Measuring trail users’ perception of crowding in a peri-urban nature park: A best-worst scaling experiment

This paper evaluates the perception of crowding, its determinants and relationship with trail users’ experience in a peri-urban nature park. Existing crowding surveys rely heavily on a single-item 9-point crowding scale which was originally developed for backcountry areas. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to test the validity and reliability of this measure in detecting crowding issues and formulating visitor capacity limits. Low validity and reliability raised concerns about the applicability of this scale in similar frontcountry areas. Inability of this simple crowding measure to detect a visitor threshold brings to the fore its another important limitation – ignorance of the complexity of crowding phenomenon. The perception of crowding varies with various social, psychological and situational factors, and a best-worst scaling (BWS) experiment was designed to simultaneously evaluate different aspects of crowding in the Medvednica Nature Park, a peri-urban nature park near Zagreb, Croatia. The findings of BWS experiment revealed that occupancy of mountain huts, number of other hikers on the trail and amount of litter along the trail on average contributed most to the trail users’ sense of crowding. A latent class analysis identified a large heterogeneity in the perception of crowding; while one group of trail users (63%) was more disturbed by the direct social impacts, the others (37%) were more disturbed by the secondary impacts of other visitors, especially by the negative externalities from road traffic in the park. Older visitors had a greater tendency to primarily associate crowding with the environmental conditions. A higher impact of trail use level in the perception of crowding, younger age and more frequent use were associated with a more negative evaluation of crowding. The park management should closely monitor road traffic in the park and visitor activity on highly used trails, especially on those popular among younger trail users.     

水稻均衡营养肥对杂交稻生长发育的影响及养分吸收特性

研究了水稻均衡营养肥对杂交稻生长发育的影响及养分吸收特性,以为精准施肥及秸秆还田养分循环利用提供必要的科学参数。结果表明,水稻均衡营养肥处理的株高、总粒数、实粒数、结实率、穗质量和产量均高于常规施肥处理,稻谷中的总钾、S~(6+)和Fe~(2+)含量均高于常规施肥处理,但总磷、Ca~(2+)和Mg~(2+)的含量低于常规施肥处理,总氮含量则基本相同;常规施肥处理的秸秆中总氮、总钾、Mg~(2+)和S~(6+)含量均高于水稻均衡营养肥处理,总磷、Ca~(2+)和Fe~(2+)含量基本相同。均衡营养肥处理氮、磷、钾利用率分别为67.8%、60.0%和95.5%,农民常规施肥处理分别为32.3%、86.0%和100%。可见,水稻均衡营养肥能均衡的为杂交稻生长提供必需的养分,大幅度提高肥料利用率。     

鄂托克前旗近50年降水变化特征分析

本文利用鄂托克前旗1967-2018年气象观测站近50年的气象资料,对鄂托克前旗降水特征进行分析。结果表明：整体来说，鄂托克前旗的年降水量变化呈现微弱降低趋势，每10a大约减少1.2mm；28a时间尺度决定的主周期控制着该地区的年降水变化特征，通过周期和突变分析，预计未来三年左右降水高于多年平均值，随后的14年左右时间内降水量呈现减少趋势，逐渐低于多年平均降水量。     

Whitened kernel surface: A fast and reliable method for assessing Fusarium severity on cereal grains by digital picture analysis

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a cereal disease of major importance responsible for yield losses and mycotoxin contaminations in grains. Here, we introduce a new measurement approach to quantify FHB severity on grains based on the evaluation of the whitened kernel surface (WKS) using digital image analysis. The applicability of WKS was assessed on two bread wheat and one triticale grain sample sets (265 samples). Pearson correlation coefficients between Fusarium‐damaged kernels (FDK) and WKS range from r = 0.77 to r = 0.81 and from r = 0.61 to r = 0.86 for the correlation between deoxynivalenol (DON) content and WKS. This new scoring method facilitates fast and reliable assessment of the resistance to kernel infection and shows significant correlation with mycotoxin content. WKS can be automated and does not suffer from the “human factor” inherent to visual scorings. As a low‐cost and fast approach, this method appears particularly attractive for breeding and genetic analysis of FHB resistance where typically large numbers of experimental lines need to be evaluated, and for which WKS is suggested as an alternative to visual FDK scorings.     

Novel soil quality indicators for the evaluation of agricultural management practices: a biological perspective

Developments in soil biology and in methods to characterize soil organic carbon can potentially deliver novel soil quality indicators that can help identify management practices able to sustain soil productivity and environmental resilience. This work aimed at synthesizing results regarding the suitability of a range of soil biological and biochemical properties as novel soil quality indicators for agricultural management. The soil properties, selected through a published literature review, comprised different labile organic carbon fractions [hydrophilic dissolved organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), hot water extractable carbon and particulate organic matter carbon], soil disease suppressiveness measured using a Pythium-Lepidium bioassay, nematode communities characterized by amplicon sequencing and qPCR, and microbial community level physiological profiling measured with MicroResp^TM. Prior studies tested the sensitivity of each of the novel indicators to tillage and organic matter addition in ten European long-term field experiments (LTEs) and assessed their relationships with pre-existing soil quality indicators of soil functioning. Here, the results of these previous studies are brought together and interpreted relative to each other and to the broader body of literature on soil quality assessment. Reduced tillage increased carbon availability, disease suppressiveness, nematode richness and diversity, the stability and maturity of the food web, and microbial activity and functional diversity. Organic matter addition played a weaker role in enhancing soil quality, possibly due to the range of composition of the organic matter inputs used in the LTEs. POXC was the indicator that discriminated best between soil management practices, followed by nematode indices based on functional characteristics. Structural equation modeling shows that POXC has a central role in nutrient retention/supply, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, erosion control and disease regulation/suppression. The novel indicators proposed here have great potential to improve existing soil quality assessment schemes. Their feasibility of application is discussed and needs for future research are outlined.     

考虑土壤水平衡的灌区水资源优化配置研究

针对内蒙古河套灌区解放闸灌域地下水埋深较浅且矿化度高及黄河水量逐年减少等因素导致的农业用水严重短缺问题,本研究以解放闸灌域玉米为研究对象,耦合Jensen模型与土壤水平衡模型构建灌区尺度灌溉水资源优化配置模型,对不同的地下水埋深及土壤含水量情景下水资源优化配置方案进行研究,并利用Lingo软件编程求解模型。结果表明:当地下水埋深为2.5m时,引黄水量为3.85×10~8 m~3,可以达到5.55×10~8元的净经济效益;而土壤水含量为0.12～0.16时,净经济效益为[5.41,5.67]×108元。优化结果验证了模型在当地可行,并针对河套灌区解放闸灌域的不同土壤含水量与地下水埋深情景分别提供14种配水方案。     

Influence of soil phosphorus status,texture, pH and metal content on the efficacy of amendments to pig slurry in reducing phosphorus losses

Cost‐effective strategies for using chemically amended organic fertilizers need to be developed to minimize nutrient losses in surface and groundwater. Coupling specific soil physical and chemical characteristics with amendment type could increase their effectiveness. This study investigated how water‐extractable phosphorus (P) was affected by chemical amendments added to pig slurry and how this effect varied with soil properties. A 3‐month incubation study was conducted on 18 different mineral soils, stored at 10 °C and 75% humidity and treated with unamended and amended slurry which was incorporated at a rate equivalent to 19 kg total P (TP )/ha. The amendments examined were commercial‐grade liquid alum, applied at a rate of 0.88:1 [Al:TP ], and commercial‐grade liquid poly‐aluminium chloride (PAC ), applied at a rate of 0.72:1 [Al:TP ]. These amendments were previously identified by the authors as being effective in reducing incidental losses of P. The efficacy of the amendments varied with the soil test P, the degree of P saturation (DPS ) and the Mehlich aluminium, iron and calcium, but not soil texture. Chemical amendments were most effective in soils with DPS over approximately 20%. Due to their high cost, the incorporation of amendments into existing management practices can only be justified as part of a holistic management plan where soils have high DPS .     

油-棉连作棉田油菜秸秆覆盖对棉田杂草发生及土壤杂草种子库的动态影响

在安徽省沿江棉区开展了油菜秸秆覆盖对棉田杂草发生、棉花生长及土壤杂草种子库影响的研究。结果表明,随着油菜秸秆覆盖量的增加,对棉田杂草的抑制效果增强。与未覆盖秸秆且不除草处理相比较,7000Kg/hm²秸秆覆盖量处理棉花单株铃数和子棉产量显著提高。7000Kg/hm²秸秆覆盖量处理在覆盖后30d、60d和120d逐步减少0-20cm土层杂草种子库密度,与全程除草剂处理较一致；随着覆盖量减少,对0-20cm土层杂草种子库密度降低幅度减小。全程除草剂处理降低0-5cm土层杂草种子库多样性,而油菜秸秆覆盖则可能增加0-5cm土层的杂草种子库多样性。3500Kg/hm²覆盖量+秸秆覆盖30d后喷施除草剂处理的抑草效果和增产效果与全程除草剂处理一致。因此,在安徽省沿江棉区油-棉连作棉田推荐使用3500Kg/hm²油菜秸秆覆盖量+秸秆覆盖30d后喷施除草剂。