Patterns and implications of plant-soil δC and δN values in African savanna ecosystems     

Lixin Wang  Paolo D'Odorico  Stephen A. Macko 《Quaternary Research》2010,73(1):77-3082

Southern African savannas are mixed plant communities where C₃ trees co-exist with C₄ grasses. Here foliar δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C were used as indicators of nitrogen uptake and of water use efficiency to investigate the effect of the rainfall regime on the use of nitrogen and water by herbaceous and woody plants in both dry and wet seasons. Foliar δ¹⁵N increased as aridity rose for both C₃ and C₄ plants for both seasons, although the magnitude of the increase was different for C₃ and C₄ plants and for two seasons. Soil δ¹⁵N also significantly increased with aridity. Foliar δ¹³C increased with aridity for C₃ plants in the wet season but not in the dry season, whereas in C₄ plants the relationship was more complex and non-linear. The consistently higher foliar δ¹⁵N for C₃ plants suggests that C₄ plants may be a superior competitor for nitrogen. The different foliar δ¹³C relationships with rainfall may indicate that the C₃ plants have an advantage when competing for water resources. The differences in water and nitrogen use likely collectively contribute to the tree-grass coexistence in savannas. Such differences facilitate interpretations of palaeo-vegetation composition variations and help predictions of vegetation composition changes under future climatic scenarios.  相似文献   

Development of Kinetic Inductance Detectors for Cosmic Microwave Background experiments     

Martino Calvo  Claudia Giordano  Roberto Battiston  Paolo de Bernardis  Benno Margesin  Silvia Masi  Alessandro Monfardini 《Experimental Astronomy》2010,28(2-3):185-194

We describe the design, optimization, electrical and optical tests of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) for the mm-wave range. Our detectors are based on a novel resonator design, and are suitable for ground-based astronomical observations in the 143 GHz atmospheric window. The measured optical Noise Equivalent Power (NEP) at 0.3 K is $\sim 10^{-16}~\text{W}/\sqrt{\rm Hz}$ under a 300 K background load. This is equivalent or better than the performance of the best current bolometric detectors for the 140 GHz atmospheric window, limited by atmospheric noise in the best available sites. We also describe which improvements can be introduced to reduce the NEP of our detector, for lower background applications (narrow band or space-based).  相似文献   

Technological study of “ghiara” mortars from the historical city centre of Catania (Eastern Sicily, Italy) and petro-chemical characterisation of raw materials     

Cristina M. Belfiore  Mauro F. La Russa  Paolo Mazzoleni  Antonino Pezzino  Marco Viccaro 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2010,61(5):995-1003

This paper presents new petro-chemical data on some typical mortars found in many buildings in the historic city centre of Catania (Eastern Sicily). Extensively used in the architecture of the city from the second half of the nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth century, these mortars are characterised by a particular aggregate locally known as “agghiara” or “ghiara”. This is the product of thermal transformation induced by the heating undergone by palaeo-soils, originally rich in organic matter, covered by lava flows, which change their colour to reddish nuances. The volcanic origin of ghiara is a peculiar feature of the Etnean area. Mixed with lime, it gives to mortars an intense reddish colour, as well as hydraulic properties, which are comparable with those of the historically used pozzolana. This work aimed at complete characterisation of these ghiara mortars, for providing information on several important technological aspects. In order to get information on used raw materials, sampling of some ancient underground quarries, located both in the historic city centre and at the periphery, was also performed. Results led to the complete characterisation of the selected ghiara mortars and yielded information on some technological features and the composition of both newly formed and secondary phases, these latter due to alteration processes. The hydraulic properties of mortars have been related to the occurrence of amorphous phases within the ghiara aggregate, which were identified by means of SEM morphological observations. These phases, formed during the “firing” process of palaeo-soils, react with lime producing hydraulic compounds (C–S–H and C–A–H), which are responsible for the mortars durability.  相似文献   

The distribution of meiofauna on back‐reef sandy platforms in the Maldives (Indian Ocean)     

Federica Semprucci  Paolo Colantoni  Giuseppe Baldelli  Marco Rocchi  Maria Balsamo 《Marine Ecology》2010,31(4):592-607

The Maldivian archipelago comprises some of the most characteristic and significant world atoll systems, but the meiobenthic assemblages of these islands continue to be largely unknown. To investigate variations in meiofaunal spatial distribution and biodiversity in back‐reef platforms, three transects were studied, two at Felidhoo (the north and east sides) and one at South Malé. The sedimentological features of the samples obtained were also analyzed to further current knowledge on the relationships that exist between sediments and meiofauna. Our results reveal that the meiofaunal assemblage at these locations is well diversified and includes 20 major taxa. Nematodes and copepods are dominant, together forming 68% of the total meiofauna, followed by platyhelminthes, polychaetes and ostracods. The nematode assemblage is very rich and composed of 34 families and 123 genera – 96 of which (78%) set new records for the Maldives. The structures of the meiofaunal and nematode assemblages are relatively similar on the ‘large‐scale’ level (i.e. when the different platforms are compared) and reveal a low β‐diversity. However, significant dissimilarities were detected within each platform, emphasizing that such ‘small‐scale’ differences are the main factors determining the structure of the meiofauna and, in particular, the nematode assemblages. Although significant differences were not detected between the transects, greater levels of dissimilarity were recognized at North Felidhoo. Here, the building of inclined deposit layers plays a significant role in increasing the heterogeneity of the platform habitats and sediments, confirming the great importance of sediment granulometry as an environmental variable. Indeed, a close relationship is observed between meiofauna (especially for the nematodes) and grain size, which appears to control the structure, diversity and trophic composition of the Maldivian meiofauna assemblages, thus highlighting the high biodiversity existing in the medium‐coarse sands.  相似文献   

Approaches for defining thresholds and return periods for rainfall‐triggered shallow landslides     

Paolo Frattini  Giovanni Crosta  Rosanna Sosio 《水文研究》2009,23(10):1444-1460

Probabilistic thresholds for triggering shallow landslides by rainfall are developed using two approaches: a logistic regression model and Iverson's physically based model. Both approaches are applied to a 180 km² area in northern Italy. For the physically based model a Monte Carlo approach is used to obtain probabilities of slope failure associated with differing combinations of rainfall intensity and duration as well as differing topographic settings. For the logistic regression model hourly and daily rainfall data and split‐sample testing are used to explore the effect of antecedent rainfall on triggering thresholds. It is demonstrated that both the statistical and physically based models provide stochastic thresholds that express the probability of landslide triggering. The resulting thresholds are comparable, even though the two approaches are conceptually different. The physically based model also provides an estimate of the percentage of potentially unstable areas in which failure can be triggered with a certain probability. The return period of rainfall responsible for landslide triggering is studied by using a Gumbel scaling model of rainfall intensity–duration–frequency curves. It is demonstrated that antecedent rainfall must be taken into account in landslide forecasting, and a method is proposed to correct the rainfall return period by filtering the rainfall maxima with a fixed threshold of antecedent rainfall. This correction produces an increase of the return periods, especially for rainstorms of short duration. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

LA LUTTE CONTRE L'ÉROSION DANS LE CADRE DES MESURES EXTRAORDINAIRES EN FAVEUR DU MIDI D'ITALIE     

Paolo Emilio SODINI 《水文科学杂志》2013,58(4):135-147

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Gravity probability tomography: a new tool for buried mass distribution imaging   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Paolo Mauriello  Domenico Patella 《Geophysical Prospecting》2001,49(1):1-12

Following the probability tomography principles previously introduced to image the sources of electric and electromagnetic anomalies, we demonstrate that a similar approach can be used to analyse gravity data. First, we give a coherent derivation of the Bouguer anomaly concept as a Newtonian-type integral for an arbitrary mass distribution buried below a non-flat topography. A discretized solution of this integral is then derived as a sum of elementary contributions, which are cross-correlated with the gravity data function in the expression for the total power associated with the Bouguer anomaly. To image the mass distribution underground we introduce a mass contrast occurrence probability function using the cross-correlation product of the observed Bouguer anomaly and the synthetic field due to an elementary mass contrast source. The tomographic procedure consists of scanning the subsurface with the elementary source and calculating the occurrence probability function at the nodes of a regular grid. The complete set of grid values is used to highlight the zones of highest probability of mass contrast concentrations. Some synthetic and field examples demonstrate the reliability and resolution of the new gravity tomographic approach.  相似文献   

Repeated GPS surveys across the Ionian Sea: evidence of crustal deformations   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Marco Anzidei  Paolo Baldi  Giuseppe Casula  Mattia Crespi  Federica Riguzzi 《Geophysical Journal International》1996,127(2):257-267

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Submarine volcanic formations at Mt. Tauro near Augusta (Sicily)     

Paolo Aloisio 《Bulletin of Volcanology》1963,25(1):277-279

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Anomalously deep earthquakes in northwestern Italy     

Marco Cattaneo  Paolo Augliera  Stefano Parolai  Daniele Spallarossa 《Journal of Seismology》1999,3(4):421-435

It is usually assumed that earthquakes in intraplate regions occur in the upper crust, and northwestern Italy is generally assigned to this kind of normal seismicity. In this work, the depth distribution of the events localized in this area by the Istituto Geofisico Geodetico (IGG) seismic network in the period 1991–1997 is analyzed in detail. In particular, the location capability of the network is discussed, adopting as reference quarry blasts (for the epicentral position) and the locations obtained from a dense temporary network (for the depth estimate). Within the so-obtained error limits, the depth distribution of events show a characteristic pattern: while for most of the area covered by the network the well-located seismicity lies within the first 20 km of depth, in a band following the inner arc of the Western Alps, numerous events have anomalously large focal depths, reaching a maximum of 114 km. These depth determinations cannot be attributed to instabilities of the location procedure: different choices of the propagation models used for the hypocentral determination led to very similar depth values, always significantly larger than the standard values for the surrounding areas. A strong correlation has been found between the 3-dimensional distribution of these foci and the P-wave propagation anomalies obtained from tomographic studies, suggesting a direct link between elastic and rheological properties of lower crust and upper mantle in this area.  相似文献