Acidification of a solonetzic soil by nitrogenous fertilizers

Abstract

Annual applications of (NH₄)₂SO₄ NH₄NO₃ and urea on a Solonetzic soil at 112 kg N/ha for 10 consecutive years reduced pH levels from 5.6 for the check to 4.4, 4.9 and 5.3, respectively for (NH₄)₂SO₄, NH₄NO₃ and urea. (NH₄)₂SO₄ generated twice as much exchange acidity as NH₄NO₃ and four times as much as urea. Net extractable cations leached from the Ap horizon closely approximated the amount of exchange acidity generated by (NH₄)₂SO₄ and NH₄NO₃ fertilizers. The levels of soil extractable Al and Mn were greatly enhanced by (NH₄)₂SO₄ as were plant contents. Similar acidifying effects to that produced by the (NH₄)₂SO₄ occurred when NH₄NO₃ was applied at 300 kg N/ha annually for 12 consecutive years in another field experiment on the same soil. Liming samples of the field (NH₄)₂SO₄ acidified soils in the greenhouse, significantly increased yields and lowered the Al and Mn contents of the plants to normal levels.     

Some Guiding Concepts for Conservation Biology

Abstract: The search for generalities in ecology has often been thwarted by contingency and ecological complexity that limit the development of predictive rules. We present a set of concepts that we believe succinctly expresses some of the fundamental ideas in conservation biology. (1) Successful conservation management requires explicit goals and objectives. (2) The overall goal of biodiversity management will usually be to maintain or restore biodiversity, not to maximize species richness. (3) A holistic approach is needed to solve conservation problems. (4) Diverse approaches to management can provide diverse environmental conditions and mitigate risk. (5) Using nature's template is important for guiding conservation management, but it is not a panacea. (6) Focusing on causes not symptoms enhances efficacy and efficiency of conservation actions. (7) Every species and ecosystem is unique, to some degree. (8) Threshold responses are important but not ubiquitous. (9) Multiple stressors often exert critical effects on species and ecosystems. (10) Human values are variable and dynamic and significantly shape conservation efforts. We believe most conservation biologists will broadly agree these concepts are important. That said, an important part of the maturation of conservation biology as a discipline is constructive debate about additional or alternative concepts to those we have proposed here. Therefore, we have established a web‐based, online process for further discussion of the concepts outlined in this paper and developing additional ones.     

Using social resilience and resource dependency to increase the effectiveness of marine conservation initiatives in Salum,Egypt

The social and economic ramifications of marine conservation strategies such as marine protected areas (MPAs) are important to consider prior to their implementation to ensure that they do not exceed the resilience of resource-users and that resource protection might be maximised through compliance and low resistance. This paper presents a framework in which the human dimensions can be more easily and usefully integrated into the design and delivery of conservation initiatives. The framework espouses quantifying (1) the level of dependency on the resource; (2) perceptions towards conservation initiatives; and (3) social resilience. The framework is applied in Salum, Egypt, which is the site of a prospective MPA.     

随机地震激励下相邻隔震结构被动控制研究

利用隔震结构和非隔震结构间的相互作用来减小地震作用下的结构响应,考虑地震激励的随机性,基于Clough-Penzien谱模型,推导了相邻结构随机响应的拓展状态方程,采用两种优化控制目标,分析得到了相邻隔震结构体系间连接控制装置的控制参数与结构随机响应的关系及其对控制效果的影响,并分别从地震响应时程和振动累计能量时程角度研究了相应地多自由度相邻隔震结构复合被动控制体系,在不同优化准则及不同控制方案下,结构体系的减震控制效果。研究结果表明,相邻隔震结构复合被动控制体系,可以获得较好的减震控制效果,阻尼系数在减震控制中起主要作用,但存在最优取值,并不是越大越好;采用以左、右子结构振动总能量最小为优化准则,在顶层+中间层安装控制装置的控制方案,可以有效地减小相邻结构的地震响应,得到的控制效果较好。     

Vulnerability and adaptation to heat in cities: perspectives and perceptions of local adaptation decision-makers in Sweden

Climate change vulnerability is disproportionately distributed between different population segments in society. This study qualitatively explores how key stakeholders in municipalities (i.e. planning and operational staff in municipalities and the vulnerable themselves) construct social vulnerability in relation to climate change with a specific focus on thermal stress (i.e. heat waves) and which adaptive responses they identify at different levels. The empirical material consists of five focus groups with actors in a large Swedish municipality where the “Vulnerability Factor Card Game” was used as stimulus material to create 10 fictional individuals. The results show that there is a substantial amount of local knowledge about vulnerability drivers and inter-relations between social factors and vulnerability. Local decision-makers also defined a wide range of possible adaptation measures at different municipal levels. Our study clearly indicates that contextualised knowledge, which could complement the quantitative approaches in research, is abundant among municipal planners, staff employed at municipal operations such as health care, and among the vulnerable themselves. This knowledge remains untapped by research to a great extent and only seems to have an insignificant influence on policy-making. In particular, how impacts vary between different social and demographic groups and how adaptation strategies that target the most vulnerable could be defined are of great interest. The present study clearly indicates that social hierarchy may produce increased inequality in the specific context of climate change, vulnerability and adaptive responses at different levels.     

Cultivating food as a right to the city

This paper argues that there is much to be gained when we view struggles to cultivate food in the city through the lens of Henri Lefebvre's concept of the right to the city. Lefebvre's idea helps us better perceive the radical political and ecological potential of those struggles. And in the empirical details of the struggles we can see concretely the key action in Lefebvre's concept, an action that is only abstract in his work: urban inhabitants becoming active and producing and managing space for themselves.     

增施磷肥对提高强酸性高硒茶园土壤硒有效性的效果

通过大田试验,研究了增施钙镁磷肥、过磷酸钙及与生物有机肥混施共6种调控措施对强酸性高硒茶园土壤基本化学性质、土壤有效硒和茶叶中硒质量比的调控效果.结果表明,不同磷肥及不同用量处理对土壤有效硒质量比增加均有效果,高用量的3种处理(钙镁磷肥高用量与生物有机肥混施、钙镁磷肥高用量和过磷酸钙高用量)效果好于正常用量的处理(钙镁磷肥正常用量与生物有机肥混施、钙镁磷肥正常用量、过磷酸钙正常用量),且用量相同的情况下,伴有生物有机肥的磷肥处理效果最好.增施磷肥调控均不同程度地增加了茶叶硒质量比,6种处理的增幅均达到极显著水平(p＜0.01).     

露天转地下开采对上覆构筑物安全影响分析

为在最大限度科学回收地下资源的前提下,保证地表构筑物安全,以国内某大型矿山为工程背景,采用空区监测系统(CMS)结合DIMINE/FLAC3D建模技术,构建露天转地下开采对地表构筑物影响分析三维可视化计算模型。通过数值计算与现场调查相结合的方法,对比分析露天转地下开采影响范围内的地表构筑物水平位移、倾斜、曲率、沉降。结果表明:数值计算获得的应力场和位移场结果,与矿山实测结果基本吻合。该矿山开采1 650 m阶段后监测点最大倾斜指标为9 mm/m,接近允许值上限,因此,其最大合理开采深度为1 650 m阶段。     

基于AHP-模糊方法的某化工园区应急能力评估

化工园区应急能力评估是化工园区风险评估及应急管理的重要内容,化工园区建立应急能力评估体系一方面可以提高园区企业及管理部门的应急响应能力,另一方面可以增强政府各部门对事故的应急管理能力。在对某化工园区现场调研的基础上,结合国内外研究成果,确定了化工园区应急能力的多级指标,并运用AHP-模糊方法对该园区进行了应急能力评估。     

Unveiling soil degradation and desertification risk in the Mediterranean basin: a data mining analysis of the relationships between biophysical and socioeconomic factors in agro-forest landscapes

Soil degradation and desertification processes in the Mediterranean basin reflect the interplay between environmental and socioeconomic drivers. An approach to evaluate comparatively the multiple relationships between biophysical variables and socioeconomic factors is illustrated in the present study using the data collected from 586 field sites located in five Mediterranean areas (Spain, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco). A total of 47 variables were chosen to illustrate land-use, farm characteristics, population pressure, tourism development, rainfall regime, water availability, soil properties and vegetation cover, among others. A data mining approach incorporating non-parametric inference, principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering was developed to identify candidate syndromes of soil degradation and desertification risk. While field sites in the same study area showed a substantial similarity, the multivariate relationship among variables diverged among study areas. Data mining techniques proved to be a practical tool to identify spatial determinants of soil degradation and desertification risk. Our findings identify the contrasting spatial patterns for biophysical and socioeconomic variables, in turn associated with different responses to land degradation.