The creation of vulnerability to natural disaster: Case studies from the Dominican Republic*

This paper argues that natural disasters are not a category of events which can be separated from the broader Issues of development, since economic change can create vulnerability to natural disaster. The analysis of case studies from the Dominican Republic shows how the development of large scale commercialized agricultural production has created such vulnerability by reducing or restricting the resource base of certain sectors of the population. It b suggested that the vulnerable state of a population should be considered as much a cause of natural disaster as the extreme physical phenomena Involved. Therefore there Is a need both for a broader framework for analysis of disasters and for strategies to reduce such vulnerability to be an Integral part of long term development planning.     

Effects of Selective Logging on Bat Communities in the Southeastern Amazon

Abstract:  Although extensive areas of tropical forest are selectively logged each year, the responses of bat communities to this form of disturbance have rarely been examined. Our objectives were to (1) compare bat abundance, species composition, and feeding guild structure between unlogged and low-intensity selectively logged (1–4 logged stems/ha) sampling grids in the southeastern Amazon and (2) examine correlations between logging-induced changes in bat communities and forest structure. We captured bats in understory and canopy mist nets set in five 1-ha study grids in both logged and unlogged forest. We captured 996 individuals, representing 5 families, 32 genera, and 49 species. Abundances of nectarivorous and frugivorous taxa (Glossophaginae, Lonchophyllinae, Stenodermatinae, and Carolliinae) were higher at logged sites, where canopy openness and understory foliage density were greatest. In contrast, insectivorous and omnivorous species (Emballonuridae, Mormoopidae, Phyllostominae, and Vespertilionidae) were more abundant in unlogged sites, where canopy foliage density and variability in the understory stratum were greatest. Multivariate analyses indicated that understory bat species composition differed strongly between logged and unlogged sites but provided little evidence of logging effects for the canopy fauna. Different responses among feeding guilds and taxonomic groups appeared to be related to foraging and echolocation strategies and to changes in canopy cover and understory foliage densities. Our results suggest that even low-intensity logging modifies habitat structure, leading to changes in bat species composition.     

热带滨海区不同土地利用背景下土壤溶解性有机氮的组成与粒径分布特征

溶解态有机氮(DON)是土壤中活跃的氮库,其生态环境行为与它的化学组成和粒径分布密切相关。为评估热带滨海区不同土地利用方式对不同粒径中土壤溶解性有机氮组成特征的影响,从水稻田、橡胶园、菜园和果园采集土壤样品,通过一系列微滤和超滤(0.7,0.45,0.2,0.1μm,100,10,1 kDa)对土壤溶解性有机氮分级,并使用连续流动分析仪、三维荧光光谱和红外光谱研究了滤液中溶解态有机氮、无机氮的含量及荧光组分和有机官能团特征。结果表明,4种土地利用背景下土壤DON值的范围为5.25-10.88 mg·kg^-1,其大小顺序为水稻>菜园>果树>橡胶,且DON与溶解性总氮(DTN)的比值范围为26.08%-67.11%,其中橡胶土最高,水稻土最低;不同粒径下4种土地利用类型土壤DON主要集中在<100 kDa的粒径中,其值范围为4.85-9.48 mg·kg^-1,占全量的85.89%-92.41%。三维荧光光谱(3D-EEMs)及平行因子分析表明,4种土地利用背景下土壤DON含有两种类腐殖质组分及一种类蛋白质组分,且以类腐殖质组分为主,占比54.00%-77.67%;类蛋白组分对土地利用变化敏感,且随着粒径的减小,类蛋白组分占比增加,在<1 kDa组分中比例最高。红外光谱结果表明,4种土地利用背景下土壤DON主要在6个位置有相似的吸收峰,包含3410 cm^-1、1636 cm^-1、1402 cm^-1、1138-1035 cm^-1、673 cm^-1、602 cm^-1,不同土地利用背景下各吸收峰的透光度不同,强度最大的吸收来自游离的胺类N-H伸缩振动;水稻、菜园土壤DON芳香物质含量较高,结构较复杂。了解DON的组成与粒径分布对土地利用的响应,对进一步研究其生态环境行为具有重要意义。     

Integrating pattern-based modelling and political ecology in land-use change research: the case of Mexican dry tropics

ABSTRACT

Agricultural and extractive frontiers experiment rapid landscape transformation. Land-Use Sciences and Political Ecology are complementary approaches for analysing how landscape transformations are related to biophysical conditions, and socioeconomic, cultural and political processes developed at global, national and local scales. This study examines such relationships in a long-standing agrarian and resource frontier in southern Mexico for the 1986–2015 period. We combine insights from: (1) a quantitative land use/land cover change pattern-based model, involving a weights of evidence and cellular automata simulations, and (2) a qualitative content analysis of literature and of local actors’ perspectives. Two grand frontier processes have developed in this region: NAFTA-related agrarian transition toward intensification and the establishment of wind farms. Both were triggered by global forces and new forms of land and resources use, but mediated by national-to-local ecological, socioeconomic and political processes, producing particular landscape transformations.     

旋幕式排风罩收集电焊烟尘的数值模拟

为解决电焊烟尘气流无组织排放对焊工健康和环境造成的严重影响,得出旋幕式排风罩的最佳设计参数及气流组织形式,选择GAMBIT软件建立排风罩的物理模型并进行网格划分,选用雷诺平均N-S方程(RANS)、Realizableκ-ε湍流模型及DPM离散相模型,利用Fluent计算流体力学软件对旋幕式排风罩捕集效率的相关参数进行模拟计算。结果表明:旋幕式排风罩能有效控制电焊烟尘气流的扩散;喷口角度对涡流产生的大小、位置和强度影响最大;最佳设计参数为有效吸程1. 5 m,喷口角度80°,喷口宽度14 mm;在该设计参数条件下,当罩面吸口风速为0. 3 m/s、喷口风速为1. 1m/s时,捕集效率达到最高,为98. 28%。     

相对端面比对旋风除尘器主要性能的影响

为了提高旋风除尘器的分离效率,利用RSM湍流模型构建三维旋风除尘器模型,研究了相对端面比对旋风除尘器主要性能的影响。数值模拟结果表明,随着相对端面比的减小,总压和切向速度随之降低,颗粒的停留时间缩短,因而提高了分离效率,为旋风除尘器的结构优化设计提供参考。     

Effects of Local Disturbance of Tropical Forests on Frugivores and Seed Removal of a Small-Seeded Afrotropical Tree

Abstract:  Small-scale, local disturbance of tropical forests, for example from selective logging, is widespread, but its effects on biodiversity and ecosystem function have rarely been studied. In 3 East African tropical rainforests, we investigated the effect of different levels of local forest disturbance on the frugivore community and on tree visitation and fruit removal rates of the small-seeded tree Celtis durandii. We quantified birds and primates in little and heavily disturbed sites, distinguishing between forest specialists, forest generalists, and forest visitors. We quantified frugivorous tree visitors and seed removal rates of C. durandii trees in the same sites. Forest disturbance reduced the species richness and density of the frugivore community and of forest specialists. Frugivorous species and individuals visiting the study trees were reduced significantly, which led to a marginally significant decline in fruit removal by all frugivores and a significant reduction in removal by forest specialists. Reduction in fruit removal by forest specialists was not compensated for by increases in removal by forest generalists or visitors. Results did not differ among the 3 rainforests, which suggests they were consistent at a regional scale. So local forest disturbance led to a loss of frugivores and their seed removal services. This suggests that large-seeded tree species and trees with small fruits are losing seed dispersers. Thus, local forest disturbance appears to have a more general negative impact on frugivores and their seed dispersal services than anticipated previously.     

Edge effects on trophic cascades in tropical rainforests

The cascading effects of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functioning of forests have become more apparent. However, how edge effects shape these processes has yet to be established. We assessed how edge effects alter arthropod populations and the strength of any resultant trophic cascades on herbivory rate in tropical forests of Brazil. We established 7 paired forest edge and interior sites. Each site had a vertebrate-exclosure, procedural (exclosure framework with open walls), and control plot (total 42 plots). Forest patches were surrounded by pasture. Understory arthropods and leaf damage were sampled every 4 weeks for 11 months. We used path analysis to determine the strength of trophic cascades in the interior and edge sites. In forest interior exclosures, abundance of predaceous and herbivorous arthropods increased by 326% and 180%, respectively, compared with control plots, and there were significant cascading effects on herbivory. Edge-dwelling invertebrates responded weakly to exclusion and there was no evidence of trophic cascade. Our results suggest that the vertebrate community at forest edges controls invertebrate densities to a lesser extent than it does in the interior. Edge areas can support vertebrate communities with a smaller contingent of insectivores. This allows arthropods to flourish and indirectly accounts for higher levels of plant damage at these sites. Increased herbivory rates may have important consequences for floristic community composition and primary productivity, as well as cascading effects on nutrient cycling. By interspersing natural forest patches with agroforests, instead of pasture, abiotic edge effects can be softened and prevented from penetrating deep into the forest. This would ensure a greater proportion of forest remains habitable for sensitive species and could help retain ecosystem functions in edge zones.     

超细颗粒的旋风除尘

针对细颗粒旋风除尘 ,以分子筛 空气为实验物系 ,测定了 3种不同结构的环流循环除尘系统的分离性能。实验结果表明 ,加设带有导流锥整流器的除尘系统分离效率最高 ,但压降也略有增加。由该除尘系统的粒级效率曲线可以看出 ,直径在 2 8μm左右的细颗粒由于容易被大颗粒夹带分离 ,其分离效率比 4 μm左右的颗粒高     

Recruitment of Hornbill-Dispersed Trees in Hunted and Logged Forests of the Indian Eastern Himalaya

Abstract:  Hunting of hornbills by tribal communities is widespread in logged foothill forests of the Indian Eastern Himalaya. We investigated whether the decline of hornbills has affected the dispersal and recruitment of 3 large-seeded tree species. We hypothesized that 2 low-fecundity tree species , Chisocheton paniculatus and Dysoxylum binectariferum (Meliaceae) bearing arillate fruits, are more dispersal limited than a prolifically fruiting drupaceous tree Polyalthia simiarum (Annonaceae), which has potential dispersers other than hornbills. We estimated the abundance of large avian frugivores during the fruiting season along transects in 2 protected and 2 disturbed forests. We compared recruitment of the tree species near (<10 m) and far (10–40 m) from parent trees at protected and disturbed sites. Median abundance of Great ( Buceros bicornis ), Wreathed ( Aceros undulatus ), and Oriental Pied Hornbills ( Anthracoceros albirostris ) were significantly lower in disturbed forests, but sites did not differ in abundances of the Mountain Imperial Pigeon ( Ducula badia ). Overall, tree species showed more severely depressed recruitment of seedlings (77% fewer) and juveniles (69% fewer) in disturbed than in protected forests. In disturbed forests, 93% fewer seedlings of C. paniculatus were beyond parental crowns, and a high number of all seedlings (42%) accumulated directly under reproductive adults. In contrast , D. binectariferum and P. simiarum were recruitment rather than dispersal limited, with fewer dispersed seedlings surviving in disturbed than in protected forests. Results are consistent with the idea that disturbance disrupts mutualisms between hornbills and some large-seeded food plants, with the caveat that role redundancy within even small and specialized disperser assemblages renders other tree species less vulnerable to loss of regular dispersal agents.