Population Biology of Gametophytes in Homosporous Polypodiophyta

Modern data on the diversity of morphology and morphogenesis of gametophytes in homosporous ferns, their vegetative reproduction, and the existence of their colonies growing separately, independently of sporophytes, are reviewed. The ontogenetic states of gametophytes are identified and characterized. The problem of gametophyte chemical interactions mediated by antheridiogen, an exohormone, is discussed. These intrapopulation interactions determine the polyvariant character of gametophyte ontogeny and the complex age and sex structure of their colonies.     

Solving the United States National Park overflight controversy

By mid-1990 the National Park Service (NPS) must present to Congress recommendations for managing overflights of at least ten national parks. The authors examine the potential role of formal negotiation in setting overflight policy in these parks by reviewing the overflight controversy at Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP). Regulations controlling overflights of the GCNP are only now being implemented after a 17-year conflict that culminated in a congressionally mandated solution. The authors review this controversy and find that, contrary to common perception, the number of park visitors bothered by overflights is not small but roughly equals the number of airborne visitors (up to 450,000 per year). On the basis of this investigation, the authors determine that formal negotiation would have been an appropriate policy-making process because of the clearly defined and limited number of parties and issues involved. Considering the number of park visitors that will continue to be affected by this issue, the authors conclude that formal negotiations should be considered for overflight problems involving other parks. Such negotiations should be park-specific. Differences in park size, extent of the problem, and parties involved would prohibit park-wide negotiations.This article has been adapted from Tourist Flights over the Grand Canyon: The Potential for Negotiated Solutions to Similar Problems, Analysis and Management, October 30, 1987. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors; they are not meant to represent the views of the organizations with which the authors are associated.     

Grazing effects on sustainable semiarid rangeiands in Patagonia: The state and dynamics of the soil seed bank

The composition of the germinable seed bank was studied in four vegetation states of the Festuca pallescens grasslands in semiarid Patagonia during four years. The aim of this study was to test whether above-ground vegetation states resulting from grazing exclusion or different combinations of grazing and topography are reflected in different states of the germinable seed bank. The size of the total and dicot germinable seed bank was positively related to the total cover in each state. Dicots dominated all germinable seed bank states. Carex patagonica increased its cover as well as its germinable seed bank under grazing disturbance. Grazing did not reduce the germinable seed bank of perennial grasses in uplands where the grazing pressure is lower as compared with slopes. In slopes the germinable seed bank of perennial grasses was significantly reduced by grazing. A reduction of the length of the grazing period in late spring increases the germinable seed bank of perennial grasses both in upland and slope. These results are interpreted in the frame of a model of management techniques where grazing exclusion during late spring and late summer increases the seed bank of the perennial grasses and promotes their establishment in uplands. The artificial addition of seeds of perennial grasses and the manipulation of the soil surface in order to increase "safe sites" appear as management alternatives that deserve further evaluation to improve plant reestablishment in slopes.     

建筑物可靠性评价

探讨了现存建筑物可靠性评价的极限状态方法,提出荷载水平方法,建立了结构构件可靠性评价的极限状态准则。基于结构失效的机构理论,提出结构体系可靠性评价的“破损机构”方法,以使结构成为“破损机构”或“局部破损机构”的“破损截面”的最高等级作为结构体系可靠性评级。     

Achieving sustainability by introducing alternative livelihoods

The millennium ecosystem assessment report on global assessment of desertification has highlighted its worldwide impacts on the environment—increasing dust storms, floods and global warming—as well as on societies and economies. It links sustainable management of resources, and inter alia well-being of dryland populations, to reducing societal pressures on dryland ecosystems through adoption of alternative livelihoods. This paper, in combination with a companion paper by Safriel and Adeel, presents the conceptual underpinnings of this approach as well as examples of how innovative approaches for creating livelihoods can help reduce the pressure on marginal drylands. Three case studies presented are based on activities undertaken within a joint international project called sustainable management of marginal drylands. First, introduction of chicken farming to farmers in Hunshundake Sandland in northern China has reduced the pressure on grasslands and led to a major recovery of these ecosystems. Second, development of desert-based aquaculture, with accompanied longer-term storage of water, on the margins of the Cholistan desert in Pakistan has provided a new source of income for the villagers. Third, development of a new income-generating activity based on soap production from olive oil in Dana Biosphere Reserve in Jordan has demonstrated that traditional olive farming can be linked to community-based innovation to create a new, high-demand market for goods. Working with communities to develop new, sustainable livelihoods that reduce pressure on marginal drylands can thus be used as powerful tool for overcoming and reversing desertification.     

Egg adoption can explain joint egg-laying in common eiders

Hypotheses regarding the evolution and maintenance of intraspecific nest parasitism were tested with data collected during a 3-year study of common eiders (Somateria mollissima) breeding near Churchill, Manitoba. The nest parasitism rate was highest (42.4% of nests) during the year with the highest nest density and the best environmental conditions, and lowest (20.2% of nests) in the year with the lowest nest density and the poorest environmental conditions. Over the nesting season, parasitic eggs were laid at the same time as normally laid eggs. Most parasitic eggs (>75%) were laid before the host female laid her third egg. The majority of the parasitic eggs were the first or second egg produced by the parasitic female. When a parasitic egg was laid before or on the same day as the host female initiated her clutch, the probability of her first egg being depredated before incubation was significantly lowered. First- and second-laid eggs suffered a high rate of predation probably because nesting females do not attend their clutch until their second or third egg is laid. Hypotheses that some females use intraspecific nest parasitism to parasitize the parental care of other females were inconsistent with these data. Egg adoption is a likely explanation for the prevalence of females incubating parasitic eggs in this population. Received: 30 September 1997 / Accepted after revision: 6 May 1998     

Nation‐building policies in Timor‐Leste: disaster risk reduction,including climate change adaptation

Few studies have explored the relationships between nation‐building, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Focusing on small island developing states, this paper examines nation‐building in Timor‐Leste, a small island developing state that recently achieved independence. Nation‐building in Timor‐Leste is explored in the context of disaster risk reduction, which necessarily includes climate change adaptation. The study presents a synopsis of Timor‐Leste's history and its nation‐building efforts as well as an overview of the state of knowledge of disaster risk reduction including climate change adaptation. It also offers an analysis of significant gaps and challenges in terms of vertical and horizontal governance, large donor presence, data availability and the integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for nation‐building in Timor‐Leste. Relevant and applicable lessons are provided from other small island developing states to assist Timor‐Leste in identifying its own trajectory out of underdevelopment while it builds on existing strengths.     

Losers in the ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ game: The role of non-hierarchical competition and chaos as biodiversity sustaining agents in aquatic systems

Processes occurring within small areas (patch-scale) that influence species richness and spatial heterogeneity of larger areas (landscape-scale) have long been an interest of ecologists. This research focused on the role of patch-scale deterministic chaos arising in phytoplankton assemblages characteristic of “Rock-Paper-Scissors” population dynamics (i.e., competitively non-hierarchical). We employed a simple 2-patch model configuration with lateral mixing and through-flow, and tested the robustness of species richness at the scale of the landscape and spatial heterogeneity. Three different assemblages were used that in a dimensionless box model configuration exhibited chaotic behavior. Our results showed that when a spatial dimension was added to the model configuration, and when all species were shared between patches (i.e., no invading populations), chaos-induced species richness and spatial heterogeneity were quickly reduced with the onset of mixing. While assemblages in each patch were comprised of exactly the same species, they differed in their proportional population densities due to differing stages of succession and the incidence of alternative assemblage structures. Even at very low mixing rates (0.001 d⁻¹), which produced low passive migration rates (0.1% of the total biomass per day), the incidence of high richness and heterogeneity decreased by ∼80%. Interestingly, this sensitivity was not the same for the three assemblages tested. Declines in species richness and spatial heterogeneity associated with mixing were greater in assemblages comprised of competitively dissimilar species (based on the area occupied in the resource-tradeoff space defined by the R* model). The underlying mechanisms may involve the degree to which nutrient dynamics are altered with the arrival of immigrants. Our findings suggest that in partially to well-mixed aquatic systems, the roles of patch-scale non-hierarchical competition and chaos as factors maintaining species richness and spatial heterogeneity may be limited. However, in aquatic systems that experience periods of very low mixing, or even disconnection, non-hierarchical competition and chaos might indeed contribute significantly to biodiversity.     

白洋淀芦苇型水陆交错带水化学动态及其净化功能研究

于2007年3月-11月对富营养化湖泊一白洋淀进行了现场调查,分析了温度、溶解氧（DO）、叶绿素、总磷（TP）及其他水化学指标的动态变化规律,并讨论了它们之间的相互关系。结果表明：白洋淀芦苇（Phragmites australis var．baiyangdiansis）型水陆交错带对营养物质具有强烈的截留作用,可以达到净化白洋淀水体的效果。从水质指标的空间分布看,污染较重的府河河口区域其水体TP、化学需氧量（CODc,）含量明显高于污染较轻的湖泊中心区域,空间梯度上呈逐步递减趋势。根据水体盐度、总溶解性固体、TP及DO含量进行聚类分析,可以将采样点分为3类：Ⅰ区、污染较重河口区域;Ⅱ区、中间过渡缓冲区域;Ⅲ区、污染较轻中心区域。Ⅰ区其水体DO含量明显低于Ⅲ区,而水体盐度则明显高于Ⅲ区。通过调查发现：在8月份,白洋淀水体DO含量突然增加;相关分析表明：叶绿素含量与DO（P=0．046）及温度（P〈0．01）之间呈显著正相关关系。结合叶绿素等指标的动态变化规律,8月份左右可能是白洋淀藻类爆发的危险时期。     

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS IN THE USE OF STOCHASTIC DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING FOR RESERVOIR OPERATION1

ABSTRACT: A stochastic dynamic programming model is applied to a small hydroelectric system. The variation in number of stage iterations and the computer time required to reach steady state conditions with changes in the number of storage states is investigated. The increase in computer time required to develop the storage probability distributions with increase in the number of storage states is reviewed. It is found that for an average of seven inflow states, the largest number of storage states for which it is computationally feasible to develop the storage probability distributions is nine. It is shown that use of the dynamic program results based on a small number of storage states results in unrealistically skewed storage probability distributions. These skewed distributions are attributed to “trapping” states at the low end of the storage range.