This study assesses whether MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields percent tree cover (PTC) data can detect deforestation and forest degradation. To assess the usefulness of PTC for detecting deforestation, we used a data set consisting of eight forest and seven non-forest categories. To evaluate forest degradation, we used data from two temperate forest types in three conservation states: primary (dense), secondary (moderately degraded) and open (heavily degraded) forest. Our results show that PTC can differentiate temperate forest from non-forest categories (p = 0.05) and thus suggests PTC can adequately detect deforestation in temperate forests. In contrast, single-date PTC data does not appear to be adequate to detect forest degradation in temperate forests. As for tropical forest, PTC can partially discriminate between forest and non-forest categories. 相似文献
An expansive tropical black clay (also known as black cotton soil because the cotton plant thrives well on it) was treated with up to 15 % locust bean waste ash (LBWA) to assess its soil improvement potential. Samples were subjected to index, compaction using three energy levels (British Standard light, BSL, West African Standard, WAS or ‘Intermediate’ and British Standard heavy, BSH), shear strength (unconfined compressive strength, UCS), California bearing ratio, CBR and durability tests. Results obtained show that the natural soil is not suitable for road construction. The maximum dry density (MDD) and optimum moisture content (OMC) decreased and increased, respectively. Regardless of the compactive effort and curing period, strength and durability properties increased with higher LBWA content with the BSL effort recording the best improvement. However, based on durability results, the optimal 12.5 % LBWA treatment of black cotton soil did not satisfy criteria for its use in road construction as a stand alone additive. Also, significant improvement in soil properties was obtained using the BSL compactive effort, which is easily achieved in the field. The benefits of the application include reduction in the cost of soil improvement and the adverse environmental impact of locust bean waste. 相似文献
Estuarine ecosystems provide many services to humans, but these ecosystems are also under pressure from human development, which has led to large investments in habitat protection and restoration. Restoration in estuaries is typically focused on emergent and submerged vegetation with the goal of achieving target areal coverage based on historic conditions. Such restoration targets assume no spatial heterogeneity in habitat value and bypass the functional target of restoring or maintaining delivery of ecosystem goods and services (EGS). We have developed a spatially explicit individual-based behavioral model intended to explore the functional role of habitat restoration on EGS delivery in an index system (Tampa Bay, FL) and for an index EGS (recreational fishing). Model scenarios are based on interaction of inter-annual differences in salinity/temperature patterns (wet, dry, average) with hindcasted “increases” in coverage and distribution of seagrass. Model predictions indicated that the effect of seagrass restoration to historic (1950s) levels on both fish and fishery production is dependent on salinity and temperature. This dependence is based on predicted fish response both to habitat changes and the effective spatial scale of different habitat components. Overall, average salinity/temperature conditions facilitated the highest positive functional response to seagrass restoration with extreme wet/dry years yielding lower or even negative functional responses, but these responses were localized and not homogenous about the estuary. The results of this study provide a methodology for using functional targets in restoration planning and highlight the importance of considering the entire habitat mosaic in valuing restored habitat from an EGS perspective. 相似文献
This study presents both qualitative and quantitative data regarding marine mollusk (gastropods and bivalves) shell bioerosion and encrustation based on death assemblages obtained from a recent supratidal environment in Playa Norte, Veracruz State. The objectives of this study were to assess the nature of bioerosion and encrustation processes and to investigate the role of these taphonomic features contributing to the deterioration of natural shell accumulations within a tropical siliciclastic tidal environment. The assemblage comprises 31 species: 13 gastropods and 18 bivalves. The bioerosion and encrustation degrees were low to moderate for both types. The most abundant traces were predatory gastropod structures (Oichnus paraboloides and O. simplex), whereas sponge borings (Entobia isp.), polychaete dwellings (Caulostrepsis taeniola), and echinoid raspings (Gnatichnus isp.) were less frequent. The encrusting organisms include polychaete serpulids, bryozoans, and rare foraminifers (Homotrema rubrum). Because of the low bioerosion and encrustation degrees occurring in this area, accumulation is expected to predominate over biotic destruction. As deposition conditions (richly fossiliferous carbonate sandstone beds) were similar to those prevailing in the Tuxpan Formation during the Miocene (Langhian), it is suggested that this study provides an equivalent reference to interpret mollusk fossil assemblages located in this site. 相似文献
Kimberlite pipes from Chidliak, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada host surface-derived Paleozoic carbonate xenoliths containing conodonts. Conodonts are phosphatic marine microfossils that experience progressive, cumulative and irreversible colour changes upon heating that are experimentally calibrated as a conodont colour alteration index (CAI). CAI values permit us to estimate the temperatures to which conodont-bearing rocks have been heated. Conodonts have been recovered from 118 samples from 89 carbonate xenoliths collected from 12 of the pipes and CAI values within individual carbonate xenoliths show four types of CAI distributions: (1) CAI values that are uniform throughout the xenolith; (2) lower CAIs in core of a xenolith than the rim; (3) CAIs that increase from one side of the xenolith to the other; and, (4) in one xenolith, higher CAIs in the xenolith core than at the rim. We have used thermal models for post-emplacement conductive cooling of kimberlite pipes and synchronous heating of conodont-bearing xenoliths to establish the temperature–time history of individual xenoliths within the kimberlite bodies. Model results suggest that the time-spans for xenoliths to reach the peak temperatures recorded by CAIs varies from hours for the smallest xenoliths to 2 or 3 years for the largest xenoliths. The thermal modelling shows the first three CAI patterns to be consistent with in situ conductive heating of the xenoliths coupled to the cooling host kimberlite. The fourth pattern remains an anomaly.
Black shales of the late Neoproterozoic Gwna Group (570–580 Ma), UK, contain enrichments of tellurium (Te), selenium (Se) and cobalt (Co) relative to average shale compositions. The Te and Co enrichments bear comparison with those of ferromanganese crusts in the modern deep ocean. Gwna Group deposition coincides with the Second Great Oxidation Event, which had a significant effect on trace element fixation globally. Selenium and Te concentrations within these black shales indicate increased continental weathering rates, high biological productivity and corresponding increases in atmospheric O2 concentrations. Cobalt, nickel (Ni) and arsenic (As) enrichments in this succession are secondary mineralisation phases. Demand for many of the trace elements found enriched in the Gwna Group black shales make their mechanisms of accumulation, and variations through the geological record, important to understand, and suggests that new resources may be sought based on black shale protoliths from this period. 相似文献
The influence of the North Atlantic on the margins of Europe means the region is particularly sensitive to changes in the ocean–atmospheric system. During the Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (16–8 cal ka bp ) this system was repeatedly disrupted, leading to a series of abrupt and short-lived shifts in climate. Despite much research, the number and magnitude of these ‘centennial-scale’ events is not well understood. To address this, we expand upon investigations at Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney, Scotland, one of the best chronologically constrained palaeoclimate records in northern Britain. By coupling stable isotope and chironomid fossil analyses with existing data, this study identifies multiple phases of centennial-scale disturbance at: c. 14.0, 11.1, 10.8, 10.5, 10.45 and 10.3 cal ka bp , with the events at 14.0 and 10.3 exhibiting a particularly pronounced cold-climate signature. During the Holocene, the strongest response to climate forcing was at c. 10.3–10.0 cal ka bp , expressed as a two-stage drop in mean July temperatures, a shift in pollen spectra indicative of ‘less-stable’ climatic regimes, and a depletion in δ18O values. We interpret this as the first reliably dated incidence of the ‘10.3-ka event’ in the British Isles and consider the wider impact of this climatic reversal in other Holocene records. 相似文献