DYNAMICS OF WETLAND DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN LAS VEGAS WASH,NEVADA1

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the co‐evolution of the Las Vegas, Nevada metropolitan area, Las Vegas Wash ecosystem‐a downstream riparian wetland‐and Wash management as a case of urban‐environment dynamics. Since Las Vegas Wash provides the primary drainage for Las Vegas, changes in the urban system lead to changes in the Wash and its ecosystem. The population of the drainage area has grown from approximately 1,000 people in 1900 to more than 1.3 million in 2000. This phenomenal population growth led to increased Wash flow, from less than .03 m³/sec (1 ft³/sec) to over 7.4 m³/sec (260 ft³/sec), and consequent ecological changes from a nearly dry wash to a rich wetland, and now to an eroded system. As the Wash ecosystem changed, valuation of Wash characteristics by residents and resource managers also changed, shifting the focus of management and use, which ultimately led to further ecosystem changes. Reciprocal relationships among human activity, environmental change, and management in this urban area highlight the need for a comprehensive and dynamic systems perspective and adaptive approaches in urban environmental management and make this a particularly compelling case study. This paper describes a conceptual systems framework for adaptive urban‐environment management derived from this case.     

TURBIDITY SUSPENI)ED SEDIMENT,AND WATER CLARITY: A REVIEW1

ABSTRACT: Suspended sediment causes a range of environmental damage, including benthic smothering, irritation of fish gills, and transport of sorbed contaminants. Much of the impact, while sediment remains suspended, is related to its light attenuation, which reduces visual range in water and light availability for photosynthesis. Thus measurement of the optical attributes of suspended matter in many instances is more relevant than measurement of its mass concentration. Nephelometric turbidity, an index of light scattering by suspended particles, has been widely used as a simple, cheap, instrumental surrogate for suspended sediment, that also relates more directly than mass concentration to optical effects of suspended matter. However, turbidity is only a relative measure of scattering (versus arbitrary standards) that has no intrinsic environmental relevance until calibrated to a ‘proper’ scientific quantity. Visual clarity (measured as Secchi or black disc visibility) is a preferred optical quantity with immediate environmental relevance to aesthetics, contact recreation, and fish habitat. Contrary to common perception, visual clarity measurement is not particularly subjective and is more precise than turbidity measurement. Black disc visibility is inter‐convertible with beam attenuation, a fundamental optical quantity that can be monitored continuously by beam transmissometry. Visual clarity or beam attenuation should supplant nephelometric turbidity in many water quality applications, including environmental standards.     

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON MISSOURI RWER BASIN WATER YIELD1

ABSTRACT: Water from the Missouri River Basin is used for multiple purposes. The climatic change of doubling the atmospheric carbon dioxide may produce dramatic water yield changes across the basin. Estimated changes in basin water yield from doubled CO₂ climate were simulated using a Regional Climate Model (RegCM) and a physically based rainfall‐runoff model. RegCM output from a five‐year, equilibrium climate simulation at twice present CO₂ levels was compared to a similar present‐day climate run to extract monthly changes in meteorologic variables needed by the hydrologic model. These changes, simulated on a 50‐km grid, were matched at a commensurate scale to the 310 subbasin in the rainfall‐runoff model climate change impact analysis. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) rainfall‐runoff model was used in this study. The climate changes were applied to the 1965 to 1989 historic period. Overall water yield at the mouth of the Basin decreased by 10 to 20 percent during spring and summer months, but increased during fall and winter. Yields generally decreased in the southern portions of the basin but increased in the northern reaches. Northern subbasin yields increased up to 80 percent: equivalent to 1.3 cm of runoff on an annual basis.     

TOWARDS CHARACTERIZING AND PLANNTNG FOR DROUGHT IN VERMONT‐PART II: POLICY IMPLICATIONS1

ABSTRACT: Vermont is one of approximately half a dozen states for which no official drought mitigation plan exists. Given the recurring nature of this natural hazard, current contingency measures should be expanded upon into a coherent mitigation framework. The types of drought and impacts resulting from the 1998 to 1999 event were the focus of a previous article in this volume. The present article builds on the understanding of drought characteristics specific to the Vermont context and introduces the rationale behind a proposed drought planning framework. Pivotal organizations and institutions that should be involved in this process are also presented.     

A TREE‐RING RECONSTRUCTION OF STREAMFLOW FOR THE COLORADO FRONT RANGE1

ABSTRACT: Water resource planning is based primarily on 20th century instrumental records of climate and streamflow. These records are limited in length to approximately 100 years, in the best cases, and can reflect only a portion of the range of natural variability. The instrumental record neither can be used to gage the unusualness of 20th Century extreme low flow events, nor does it allow the detection of low‐frequency variability that may underlie short‐term variations in flow. In this study, tree rings are used to reconstruct mean annual streamflow for Middle Boulder Creek in the Colorado Front Range, a semi‐arid region of rapid growth and development. The reconstruction is based on a stepwise regression equation that accounts for 70 percent of the variance in the instrumental record, and extends from 1703–1987. The reconstruction suggests that the instrumental record of streamflow for Middle Boulder Creek is not representative of flow in past centuries and that several low flow events in the 19th century were more persistent than any in the 20th century. The 1840s to early 1850s period of low flow is a particularly notable event and may have coincided with a period of low flow in the Upper Colorado River Basin.     

矿产资源规划体系研究

本文就矿产资源规划体系进行了概括,认为树立开放的、动态的、持续发展的矿产资源安全观是矿产资源规划的前提。     

Study of Cause-and-Effect Relationships in the Formation of Biocenoses: Their Use for the Control of Eutrophication

The cause-and-effect relationships existing in freshwater biogeocenoses and changing with time are conventionally divided into three groups: direct, directly mediated, and indirect. The possibility of using the indirect relationships for the control over natural systems is exemplified by a new scheme of eutrophication control and water quality improvement.     

香港海沙资源的勘探开发与管理

海沙开采已成为仅次于油气开采的世界第二重要海洋开采业。1980年代以来,香港政府投资1.7×10⁸港元为寻找海岸围垦填料进行了一系列的海沙勘探活动,在1828km²香港水域发现22个地点海沙资源储量7.4×10⁸m³,其中9个地点4.2×10⁸m³储量因覆盖层较厚或污染严重或海区环境特别敏感等原因被暂时搁置。1990～2002年共开采海沙2.7×10⁸m³,为形成2100hm²新土地的多项围垦工程提供了约一半的填料。基于地球物理勘探和钻探资料建立了香港海域第四纪层序和海沙产状地质模型,发现和证实了含气沉积物地震剖面的声波浑浊现象。香港政府对海沙资源进行统一勘探和统一管理,强调海沙开采的环境和生态影响评估,利用废弃的海床挖沙坑回填倾废的非污染海泥和受污染海泥。我国内地海沙勘探管理可以从中取得借鉴。     

我国森林资源及其产品流动特征分析

论文运用物流分析的基本思想,基于我国森林资源产品的产量、贸易量统计资料,采用统一的“原木当量(m³)”单位,沿森林资源采伐→资源产品加工→资源产品消费链,研究了我国“九五”期间主要森林资源产品的流动状况。结果表明,我国“九五”期间年均消耗森林资源16962×10⁴m³,其中48.3%来自国外;本国森林资源主要流向原木、锯材、人造板加工制造行业,仅有9.3%用于制浆造纸;而纸类产品所用的森林资源主要依赖于进口;终端消费中75%的森林资源产品用于建筑装修、家具生产和包装3个主要消费项。因此,认为我国必须提高森林资源利用效率、增加纸类产品中的森林资源用量,以提高我国森林资源流动的经济效益;资源战略上既要充分利用国外森林资源,又要提高我国资源供给的保障能力。     

云山国家森林公园土壤动物资源生态特征

1998年5月至2001年5月对云山国家森林公园土壤动物资源进行了生态特征研究,共获得土壤动物9769个,隶属6门13纲31个类目。亚热带土壤动物的类群在这里几乎都有分布。其中优势类群为蜱螨目、弹尾目及线虫类3类;常见类群有膜翅类、双尾目、原尾目、线蚓类、双翅目5类;其余为稀有类群。通过与我国东西方向及其南北方向上典型土壤动物生态群落的分析比较,研究过程发现,受其地表生物多样性的影响,云山土壤动物资源种群丰富;原始群落结构完整;区系组成地带过渡性明显;山体顶部灌丛地段节肢动物有个体偏大的生态特征。研究结果表明:地处我国南岭、雪峰山及滇黔桂地区3种不同类型山系过渡地带的云山国家森林公园,作为自然保护区,不但是一个资源丰富的地表生物生态基因库,同时还是一个异常宝贵的地下生物生态基因库。