Frost response in wheat and early detection using proximal sensors

Frost can significantly reduce production of field crops grown in Mediterranean‐type environments, where significant economic losses for Australian wheat occur annually. If non‐destructive sensors could make rapid, spatial assessment of frost damage, this could limit economic losses through timely management decisions. This paper reports on a methodology for imposing frost treatments to wheat under field conditions and the utility of canopy reflectance data for detecting early crop damage. Purpose‐built chambers using stepped additions of dry ice allowed for a range of frost scenarios to be tested when applied at wheat heading and anthesis. For frost treatments applied at anthesis, grain number and yield were reduced by 8.8% and 7.2%, respectively, for every degree Celsius below zero (down to ?4°C). This effect was additive over two consecutive nights. For cold load equivalent, there was a 2.2% and 1.9% reduction in grain number and yield, respectively, per °C hr (below 0°C). For wheat, spectral indices PRI and NDVI (reflectance) and FRF_G and SFR_G (fluorescence) showed significant relationships, with cold load applied for heading treatments. Next steps include targeting frost intensities equivalent to cold loads between 20 and 80°C hr and testing the utility of these proposed indices in a commercial paddock setting.     

Simulating Agricultural Conversion to Residential use in the Hudson River Valley: Scenario Analyses and Case Studies

Land use changes threaten agricultural land. If agricultural land is going to be preserved, the social and economic causes of conversion must be understood. However, analyzing the causes of agricultural conversion is complex because trends need to be documented before analyzing the causes. One of the leading uses of agricultural land is for residential purposes. This paper projects residential development in a Hudson River Valley watershed within Dutchess County in New York State using an integrated modeling framework consisting of an econometric model, a geographic information system (GIS), and Monte Carlo simulation. The econometric model is used to project residential development, providing parcel-specific probabilities of residential development. The GIS is employed to extract socio-economic and county-level tax parcel data to be used in conjunction with bio-geophysical attributes, such as slope, soil, and location, to calculate and project growth trends on a residential level for undeveloped land parcels. Monte Carlo simulation is used to distribute these projections into the GIS to display outcomes of scenario analyses to provide policy-makers a demonstration of how policies would likely affect the agricultural landscape of the watershed. John M. Polimeni is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Albany College of Pharmacy in Albany, New York. Dr. Polimeni received a PhD in Ecological Economics and a BS in Mathematics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His professional interests include: quantitative economics, spatial and regional economics, land use change, economic development, and graduate education in Ecological Economics. He is currently working on linking ecological economics with the laws of thermodynamics and neuroeconomics into one unified model.     

天水市近30年林地动态变化遥感监测研究

[目的]以甘肃省天水市为例,基于遥感影像变化监测技术,探讨黄土高原丘陵沟壑与小陇山-西秦岭山地交接过渡区域近30年来森林(林地)资源空间分布规律、时间变化趋势及变化影响因素。[方法]以1988—2015年5期夏季Landsat TM/OLI遥感影像为主要数据源,结合辅助数据和外业实地样本点,以光谱特征和指数特征为特征变量,分别利用随机森林(RF)和参数优化支持向量机(POSVM)分类器对土地覆盖类型进行分类,然后基于分类后比较法进行森林资源动态变化监测。[结果]分类结果表明,两种分类器的分类效果均较好,且随机森林分类器在分类精度、效率和稳定性方面明显优于参数优化支持向量机分类器。变化监测结果表明,近30年来森林资源总体变化趋势为林地面积先减少后增加。1990—1996年,林地面积减少0.74%;1996—2002年,林地面积减少2.74%;2002—2008年,林地面积增加1.06%;2008—2015年,林地面积增加8.89%。[结论]本研究采用的基于非参数分类器分类后比较法的变化监测技术是复杂地形地貌过渡区森林资源动态变化监测的一种有效途径,在分类结果分析统计的基础上,得出研究区森林资源变化的总体趋势:以2002年(2002年影像)为界,林地总体趋势为先减少后增加,2002年后林地面积增加显著。     

九连山金斑喙凤蝶野外生物学特性观测

[目的]通过连续12 a对金斑喙凤蝶的野外调查观察,研究成虫活动规律,并利用仿生态养殖,观察金斑喙凤蝶卵和幼虫的形态特征与生活习性,研究其生物学特性,以期为金斑喙凤蝶研究与保护提供有效数据。[方法]根据2004—2012年对金斑喙凤蝶成虫活动规律的观察研究,2013—2015年,在金斑喙凤蝶成虫活动期,采用样线踏查的方法,自海拔450 m往山顶海拔1 200 m搜索,调查视野内木兰科植物分布情况,寻找卵和幼虫,收集后带回驻地进行仿生态养殖,观察其形态特征和生活习性。[结果]金斑喙凤蝶在九连山为一年二代,以蛹越冬,第一代成虫发生期为4月上旬至5月中旬,第二代成虫发生期为8月下旬至9月中旬;2013年在木兰科植物金叶含笑上发现卵和幼虫,2014和2015年在深山含笑上发现卵和幼虫,深山含笑为新发现寄主植物,目前除九连山外尚未有报道;幼虫5龄,各龄级幼虫差异较大;预蛹成蛹经历两次蜕皮过程,这是金斑喙凤蝶研究中的一项重大发现。[结论]1)金斑喙凤蝶卵和幼虫的分布与寄主植物分布密切相关,且对生境质量有较高要求,成虫活动范围主要在寄主植物分布范围及其周边;2)金斑喙凤蝶选择生长良好的金叶含笑和深山含笑叶片上产卵,或嗜食深山含笑;3)温度、湿度等环境因子对卵的孵化、幼虫的生长发育以及化蛹和羽化影响较大;4)金斑喙凤蝶雌蝶少,卵孵化率低,幼虫发育历期长,幼虫成活率低,化蛹和羽化率低等是导致其种群数量稀少的主要原因。5)据查,目前尚未有其它蝶类化蛹过程中经历两次蜕皮的报道,预蛹化蛹蜕两次皮是金斑喙凤蝶异于其他蝶类的特殊现象。     

气候变化下西北太平洋大海洋生态系海表面温度特征分析

气候变化和气候事件对海洋环境有着重大的影响,其影响存在着时空差异。研究以西北太平洋五个大型海洋生态系统(Large Marine Ecosystem,LME,包括西白令海,鄂霍茨克海,黑潮、亲潮以及日本海)的海表面温度(Sea surface temperature,SST)为研究对象,分析SST的随时空变化趋势及其与太平洋年代际振荡((Pacific Decadal Oscillation, PDO)和厄尔尼诺(El Ni?o)、拉尼娜(La Ni?a)事件的影响。研究发现,除了西白令海,其它四个大型海洋生态系统的SST都在1987年左右发生了急剧的上升,呈现出两个变化模态;将SST的长期变化趋势去除后,可以发现,五个LME的SST随着时间上下波动,并没有固定的周期性变化存在,但是与厄尔尼诺拉尼娜事件有着密切联系。水温的空间分布上看,各区域的SST都呈现由北向南逐渐增高的趋势,但是增温趋势不尽相同,在西白令海的整个区域SST都在升高,降温区域围绕在库页岛和日本的北海道附近,这其中相关机制有待后续进一步研究。     

排水工程对三江平原湿地流域的影响分析

在三江平原别拉洪河流域地形图、土地利用图和排水工程建设资料的基础上,利用地理信息系统进行流域景观制图,并根据排水工程建设量将该流域划分出4个排水分区。利用景观结构分析软件FRAGSTATS分别计算了各分区2个时期(1967年和2005年)的多种景观结构指标。结果表明:排水工程之前,除了旱地无排区的其它3个排水区域,自然湿地覆盖率均达到90%以上,且呈大块连续状分布,结构比较简单,自然状态保存完好;排水渠大量修建之后,沼泽地因排水基本消失,草甸及其它沼泽类型也大片被排干,取而代之的是以大面积的旱地和水田为基质,湿地以小的斑块体镶嵌其中的流域景观,景观结构破碎化严重并趋于复杂化。最后提出下一步的研究工作。     

温室增温和灌溉量变化对棉花产量、 生物量及水分利用效率的影响

为了解气候变化对棉花生长的影响,在2011—2012 年,通过2 个温室进行增温和灌溉量变化的试验（一个温室用红外灯管增温,另一个不增温）,每个温室设田间灌溉量的0.7 倍、0.85 倍、1 倍、1.15 倍、1.3 倍5 个灌溉水平,研究增温和灌溉量对产量、生物量及水分利用效率的影响。结果表明,棉花生长季平均温度增加1~3.5℃有利于产量的增加,生长季、花期和铃期温度升高1℃,产量分别增加200.694、225.732、109.838 kg/hm2,而蕾期温度升高1℃却会降低产量162.814 kg/hm2。生长季和蕾期增温1℃会分别降低生物量1079.2、1179.8 kg/hm2,降低产量和干物质的水分利用效率3.4215、2.8098 kg/(hm2·mm)。灌溉倍数每增加1 倍,产量和生物量分别增加734.51、2242.3 kg/hm2。但增温会增加水分的消耗量,这对于处于干旱区的新疆来说是不利的。随着气候变暖,棉花耗水增大,产量增加。     

莜麦种质植物学形态特征变异分析

在相同栽培条件下对29份莜麦种质的13个植物学性状变异进行了研究.结果表明,不同种质间存在广泛变异,其中倒伏性状变异幅度最大,变异系数为32.62%,其次为叶宽(27.85%)、有效分蘖数(15.31%)、茎粗(14.56%)、花序长(14.30%)、芒长(12.54%)、花序宽(11.89%)、千粒重(11.13%),而节长、株高、叶长、种子长和宽变异系数较小;各性状间具有明显相关性,株高和茎粗、倒伏性呈极显著负相关,系数分别为-0.506、-0.481;花序长和宽的相关系数为0.848;种子长度和宽度呈极显著正相关(0.618);植株越高,其茎节特征表现细长,叶片宽大,易倒伏;芒越短,产种性能越高,籽实也更饱满.聚类分析表明,不同莜麦种质可划分为3个类群,即饲用型、粮用型、资源型.     

海南岛雷暴日的气候变化特征分析

选取海南岛18个站点1965～2007年的43 a雷暴日资料,采用经验正交函数分解(EOF)等方法分析了海南岛的雷暴日分布特征.结果表明:海南岛雷暴活动频繁,各市县年平均雷暴日在94 d以上,最多达到了149d,雷暴日空间分布具有明显的区域性,中部以及北部的雷暴日比较多,而在南部雷暴日相对偏少;雷暴日的季节变化明显,冬季极少,夏季时雷暴明显偏多,最高为7月份的22d;另外,雷暴日的年际变化存在明显的准周期16a以及5 a的小震荡周期.     

Beware of changes: Conservation of Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphins in disturbed habitats

1. Protecting critical habitats of the Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphin, Sousa chinensis, is a hot topic of discussion for marine biodiversity conservation in China and many Southeast Asian countries. In practice, sound habitat protection action (HPA) planning often suffers from information gaps in macroscopic habitat configurations and changes in the habitat conditions of humpback dolphins.
2. Recent publications in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (AQC) have served to advance humpback dolphin conservation in Chinese waters by resolving such habitat configurations and indicating significant changes in distribution patterns and habitat characteristics under intense coastal anthropogenic activity.
3. We highlight an integrative research framework to investigate habitat configuration and long‐term habitat changes when planning a holistic HPA programme for humpback dolphins. When constructing habitat configuration baselines, field surveys should be designed and conducted in a systematic manner to ensure survey efforts cover diverse environments equally, in either a spatially stratified or gridded pattern, to minimize potential spatial sampling biases. Long‐term habitat changes can be revealed by comparing satellite images from different decades. Changes in habitat preferences and habitat characteristics can be explored through questionnaire surveys on local ecological knowledge, associating historical occurrences with coastline features and projecting historical habitat configuration by species distribution modelling exercises.
4. A lack of good communication and sharing of information between research and management sectors can still be an obstacle to the implementation of sound conservation practices, however, even though there is robust scientific evidence to fill knowledge gaps in distribution and habitat baselines. We have addressed the need to establish a mechanism to improve and streamline information sharing between research teams, management sectors, and stakeholder groups.