Freshwater inundation effects on emergent vegetation of a hypersaline salt marsh     

Heather D. Elexander  Kenneth H. Dunton 《Estuaries and Coasts》2002,25(6):1426-1435

The coastal marshlands of the Nueces estuary, Texas depend upon periodic freshwater inundation to support current community structure and promote further establishment and expansion of emergent halophytes. Decades of watershed modifications have dramatically decreased freshwater discharge into the upper estuary resulting in hypersaline and dry conditions. In an attempt to partially restore inflow, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation excavated two overflow channels re-connecting the Nueces River to the marshlands. Freshwater-mediated (precipitation and inflow) changes in tidal creek and porewater salinity and emergent marsh vegetation were examined over a 5-yr period at three stations in the upper Nueces Marsh with the aid of a Geographical Information System (GIS). Two stations were potentially subjected to freshwater inflow through the channels, while one station experienced only precipitation. Decreased tidal creek and porewater salinity were significantly correlated with increased freshwater at all stations (R²=0.37 to 0.56), although porewater salinities remained hypersaline. GIS analyses indicated the most considerable vegetation change following freshwater inundation was increased cover of the annual succulentSalicornia bigelovii. Fall inundation allowed seed germination and rapid expansion of this species into previously bare areas during the subsequent winter and following spring. The station affected by both inflow and precipitation exhibited greaterS. bigelovii cover than the station affected solely by precipitation in both spring 1999 (58. 7% compared to 27.9%) and 2000 (48.6% compared to 1.9%). Percent cover of the perennialBatis maritima temporarily increased after periods of consistent rainfall. The response was short term, and cover quickly returned to pre-inundation conditions within 3 mo. Prolonged inundation led to longterm (>2yr) decreases in percent cover ofB. maritima. Our results suggest that the timing and quantity of freshwater inundation strongly dictate halophyte response to precipitation and inflow. Brief periods of freshwater inundation that occur at specific times of year alleviate stress and promote seed germination and growth, but extended soil saturation can act as a disturbance that has a negative impact on species adapted to hypersaline conditions.  相似文献   

The political ecology of Prunus africana in Cameroon     

Ben Page 《Area》2003,35(4):357-370

This paper provides an analysis of some current trends in political ecology and then illustrates the intermingling of politics and ecology using a case study of the exploitation and conservation of Prunus africana in Cameroon. It argues that political ecology is still a lively field, but that some recent attempts to chart a way forward for this perspective risk shifting it away from its liminal position in relation to natural and social science by being disinclined to engage with ecological processes. The case study draws attention to the strengths and shortcomings in existing attempts to weave political and economic analysis into environmental debates over the sustainable management of this tree species, which has been incorporated into phytomedical markets in Europe. The fortunes of the tree reflect its botany and ecology as well as the trajectories of the local economy, intercontinental markets for alternative health products, the policies and practices of the Cameroonian state and the politics of international aid.  相似文献   

Observing artificially induced strain: implications for subglacial deformation   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

John F. Hiemstra  Kenneth F. Rijsdijk 《第四纪科学杂志》2003,18(5):373-383

By analysing a series of four successive thin‐sections from a ceramic clay that was subjected to uniaxial compression, we were able to monitor the development of microstructures in a fine‐grained sediment. The artificially induced microstructures, such as unidirectional clay reorientations and linear and circular grain arrangements, are identical to features that have been observed in thin‐sections of subglacially deformed tills, and therefore may be used as representative analogues. We argue that the structures, reflecting slip, planar shear displacements as well as rotational movements, can be explained by assuming a Coulomb‐plastic response to imposed shear. We conclude that sediments subjected to subglacial deformation behave as Coulomb materials, at least during the final stages of the deformation. The present study bridges the gap between field studies, experimental studies and theoretical modelling. The microscopic observations assist in visualising inferred subglacial processes and facilitate up‐ and downscaling between diverse methodological approaches. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

The geological sources of Hg contamination in Kejimkujik National Park,Nova Scotia,Canada: a GIS approach   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Krista D. Page  Brendan J. Murphy 《Environmental Geology》2003,43(8):882-891

Recent studies have shown that mercury (Hg) levels in many fish from remote lakes exceed the recommended guidelines for human consumption. Most of these studies conclude that the source of contamination lies in the atmosphere. Kejimkujik National Park (KNP), Nova Scotia, Canada, is considered to be a pristine ecosystem in which fish and loon Hg levels are anomalously high. Studies in the park have shown that atmospheric Hg concentrations may not be high enough to account for the Hg levels in the biota, indicating that the park may be an unusual system in terms of Hg distribution and migration. In an attempt to summarise and synthesise the numerous Hg data sets which have been produced in the park over the last 5-10 years, a geographic information systems (GIS) approach was used to create a common database using the watersheds in the park as the common parameter. By using a GIS database, new relationships and correlations are established and the spatial distribution of Hg levels is more readily evaluated and quantified. The results indicate that geological sources of Hg, arising from biotite-rich granite rocks, may play a larger role in the contamination of the park than previously thought.  相似文献   

Estimating palaeowind strength from beach deposits   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Kenneth D. Adams 《Sedimentology》2003,50(3):565-577

Abstract The geological record of past wind conditions is well expressed in the coarse gravel, cobble and boulder beach deposits of Quaternary palaeolakes in the Great Basin of the western USA and elsewhere. This paper describes a technique, using the particle‐size distribution of beach deposits, to reconstruct palaeowind conditions when the lakes were present. The beach particle technique (BPT) is first developed using coarse beach deposits from the 1986–87 highstand of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, combined with instrumental wind records from the same time period. Next, the BPT is used to test the hypothesis that wind conditions were more severe than at present during the last highstand of Lake Lahontan (≈ 13 ka), which only lasted a decade or two at most. The largest 50 beach clasts were measured at nine beach sites located along the north, west and south sides of Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, all of which formed in 1986–87. At these sites, the largest clast sizes range from 10 to 28 cm (b‐axis), and fetch lengths range from 25 to 55 km. Nearshore wave height was calculated by assuming that the critical threshold velocity required to move the largest clasts represents a minimum estimate of the breaking wave velocity, which is controlled by wave height. Shoaling transformations are undertaken to estimate deep‐water wave heights and, ultimately, wind velocity. Wind estimates for the nine sites, using the BPT, range from 6·5 to 17·4 m s^?1, which is in reasonable agreement with the instrumental record from Salt Lake City Airport. The same technique was applied to eight late Pleistocene beaches surrounding the Carson Sink sub‐basin of Lake Lahontan, Nevada. Using the BPT, estimated winds for the eight sites range from 9·7 to 27·1 m s^?1. The strongest winds were calculated for a cobble/boulder beach with a fetch of 25 km. Instrumental wind records for the 1992–99 period indicate that wind events of 9–12 m s^?1 are common and that the strongest significant wind event (≥ 9 m s^?1 for ≥ 3 h) reached an average velocity of 15·5 m s^?1. Based on this preliminary comparison, it appears that the late Pleistocene western Great Basin was a windier place than at present, at least for a brief time.  相似文献   

Communities as the agents of commodification: The Kumbo Water Authority in Northwest Cameroon     

Ben Page 《Geoforum》2003,34(4):483-498

In 1991 the people of the town of Kumbo in Northwest Cameroon expelled the national water corporation from town by force. They claimed to be retrieving a network that the community rightfully owned and they began to run the system along community lines. The paper tells the story of that water supply twice. First it reproduces the popular accounts that circulated in the 1990s that emphasize the role played by the community in the development and operation of the water supply and portray recent events as a triumph of community management. Then it retells the story using archive evidence that puts a quite different light on some of the events. It is argued that the emphasis on community management has a tendency to obscure other important aspects of the story, for example its political context and consequences. It is suggested that the widespread admiration for any initiative that is community based often results in an uncritical analysis of this form of development project. In this case the commodification of water accelerates after the community has wrested control of this public service from the state.  相似文献   

Age and paleoclimatic significance of late Holocene lakes in the Carson Sink, NV, USA     

Kenneth D. Adams   《Quaternary Research》2003,60(3):294-306

New dating in the Carson Sink at the termini of the Humboldt and Carson rivers in the Great Basin of the western United States indicates that lakes reached elevations of 1204 and 1198 m between 915 and 652 and between 1519 and 1308 cal yr B.P., respectively. These dates confirm Morrison's original interpretation (Lake Lahontan: Geology of the Southern Carson Desert, Professional Paper 40, U.S. Geol. Survey, 1964) that these shorelines are late Holocene features, rather than late Pleistocene as interpreted by later researchers. Paleohydrologic modeling suggests that discharge into the Carson Sink must have been increased by a factor of about four, and maintained for decades, to account for the 1204-m lake stand. The hydrologic effects of diversions of the Walker River to the Carson Sink were probably not sufficient, by themselves, to account for the late Holocene lake-level rises. The decadal-long period of increased runoff represented by the 1204-m lake is also reflected in other lake records and in tree ring records from the western United States.  相似文献   

Climate-Years in the True Prairie: Temporal Fluctuations of Ecologically Critical Climate Conditions     

Kenneth E. Kunkel  Stanley A. Changnon 《Climatic change》2003,61(1-2):101-122

The True Prairie (TP) is a large area in the central U.S. which was a tall grass prairie for thousands of years prior to its conversion to crop land. An analysis of climatically controlling factors indicated that the tall grass prairie is favored by the ratio of warm season precipitation to potential evapotranspiration exceeding 0.75 (west boundary), cold season precipitation less than 38 cm (south boundary), high cold-season frequency of thunderstorms (north boundary), and high drought frequencies (entire region). A `climate-year' approach was used to assess the temporal and spatial variability of these conditions during the 20thcentury. This analysis did not reveal any long-term trends in most climate-year types, although there were significant decadal-scale fluctuations, most notably a high frequency of drought-type years in the 1930s and 1950s. However, the well-documented upward trend in precipitation is manifested in an increasing frequency of one climate-year type characterized by above normal cold season precipitation in the southern border area of the TP.  相似文献   

斜底面上的表面波理论          下载免费PDF全文

李国麟  黄伟健  杨纲凯  曾庆存  张铭 《大气科学》1997,21(6):649-658

考察了任意倾斜底面上的Kelvin波问题，并用线性化的控制方程分别研究了相应于垂直刚壁的和无限倾斜底面上的表面波频散关系。文中还对任意斜坡上的浅水表面波做了尺度分析，并把决定其频散关系的特征值问题简化为该斜坡上气压扰动的常微分方程，且用数值方法进行了求解。  相似文献   

Water Resources Planning and Climate Change Assessment Methods   总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5  

David C. Major  Kenneth D. Frederick 《Climatic change》1997,37(1):25-40

This paper, which provides background for other papers in the volume, first reviews the nature and development of water resources planning and evaluation criteria at the Federal level in the United States. These criteria constitute a highly developed, complex set of guidelines for project planning and evaluation. The level of development of these criteria and their long historical development from theoretical foundations must be taken into account in relating global climate change to possible changes in planning criteria. Second, the essentials of water project planning and evaluation, including benefit-cost principles and more complex concepts of social decision-making, are outlined. Third, the paper provides an overview of global climate change assessment methods, including impact assessment and integrated assessment. Impact assessment uses a relatively straightforward comparison of with and without situations; integrated assessment attempts to improve on impact assessment by developing more complex models that incorporate a range of feedbacks and interrelationships.  相似文献