Assessing Anchor Damage on Coral Reefs: A Case Study in Selection of Environmental Indicators

Because environmental conservation can remove scarce natural resources from competing uses, it is important to gain support for conservation programs by demonstrating that management actions have been effective in achieving their goals. One way to do this is to show that selected significant environmental variables (indicators) vary between managed and unmanaged areas or change over time following implementation of a management regime. However, identifying indicators that reflect environmental conditions relevant to management practices has proven difficult. This paper focuses on developing a framework for choosing indicators in a coral reef habitat. The framework consisted of three phases: (1) information gathering to identify candidate variables; (2) field-testing candidate variables at sites that differ in intensity of human activity, thus identifying potential indicators; and (3) evaluating potential indicators against a set of feasibility criteria to identify the most useful indicators. To identify indicators suitable to measure the success of a management strategy to reduce anchor damage to a coral reef, 24 candidate variables were identified and evaluated at sites with different intensities of anchoring. In this study, measures that reflected injuries to coral colonies were generally more efficient than traditional measures of coral cover in describing the effects of anchoring. The number of overturned colonies was identified as the single most useful indicator of coral reef condition associated with anchoring intensities. The indicator selection framework developed here has the advantages of being transparent, cost efficient, and readily transferable to other types of human activities and management strategies.     

CLUSTER ANALYSIS AND WATER PROJECT EVALUATION1

Large-scale water projects have long been undertaken for the benefit of people. Information appears to be needed as to who benefits as a result of these projects. The hypothesis was tested that regional income and employment benefits would be closely related to areas where water projects were located. The analytical procedure centered on cluster analysis used to delineate counties in the Tennessee River Watershed on the basis of changes in selected variables over different periods. The hypothesis was rejected. It was concluded that benefits of water projects were not necessarily confined to isolated areas near projects but were regional.     

带防腐层在役压力容器表面磁粉探伤灵敏度的试验研究

采用人工裂纹试样的方法 ,模拟压力容器涂刷油漆防腐层的状况进行磁粉探伤 ,得出了油漆防腐层厚度与裂纹检出灵敏度的定量关系 ;结合CVDA《压力容器缺陷评定》规范 ,探讨了试验方法对一般在役压力容器带有油漆的情况下 ,进行磁粉探伤检验的可行性。研究表明 :采用交流磁化法进行探伤 ,当漆层厚度大约小于2 5 0 μm时 ,灵敏度影响较小 ,同时亦表明不宜使用直流磁化方法。该结论对承受低应力工况条件下的压力容器安全质量检验和评估 ,具有重要参考价值     

雪崩危险度评价的类型、特征和方法

在提出“积雪单元”概念的基础上,将雪崩危险度评价分为区域雪崩危险度评价和点位雪崩危险度评价。从发生学角度,论证、筛选出发生危险度评价的4个主导因素,即气候、积雪厚度、坡度和植被类型与覆盖度,并提出了明确的指标体系。详细论证了两类评价各自的特征、操作性评价程序和方法。区域雪崩危险度评价是在划分积雪单元的基础上,评定各单元的等级高低并进行制图;点位雪崩危险度评价则涉及到雪崩发生点位和可能的承灾点位,分为发生危险度评价和到达危险度评价,可根据已有的统计资料来预测其概率。     

Environmental indices in irrigation management

Irrigation management calls for objective criteria capable of representing the economy, reliability, and productivity of irrigation systems. These criteria must be compatible with long-term sustainability and conservation goals. The criteria representing the above goals are the economic effect of management on yield reduction, economic effect, and reliability referring to plant growth and operation of the network. In this study environmental indices are introduced to express the above criteria in quantitative terms. The inclusion of these indices at the farm and network level create a multicriteria framework for decision-making based on composite programming. An experimental study was conducted during the irrigation periods of 1989 and 1990 in Chania, Greece, concerning water delivered to 40 experimental plots, soil moisture content at the rootzone, and irrigation system operational failures. The data collected in real time were used for the calculation of the corresponding environmental indices. The variation in time and space is high and resulted in up to 62% of yield loss and low system performance (up to 7% of system temporal reliability). The study indicated that environmental indices could be incorporated to select alternatives and also to develop policies on water delivery. The final decision involves a trade-off analysis between cost of application and desired system performance. Measures of both primary objectives can be obtained using environmental indices that represent system operation aggregation at its basic levels (on farm and network).     

Evaluating Nonpoint Pollution Policy Using a Tightly Coupled Spatial Decision Support System

Policy makers often must rely on the cumulative impact of independent actions taken by local landowners to achieve environmental goals. The connection between policy, regulation, and local action, however, is often not well understood and, thus, the impact of proposed policies may be difficult to predict. In this study we evaluate the effectiveness of alternative policy scenarios for agricultural set aside programs (e.g., the conservation reserve program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture) in reducing nonpoint pollution. Two alternative policy scenarios are developed and analyzed; one based on the erodibility index (detachment), the other sediment yield (transport). An estimate of the cumulative impact of associated land use change on nonpoint pollution is made using the AGNPS distributed parameter watershed model. This work is completed within the Cypress Creek watershed in southern Illinois. An analysis of the resulting data suggests that the most efficacious regulatory strategy for achieving nonpoint water pollution goals depends, in part, on place-specific land use patterns. This conclusion provides a solid argument for place-based regulatory strategies.     

A Multimethodological Approach for the Sustainable Management of Perifluvial Wetlands of the Po River (Italy)

/ Marginal aquatic systems (wetlands) of the Po River (Italy) have become the target of a renewed interest because of their value for recreation, natural reserves, and deposits of sand. To preserve these sites, wise management must be the objective of local administrations. In this paper a strategy for the sustainable use of 11 wetlands is presented. It uses simple economic analysis and multiple criteria techniques and provides suggestions to promote sustainability in terms of conservation of natural resources, economic self-sufficiency, and minimization of potential conflicts about the use of the wetlands. In the understanding that sustainability is framed in a long-term perspective, stability analysis is also considered and performed by means of loop analysis, a qualitative technique. Conditions for stability are then discussed about management opportunities.     

Land Evaluation in a Salt-Affected Irrigated District Using an Index of Productive Potential

2 semiarid irrigated area with salt-affected soils. The available soil map is at 1:100,000 scale and its mapping units are used for the land evaluation with the FAO framework. These data are then elaborated using the index value method. This procedure gives a map of land evaluation units and a table that rates the productive potential of these units for six crops: alfalfa, barley, maize, rice, sunflower, and wheat.     

九寨沟景区旅游环境容量研究

本文从不同的视角对九寨沟景区现状条件下的旅游生态环境容量、旅游空间容量、旅游服务设施容量和旅游社会环境容量进行了定量分析，获得了九寨沟景区现状条件下最大旅游环境容量和最佳旅游环境容量值；诊断出九寨沟旅游生态环境容量充分满足游客需求，但服务设施的不足限制了大量游人的进入。     

岷江流域地表水水质的模糊综合评价

岷江是长江上游的一个重要支流，其水质安全对维持成都平原正常的生产生活起着至关重要的作用。采用模糊综合评价的方法，对岷江流域14个地表水监测断面的水质状况进行了综合评价。结果表明：在14个监测断面中，处于清洁和未污染程度的断面占50％，主要位于岷江流域的上游和下游，其水质状况较好；处于重污染的断面占29％，主要位于岷江流域的中游，水质状况较差。因此，需要加强流域综合治理尤其是对岷江中游的治理，以确保岷江流域的水质安全。