Weather and human impacts on forest fires: 100 years of fire history in two climatic regions of Switzerland     

Thomas Zumbrunnen  Gianni B. PezzattiPatricia Menéndez  Harald BugmannMatthias Bürgi  Marco Conedera 《Forest Ecology and Management》2011,261(12):2188-2199

Understanding the factors driving past fire regimes is crucial in the context of global change as a basis for predicting future changes. In this study, we aimed to identify the impact of climate and human activities on fire occurrence in the most fire-prone regions of Switzerland. We considered forest fires, land use and meteorological data over the period 1904-2008 in the neighboring mountain cantons (states) of Valais and Ticino, which are characterized by distinct climatic regimes.The presence/absence of fire ignitions was analyzed using the Nesterov ignition index (as a proxy for fire weather), road density (for ignition sources), livestock density (for biomass removal), and change in forest area (for fire-prone abandoned agricultural areas).We found that fire weather played a key role in fire occurrence in both regions. Road and livestock densities had similar influences in the two cantons. However, while the increase in forest area was well correlated with fire occurrence in Ticino, no such correlation was evident in Valais, probably because land abandonment and forest cover change have been less extensive there. Our findings emphasize the non-linear nature of the relationships between fire occurrence and anthropogenic drivers, as we found thresholds above which road density was no longer correlated with fire occurrence. This implies that the projected future increase and spatial concentration of the human population may not result in a further increase in fire risk in intermediately to densely populated areas in both cantons.The driving factors behind fire activity differ slightly in the two cantons, in particular with increasing forest area enhancing fire occurrence in Ticino but not in Valais. These differences should be taken into account when assessing future fire risk, especially in Valais where the potential for an increase in the fire-prone area is still high. Fires are likely to become more frequent in a warmer climate, but future fire activity may develop differently in the two cantons. This should be taken into account when planning optimized fire prevention measures. This case study should help to better understand fire activity in highly populated regions where fire activity is still moderate but might markedly increase under a projected more fire-prone climate.  相似文献   

Effect of soil compaction on hydraulic properties of two loess soils in China   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Shulan Zhang  Harald Grip  Lars Lvdahl 《Soil & Tillage Research》2006,90(1-2):117-125

Soil compaction affects hydraulic properties, and thus can lead to soil degradation and other adverse effects on environmental quality. This study evaluates the effects of three levels of compaction on the hydraulic properties of two silty loam soils from the Loess Plateau, China. Undisturbed soil cores were collected from the surface (0–5 cm) and subsurface (10–15 cm) layers at sites in Mizhi and Heyang in Shaanxi Province. The three levels of soil compaction were set by increasing soil bulk density by 0% (C0), 10% (C1) and 20% (C2) through compression and hammering in the laboratory. Soil water retention curves were then determined, and both saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s) and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity were estimated for all of the samples using standard suction apparatus, a constant head method and the hot-air method, respectively. The high level of compaction (C2) significantly changed the water retention curves of both the surface and subsurface layers of the Heyang soil, and both levels of compaction (C1 and C2) changed the curves of the two layers from the Mizhi site. However, the effects of compaction on the two soils were only pronounced below water tensions of 100 kPa. Saturated hydraulic conductivities (K_s) were significantly reduced by the highest compaction level for both sampled layers of the Heyang soil, but no difference was observed in this respect between the C0 and C1 treatments. K_s values decreased with increasing soil compaction for both layers of the Mizhi soil. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities were not affected by soil compaction levels in the measured water volume ratio range, and the values obtained were two to five orders of magnitude higher for the Mizhi soil than for the Heyang soil. The results indicate that soil compaction could strongly influence, in different ways, the hydraulic properties of the two soils.  相似文献   

Räumliche Spannungsmessungen mit dem Stress State Transducer (SST) in ungesättigten aggregierten Böden - theoretische Betrachtungen und erste Ergebnisse     

Rainer Horn  Clarence  Johnson  Harald Semmel  Robert Schafer  Matthias Lebert 《植物养料与土壤学杂志》1992,155(4):269-274

Stress measurements in undisturbed unsaturated soils with a Stress State Transducer (SST) - theory and first results A method to quantify the spatial stress distribution will be introduced and first results will be discussed. This method allows the detailed analysis of principal and shear stresses as well as the determination of the direction angle of principal stresses and the octahedral shear stress angle. The described Stress State Transducer (SST) is composed of six single strain gage sensors that enable the accurate and reproducable recording of stresses in six directions in a wide load range. Their data form the base for calculation of spatial stress distribution. Some first results show that in a luvisol derived from loess wheeling at a wheel load of 4.0 Mg induces high shear stresses in a depth of 30 cm. This probably causes plastic soil deformation.  相似文献   

Developing a kinetic alternative in modeling soil aluminium     

Mattias Alveteg  Harald Sverdrup  Per Warfvinge 《Water, air, and soil pollution》1995,79(1-4):377-389

Soil chemistry models often use gibbsite solubility and similar equilibrium models to predict Al concentrations in soil solution. A kinetic alternative was developed with the goal of finding universal rate constants instead of the site- and depth-specific solubility constants usually associated with the equilibrium approach. The behavior of the two approaches was studied within the framework of the steady-state soil chemistry model PROFILE using data from Solling, Germany and Gårdsjön, Sweden, two sites with different mineralogy and land use history. The kinetic alternative uses a mass balance to predict Al concentrations. The sources of Al in soil water are deposition, weathering and mineralization. The sinks are leaching and the formation of an aluminosilicate precursor. The precursor slowly transforms into an ordinary clay mineral. Both formation and transformation of the precursor are treated as irreversible processes. The kinetic model introduces a new relationship between pH and Al and produces a systematic pattern of different apparent gibbsite equilibrium constants at different depths. Results show that the kinetic model systematically underestimates Al concentration in the upper horizons, which indicates that there may be additional sources of Al in the upper horizons not accounted for in the model. Predicted values of pH and Al concentrations are comparable with field observations.  相似文献   

The Fas signaling pathway: more than a paradigm     

Wajant H 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2002,296(5573):1635-1636

Apoptosis and related forms of cell death have central importance in development, homeostasis, tumor surveillance, and the function of the immune system. Apoptosis is initiated by two principal pathways. The intrinsic pathway emerges from mitochondria, whereas the extrinsic pathway is activated by the ligation of death receptors. This Viewpoint introduces the basic mechanisms of the extrinsic pathway, using the example of the prototypical death receptor Fas and its role in apoptosis, but it also points out the increasingly understood importance of this receptor as a non-apoptotic signal transducer.  相似文献   

Three-dimensional plasmon rulers     

Liu N  Hentschel M  Weiss T  Alivisatos AP  Giessen H 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2011,332(6036):1407-1410

Plasmon rulers can be used to determine nanoscale distances within chemical or biological species. They are based on the spectral shift of the scattering spectrum when two plasmonic nanoparticles approach one another. However, the one-dimensionality of current plasmon rulers hampers the comprehensive understanding of many intriguing processes in soft matter, which take place in three dimensions. We demonstrated a three-dimensional plasmon ruler that is based on coupled plasmonic oligomers in combination with high-resolution plasmon spectroscopy. This enables retrieval of the complete spatial configuration of complex macromolecular and biological processes as well as their dynamic evolution.  相似文献   

Dynamic visualization of thrombopoiesis within bone marrow     

Junt T  Schulze H  Chen Z  Massberg S  Goerge T  Krueger A  Wagner DD  Graf T  Italiano JE  Shivdasani RA  von Andrian UH 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2007,317(5845):1767-1770

Platelets are generated from megakaryocytes (MKs) in mammalian bone marrow (BM) by mechanisms that remain poorly understood. Here we describe the use of multiphoton intravital microscopy in intact BM to visualize platelet generation in mice. MKs were observed as sessile cells that extended dynamic proplatelet-like protrusions into microvessels. These intravascular extensions appeared to be sheared from their transendothelial stems by flowing blood, resulting in the appearance of proplatelets in peripheral blood. In vitro, proplatelet production from differentiating MKs was enhanced by fluid shear. These results confirm the concept of proplatelet formation in vivo and are consistent with the possibility that blood flow-induced hydrodynamic shear stress is a biophysical determinant of thrombopoiesis.  相似文献   

影响烟草特有亚硝胺积累的因素   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

杨焕文  崔明午  Lowell P. Bush  Harald R. Burton 《西南大学学报(自然科学版)》2000,22(2):164-166

把Ｎｉｃｏｔｉａｎａ ｐｌｕｍｂａｇｉｎｉｆｏｌｉａ的基因突变种子和普通种子发芽后嫁接在Ｗｅｓｃｏｎｓｉｎ３８烟株上,与温室条件下正常盆栽生长的Ｎｉｃｏｔｉａｎａ ｐｌｕｍｂａｇｉｎｉｆｏｌｉａ和母体Ｗｅｓｃｏｎｓｉｎ３８分析比较,试验结果得出：Ｗｅｓｃｏｎｓｉｎ３８上嫁接Ｎｉｃｏｔｉａｎａ ｐｌｕｍｂａｇｉｎｉｆｏｌｉａ基因突变种子还原酶活性最高,晾制后烟叶中烟草特有的亚硝胺含量次之;温室盆栽的  相似文献   

Scaling in the time domain: universal dynamics of order fluctuations in Fe3Al     

Mocuta C  Reichert H  Mecke K  Dosch H  Drakopoulos M 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2005,308(5726):1287-1291

By focusing a highly brilliant synchrotron x-ray beam to a micrometer spot on a sample, we measured in real time the x-ray intensity fluctuations associated with order fluctuations in crystalline materials. We applied this method to the binary alloy Fe3Al near its continuous A2-B2 phase transformation and determined a specific four-point time correlation function for the order parameter. From a detailed theoretical analysis, dynamical scaling in the time domain with a transition from noncritical to critical dynamics is disclosed.  相似文献   

Neuroscience. Microglia: the enemy within?     

Kempermann G  Neumann H 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2003,302(5651):1689-1690

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