EFFECTS OF PRESCRIPTIVE RIPARIAN BUFFERS ON LANDSCAPE CHARACTERISTICS IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA,USA1

ABSTRACT: Forest buffers adjacent to water bodies are widely prescribed in forest management to protect ecological functions of riparian systems. To date, buffers have been applied on the landscape uniformly without quantifying their effectiveness or the effects they have on landscape characteristics. Our objective was to quantify landscape characteristics (amount of edge and interior forest) when buffers were applied to water bodies in a 100 by 100 km area of northern Minnesota. We used a Landsat classified image in a geographic information system platform to apply two buffer widths ?28.5 m and 57 m — to water bodies, including nonforested wetlands, intermittent or perennial streams, and lakes. A total of 107,141 ha (18.3 percent) of the forest area was adjacent to and within 28.5 m of these water bodies, while 201,457 ha of forest was within 57 m, representing 34.4 percent of the total forest area. Imposing a 28.5 m buffer on water bodies increased the amount of edge and interior forest in the study area. When water bodies were buffered with a 57 m forest strip, we found a slight increase in forest edge from the current condition, and this buffer width resulted in the largest amount of interior forest. Interior forest increased with the 57 m buffer due to the density of water bodies in this region; adjacent water bodies coalesced when buffers were applied and formed isolated forest islands that contained forest interior habitat. Instead of wholesale application of set width riparian buffers, we suggest that ecological conditions of riparian areas be evaluated on a site level and that areas that currently provide important riparian conditions be maintained on the landscape with appropriate management practices.     

内蒙古主要作物农田优化灌溉动态预报方法

灌溉是预防或减轻旱灾的有效手段，适时适量灌溉是节约日益匮乏的有限水资源的主要途径之一。从土壤一作物一大气连续体角度出发，根据田间试验资料和气象资料，确定出春小麦、春玉米不同生长阶段土壤水分控制的下限标准，提出了两种作物根系生长动态模拟方程和蒸散系数模拟方程，在土壤水分平衡理论的基础上，建立了预报灌溉日期的方法，并以春小麦、春玉米农田为例进行了检验，结果比较理想。     

Environmental Implications of the Erosion of Cultural Taboo Practices in Awka-South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria: 1. Forests, Trees, and Water Resource Preservation

Cultural taboos and their sanctionshave helped to check abuse of the environmentat least among the local people. The disregardfor these traditional checks and balancesespecially among Christians has adverselyaffected their enforcement at this time. Theenvironment and culture preservation inAwka-South were investigated. The faithfulobservance of the traditional laws in the studyarea was attributed to the fact that Awka-Southarea had remained occupied by the same peoplefor centuries. The study showed that thepreserved forests and their shrines in Nibotown have largely remained intact. In Nisetown, however, with nine shrines still inexistence, the rules have relaxed a little,mainly because they embraced modernization. Inthis town, the fringes of the forests may beused for farming but no felling of trees wouldbe allowed. The ``god' of the shrine in Obunaguvillage was much revered until the advent ofChristianity. This religion has had an erodingeffect on the taboos, which were put in placeto protect their forests and streams. Theabandonment of traditional cultural practicesis doing harm that goes beyond the abrogationof traditional cultural practices to seriousthreat to natural environmental structures. Thecultures of the different tribes in Nigerianeed to be revisited for evaluation and studiesto enable their integration into modernpractices that will make the environment moresustainable. This will be more productive thanthe unilateral introduction of programs,execution, and maintenance methods that arecompletely new, or in many cases run contraryto the cultural practices of the local peopleand tribes of Nigeria.     

Conservation of Biodiversity: How Are We Doing?

A question rarely raised in discussions on biodiversity conservation, but surely the biggest question of all, is “How much time do we have left before the mass extinction underway surpasses our best efforts to contain it?” This prompts a further prime question because—and unlike all other problems, whether environmental or otherwise—the biotic crisis threatens to leave a severely impoverished planet for millions of years ahead; “Why do we not undertake the necessary actions to get on top of the problem before it gets on top of us?”     

发展我国森林生态旅游的对策思考

作者以生态旅游理论为基础，分析了我国森林生态旅游的发展状况，并以加入WTO为背景从中找出存在的问题，进而提出入世后推进我国森林生态旅游发展的对策。     

The Effects of Three Thermo Electric Power Plants on Yerkesik-Denizova Forests in Mugla Province (Turkey)

Mugla is a city that is located in the southwest part of Turkey. Three thermo-electric power plants called Yatagan (3 × 210 MW) and Yenikoy (2 × 210 MW)and Kemerkoy (Gokova, 3 × 210 MW) havebeen constructed in this region and also have begun operation in 1982 – 1983 – 1984 (three units), in 1988 and in 1995, respectively. The Pinus brutia forests in Yerkesik–Denizova region have been under the common effects of Yenikoy and Yatagan thermo-electric power plants. Therefore, these Pinus brutia forests have startedto dry in groups since 1988. In addition, Kemerkoy thermo-electric power plant, began operation in 1995.Polluting gases arrived in Denizova-Yerkesik throughKoca Stream Valley Forests.Increasing quantities of polluting gases and especially SO₂ have dried the trees in large amounts in this 1650 ha forestland area. YataganThermo-electric power plant has caused drying of Pinus brutia in Bencik Mountain, which was on the south in 1984–1985. The same phenomenon was seen in Denizova-Yerkesik Forest in 1999–2000. It was observed that sulphur content was varying between 4218–6676 ppm at the Pinus brutia needle samples taken in this region on 16 December 2000. Sulphur contents were correlated with the age of needle (1–2 yr old), density of yellow stains on the needles and amount of drying needles. Particularly in 1996–2000 period, the destruction of chlorophyll in needles due to the impacts of SO₂ was also correlated with narrowing of the annual rings from one year to another. The narrowing ratio of yearly rings reached 60–504% for 94–95 yr old, and 375–661% for 58–63 yr old Pinus brutia trees during the 1986–1990, 1991–1995 and 1996–2000 periods.All these results clearly showed that the decrease in the chlorophyll content in needles under the effect of air pollution caused important reduction in the raw timber production and its inputs to the economy. In other words, drying due to increased ecological sensitivity or direct hazard of pollutants emitted by the power plants and cutting of trees have been notably increased in the region. This has created serious economic losses.     

环境保护与森林生态可持续发展

本文概述了环境保护与森林生态可持续发展的含义与森林旅游资源的特点,阐明了实现森林旅游生态可持续发展的必要性,及实现森林旅游生态持续的途径。     

小尺度森林火灾的渐近幂律分布

森林火灾系统是一个自组织临界性系统，它的表现之一就是火灾的尺度分布满足幂律规律。然而实际数据分析表明，在尺度最大和最小的两个区域，火灾分布与幂律规律存在较大的差异。对小尺度火灾的偏离现象，研究者通常猜测是由于小面积火灾记录数据遗漏较多造成的，目前尚没有一个理论上的依据，而小尺度火灾的分布规律对大尺度火灾的预测起看关键作用。为了解释这种偏离现象，该文将火灾看作一个生灭过程，并对火灾蔓延和熄灭的机理进行了分析，最终得到了森林火灾分布与火灾尺度的定量依赖关系及其机理。将该文的结果与日本近年来全国范围内的森林火灾统计数据进行了对比，表明该文得到的结果与真实数据得到较好符合，并且成功解释了小尺度森林火灾分布与幂律关系的偏离现象。该研究可望对深入认识火灾系统的自组织临界性和防治火灾具有一定的实际意义。     

森林采运作业个体伤害的工效学分析

森林采运作业是一种高危险作业,有效减少作业过程中的生产事故和作业人员个体伤害是企业安全管理工作的核心,本文运用系统工程学原理和人类工效学方法全面系统的分析了森林采运作业生产事故和作业人员个体伤害的致因,提出了减少采运作业生产事故和作业者个体伤害的对策。为采运企业安全生产管理提供了科学的决策依据。