Climate readiness of recovery plans for threatened Australian species

The rapidly changing climate is posing growing threats for all species, but particularly for those already considered threatened. We reviewed 100 recovery plans for Australian terrestrial threatened species (50 fauna and 50 flora plans) written from 1997 to 2017. We recorded the number of plans that acknowledged climate change as a threat and of these how many proposed specific actions to ameliorate the threat. We classified these actions along a continuum from passive or incremental to active or interventionist. Overall, just under 60% of the sampled recovery plans listed climate change as a current or potential threat to the threatened taxa, and the likelihood of this acknowledgment increased over time. A far smaller proportion of the plans, however, identified specific actions associated with ameliorating climate risk (22%) and even fewer (9%) recommended any interventionist action in response to a climate-change-associated threat. Our results point to a disconnect between the knowledge generated on climate-change-related risk and potential adaptation strategies and the extent to which this knowledge has been incorporated into an important instrument of conservation action.     

Traditional agriculture in transition: examining the impacts of agricultural modernization on smallholder farming in Ghana under the new Green Revolution

Following the renewed effort at achieving a new green revolution for Africa, emphasis has been placed on modernizing smallholder agriculture through the deployment of improved inputs especially mechanized technologies. In Ghana, the government has in the last decade emphasized the provision of subsidized mechanized ploughing services to farmers alongside a rapidly growing private sector tractor service market. While mechanized technology adoption rates have increased rapidly, the deployment of these technologies has been without critical analysis of the impacts on production patterns and local agrarian systems. This paper examines the distributional impacts of agriculture mechanization on cropping patterns and farm sizes of smallholder farmers in northern Ghana using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, and semi-structured interviews with smallholder farmers (n=60). Specifically, comparative analysis of the field sizes and cropping patterns of participant farmers prior to and after the adoption of mechanized technologies was conducted. In-depth interviews were used to contextualize the experiences of smallholder farmers toward understanding how mechanization may be impacting traditional agriculture. Our findings reveal a mechanization paradox in which farm sizes are expanding, while cropping patterns are shifting away from traditional staple crops (pearl millet and sorghum bicolor) to market-oriented crops (maize, rice and groundnuts). This transition we argue, has adverse implications on the cultural dimension of food security, the organization of social life, and climate change adaptation. We recommend a retooling of the current agricultural policy focus to ensure context sensitivity for a more robust battle against food insecurity.     

Using fuzzy set theory to address the uncertainty of susceptibility to drought

This paper presents the technical aspects of a new methodology for assessing the susceptibility of society to drought. The methodology consists of a combination of inference modelling and fuzzy logic applications. Four steps are followed: (1) model input variables are selected—these variables reflect the main factors influencing susceptibility in a social group, population or region, (2) fuzzification—the uncertainties of the input variables are made explicit by representing them as ‘fuzzy membership functions’, (3) inference modelling—the input variables are used to construct a model made up of linguistic rules, and (4) defuzzification—results from the model in linguistic form are translated into numerical form, also through the use of fuzzy membership functions. The disadvantages and advantages of this methodology became apparent when it was applied to the assessment of susceptibility from three disciplinary perspectives: Disadvantages include the difficulty in validating results and the subjectivity involved with specifying fuzzy membership functions and the rules of the inference model. Advantages of the methodology are its transparency, because all model assumptions have to be made explicit in the form of inference rules; its flexibility, in that informal and expert knowledge can be incorporated through ‘fuzzy membership functions’ and through the rules in the inference model; and its versatility, since numerical data can be converted to linguistic statements and vice versa through the procedures of ‘fuzzification’ and ‘defuzzification’.     

长江三峡柑桔的冻害和热害（二）

本文从柑桔冻害和热害的危害因子和指标等级划分的研究和选取入手,着重探讨了长江三峡地区(湖北境内)两害显著的时空变化特征、差异与关联性及对柑桔生产的影响;揭示了80年代以来冬暖春热的重大气候变化是使两害向“两极分化”的根本原因;讨论了三峡水利工程对两害时空格局的可能调整及减灾原理;最后提出了可能的对策。     

Restrictive dermopathy and fetal behaviour

We report three siblings from consecutive pregnancies affected with restrictive dermopathy (RD). During the second pregnancy, fetal behavioural development and growth were studied extensively using ultrasound at 1–4 week intervals. Dramatic and sudden changes occurred in fetal body movements and growth but not until the end of the second trimester of pregnancy. Prominent at that time were prolonged periods of fetal quiescence and very low heart rate variability, together with abnormally executed body movements of short duration. Retarded femoral development and jerky abrupt fetal body movements (abnormal movement quality) were already present in the early second trimester of pregnancy. Facial anomalies emerged despite the presence of fetal mouth movements. The clinical features of RD were only partly explained by present knowledge of skin development and the fetal akinesia deformation sequence hypothesis. Quantitative assessment of fetal movements proved to be a poor early marker for antenatal diagnosis of this disorder. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in fetal heart rate pattern after intrauterine paracentesis in one twin with meconium peritonitis

We report a case of in utero paracentesis of ascites in a fetus with meconium peritonitis due to volvulus at 34 weeks which resulted in the correction of an abnormal fetal heart rate pattern and enabled vaginal delivery by preventing abdominal dystocia. The intrauterine intervention also helped to establish the diagnosis and potentially reduced the respiratory compromise after birth. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluctuations of Population Size and Structure in the Northern Mole Vole: Preliminary Analysis

Long-term stationary studies on the ecology of the northern mole vole (Ellobius talpinus Pall.), performed by the mark–recapture method from 1985 to 1997, have provided original data on population dynamics and structure. The analysis shows that, to reveal cyclic fluctuations of population size in this species, the period of three years should be taken as a unit of time for estimating the duration of one phase. The 12-year population cycle in E. talpinus has four distinct phases: an increase, a peak, a decline, and a minimum. At each phase, the population is characterized by certain features of family structure, age composition, birth and death rates, and the composition of migrants.     

母岩的风化剥蚀速率与土壤允许流失量的关系 --以长江三峡坝区风化花岗岩土壤为例

土壤允许流失量的确定是一个非常复杂而又必须解决的问题，它关系到水土保持措施的布设和土壤的可持续利用。然而，发育在不同母质上的土壤，其土壤的最大允许流失量差异很大，确定这一值的依据也各不相同。在岩成土壤地区，母岩风化剥蚀速率的大小直接影响土壤的发育。是确定土壤允许流失量、分析人类加速水土流失的重要依据之一。选长江三峡黄陵背斜段风化花岗岩土壤为研究对象，根据剥蚀沉积相关原理，通过恢复古地理环境及时代，计算出新生代以来本区花岗岩的平均风化剥蚀速率为16．97mm／ka．最大剥蚀速率为49．56。又根据区内太平溪流域的泥沙资料，算出了当地现代的剥蚀速率，多年平均为297．7mm／ka，最小值为31．5mm／ka，而水利部颁布的当地土壤允许流失量为200t／km^2,a，折合为76．9mm／ka，二者相差近1．5—4．5倍。基于此。提出了确定土壤允许流失量必须参考母岩风化剥蚀速率的新观点。     

北京市发展CNG汽车的条件与前景分析

北京市汽车排放污染物贡献率已达到：HC73.5％，CO63．4％，NOx46％。用CNG代替汽油作汽车燃料，可使CO减少97％、HC减少72％、NOx减少39％、CO2减少24％、SO2减少90％。建立CNG加气站和CNG汽车改装这两个CNG应用关键问题在技术上、经济上都是可行的。北京市CNG燃料来源有保障。北京市车辆都比较适合使用CNG气体燃料。北京有很强的CNG汽车产业科技力量。对北京市当前发展CNG汽车产业提出了一些建议。