Revolution or evolution? New Zealand agriculture since 1984     

Willie Smith  Hayden Montgomery 《GeoJournal》2004,59(2):107-118

Agriculture was the primary target of moves to deregulate the New Zealand economy in 1984. Within twelve-months all production subsidies had been removed, including those for fertiliser and other inputs, as well as funding for drought relief, floods and other natural weather disasters. Whereas at the start of 1984, subsidies were estimated to represent as much as 33% of farm income, by 2003 this had fallen to less than 2% with most of this spent on agricultural research. The anticipated shift of thousands of people off the land did not appear to occur, and by conventional measures at least New Zealand agriculture in 2003 is a major success story. At the core of the changes imposed on agriculture was a commitment to remove all state or government distortions from the system and to fully expose the agricultural sector to market forces. This included wide-ranging and fundamental changes in the broad institutional context within which agriculture must operate. All this was achieved at great social cost and with a significant impact on the environment. In many respects New Zealand agriculture is now very different from that in 1984. Some sectors, such as dairying, have grown and become increasingly industrialised. On the other hand, sheep farming, particularly for wool has struggled to maintain its market share, while other enterprises have emerged as significant sources of income, including horticulture, viticulture and fruit. It is argued here that the trends evident in New Zealand agriculture since 1984 pre-existed the reform period and that the apparent success of the reforms evident at a national scale have not addressed or removed the fundamental problems which face New Zealand agriculture, just as they do modern agricultural systems elsewhere. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

黄河流域坡高地系统最小生态需水研究   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

张远  杨志峰 《山地学报》2004,22(2):154-160

以保护和恢复流域坡高地生态系统为目的，对坡高地最小生态需水问题进行研究，提出了坡高地生态需水和生态缺水的计算方法。以黄河流域为实例，在GIS和遥感技术支持下对坡高地最小生态需水量和缺水量进行了计算，并从时空两个尺度揭示了黄河流域坡高地生态系统最小生态需水的变化规律，研究成果可为流域生态环境建设和水资源合理配置提供依据。  相似文献   

Establishment of apparent quantum yield and maximum ecosystem assimilation on Tibetan Plateau alpine meadow ecosystem     

XU Lingling  ZHANG Xianzhou  SHI Peili  YU Guirui 《中国科学D辑(英文版)》2005,48(Z1)

The alpine meadow is widely distributed on the Tibetan Plateau with an area of about 1.2×106kn2. Damxung County, located in the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau, is the place covered with this typical vegetation. An open-path eddy covariance system was set up in Damxung rangeland station to measure the carbon flux of alpine meadow from July to October,2003. The continuous carbon flux data were used to analyze the relationship between net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), as well as the seasonal patterns of apparent quantum yield (α) and maximum ecosystem assimilation (Pmax).Results showed that the daytime NEE fitted fairly well with the PAR in a rectangular hyperbola function, with α declining in the order of peak growth period (0.0244 μmolCO2 · μmol-1pAR) ＞early growth period ＞ seed maturing period ＞ withering period (0.0098 μmolCO2 · μmol-1pAR).The Pmax did not change greatly during the first three periods, with an average of 0.433mgCO2· m-2· s-1, i.e. 9.829 μmolCO2· m-2· s-1. However, during the withering period, Pmax was only 0.35 mgCO2 · m-2 · s-1, i.e. 7.945 μmolCO2 · m-2 · s-1. Compared with other grassland ecosystems, the α of the Tibetan Plateau alpine meadow ecosystem was much lower.  相似文献   

Experimental study on soil CO2 emission in the alpine grassland ecosystem on Tibetan Plateau   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：3  

ZHANG Xianzhou  SHI Peili  Liu Yunfen  OUYANG Hua 《中国科学D辑(英文版)》2005,48(Z1)

The Tibetan Plateau, the Roof of the World, is the highest plateau with a mean elevation of 4000 m. It is characterized by high levels of solar radiation, low air temperature and low air pressure compared to other regions around the world. The alpine grassland, a typical ecosystem in the Tibetan Plateau, is distributed across regions over the elevation of 4500 m. Few studies for carbon flux in alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau were conducted due to rigorous natural conditions. A study of soil respiration under alpine grassland ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau from October 1999 to October 2001 was conducted at Pangkog County, Tibetan Plateau (31.23°N, 90.01°E, elevation 4800 m). The measurements were taken using a static closed chamber technique, usually every two weeks during the summer and at other times at monthly intervals. The obvious diurnal variation of CO2 emissions from soil with higher emission during daytime and lower emission during nighttime was discovered. Diurnal CO2 flux fluctuated from minimum at 05:00 to maximum at 14:00 in local time. Seasonal CO2 fluxes increased in summer and decreased in winter, representing a great variation of seasonal soil respiration. The mean soil CO2 fluxes in the alpine grassland ecosystem were 21.39 mgCO2 · m-2 · h-1, with an average annual amount of soil respiration of 187.46 gCO2 · m-2 · a-1. Net ecosystem productivity is also estimated, which indicated that the alpine grassland ecosystem is a carbon sink.  相似文献   

区域生态地球化学评价核心与对策   总被引：30，自引：1，他引：30       下载免费PDF全文

杨忠芳  奚小环  成杭新  周国华  陈德友  张建新  袁晓军  冯海艳  陈家玮  刘爱华  汤奇峰  余涛 《第四纪研究》2005,25(3):275-284

生态地球化学是地学与土壤学、农业、环境学和生态学等多学科交叉融合产生的新学科,是地球化学领域新的发展方向。区域生态地球化学评价是在区域地球化学调查基础上,针对影响流域/区带生态系统安全性的元素异常而开展的一项评价和研究工作。多目标区域地球化学调查获得的海量高精度地球化学数据,可为环境质量评价提供背景值、为土地的质量和生态管护提供地球化学依据;调查还发现了一系列影响流域生态安全性的元素异常,针对异常元素分布特征,区域生态地球化学评价将开展异常元素追踪和成因甄别、生态效应评价和生态系统安全性的预警预测等项评价和研究工作。文章论述了区域地球化学调查成果,介绍了区域地球化学评价的思路,阐述了区域生态地球化学评价的主要问题与对策。  相似文献   

Interlocking directorships and trans-national linkages within the British Empire, 1900–1930     

Mark Brayshay  Mark Cleary  John Selwood 《Area》2005,37(2):209-222

Recent research has highlighted the value of employing the idea of networks to describe the interrelatedness of today's globalizing economy. Networks facilitate flows of knowledge, ideas, managerial techniques and capital between firms both within and across political borders. This paper argues that the reconstruction of social connections through which information is created, given value and exchanged is fundamental to an understanding of not only contemporary but also historical patterns of economic globalization. We focus on the networks of the capitalist elite running 12 major multinational enterprises, active across British imperial territories, between c .1900 and c .1930. An examination is made of the economic and spatial interlocks between firms created by board members who were multiple directors. Social underpinnings of multiple directorates are examined by exploring the common, overlapping social spheres within which individuals engaged. A clearer grasp of the ways in which corporate activity operated in the early 1900s can provide a better understanding of the social context of global economic operations.  相似文献   

北冰洋海冰和海水变异对海洋生态系统的潜在影响   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2       下载免费PDF全文

王桂忠  何剑锋  蔡明红  李少菁  戴聪杰 《极地研究》2005,17(3):165-172

最近30年来,北冰洋海冰和海水发生了急剧变化:海冰覆盖面积减少、冰层变薄、水温升高、淡水输入增加、污染加剧,正威胁着现有与海冰关系密切的生态系统。预期随着变化的持续,与海冰相关的食物链将在部分海域消失并被较低纬度的海洋物种所取代、总初级生产力有望增加并为人类带来更多的渔获量、而北极熊和海象等以海冰作为栖息和捕食场所的大型哺乳动物的生存前景堪忧。今后人类将更为重视对北冰洋生态环境变化规律的认识并加以运用、关注北冰洋特有物种的命运并加以力所能及的保护、评估北冰洋生态系统的变化对人类社会经济的影响以期及早采取应对措施。数据积累是目前制约北极研究的最大障碍,但随着 SEARCH 等大型国际研究计划的实施,对北冰洋生态系统的监测和研究将更为系统和全面。  相似文献   

Are peatlands in different states with respect to their thermodynamic behaviour? A simple test of peatland energy and entropy budgets     

Fred Worrall  Ross Morrison  Chris Evans  Joerg Kaduk  Susan Page  Alex Cumming  Mark Rayment  Nicholas Kettridge 《水文研究》2021,35(12):e14431

Whilst all ecosystems must obey the second law of thermodynamics, these physical bounds and controls on ecosystem evolution and development are largely ignored across the ecohydrological literature. To unravel the importance of these underlying restraints on ecosystem form and function, and their power to inform our scientific understanding, we have calculated the entropy budget of a range of peat ecosystems. We hypothesize that less disturbed peatlands are ‘near equilibrium’ with respect to the second law of thermodynamics and thus respond to change by minimizing entropy production. This ‘near equilibrium’ state is best achieved by limiting evaporative losses. Alternatively, peatlands ‘far-from-equilibrium’ respond to a change in energy inputs by maximizing entropy production which is best achieved by increasing evapotranspiration. To test these alternatives this study examined the energy balance time series from seven peatlands across a disturbance gradient. We estimate the entropy budgets for each and determine how a change in net radiation (ΔR_n) was transferred to a change in latent heat flux (ΔλE). The study showed that: (i) The transfer of net radiation to latent heat differed significantly between peatlands. One group transferred up to 64% of the change in net radiation to a change in latent heat flux, while the second transferred as little as 27%. (ii) Sites that transferred the most energy to latent heat flux were those that produced the greatest entropy. The study shows that an ecosystem could be ‘near equilibrium’ rather than ‘far from equilibrium’.  相似文献   

Simulation of site-scale water fluxes in desert and natural oasis ecosystems of the arid region in Northwest China     

Mingjuan Xie  Geping Luo  Olaf Hellwich  Amaury Frankl  Wenqiang Zhang  Chunbo Chen  Chen Zhang  Philippe De Maeyer 《水文研究》2021,35(12):e14444

The study of water fluxes is important to better understand hydrological cycles in arid regions. Data-driven machine learning models have been recently applied to water flux simulation. Previous studies have built site-scale simulation models of water fluxes for individual sites separately, requiring a large amount of data from each site and significant computation time. For arid areas, there is no consensus as to the optimal model and variable selection method to simulate water fluxes. Using data from seven flux observation sites in the arid region of Northwest China, this study compared the performance of random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), back propagation neural network (BPNN), and multiple linear regression (MLR) models in simulating water fluxes. Additionally, the study investigated inter-annual and seasonal variation in water fluxes and the dominant drivers of this variation at different sites. A universal simulation model for water flux was built using the RF approach and key variables as determined by MLR, incorporating data from all sites. Model performance of the SVM algorithm (R² = 0.25–0.90) was slightly worse than that of the RF algorithm (R² = 0.41–0.91); the BPNN algorithm performed poorly in most cases (R² = 0.15–0.88). Similarly, the MLR results were limited and unreliable (R² = 0.00–0.66). Using the universal RF model, annual water fluxes were found to be much higher than the precipitation received at each site, and natural oases showed higher fluxes than desert ecosystems. Water fluxes were highest during the growing season (May–September) and lowest during the non-growing season (October–April). Furthermore, the dominant drivers of water flux variation were various among different sites, but the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil moisture and soil temperature were important at most sites. This study provides useful insights for simulating water fluxes in desert and oasis ecosystems, understanding patterns of variation and the underlying mechanisms. Besides, these results can make a contribution as the decision-making basis to the water management in desert and oasis ecosystems.  相似文献   

Thrombolite fabrics and origins: Influences of diverse microbial and metazoan processes on Cambrian thrombolite variability in the Great Basin,California and Nevada          下载免费PDF全文

Cara Harwood Theisen  Dawn Y. Sumner 《Sedimentology》2016,63(7):2217-2252

Thrombolites are a common component of carbonate buildups throughout the Phanerozoic. Although they are usually described as microbialites with an internally clotted texture, a wide range of thrombolite textures have been observed and attributed to diverse processes, leading to difficulty interpreting thrombolites as a group. Interpreting thrombolitic textures in terms of ancient ecosystems requires understanding of diverse processes, specifically those due to microbial growth and metazoan activity. Many of these processes are reflected in thrombolites in the Cambrian Carrara, Bonanza King, Highland Peak and Nopah formations, Great Basin, California, USA; they comprise eight thrombolite classes based on variable arrangements and combinations of depositional and diagenetic components. Four thrombolite classes (hemispherical microdigitate, bushy, coalescent columnar and massive fenestrated) contain distinct mesoscale microbial growth structures that can be distinguished from surrounding detrital sediments and diagenetic features. By contrast, mottled thrombolites have mesostructures that dominantly reflect post‐depositional processes, including bioturbation. Mottled thrombolites are not bioturbated stromatolites, but rather formed from disruption of an originally clotted growth structure. Three thrombolite classes (arborescent digitate, amoeboid and massive) contain more cryptic textures. All eight of the thrombolite classes in this study formed in similar Cambrian depositional environments (marine passive margin). Overall, this suite of thrombolites demonstrates that thrombolites are diverse, in both internal fabrics and origin, and that clotted and patchy microbialite fabrics form from a range of processes. The diversity of textures and their origins demonstrate that thrombolites should not be used to interpret a particular ecological, evolutionary or environmental shift without first identifying the microbial growth structure and distinguishing it from other depositional, post‐depositional and diagenetic components. Furthermore, thrombolites are fundamentally different from stromatolites and dendrolites in which the laminae and dendroids reflect a primary growth structure, because clotted textures in thrombolites do not always reflect a primary microbial growth structure.  相似文献