Estimating sediment and caesium-137 fluxes in the Ribble Estuary through time-series airborne remote sensing

High spatial and temporal resolution airborne imagery were acquired for the Ribble Estuary, North West England in 1997 and 2003, to assess the application of time-series airborne remote sensing to quantify total suspended sediment and radionuclide fluxes during a flood and ebb tide sequence. Concomitant measurements of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and water column turbidity were obtained during the time-series image acquisition for the flood and ebb tide sequence on the 17th July 2003 to verify the assumption of a vertically well mixed estuary and thus justifying the vertical extrapolation of spatially integrated estimate of surface SPM. The ¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations were calculated from a relatively stable relationship between SPM and ¹³⁷Cs for the Ribble Estuary. Total estuary wide budgets of sediment and ¹³⁷Cs were obtained by combining the image-derived estimates of surface SPM and ¹³⁷Cs with estimates of water volume from a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model (VERSE) developed for the Ribble Estuary. These indicate that around 10,000 tonnes of sediment and 2.72 GBq of ¹³⁷Cs were deposited over the tidal sequence monitored in July 2003. This compared favourably with bed height elevation change estimated from field work. An uncertainty analysis on the total sediment and ¹³⁷Cs flux yielded a total budget of the order of 40% on the final estimate. The results represent a novel approach to providing a spatially integrated estimate of the total net sediment and radionuclide flux in an intertidal environment over a flood and ebb tide sequence.     

三峡工程建设前后库区城镇发展与环境变化

利用卫星遥感监测,分析三峡工程建设前后库区城镇发展类型、时空过程,揭示库区城镇变化的驱动力,探索了城镇扩展与人口城镇化关系,研究城镇环境变化特征。三峡库区城镇规模发展不均衡,库尾城市规模庞大,库中、东部区县级城市规模较小,而乡镇的比例占城镇面积24%;在过去15 a中,建城区规模扩大172%,高于全国省会城市发展水平72%;三峡库区城镇规模扩大的同时,东西城镇规模差距逐步缩小,三峡工程建设起着重要的推动作用;城镇发展以侵占了优质耕地资源为代价,耕地占城镇变化83%;城镇用地变化与人口城市化发展不平衡,城镇空间发展快于人口城镇化过程,城镇对农村人口的吸引力不及全国省会城市平均水平,在2007年城市化率低于全国水平13%,差距进一步扩大;城市空间结构发展模式受地形和土地资源的限制,城市分维数和坡度分别增加12%和104°,城市向潜山区扩展或搬迁的同时,城市空间的完整性下降     

污水处理智能控制与优化控制方法及应用

论述目前污水处理中的智能控制与优化控制方法的研究与应用现状,对模糊控制技术、神经网络软测量与控制、优化控制等方法进行了分析,指出在污水生物处理中引入智能控制是一种提高处理效率、降低运行成本的有效方法.污水处理最优控制能使系统运行稳定可靠,出水水质达到预定标准,而且使出水水质满足要求不增加处理成本.     

聚能药包在岩石控制爆破技术中的应用研究

聚能爆破技术是岩石控制爆破技术中有待开发的领域。根据爆炸力学、岩石断裂力学理论,从当前控制爆破面临的问题入手,对线性聚能药包(Linear shaped charge)在岩石定向断裂爆破中裂纹的产生、扩展以及主要爆破参数进行了分析研究,并利用自制线性聚能药包在巷道掘进中进行了试验。试验结果是聚能药包形成的巷道轮廓外爆震裂隙不明显,巷道断面平整,凹凸量不超过50mm,眼痕率高达96%以上,经济和社会效益明显。这些均表明聚能爆破是一种理想的定向断裂控制爆破技术。     

郑州园林绿化树木低温寒冻害空间分布特征研究

绿化树木是园林景观的主体部分,同样也是园林建设中的目标植物.然而,绿化植物容易受到低温寒冻害的影响,进而影响园林布局美观.基于此,该文提出郑州园林绿化树木低温寒冻害空间分布特征研究方法,统计郑州园林绿化树木类型,对各样本按照乔木层与灌木层进行分类整理,将频度、显著度、密度等作为计算树木多样性的指标,分析比较结果,根据获...     

Predicting occurrence of juvenile shark habitat to improve conservation planning

Fishing and habitat degradation have increased the extinction risk of sharks, and conservation strategies recognize that survival of juveniles is critical for the effective management of shark populations. Despite the rapid expansion of marine protected areas (MPAs) globally, the paucity of shark‐monitoring data on large scales (100s–1000s km) means that the effectiveness of MPAs in halting shark declines remains unclear. Using data collected by baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS) in northwestern Australia, we developed generalized linear models to elucidate the ecological drivers of habitat suitability for juvenile sharks. We assessed occurrence patterns at the order and species levels. We included all juvenile sharks sampled and the 3 most abundant species sampled separately (grey reef [Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos], sandbar [Carcharhinus plumbeus], and whitetip reef sharks [Triaenodon obesus]). We predicted the occurrence of juvenile sharks across 490,515 km² of coastal waters and quantified the representation of highly suitable habitats within MPAs. Our species‐level models had higher accuracy (? ≥ 0.69) and deviance explained (≥48%) than our order‐level model (? = 0.36 and deviance explained of 10%). Maps of predicted occurrence revealed different species‐specific patterns of highly suitable habitat. These differences likely reflect different physiological or resource requirements between individual species and validate concerns over the utility of conservation targets based on aggregate species groups as opposed to a species‐focused approach. Highly suitable habitats were poorly represented in MPAs with the most restrictions on extractive activities. This spatial mismatch possibly indicates a lack of explicit conservation targets and information on species distribution during the planning process. Non‐extractive BRUVS provided a useful platform for building the suitability models across large scales to assist conservation planning across multiple maritime jurisdictions, and our approach provides a simple for method for testing the effectiveness of MPAs.     

Estimating Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis migration using a mass balance model expressed by hydrological distribution parameters in a major limpid river basin in Japan

We examined the influence of several hydrological and meteorological parameters on the migratory movements of ayu Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis in central Japan. When comprehensively evaluating rivers and ayu behaviour on a catchment scale, the subjects of analysis typically include human activities and hydrological and meteorological phenomena. However, limiting analyses to such factors may be too restrictive when human activities are being conducted. Accordingly, we incorporated a biological viewpoint into the evaluation method, analysing hydrological data (river discharge, river water temperature, sea water temperature) to determine watershed characteristics and examining the relationship between these characteristics and the habitat conditions of ayu. Then we constructed a numerical model for ayu migratory runs that incorporated ayu ecology and watershed characteristics. Analyses of ayu movements from a lower estuarine dam demonstrated that downstream displacements were associated with high water flows of more than 200 m³ s⁻¹ at the beginning of summer. We conclude that it is important to consider the effects of environmental parameters on the movements of different fish species to understand the causes of spatial variation in fish distribution in lowland rivers.     

Vertical migration of radionuclides in undisturbed grassland soils

Literature data on numerical values obtained for the parameters of the two most popular models for simulating the migration of radionuclides in undisturbed soils have been compiled and evaluated statistically. Due to restrictions on the applicability of compartmental models, the convection–dispersion equation and its parameter values should be preferred. For radiocaesium, recommended values are derived for its effective convection velocity and dispersion coefficient. Data deficiencies still exist for radionuclides other than caesium and for soils of non-temperate environments.     

Cesium inhibition of motor activity in comparison to Lithium and Rubidium †

The biochemical and toxicological significance of cesium is scarcely understood, and could be evaluated in comparison with lithium widely used as a psychotropic drug. Two male Wistar rat groups of 200–220 g are administered independently, lithium, sodium, rubidium and cesium chloride, in doses of 3mEq/Kg/day (0.024 Eq/L drinking water) during 29 days. Motor activity was measured after the injection of 70 mg pargyline/Kg animal i.p. as inhibitor of MAO A + B with an activimeter of Tedeschy type. Accumulative movements per minute are presented in function of time. Total brain proteins, alkaline and acid phosphatases and blood parameters, haematocrit, haemoglobin and erythrocytes, were determined.

The maximal increase of motor activity was seen in rats treated with RbCl 2 h after the pargyline administration and the diminution was Rb>Li>Cs. Cesium induced a decrease of the total serum protein concentration from 6.39 ± 0.1 to 5.8±0.5mg/100ml serum in controls. Acid and alkaline phosphatase were decreased in cesium treated rats. The three determined blood parameters, haematocrit, haemoglobin and erythrocytes, show also a decrement with cesium treatment compared to the control ones.     

Use of Habitats as Surrogates of Biodiversity for Efficient Coral Reef Conservation Planning in Pacific Ocean Islands

Abstract: Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been highlighted as a means toward effective conservation of coral reefs. New strategies are required to more effectively select MPA locations and increase the pace of their implementation. Many criteria exist to design MPA networks, but generally, it is recommended that networks conserve a diversity of species selected for, among other attributes, their representativeness, rarity, or endemicity. Because knowledge of species’ spatial distribution remains scarce, efficient surrogates are urgently needed. We used five different levels of habitat maps and six spatial scales of analysis to identify under which circumstances habitat data used to design MPA networks for Wallis Island provided better representation of species than random choice alone. Protected‐area site selections were derived from a rarity–complementarity algorithm. Habitat surrogacy was tested for commercial fish species, all fish species, commercially harvested invertebrates, corals, and algae species. Efficiency of habitat surrogacy varied by species group, type of habitat map, and spatial scale of analysis. Maps with the highest habitat thematic complexity provided better surrogates than simpler maps and were more robust to changes in spatial scales. Surrogates were most efficient for commercial fishes, corals, and algae but not for commercial invertebrates. Conversely, other measurements of species‐habitat associations, such as richness congruence and composition similarities provided weak results. We provide, in part, a habitat‐mapping methodology for designation of MPAs for Pacific Ocean islands that are characterized by habitat zonations similar to Wallis. Given the increasing availability and affordability of space‐borne imagery to map habitats, our approach could appreciably facilitate and improve current approaches to coral reef conservation and enhance MPA implementation.