule formation, monitoring, and enforcement among the three management strategies. We also assessed differences in frequencies of prohibited logging and subsistence pole cutting, and measures of forest condition. An adjacent research forest served as an ecological reference for comparison of forest conditions. Governance was similar for comanaged and centralized management, whereas communal managers had greater tenure security and decision‐making autonomy over the use and management of their forest. There was significantly less illegal logging in the communal forest, but subsistence pole cutting was common across all management strategies. The comanaged forest was most disturbed by recent logging and pole cutting, as were peripheral areas of the larger centralized forest. This manifested in more degraded indicators of forest conditions (lower mean tree size, basal area, density of trees ≥ 90 cm dbh, and aboveground biomass and higher overall stem density). Greater tenure security and institutional autonomy of the communal strategy contributed to more effective management, less illegal logging, and maintenance of good forest conditions, but generating livelihood benefits was a challenge for both decentralized strategies. Our results underscore the importance of well‐designed institutional arrangements in forest management and illustrate mechanisms for improved forest governance and conservation in the context of Tanzanian decentralization reforms.     

New view of environmental health: Toward an environmental research policy for international strategies

We are witnessing a growing concern with the global dimension of many environmental issues, reflected in the increase in the number and significance of international environmental organizations. Yet there is no internationally applicable strategy for environmental research which is management oriented. A new type of research policy, which integrates ideas derived from environmental and human ecology, is required in order to deal with cultural and ecological diversity and their interactions as reflected in the ecology of landscapes. The newly defined concept of environmental health is proposed to fill this gap. This concept integrates the latest developments in landscape evolutionary ecology and environmental health, bringing out a conflict between making the environment conducive to human health and increasing the available options for supporting the essential biological and ecological processes of the environment. Lessons derived from the evolution of human environments are used in order to illustrate how health may become un umbrella for developing an environmental research policy, which could also serve as a catalyst for international environmental projects.     

高邮地震台地电阻率观测精度干扰原因分析及排除方法

对高邮台地电NS向ρs的观测精度在2002 07 24雷雨后出现降低的现象进行了分析排查,发现是一交流接触器在遭雷击时烧坏,导致交流电三相中的一相对地漏电,与变压器中的零线形成回路所致。从而排除了配电房漏电的干扰,保证了观测资料的质量。     

SHORT TERM BENTHIC COLONIZATION DYNAMICS IN AN AGRICULTURAL STREAM RECOVERING FROM SLAUGHTERHOUSE EFFLUENTS1

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to assess short term, macroinvertebrate colonization dynamics and biofilm accumulation in two agricultural streams, one of which had been recently exposed to chronic, intermittent organic effluents from a slaughterhouse. During the winter and summer, macroinvertebrates and biofilm were collected from brick substrates from four or three sites in the streams on a geometric time schedule (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 days of exposure). Invertebrate total densities stabilized quickly, but the mass of biofilm increased throughout the study periods. Invertebrate community indices (diversity, evenness, dominance, richness) differed between the unaffected, “agricultural reference” sites and the affected sites, below the point source. All sites were dominated by Baetis bicaudatus (mayfly), Hydrobia sp. (gastropod), and Dugesia tigrina (Turbellaria). Response of these taxa differed between seasons and exposure to organic effluents. Stream invertebrate colonization processes showed evidence of the perturbation after the inflow of organic effluents had stopped from the slaughterhouse. Chronic organic enrichment reduced the species richness in the potential pool of colonists. Three months after the organic inputs had stopped, colonization timing and community structure was not yet at levels evident in reference and upstream sites.     

Specific Conductance and pH as Indicators of Watershed Disturbance in Streams of the New Jersey Pinelands, USA

/ We used linear regression to independently and jointly relate specific conductance and pH measured at New Jersey Pinelands stream sites to the percentage of altered land in a watershed. Percentage altered land included developed and agricultural land uses and represented watershed disturbance for a given site. Median values calculated for a 2-year period (September 1992 through August 1994) characterized pH and specific conductance at the study sites. We found the relationships between the median values for both water-quality measures and percentage altered land for a site to be consistent across subregion and dominant altered-land use. Our results also demonstrated that the water-quality/altered-land relationships developed using median values were similar to relationships developed using data from any single-sample period within the entire study period. Individually, pH and specific conductance explained 48% and 56%, respectively, of the variability in watershed disturbance among study sites. The joint use of pH and specific conductance explained 79% of the watershed disturbance variability among sites. The joint use of these easily obtained water-quality measures can provide a quick assessment of instream water-quality impacts from upstream watershed disturbance at any Pinelands stream site. Additionally, a range in pH and specific conductance, and hence a range in ambient water quality, can be predicted for a given altered-land percentage or a change in existing altered-land conditions.     

The role of stand history in assessing forest impacts

Air pollution, harvesting practices, and natural disturbances can affect the growth of trees and forest development. To make predictions about anthropogenic impacts on forests, we need to understand how these factors affect tree growth. In this study the effect of disturbance history on tree growth and stand structure was examined by using a computer model of forest development. The model was run under the climatic conditions of east Tennessee, USA, and the results compared to stand structure and tree growth data from a yellow poplar-white oak forest. Basal area growth and forest biomass were more accurately projected when rough approximations of the thinning and fire history typical of the measured plots were included in the simulation model. Stand history can influence tree growth rates and forest structure and should be included in any attempt to assess forest impacts.     

风浪扰动对太湖水体中砷在水相-悬浮物相之间分配的影响

在太湖冬季不同风速下(0.8、1.8、2.7、3.2、4.0 m·s-1)采集了不同深度(水深0.1、1.0和1.8 m,分别记为上、中和下层)的水样,测定了水体和悬浮物中的砷含量及水质参数,计算了砷在两相之间的分配系数,以期了解在太湖生物活动最低的阶段,风浪扰动作用对砷在水相和悬浮物相之间分配的影响.结果显示,随着风浪作用的加强,水体总砷含量有所增加,相应的悬浮物总砷含量及砷的分配系数降低,说明风浪作用可以降低悬浮物吸附砷的能力,以至于促进砷从悬浮物中的释放,进而使水体中的溶解态砷增加.相关性分析及变化趋势比较分析发现,砷分配系数的降低与在风浪扰动的影响下悬浮物浓度和溶解氧的增加,以及叶绿素a浓度的下降有关.不同风速下各参数的垂向分布变化显示,风浪扰动对中下层的砷分配系数以及中层的悬浮物砷含量影响较大;风速变大时,中层溶解态砷含量升高,上层与下层溶解态砷含量降低;而风浪扰动作用对水体总砷的分层变化影响不大.悬浮物浓度、砷浓度及分配系数均在3~4 m·s-1风速下发生变化,且呈现与之前不同的分层特征.4 m·s-1可能是一个临界风速,在4 m·s-1以上的风速下风浪占主导作用,而4 m·s-1以下是湖流与风浪共同作用的结果.     

共模阻抗稳定网络的研制

为了消除辐射测试场地供电端口阻抗的差异,本文设计制作了一种共模阻抗稳定网络,可以在供电端口处提供稳定的共模阻抗。文中对该网络的技术参数、元件规格及分布参数控制提出设计方案.经实际制作与量测验证后,该稳定网络可以在30~300MHz的频段内提供稳定的阻抗(50±5?),符合设计方案的目标,利用此网络可有效消除供电端口阻抗差异引起的测试误差。     

An Adaptive‐Management Framework for Optimal Control of Hiking Near Golden Eagle Nests in Denali National Park

Abstract: Unintended effects of recreational activities in protected areas are of growing concern. We used an adaptive‐management framework to develop guidelines for optimally managing hiking activities to maintain desired levels of territory occupancy and reproductive success of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in Denali National Park (Alaska, U.S.A.). The management decision was to restrict human access (hikers) to particular nesting territories to reduce disturbance. The management objective was to minimize restrictions on hikers while maintaining reproductive performance of eagles above some specified level. We based our decision analysis on predictive models of site occupancy of eagles developed using a combination of expert opinion and data collected from 93 eagle territories over 20 years. The best predictive model showed that restricting human access to eagle territories had little effect on occupancy dynamics. However, when considering important sources of uncertainty in the models, including environmental stochasticity, imperfect detection of hares on which eagles prey, and model uncertainty, restricting access of territories to hikers improved eagle reproduction substantially. An adaptive management framework such as ours may help reduce uncertainty of the effects of hiking activities on Golden Eagles.     

武宁县森林扰动及驱动因子分析

森林扰动是影响陆地生态系统的重要因子,也是影响全球碳循环的重要因素.以江西省武宁县为例,利用1986-2011年14景Landsat TM/ETM+遥感影像,通过扰动指数(disturbance index,DI)时间序列轨迹分析提取森林扰动信息,并引入经验正交函数(empirical orthogonal function,EOF)分解方法定量分析了森林扰动的时空变化规律,利用GIS深入分析了自然和社会驱动因子影响.结果表明,武宁县森林扰动在1986-1998年较强,扰动面积以1992年为最大,以地区性扰动为主;2000年以后则趋于平缓,扰动以砍伐和森林火灾为主;在空间上,扰动主要发生在近道路、低海拔、低坡度和近水地区,并受地形和交通的制约,城镇化逐渐成为该地区森林扰动的一个不可忽略的驱动因子.