Monitoring derelict urban land: A review of problems and potentials of remote sensing techniques

The accelerating rate of change in urban areas calls for more rapid and cost-effective surveys of derelict land. A review of the use of remote sensing¹ for this task reveals that, although aerial photography has been used for urban analysis since the 1940s, it has not been widely adopted for surveys of derelict land, despite demonstrations of its utility. Other forms of remote sensing are similarly shown to have been little-used and to have had patchy success. The hitherto restricted utility of remote sensing is found to be due to a combination of limitations of the forms of imagery available and the methods of analysis employed. Recent changes in available remote sensing imagery, notably the higher resolution now provided by the SPOT satellite, coupled with advances in digital image-processing techniques point to improved opportunities for using remote sensing to monitor derelict land. As a demonstration of these developments, a texture image based on scene variance is derived from a SPOT image of part of north Staffordshire. All derelict and neglected land parcels larger than 1.25 ha are delimited on this image. Remote sensing techniques are not yet ready to supplant detailed ground surveys but they have a growing role to play in monitoring various aspects of land dereliction.     

土壤微生物对大气对流层臭氧浓度升高的响应

土壤微生物对大气对流层臭氧浓度升高的响应是全面评价臭氧浓度变化对陆地生态系统影响的关键。本文简要回顾了大气臭氧浓度升高对生态系统的影响概况,介绍了土壤微生物对人工控制微域环境臭氧浓度增高的响应研究进展,并提出了农田生态系统土壤微生物生物量与活性(包括硝化反硝化作用)、群落结构与功能(包括秸秆降解过程)、有益微生物(如菌根真菌)及其调控技术是今后大气臭氧污染研究领域的重要方向。