This article discusses the system of classification of forest types used by the Pwo Karen in Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary
in western Thailand and the role of nontimber forest products (NTFPs), focusing on wild food plants, in Karen livelihoods.
The article argues that the Pwo Karen have two methods of forest classification, closely related to their swidden farming
practices. The first is used for forest land that has been, or can be, swiddened, and classifies forest types according to
growth conditions. The second system is used for land that is not suitable for cultivation and looks at soil properties and
slope. The article estimates the relative importance of each forest type in what concerns the collection of wild food plants.
A total of 134 wild food plant species were recorded in December 2004. They account for some 80–90% of the amount of edible
plants consumed by the Pwo Karen, and have a base value of Baht 11,505 per year, comparable to the cash incomes of many households.
The article argues that the Pwo Karen reliance on NTFPs has influenced their land-use and forest management practices. However,
by restricting the length of the fallow period, the Thai government has caused ecological changes that are challenging the
ability of the Karen to remain subsistence oriented. By ignoring shifting cultivators’ dependence on such products, the involvement
of governments in forest management, especially through restrictions imposed on swidden farming practices, is likely to have
a considerable impact on the livelihood strategies of these communities. 相似文献
We conducted a field experiment using constructed communities to test whether species richness contributed to the maintenance
of ecosystem processes under fire disturbance. We studied the effects of diversity components (i.e., species richness and
species composition) upon productivity, structural traits of vegetation, decomposition rates, and soil nutrients between burnt
and unburnt experimental Mediterranean grassland communities. Our results demonstrated that fire and species richness had
interactive effects on aboveground biomass production and canopy structure components. Fire increased biomass production of
the highest-richness communities. The effects of fire on aboveground biomass production at different levels of species richness
were derived from changes in both vertical and horizontal canopy structure of the communities. The most species-rich communities
appeared to be more resistant to fire in relation to species-poor ones, due to both compositional and richness effects. Interactive
effects of fire and species richness were not important for belowground processes. Decomposition rates increased with species
richness, related in part to increased levels of canopy structure traits. Fire increased soil nutrients and long-term decomposition
rate. Our results provide evidence that composition within richness levels had often larger effects on the stability of aboveground
ecosystem processes in the face of fire disturbance than species richness per se. 相似文献
Ecological effects of crude oil residues on weed rhizospheres are still vague. The quantitative and diversity changes and metabolic responses of soil-bacterial communities in common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), jerusalem artichoke (Silphiurn perfoliatum L.) and evening primrose (A colypha australis L.) rhizospheric soils were thus examined using the method of carbon source utilization. The results indicated that there were various toxic effects of crude oil residues on the growth and reproduction of soil bacteria, but the weed rhizospheres could mitigate the toxic effects. Total heterotrophic counting colony-forming units (CFUs) in the rhizospheric soils were significantly higher than those in the non-rhizospheric soils. The culturable soil-bacterial CFUs in the jerusalem artichoke (S. perfoliatum) rhizosphere polluted with 0.50 kg/pot of crude oil residues were almost twice as much as those with 0.25 kg/pot and without the addition of crude oil residues. The addition of crude oil residues increased the difference in substrate evenness, substrate richness, and substrate diversity between non-rhizospheric and rhizospheric soils of T. officinale and A. australis, but there was no significant (p〉0.05) difference in the Shannon's diversity index between non-rhizospheric and rhizospheric soils of S. perfoliatum. The rhizospheric response of weed species to crude oil residues suggested that S. perfoliatum may be a potential weed species for the effective plant-microorganism bioremediation of contaminated soils by crude oil residues. 相似文献
The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) is used daily across Canada for evaluating forest fire danger. Fuel-type information is one of the inputs required by the models used in the CFFDRS. In this project, three fuel-type maps with a 25 m resolution were produced for a pilot study area located in Alberta using land cover only; land cover and biomass; and, land cover, biomass and leaf area index data derived from satellite imagery. The relationships between inputs and fuel types were determined mainly by the opinions of forest fire scientists and incorporated into a computer program using fuzzy set methodology. Not all the CFFDRS fuel types could be distinguished using these inputs; three of the coniferous types had to be grouped into one common fuel type. Overall accuracy was between 74 and 83% based on ground-truth comparisons. The most accurate map resulted from land cover and biomass data. Detailed accuracy assessment indicated that the overall accuracy increased up to 86% if ambiguous fuel type identification was considered. No combination of inputs was able to define a fuel type with absolute certainty, which is a reflection of differing expert opinions and the small number of inputs used to produce the maps. 相似文献
Objective: The objective of this article is to provide empirical evidence for safe speed limits that will meet the objectives of the Safe System by examining the relationship between speed limit and injury severity for different crash types, using police-reported crash data.
Method: Police-reported crashes from 2 Australian jurisdictions were used to calculate a fatal crash rate by speed limit and crash type. Example safe speed limits were defined using threshold risk levels.
Results: A positive exponential relationship between speed limit and fatality rate was found. For an example fatality rate threshold of 1 in 100 crashes it was found that safe speed limits are 40 km/h for pedestrian crashes; 50 km/h for head-on crashes; 60 km/h for hit fixed object crashes; 80 km/h for right angle, right turn, and left road/rollover crashes; and 110 km/h or more for rear-end crashes.
Conclusions: The positive exponential relationship between speed limit and fatal crash rate is consistent with prior research into speed and crash risk. The results indicate that speed zones of 100 km/h or more only meet the objectives of the Safe System, with regard to fatal crashes, where all crash types except rear-end crashes are exceedingly rare, such as on a high standard restricted access highway with a safe roadside design. 相似文献
Objective: The objective of this study was to identify and quantify the motorcycle crash population that would be potential beneficiaries of 3 crash avoidance technologies recently available on passenger vehicles.
Methods: Two-vehicle crashes between a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle that occurred in the United States during 2011–2015 were classified by type, with consideration of the functionality of 3 classes of passenger vehicle crash avoidance technologies: frontal crash prevention, lane maintenance, and blind spot detection. Results were expressed as the percentage of crashes potentially preventable by each type of technology, based on all known types of 2-vehicle crashes and based on all crashes involving motorcycles.
Results: Frontal crash prevention had the largest potential to prevent 2-vehicle motorcycle crashes with passenger vehicles. The 3 technologies in sum had the potential to prevent 10% of fatal 2-vehicle crashes and 23% of police-reported crashes. However, because 2-vehicle crashes with a passenger vehicle represent fewer than half of all motorcycle crashes, these technologies represent a potential to avoid 4% of all fatal motorcycle crashes and 10% of all police-reported motorcycle crashes.
Discussion: Refining the ability of passenger vehicle crash avoidance systems to detect motorcycles represents an opportunity to improve motorcycle safety. Expanding the capabilities of these technologies represents an even greater opportunity. However, even fully realizing these opportunities can affect only a minority of motorcycle crashes and does not change the need for other motorcycle safety countermeasures such as helmets, universal helmet laws, and antilock braking systems. 相似文献
Radium isotopes in 23 Na-Cl type groundwater sampled mainly from deep wells in Niigata Prefecture, which is the site of the largest oil- and gas-fields in Japan, were measured along with U isotopes, chemical components and hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios to elucidate the distribution and behavior of Ra in a brackish environment underground. Also analyzed were U and Th isotopes in 38 rock samples collected from outcrops at 17 locations. Ra-226 concentrations (8.86-1637 mBq kg−1) of groundwater samples roughly correlated with total dissolved solid (TDS) concentrations and other alkaline earth contents. Their 228Ra/226Ra activity ratios (0.32-5.2) were similar to or higher than the 232Th/238U activity ratios (0.6-1.7) in the rocks. The most likely transport mechanism of Ra isotopes into groundwater was due to their α-recoil from the solid phase, probably from the water-rock interface where Th isotopes had accumulated, and adsorption/desorption reaction based on the increase in 226Ra contents with TDS. 相似文献