The Effects of Local Cooling on Thermophysiological Response in Participants Wearing Dust-Free Garments

This study was designed to find the effects of two kinds of dust-free garments with (A) and without (B) frozen gel strip (FGS), and half-naked clothing (brassiere and shorts; C) on thermophysiological parameters and on temperature and humidity within clothing. The heart rate, rectal, and skin temperatures as well as sweat rate and clothing microclimate were measured during 140 min in 9 healthy females. Inquiries were also made into the subjective rating of thermal, humidity, and comfort sensations. The main findings in our experiments are as follows: (a) Physiological parameters such as rectal and skin temperatures (chest and forehead), heart rate, and sweat rate were clearly lowest in garb C, intermediate in garb A, and highest in garb B throughout the experiment; (b) Temperature and humidity within clothing were lower in garb A than in garb B; (c) More than half of the 9 participants decreased thermal sensation by wearing garb A. These results suggest that the usage of FGS could improve the heat load in lightly working participants wearing dust-free garments.     

Conserving and managing the subnivium

In regions where snowfall historically has been a defining seasonal characteristic of the landscape, warming winters have reduced the depth, duration, and extent of snowpack. However, most management and conservation has focused on how aboveground wildlife will be affected by altered snow conditions, even though the majority of species that persist through the winter do so under the snowpack in a thermally stable refugium: the subnivium. Shortened winters, forest management practices, and winter recreation can alter subnivium conditions by increasing snow compaction and compromising thermal stability at the soil–snow interface. To help slow the loss of the subnivium in the face of rapidly changing winter conditions, we suggest managers adopt regional conservation plans for identifying threatened snow‐covered environments; measure and predict the effects land cover and habitat management has on local subnivium conditions; and control the timing and distribution of activities that disturb and compact snow cover (e.g., silvicultural practices, snow recreation, and road and trail maintenance). As a case study, we developed a spatially explicit model of subnivium presence in a working landscape of the Chequamegon National Forest, Wisconsin. We identified landscapes where winter recreation and management practices could threaten potentially important areas for subnivium persistence. Similar modeling approaches could inform management decisions related to subnivium conservation. Current climate projections predict that snow seasons will change rapidly in many regions, and as result, we advocate for the immediate recognition, conservation, and management of the subnivium and its dependent species.     

Study on Community Diversity of Coastal Shelter Forest in Jiaonan

Abstract

Based on the research of the plots in coastal areas in Jiaonan city, Shandong Province, the indices of richness, evenness and diversity of different community types are analyzed. The results show that: The richness indices indicates that arbor layers are close to shrub layers, and both are lower than herbage layers; the ranges among communities vary a little except those of the arbor ones. Mostly the biodiversity indices reveal that herbage, the arbor, the shrub; Biodiversity of communities has great influences on microclimate to a certain extent and is under the control of regional environment.     

RIPARIAN MICROCLIMATE AND STREAM TEMPERATURE RESPONSE TO FOREST HARVESTING: A REVIEW1

Forest harvesting can increase solar radiation in the riparian zone as well as wind speed and exposure to air advected from clearings, typically causing increases in summertime air, soil, and stream temperatures and decreases in relative humidity. Stream temperature increases following forest harvesting are primarily controlled by changes in insolation but also depend on stream hydrology and channel morphology. Stream temperatures recovered to pre‐harvest levels within 10 years in many studies but took longer in others. Leaving riparian buffers can decrease the magnitude of stream temperature increases and changes to riparian microclimate, but substantial warming has been observed for streams within both unthinned and partial retention buffers. A range of studies has demonstrated that streams may or may not cool after flowing from clearings into shaded environments, and further research is required in relation to the factors controlling downstream cooling. Further research is also required on riparian microclimate and its responses to harvesting, the influences of surface/subsurface water exchange on stream and bed temperature regimes, biological implications of temperature changes in headwater streams (both on site and downstream), and methods for quantifying shade and its influence on radiation inputs to streams and riparian zones.     

小气候自记图图像数据采集的数字化处理方法

提出一种用数字图像处理技术(digital image processing,DIP)和算法获取小气候自记图图纸上数据的方法,解决了此类图纸中弧形时间轴变成直角坐标轴的问题,并且提高了数据的获取量,基本方法是利用图象软件Imagetool中的“Point”功能获取小气候自记图图象上的记录曲线上点的像素值,然后通过我们给出的算法转换成相应的数据资料,步骤包括：自记图纸扫描、自记图纸的图像纠偏、事件数字化、时间轴的标准化、温湿度的计算、现场时间的计算、时间和数字化图形一致性生成。同时通过实例比较和分析说明了手工与DIP方法在数据取样密度和表现性能差异上的来源。图4参4。     

茂兰喀斯特森林演替阶段不同小生境的小气候特征

探讨了茂兰喀斯特森林不同演替阶段群落不同小生境的气温、湿度、光照强度和土壤温度的目变化特征,结果表明：各演替群落内大气温度和光照强度随演替逐渐降低,且降幅趋缓;空气相对湿度却随着群落演替而逐渐升高,但变幅减缓;5～20cm土壤温度随演替进展逐渐降低,随着土层深度的增加土温亦呈下降趋势且降温幅度减缓。以乔木林的生态环境和...     

喀斯特石漠化区小生境特征研究——以贵州清镇王家寨小流域为例

本研究以贵州高原喀斯特石漠化小流域为对象,着重研究了该区小生境的类型、特征和组合,小生境小气候特征及植物对小生境资源的利用。结果表明:研究区小生境类型主要为石面、石沟、石缝及土面。小生境组合类型主要为石面型,石面土面型及石面石沟型,其中石面型占相当大的比例。不同小生境的严酷度从高到低依次为石面土面石沟石缝。各小生境的恶劣程度均随着石漠化的进行而增加。研究区植物主要生长在石面石沟中,若以各生境中单位面积的平均株数而言,植物对小生境资源利用率从高到低依次为石缝石沟土面石面。随着石漠化的进行,各小生境株密度基本上呈现出先增加后下降的格局。     

城市绿化屋顶的微气候调节与径流削减效应研究

快速城市化与气候变化双重作用下,热岛效应与城市内涝成为最为突出的城市环境问题。绿化屋顶因能有效利用闲置屋面添緑、帮助城市缓解热岛和暴雨径流而受到关注。以往研究较多探讨单种气象条件下、单个小面积实验型绿化屋面的气候水文调节功能,本研究基于夏秋两季的微气候水文观测数据,定量分析不同气象条件下5种典型绿化屋顶的降温和径流削减效应。首先选择晴朗、多云、降雨3种典型夏日天气条件,分析草坪、裸土、菜地、小面积花园、大面积花园5种类型绿化屋顶与对照光屋顶之间的温度差日变化规律,探讨绿化屋顶热效应强度及时空特征;其次,选择暴雨、大雨、中雨及小雨4次典型降雨,分析大面积草坪与花园型绿化屋顶上的降雨-滞蓄过程及径流削减率。研究结果表明:绿化屋顶降温与升温效应并存,晴朗无风天气条件下,距离屋面10 cm和150 cm两个高度上,绿化屋顶最高可降低气温5.3℃和2.5℃,多云及降雨天气条件下降温强度下降,升温时段延长;白天草坪与裸土上的大气温度高于对照光屋顶,其它绿化屋顶的温度低于对照屋顶;夜间5个绿化屋顶的大气温度均低于对照屋顶,且降温效应按照大面积花园、草坪、小面积花园、裸土、菜地的顺序递减。绿化屋顶径流削减效益与绿化类型及降雨强度密切相关,花园型绿化对一次典型暴雨、大雨、中雨、小雨的径流削减率分别为50.8%、78%、100%、100%,简易型绿化的4次径流削减率分别为24.3%,58.6%,98.2%和100%。研究结果可为同气候区其他城市绿化屋顶环境设计及管理提供一定参考价值。     

Tropical amphibians in shifting thermal landscapes under land‐use and climate change

Land‐cover and climate change are both expected to alter species distributions and contribute to future biodiversity loss. However, the combined effects of land‐cover and climate change on assemblages, especially at the landscape scale, remain understudied. Lowland tropical amphibians may be particularly susceptible to changes in land cover and climate warming because many species have narrow thermal safety margins resulting from air and body temperatures that are close to their critical thermal maxima (CT_max). We examined how changing thermal landscapes may alter the area of thermally suitable habitat (TSH) for tropical amphibians. We measured microclimates in 6 land‐cover types and CT_max of 16 frog species in lowland northeastern Costa Rica. We used a biophysical model to estimate core body temperatures of frogs exposed to habitat‐specific microclimates while accounting for evaporative cooling and behavior. Thermally suitable habitat area was estimated as the portion of the landscape where species CT_max exceeded their habitat‐specific maximum body temperatures. We projected changes in TSH area 80 years into the future as a function of land‐cover change only, climate change only, and combinations of land‐cover and climate‐change scenarios representing low and moderate rates of change. Projected decreases in TSH area ranged from 16% under low emissions and reduced forest loss to 30% under moderate emissions and business‐as‐usual land‐cover change. Under a moderate emissions scenario (A1B), climate change alone contributed to 1.7‐ to 4.5‐fold greater losses in TSH area than land‐cover change only, suggesting that future decreases in TSH from climate change may outpace structural habitat loss. Forest‐restricted species had lower mean CT_max than species that occurred in altered habitats, indicating that thermal tolerances will likely shape assemblages in changing thermal landscapes. In the face of ongoing land‐cover and climate change, it will be critical to consider changing thermal landscapes in strategies to conserve ectotherm species.     

Transpiration rates of urban trees, Aesculus chinensis

Transpiration patterns of Aesculus chinensis in relation to explanatory variables in the microclimatic, air quality, and biological phenomena categories were measured in Beijing, China using the thermal dissipation method. The highest transpiration rate measured as the sap flux density of the trees took place from 10:00 am to 13:00 pm in the summer and the lowest was found during nighttime in the winter. To sort out co-linearity, principal component analysis and variation and hierarchical partitioning methods were employed in data analyses. The evaporative demand index (EDI) consisting of air temperature, soil temperature, total radiation, vapor pressure deficit, and atmospheric ozone (O₃), explained 68% and 80% of the hourly and daily variations of the tree transpiration, respectively. The independent and joint effects of EDI variables together with a three-variable joint effect exerted the greatest influences on the variance of transpiration rates. The independent effects of leaf area index and atmospheric O₃ and their combined effect exhibited minor yet significant influences on tree transpiration rates.