Wildlife damage and cultivated land abandonment: Findings from the mountainous areas of Chongqing,China

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is a growing global issue that seriously threatens agricultural production and livelihoods. Studying the relationship between wildlife damage, land use, and livelihood enables us to understand the dilemma facing current wildlife protection and ecological restoration policies and to amend existing policies effectively. Using participatory rural appraisal (PRA), quantitative analysis, and a Multilevel Logit regression model, this paper analyzed land use and livelihoods among 160 households subject to wild boar (Sus scrofa) damage in four villages within Youyang County in the poor mountainous areas of Chongqing, China. The findings showed the following: (i) wild boars in Youyang County were responsible for large-scale crop and property damage; (ii) cultivated land abandonment has become a significant trend in land use, and the most important perceived driver for abandoning farmland is the land plot's vulnerability to wild boar damage; (iii) when protecting cultivated land plots, households tend to protect those plots that are close to the road, have larger land area, and have a slight or abrupt slope; however, households with more members working in non-farm labor, more female agricultural workers, and/or higher non-farm income are more inclined to abandon protection of their plots. This paper discusses seven main measures that are frequently adopted by farmers to protect their crops and livestock and are perceived by these farmers as the most effective and sensible countermeasures.     

Impact of seawater intrusion control on the environment,land use and household incomes in a coastal area

Agricultural production in the coastal wetlands of Asia is often hindered by salinity intrusion caused by tidal fluctuation. This paper reports changes in environmental and socio-economic conditions that followed the phased construction and operation of sluices for controlling seawater intrusion from 1994 –2000 in a coastal area of the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Canal water salinity decreased rapidly upstream of sluices, allowing rice cropping intensification and increased rice production in the eastern part of the study area. However, the livelihoods of farmers in the western part were adversely affected due to cessation of supply of brackish water that was needed for brackish-water shrimp farming, while the acid sulphate soils present there posed problems for rice cultivation. The poor farmers and landless people suffered more because the fishery resource that they depended on declined sharply due to reduced salinity and increased acidity in the canal water. The findings confirmed that the environment and resource use in the coastal lands are very sensitive to external intervention. A clear understanding of the socio-economic and environmental impacts of salinity control measures in coastal areas can help planning to enhance farmers' incomes while minimizing negative environmental impacts. Land-use policy formulation, planning and management should adopt a more holistic approach, taking into account the interests of all resource users, especially the poor, instead of focusing on any particular sector.     

油菜用地养地的作物优势及其在冬闲田开发中的应用潜力

油菜是我国种植面积最大的油料作物,是国产食用植物油的重要来源。油菜生长过程可以优化土壤结构、增加土壤养分、培肥土壤地力,具有用地养地的特征优势。同时,因其具有较强的环境适应能力,可作为先锋作物改良障碍土壤。然而,近年来由于劳动力不足、种植效益低、农民种植积极性不高等因素,导致冬闲田面积逐年增加,冬季光温水土自然资源未能得到有效利用。而油菜作为冬季种植的油料作物,不与粮争地,是开发利用冬闲田最有潜力的作物。利用冬闲田发展油菜生产,不仅可以提升油料产量,还可以充分发挥其养地优势提高后茬作物产量品质、增加种植收益,对维护我国食用油供给安全、助力粮油兼丰及农业绿色可持续发展具有重要意义。本文结合我国油菜生产现状,针对南方稻区冬闲田油菜轮作的生产发展需要,综述了油菜用地养地（油用或肥用）的作物优势,旨在为因地制宜利用南方冬闲田发展油菜生产助力油料产能提升提供科学依据。     

Mediating effect of stream geometry on the relationship between urban land use and biological index

Numerous studies have stated that land use in urbanized areas can adversely affect water quality of streams. Previous studies reported that edges may play important roles in controlling flow rate of material in two systems. In this study, we examined the mediating effects of streamline geometry on the relationships between urban land use and the index of biological integrity (IBI) of the Nakdong River in Korea. Two mediation models with streamline geometry, including the partial mediation effect model and the full mediation effect model, were estimated to explore the mediating effect of streamline geometry. To measure streamline geometry, we calculated the fractal dimension of a streamline within a 1 km buffer from the sampling sites. The proportion of urban land use within a 5 km buffer of the sampling sites was also computed by GIS. We used biological assessment data from the National Aquatic Ecological Monitoring Program in Korea to delineate the IBI at the sampling sites. The results showed that urban land use significantly degraded stream morphology and IBI in the Nakdong River. It was also observed that streamline geometry mediated the influence of urban land use on the IBI. The results of structural equation modeling analysis for the two mediation models with the fractal dimension and IBI suggested that only two paths were significant in the partial mediation model, whereas all paths were significant in the estimated full mediation model.     

不同叶龄期晒田对水稻茎蘖动态与产量的影响

为探索水稻晒田最佳时期,以杂交水稻中迟熟组合岗优827为材料,进行了不同叶龄期晒田处理试验。结果表明:叶龄11叶晒田处理岗优827产量最高,为887.1 kg/667 m2;10叶晒田处理次之,其产量为831.5 kg/667 m2;12叶晒田处理第3,其产量为804.8 kg/667 m2;不晒田处理产量最低,为753.7 kg/667 m2。说明在有效分蘖期或稍前够苗晒田能大幅度提高水稻岗优827产量。     

排草丹除草剂在水稻上残留动态研究

 报道了48％排草丹水剂在水稻上的残留分析方法及稻田生态环境中残留消解动态试验研究，计算出排草丹在稻株、土壤和水中降解半衰期。每亩施用3.0 m1，兑水50 kg,在杂草2～3叶期喷施一次，距收期60天,稻谷中排草丹及其代谢产物的最终残留量低于最低检出浓度0．02 mg／kg。     

Assessment of irrigation efficiencies and water productivity in paddy fields in the lower Mekong River Basin

Improving irrigation performance is a crucial issue for agriculture and irrigation development in the Lower Mekong River Basin to secure food production for people’s livelihoods. Irrigation efficiency is the most important indicator to determine the performance of an irrigation scheme. This study looks at water management practices and irrigation efficiency in three pilot sites in the Lower Mekong River Basin: the Numhoum scheme in Laos, the Huay Luang scheme in Thailand, and the Komping Pouy scheme in Cambodia. Irrigation efficiency and water productivity were analyzed using a water balance approach at the irrigation scheme level and results in the pilot areas show efficiencies that are definitely higher using this approach than by using the classical concept. Lower water productivity was observed at pilot schemes in areas of single cropping and higher productivity in areas where multiple agricultural activities were practiced. Strict and active water management is required to control and save water to meet agricultural demand and have sufficient water to expand cultivation areas while avoiding shortages. Promoting multiple uses of water for various agricultural activities in command area will increase water productivity.

油葵含油率及脂肪酸组成与土壤盐含量的关系

通过盆栽试验研究不同土壤含盐量对油葵含油率及脂肪酸组成的影响,结果表明:子实含油率和籽仁含油率随土壤盐含量的升高下降明显,且籽仁含油率受到的影响大于子实含油率。土壤含盐量的增加,促进棕榈酸、亚油酸的生成,抑制油酸的生成,但硬脂酸、亚麻酸的变化受土壤盐含量的影响不明显。土壤盐含量对籽仁含油率组分的影响依次为棕榈酸>油酸>亚油酸>硬脂酸>亚麻酸。     

水、陆稻在水田、旱地栽培的生态适应性研究：II．稻株碳、氮代谢的生态适应性观察

 旱种条件下，不论水稻还是陆稻，全糖、全氮含量均高于水种条件，醇溶糖占全糖的比例较高，碳／氮比低：陆稻的醇溶糖占全糖的比例远远高于水稻，这一特性很少随种植条件的改变而产生很大的变化，这可能是其对旱地适应性较强的生理原因之一。同时发现，贮藏性物质的增加是水稻旱种条件下的重要生理表现。     

The relationship between the rate of melatonin excretion and sleep consolidation for locomotive engineers in natural sleep settings

Background  

The aim of the study was to examine the role that melatonin production plays in the regulation of sleep consolidation in a population of shiftworkers working and sleeping in their natural environments.     

The relationship between the rate of fertilizer nitrogen applied to grassland and milk production; an analysis of recorded farm data

The milk yields obtained from 845 herd-years within the ICI Recorded Farms Scheme have been correlated, by multiple regression analysis, with the N fertilizer supplied to the grassland, the quantities of concentrates fed and the stocking rates. The large quantity of data gave highly significant correlations which indicated that, over the whole period, the supply of an extra 1 kg N from fertilizer was associated with an average extra yield of 9·9 1 milk. 4·9 1 were associated with the extra N independently of any simultaneous changes in either stocking rate or concentrate feeding, and 4-5 1 were ascribable to a simultaneous increase in stocking rate. There was a substantial variation in the ‘milk yield per kg N’ response from year to year, but the average value over 6 years agreed closely with that observed in the period 1949–52.     

Limited impacts of extensive human land use on dominance,specialization, and biotic homogenization in boreal plant communities

Background

Niche theory predicts that human disturbance should influence the assembly of communities, favouring functionally homogeneous communities dominated by few but widespread generalists. The decline and loss of specialists leaves communities with species that are functionally more similar. Evenness of species occupancy declines, such that species become either widespread of rare. These patterns have often been observed, but it is unclear if they are a general result of human disturbance or specific to communities that are rich in species, in complex, spatially heterogeneous environments where the problem has often been investigated. We therefore tested whether human disturbance impacts dominance/evenness of species occupancy in communities, specialism/generalism of species, and functional biotic homogenization in the spatially relatively homogeneous, species poor boreal forest region of Alberta, Canada. We investigated 371 boreal vascular plant communities varying 0 – 100% in proportion of human land use.

Results

Rank species occupancy curves revealed high species dominance regardless of disturbance: within any disturbance class a few species occupied nearly every site and most species were found in a low proportion of sites. However, species were more widespread and displayed more even occupancy in intermediately disturbed communities than among communities of either low or high disturbance. We defined specialists and generalists based on turnover in co-occupants and thereby assessed impacts of human disturbance on specialization of species and community homogenization. Generalists were not disproportionately found at higher disturbance sites, and did not occupy more sites. Communities with greater human disturbance were not more functionally homogeneous; they did not harbor communities with more generalists.

Conclusions

We unexpectedly did not observe strong linkages between species specialism/generalism and disturbance, nor between community homogenization and disturbance. These results contrast previous findings in more species rich, complex or spatially heterogeneous systems and ecological models. We suggest that broad occupancy-based intercommunity patterns are insensitive to human land use extent in boreal vascular plants, perhaps because of ubiquity of generalists, low species richness, and history of natural disturbance. The poor sensitivity of these metrics to disturbance presents challenges for monitoring and managing impacts to biodiversity in this region.     

Changes in the area of permanent grassland and its implications for the provision of bioenergy: Slovakia as a case study

Throughout Europe, grasslands are managed primarily for agricultural production but also provide a range of ecosystem services, the magnitude of which is influenced by their area, management and the abiotic properties of the ecosystem. The grassland area in Europe has been affected by significant changes in recent decades, including abandonment and conversion to arable land. This study presents an assessment of changes in the permanent grassland area with reference to Slovakia and provides an assessment of the bioenergy potential of permanent grassland surplus to agricultural needs. In 2015, of the total permanent grassland area (868,000 ha) 42% had ceased to be used as feed for milk or meat production and had been abandoned. Results from field experiments show that low‐level improvement of permanent grasslands, e.g., by oversowing commonly sown agricultural grassland species and low‐dose fertilization (up to 30 kg N ha^?1 year^?1) could provide herbage biomass of 1.7 million tonnes of herbage dry matter per year. This would be sufficient to generate an energy output of approximately 31.3–31.9 PJ/year (4.5% of the current gross inland energy consumption of Slovakia). Low‐intensity use of the currently surplus permanent grassland is also considered to have potential beneficial outcomes in terms of delivery of ecosystem services. Results are also discussed in the context of countries beyond the case‐study area.     

Prediction of the environmental concentration of pesticide in paddy field and surrounding surface water bodies

Pesticides are very important in European rice production. For appropriate environmental protection, it is useful to predict the potential impact of pesticides after application, in paddy fields, in paddy runoff, and in the surrounding water, by calculating predicted environmental concentrations (PECs). In this paper, a joint simulation is described, coupling a field-scale pesticide fate model (RICEWQ) and a transportation model (RIVWQ) to evaluate the potential for predicting environmental concentrations of pesticides in the paddy field and adjacent surface water bodies and comparing the predicted values with the monitoring data. The results demonstrate that the application of the calibrated field-scale RICEWQ model is a conservative method to predict the PEC at the watershed level, overestimating the observed data; the coupled RICEWQ and RIVWQ models could be adequately used to predict PECs in the surrounding water at watershed level and in the higher tier risk assessment procedure.     

鄂中地区水稻配方施肥的农艺和生态效果研究

通过多点田间试验,研究了当前生产条件下施用配方肥对水稻产量、养分积累、肥料利用率和经济效益的影响。结果表明,与习惯施肥相比,尽管配方施肥处理增加了肥料投入(N、P2O5、K2O分别增加48、7.5、30 kg/hm2),但平均增产691 kg/hm2,N、P2O5、K2O积累量分别增加17.3%、15.1%、14.4%,肥料贡献率和农学效率增加7.8个百分点和1.0 kg/kg,纯收入增加1 257元/hm2。     

花生施氮肥效果与根瘤菌固N的关系

在中等以上土壤肥力条件下，花生施氮肥均显著增加植株生长量和荚果产量，单株结果数和荚果产量分别比不施肥、不接种根瘤菌（对照）处理增加２６．９％～３６．５％和２９．９％～３４．１％。但其主、侧根上根瘤数目和根瘤菌固氮量，则随氮肥用量增加而减少，根瘤菌固氮量由８８．６％降至３０．８％。不施氮肥只接种根瘤菌的处理，根瘤菌的固氮量虽高，但植株生长量和荚果产量则明显降低，单株结果数和荚果产量仅比对照处理增加６．９％和５．９％。     

Effects of the application rate and time of the growth regulator trinexapac-ethyl in seed crops of Lolium perenne L. in relation to spring nitrogen rate

To test the effects of the growth regulator trinexapac-ethyl (Moddus 250 EC) in the main seed crop of grasses in the Netherlands, 10 field trials were conducted in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). These field trials were carried out in first and second seed harvest crops during 1999–2002. Four rates of Moddus (untreated, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.6 L product ha⁻¹) were applied at the start of stem elongation (DC 30–31, zero to one node) during the first two years. In addition, the effect of timing of the application of 0.8 L Moddus ha⁻¹ was studied (untreated, DC30–31, DC31–33, DC33–37). In most trials, in addition to the normal amount, 45 kg N ha⁻¹ extra spring nitrogen was applied. The work reported is valuable, and has relevance to all areas of the globe where this perennial ryegrass is grown for seed, e.g., northern Europe, the US (particularly, Oregon), New Zealand, Australia, Chile and Argentina.     

棉花种子健籽率与种子活力的相关性分析

以8份棉花种子样品为材料．分别测定其健籽率和活力．并用相关分析法探讨键籽率与活力的相关性。试验蛄果表明键籽率与活力呈极显著正相关关系。用健籽率可简单、快速估测棉花种子活力或田间出苗情况，同时也表明了在棉花种子生产和使用中健籽率测定的重要意义。