Stable isotopic signatures of the modern land snail Eremina desertorum from a low-latitude (hot) dry desert—A study from the Petrified Forest,New Cairo,Egypt     

《Chemie der Erde / Geochemistry》2015,75(1):65-72

This study was conducted on recent desert samples—including (1) soils, (2) plants, (3) the shell, and (4) organic matter from modern specimens of the land snail Eremina desertorum—which were collected at several altitudes (316–360 m above sea level) from a site in the New Cairo Petrified Forest. The soils and shell_{E. desertorum} were analyzed for carbonate composition and isotopic composition (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C). The plants and organic matter_{E. desertorum} were analyzed for organic carbon content and δ¹³C. The soil carbonate, consisting of calcite plus minor dolomite, has δ¹⁸O values from −3.19 to −1.78‰ and δ¹³C values −1.79 to −0.27‰; covariance between the two values accords with arid climatic conditions. The local plants include C3 and C4 types, with the latter being dominant. Each type has distinctive bulk organic carbon δ¹³C values: −26.51 to −25.36‰ for C3-type, and −13.74 to −12.43‰ for C4-type plants.The carbonate of the shell_{E. desertorum} is composed of aragonite plus minor calcite, with relatively homogenous isotopic compositions (δ¹⁸O_mean = −0.28 ± 0.22‰; δ¹³C_mean = −4.46 ± 0.58‰). Most of the δ¹⁸O values (based on a model for oxygen isotope fractionation in an aragonite-water system) are consistent with evaporated water signatures. The organic matter_{E. desertorum} varies only slightly in bulk organic carbon δ¹³C values (−21.78 ± 1.20‰) and these values suggest that the snail consumed more of C3-type than C4-type plants. The overall offset in δ¹³C values (−17.32‰) observed between shell_{E. desertorum} carbonate and organic matter_{E. desertorum} exceeds the value expected for vegetation input, and implies that 30% of carbon in the shell_{E. desertorum} carbonate comes from the consumption of limestone material.  相似文献   

Linking pesticides and human health: A geographic information system (GIS) and Landsat remote sensing method to estimate agricultural pesticide exposure     

《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》2015

Accurate pesticide exposure estimation is integral to epidemiologic studies elucidating the role of pesticides in human health. Humans can be exposed to pesticides via residential proximity to agricultural pesticide applications (drift). We present an improved geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing method, the Landsat method, to estimate agricultural pesticide exposure through matching pesticide applications to crops classified from temporally concurrent Landsat satellite remote sensing images in California. The image classification method utilizes Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values in a combined maximum likelihood classification and per-field (using segments) approach. Pesticide exposure is estimated according to pesticide-treated crop fields intersecting 500 m buffers around geocoded locations (e.g., residences) in a GIS. Study results demonstrate that the Landsat method can improve GIS-based pesticide exposure estimation by matching more pesticide applications to crops (especially temporary crops) classified using temporally concurrent Landsat images compared to the standard method that relies on infrequently updated land use survey (LUS) crop data. The Landsat method can be used in epidemiologic studies to reconstruct past individual-level exposure to specific pesticides according to where individuals are located.  相似文献   

Modelling spatial distribution of critically endangered Asian elephant and Hoolock gibbon in Bangladesh forest ecosystems under a changing climate     

《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》2015

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) are two globally endangered wildlife species limited to only tropical Asian forests. In Bangladesh both species are critically endangered and distributed mainly in the northeast and southeast hilly regions bordering neighboring India and Myanmar. Using existing distribution data, land-use/land cover, elevation and bio-climatic variables, we modeled the likely distribution of Asian elephant and Hoolock gibbon in Bangladesh for 2050 and 2070. We used the IPCC's Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) – RCP6.0 and RCP8.5 and Maximum Entropy algorithm for our modelling. Our study indicated that the Asian elephant will be more resilient to climate change compared with the Hoolock gibbon. Habitat loss for the Asian elephant is also expected to remain constant (i.e. 38%) throughout the period, whilst Hoolock gibbon habitat will be more sensitive to climatic variations, with the species predicted to be extirpated from the country by 2070. Being highly exposed to climate change with ever increasing land use pressures, we believe our study in Bangladesh can be used to enhance our understanding of future vulnerabilities of wildlife in a rapidly changing climate. A trans-boundary conservation program with greater attention to the species that are less resilient to climate change is also essential.  相似文献   

Using simulated data to investigate the spatial patterns of obesity prevalence at the census tract level in metropolitan Detroit     

《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》2015

Obesity is a serious public health problem in the United States. It is important to estimate obesity prevalence at the local level to target programmatic and policy interventions. It is challenging, however, to obtain local estimates of obesity prevalence because national health surveys such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) are not designed to produce direct estimates at the local levels (e.g. census tracts) due to small population samples and the need to preserve individual confidentiality. In this study we address the problem of estimating local obesity prevalence rates by implementing a spatial microsimulation modeling technique to proportionally replicate the demographic characteristics of BRFSS respondents to census tract populations in metropolitan Detroit. Obesity prevalence rates are examined for high and low spatial clusters and studied in relation to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) measures of low-income neighborhoods and local food deserts and CDC's measure of healthy and less healthy food environments currently used to target obesity reduction initiatives. This study found that obesity prevalence was largely clustered in the City of Detroit extending north into contiguous suburbs. The spatial patterns of highest obesity prevalence tracts were most similarly aligned with USDA-defined low-income tracts and CDC's less healthy food tracts. The locations of USDA's food desert tracts rarely overlapped with the highest obesity prevalence tracts. This study demonstrated a new methodology by which to assess local areas in need of future obesity interventions.  相似文献   

Social capital and community preparation for urban flooding in China     

《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》2015

Social capital can enhance community resilience to environmental change. Productive and trusted relations among social actors and effectual social norms can help local residents share resources, information and risks. The main objective of our study is to understand the ways in which social attributes and risk considerations influence adoption of resilient economic measures by individuals for reducing potential losses due to catastrophic rainstorm and flooding. This article provides evidence from China on how social capital contributes to anticipatory adaptation to environmental change. The inquiry is based on structured interviews with local residents of Tianjin, a flood-prone port city in China, and a standard regression analysis. Findings show that the intention to make preparation increases with the levels of social expectation, social relationship, and institutional trust. Perceived risk and damage experience, however, have no significant impacts. This suggests that building social capacity and trust will be more effective in enhancing community resilience than merely increasing awareness of hazard risks. We call for greater efforts on strengthening the capacity of formal and informal communal institutions. The structural changes required, however, are challenging.  相似文献   

Progress and prospect of research on forest landscape model     

DAI Erfu  WU Zhuo  WANG Xiaofan  FU Hua  XI Weimin  PAN Tao 《地理学报》2015,25(1):113-128

The Forest Landscape Model (FLM) is an efficiency tool of quantified expression of forest ecosystem''s structure and function. This paper, on the basis of identifying FLM, according to the stage of development, summarizes the development characteristics of the model, which includes the theoretical foundation of mathematical model, FLM of stand-scale, primary development of spatial landscape model, rapid development of ecosystem process model as the priority, and developing period of structure and process driven by multi-factor. According to the characteristics of different FLMs, this paper classifies the existing FLM in terms of mechanism, property and application, and elaborates the identifications, advantages and disadvantages of different types of models. It summarizes and evaluates the main application fields of existing models from two aspects which are the changes of spatial pattern and ecological process. Eventually, this paper presents FLM''s challenges and directions of development in the future, including: (1) more prominent service on the practical strategy of forest management''s objectives; (2) construction of multi-modules and multi-plugin to satisfy landscape research demand in various conditions; (3) adoption of high resolution''s spatial-temporal data; (4) structural construction of multi-version module; (5) improving the spatial suitability of model application.  相似文献   

Environmental governance through “Speaking Like an Indigenous State” and respatializing resources: Ethical livelihood concepts in Bolivia as versatility or verisimilitude?     

《Geoforum》2015

This research addresses recent environmental governance in Bolivia through its relations to indigeneity and respatializations. It introduces and develops the concept of “speaking like an indigenous state” to examine the Bolivian state’s recent use of a pair of indigenous linguistic concepts, Living Well and Earth Mother, representing the identities of citizens and their rights to resources and livelihoods. State relations to indigenous social movements highlight the use of Living Well and Earth Mother concepts through accommodation, resistance, and protaganism. Six active issues of environmental governance are examined: (1) climate change and justice movement; (2) agrarian reform, agrobiodiversity, and food justice; (3) water resources; (4) indigenous territories; (5) Protected Areas; and (6) extractive industries (mining, hydrocarbons). The usages of Living Well and Earth Mother show versatility as they have been mobilized in the respatializing of the politics and social-power dynamics of environmental issues at scales of the state, global and international institutions, and community and local levels. Analysis also reveals deployment of Living Well and Earth Mother that is discursively influential and yet conceptually reduced and unevenly applied, thus suggesting a characteristic of verisimilitude. My analysis determines that respatialization at various levels, including territorial transitions of sub-national regional spaces, are associated with the heightened articulation of environmental governance through indigeneity and “speaking like an indigenous state” amid resource nationalism. Linkages and logics operating within this conjuncture differ from the prevailing interpretation of the Bolivian state’s use of Living Well and Earth Mother as solely an unwitting contradiction or instrumentalist camouflage.  相似文献   

Complex rift geometries resulting from inheritance of pre-existing structures: Insights and regional implications from the Barmer Basin rift     

《Journal of Structural Geology》2015

Structural studies of the Barmer Basin in Rajasthan, northwest India, demonstrate the important effect that pre-existing faults can have on the geometries of evolving fault systems at both the outcrop and basin-scale. Outcrop exposures on opposing rift margins reveal two distinct, non-coaxial extensional events. On the eastern rift margin northwest–southeast extension was accommodated on southwest- and west-striking faults that form a complex, zig-zag fault network. On the western rift margin northeast–southwest extension was accommodated on northwest-striking faults that form classical extensional geometries.Combining these outcrop studies with subsurface interpretations demonstrates that northwest–southeast extension preceded northeast–southwest extension. Structures active during the early, previously unrecognised extensional event were variably incorporated into the evolving fault systems during the second. In the study area, an inherited rift-oblique fault transferred extension from the rift margin to a mid-rift fault, rather than linking rift margin fault systems directly. The resultant rift margin accommodation structure has important implications for early sediment routing and depocentre evolution, as well as wider reaching implications for the evolution of the rift basin and West Indian Rift System. The discovery of early rifting in the Barmer Basin supports that extension along the West Indian Rift System was long-lived, multi-event, and likely resulted from far-field plate reorganisations.  相似文献   

C波段雷达在新疆区域数值预报系统中的应用初探     

马秀梅 《沙漠与绿洲气象(新疆气象)》2015,9(6):19-26

基于新疆区域数值预报系统（Desert Oasis Gobi Rapid Analysis Forecast System,下称DOGRAFS）,开展了同化C波段雷达资料对2010年10月6日发生在新疆的一次强降水过程预报结果影响的试验分析。其中设计包括不同化任何资料、同化常规资料、同化雷达反射率因子、同化雷达径向风、同时同化反射率因子和径向风五组试验,重点分析了雷达资料同化对此次天气过程降水、温度以及风速模拟效果的影响。结果表明：（1）同化雷达径向风和同时同化径向风和反射率因子相对于其他三组试验,对降水预报的TS和ETs评分更高;（2）相对于其他三组试验,同化雷达径向风和同时同化径向风和反射率因子对模式垂直方向上的温度、风速预报偏差具有一定的改善效果;（3）对于地面2 m温度和10 m风速而言,同化常规观测资料比其他四组试验预报的平均偏差和均方根误差更小;其它四组试验误差相当,差别不明显,表明同化雷达对近地面层温度和风的影响不明显。本研究旨在探索C波段雷达观测资料在新疆区域数值预报系统中的适用性,为今后雷达观测资料在业务系统中的应用提供参考。  相似文献   

Comparing future patterns of energy system change in 2 °C scenarios with historically observed rates of change     

《Global Environmental Change》2015

This paper systematically compares modeled rates of change provided by global integrated assessment models aiming for the 2 °C objective to historically observed rates of change. Such a comparison can provide insights into the difficulty of achieving such stringent climate stabilization scenarios. The analysis focuses specifically on the rates of change for technology expansion and diffusion, emissions and energy supply investments. The associated indicators vary in terms of system focus (technology-specific or energy system wide), temporal scale (timescale or lifetime), spatial scale (regional or global) and normalization (accounting for entire system growth or not). Although none of the indicators provide conclusive insights as to the achievability of scenarios, this study finds that indicators that look into absolute change remain within the range of historical growth frontiers for the next decade, but increase to unprecedented levels before mid-century. Indicators that take into account or normalize for overall system growth find future change to be broadly within historical ranges. This is particularly the case for monetary-based normalization metrics like GDP compared to energy-based normalization metrics like primary energy. By applying a diverse set of indicators alternative, complementary insights into how scenarios compare with historical observations are acquired but they do not provide further insights on the possibility of achieving rates of change that are beyond current day practice.  相似文献