Grassland degradation in the

Supported by MSS images in the mid and late 1970s, TM images in the early 1990s and TM/ETM images in 2004, grassland degradation in the "Three-River Headwaters" region (TRH region) was interpreted through analysis on IRS images in two time series, then the spatial and temporal characteristics of grassland degradation in the TRH region were analyzed since the 1970s. The results showed that grassland degradation in the TRH region was a continuous change process which had large affected area and long time scale, and rapidly strengthen phenomenon did not exist in the 1990s as a whole. Grassland degradation pattern in the TRH region took shape initially in the mid and late 1970s. Since the 1970s, this degradation process has taken place continuously, obviously characterizing different rules in different regions. In humid and semi-humid meadow region, grassland firstly fragmentized, then vegetation coverage decreased continuously, and finally "black-soil-patch" degraded grassland was formed. But in semi-arid and and steppe region, the vegetation coverage decreased continuously, and finally desertification was formed. Because grassland degradation had obviously regional differences in the TRH region, it could be regionalized into 7 zones, and each zone had different characteristics in type, grade, scale and time process of grassland degradation.

探索一种监测典型草原草场退化的新方法--结合群落样方调查资料和卫星遥感数据（TM）

大范围、实时、准确地监测典型草原地区草场退化或健康状况对于草原生态系统的保育、农牧业的可持续性发展具有非常重要的意义。比起传统的群落学研究方法，遥感技术对于监测大尺度的植被状况具有无可争议的优越性，并且已经被广泛引入监测植被覆盖变化的研究中。本项研究系统地分析、综述了过去用非遥感手段对放牧和草场退化的关注和研究，介绍了遥感技术应用于植被研究的理论基础、主要途径（植被指数）、有关领域的研究进展。特别是本文提出草场退化状况或整体健康状况可以由基干相互独立的层面表示，而过去监测植被变化主要依赖的NDVI等植被指数只能监测草原植被的个别层面（总量层）。 本文以草场放牧退化比较典型的内蒙古锡林河流域为研究对象，在进行了大量的野外样方调查的基础上，提出一种结合群落样方调查和遥感技术的监测草场健康状况的新方法。本文引入主成份分析方法（PCA），从包含12个反映群落各方面信息的变量中提取出3个有特定生态学意义的主成份，并进一步对其进行分析组合，得出一个能比较敏感、全面反映群落健康状况的新指标-草场健康指数（GHI）。 从6波段的植被光谱反射数据中比较理想地提取出2个主成份：可见光因子和红外光因子。表征群落总量、放牧退化的主成份和GHI与样方光谱反射值有相当的相关性，由此得到GHI与可光、红外光因子的回归模型。 应用此模型到卫星遥感数据（TM），得到GHI影像，并与同一数据的NDVI影像作对比研究，发现GHI在反映放牧等人为干扰对草原植被的影响效应方面比NDVI有明显的优点。此外，GHI影像对植被分布格局，特别是斑块结构有更好的显示效果。应用GHI到历史TM数据，对所研究地域的植被覆盖变化、农牧业的变迁模式等进行了定性研究。研究还发现有较长放牧史的过度放牧区的植被类型没有沿牧压梯度的规律性分布，而是呈随机斑块分布模式。

内蒙古锡林河流域湿地植被研究及道路对该区草地退化的影响

通过群落生态学和景观生态学方法，结合GIS、RS技术对锡林河流域湿地植被进行了研究。结果表明：流域湿地面积为301.62km2，占流域面积的3%左右。尽管面积相对较小，但是物种丰富，群落结构多样。植被调查数据显示基本确定的植被型4个，植被亚型6个，群系组16个，群系68个，区系成分以泛北极种为主，占69%，相对简单;按照水分生态型划分，中生物种占最多，为44.32％;按生活型分以多年生草本为主占50％以上;科属分布相对复杂，隶属39个科，其中禾本科和菊科是最大的两个科，所占比例仅有17.30％和12.43％，其他科没有明显的优势性，充分说明湿地优越的生境可以满足多种植物共同生长。 多度分布是研究物种多样性分布的重要组分，同时反映了群落结构的特性。以常用的Lognormal、Logseries和Weibull、Exp、Power模型来拟和6个典型草甸群落和踏头草甸群落的物种多度分布，分log-相对多度-物种级数和物种-游程两种形式进行比较;同时，对于典型草甸群落和踏头群落区分常见种、偶然种等进行细化，深入分析群落多度的变化。结果表明，5个模型对于log-相对多度-物种级数在整个群落水平上均不能很好的拟和，50%以上的点都落在95%置信区间以外;但是对常见种和偶然种的拟和情况要好，Weibull、Power和Logseris模型分别对典型草甸群落常见种、偶然种和中间种能很好的拟和，而Logseries和Power模型对于踏头群落的常见种和偶然种拟和较好。5个模型都能较好的拟和物种-游程分布，其中K—S检验结果表明：Lognormal模型对于无脉苔草、针苔草和荸荠这类相对湿润环境下的典型草甸群落拟和较好，对于长叶火绒草和密花风毛菊群落Weibull拟和最好，Power 模型拟和箭叶橐吾最好，踏头草甸拟和最好的是Logseries模型，踏头间拟合最好的是Exp模型。不同的拟和模型应用于不同的群落类型，可以看出湿地群落的复杂性和生境的多样性。区分常见种和偶然种的拟合结果表明典型群落和踏头群落表现一致，即Lognormal模型对所有种拟和是最好的，而Power模型对偶然种的拟和是最好的，同时，Lognormal对典型草甸群落的中间种拟和也是最好。从中可以看出典型草甸群落和踏头群落尽管在表现形式上不同，但是群落的内部仍存在相似的联系，可能跟相似物种的作用有关。 根据湿地表观类型、植被水分状态和航片判别能力，结合实地调查，采用监督分类的方法将锡林河流域的湿地划分为低湿地草甸、盐化草甸和沼泽三种类型。自1984年以来20多年的时间中，锡林河流域的湿地发生了巨大的变化。尽管总的面积没有太大变化，但是湿地类型发生转化。中上游的低湿地草甸面积减少8.94％，沼泽面积减少30.82％，同时，盐化草甸的面积增加了15.98％。增加的盐化草甸主要是另外两种湿地类型转化而成的，中游水库截流，加速中下游草甸的盐化是锡林河流域湿地变化的主要原因。利用GIS技术依据探讨不同湿地的空间变化，分析沙化对湿地变化的影响，结果表明：沙化只对少数湿地有影响，发育良好的湿地即使处在相对强烈的沙化环境下，仍能保持不变。接着，分析了人类直接干扰对湿地变化的影响，缓冲区居民点分析结果表明：近20年来，位于湿地周边的居民点分布格局发生显著的变化。1980年代，居民点分布在盐化草甸周边的最多，到2004年，居民点在沼泽草甸分布数量为最多，该类湿地水、草和资源最为丰富，人类直接的干扰最大，进而转化成另外两类，减少面积最大。低湿地草甸是物种丰富，结构复杂的一种湿地，抗干扰能力强，恢复能力也强，因此相对的变化面积较小。以锡林浩特市水库上下游的湿地植被物种和群落结构的变化，证明了水量减少是湿地数量、结构改变的直接影响因子。

游牧文化、草地利用方式变迁与现代生态系统管理 — 以内蒙古锡林河流域为例

锡林郭勒草原位于内蒙古自治区中部，草地面积居我国11片重点牧区之首，是我国温带典型草原的核心分布区和重要的草地畜牧业生产基地。长期以来，锡林郭勒草原作为我国北方地区的一道重要的绿色生态屏障，有效地阻止了草原腹地的土壤侵蚀、沙化以及来自中亚和我国西部的沙尘侵害，对于维持整个华北地区，特别是京、津大都市的生态环境安全起着极其重要的作用。然而，近几十年来，由于人类活动的强度干扰锡林郭勒草原发生了严重退化，生产力显著降低，草原的生态服务功能日益衰减。本文以锡林郭勒草原传统的游牧文化和草地利用方式的变迁作为切入点，以锡林河流域为案例，深入分析了社会驱动力在草地退化过程中的主导作用，目的在于揭示土地利用方式的变化、农牧业人口的剧增和牲畜数量在时间和空间分布的变化趋势与锡林河流域草地退化的关系，进而探求锡林河流域草地畜牧业的可持续发展途径。同时，近年来由于草地退化速度的加剧和草地退化面积的不断扩张，以及世界许多资源保护计划和可持续发展项目的失败，人类原始的土著文化对当地生态环境的保护和维持作用，引起了自然和社会科学界共同的关注，本文应用草地调查和社会调查的方法以及GIS技术对锡林河流域草地退化时空分布规律及其成因进行了研究。 原始游牧是锡林郭勒草原历史悠久的草地利用方式，而草原游牧文化则是蒙古族传统文化的重要组成部分。随着人类社会不断地走向文明和现代化，传统的游牧逐渐地被半定居和定居定牧的方式所取代，蒙古族传统的草原游牧文化也随之走向衰落。本文采用社会调查方法对锡林河流域已经结束了50多年的游牧利用方式进行考察，探讨了不同土地利用方式时空格局，以及土地利用方式变迁对草地退化格局的影响，进而强调了传统的草原游牧文化对于人类的行为规范、价值观念、环境保护和维持生态系统功能的重要意义。 以1984年和2004年开展的大量草地调查数据为基础，结合同期的TM数据，分析了20年来锡林河流域草地退化程度及其空间分布，结果发现锡林河流域草地退化面积达到70％之多，从东南向西北草地退化程度明显加剧。同上世纪80年代中期相比，锡林河流域植被在近20余年来的变化状况表现为：局部恢复，部分地区变化不明显，总体上呈现出不断恶化的发展势头。通过对位于 锡林河流域的锡林浩特市及其邻近地区的社会驱动因子的分析，并应用统计学和GIS空间分析的方法，对锡林河流域土地利用、牧业人口和牲畜数量等因子在近35年来的变化过程进行了系统研究，发现土地利用变化、人口的急剧增加、以及过度放牧是导致锡林河流域草地退化加剧的主要原因。 在上述分析的基础上，以适应性生态系统管理和可持续性科学的基本理论为指导，对锡林河流域的生态环境保护和草地畜牧业的可持续发展提出了一些具体的建议和措施。

Effects of forage composition and growing season on methane emission from sheep in the Inner Mongolia steppe of China

Understanding the effects of dietary composition on methane (CH4) production of sheep can help us to understand grassland degradation resulting in an increase of CH4 emission from ruminant livestock and its resulting significance affecting CH4 source/sink in the grazing ecosystem. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of forage composition in the diet of sheep in July and August on CH4 production by sheep in the Inner Mongolia steppe. The four diet treatments were: (1) Leymus chinensis and Cleistogenes squarrosa (LC), (2) Leymus chinensis, Cleistogenes squarrosa and concentrate supplementation (LCC), (3) Artemisia frigida and Cleistogenes squarrosa (AC), and (4) Artemisia frigida, Cleistogenes squarrosa and concentrate supplementation (ACC). CH4 production was significantly lower in July than in August (31.4 and 36.2 g per sheep-unit per day, respectively). The daily average CH4 production per unit of digestive dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) increased by 10.9, 11.2 and 42.1% for the AC diet compared with the LC diet, respectively. Although concentrate supplementation in both the AC and LC diets increased total CH4 production per sheep per day, it improved sheep productivity and decreased CH4 production by 14.8, 12.5 and 14.8% per unit of DM, OM and NDF digested by the sheep, respectively. Our results suggested that in degraded grassland CH4 emission from sheep was increased and concentrate supplementation increased diet use efficiency. Sheep-grazing ecosystem seems to be a source of CH4 when the stocking rate is over 0.5 sheep-units ha(-1) during the growing season in the Inner Mongolia steppe.

The effect of land management on plant community composition, species diversity, and productivity of alpine Kobersia steppe meadow

Grassland degradation is widespread and severe on the Tibet Plateau. To explore management approaches for sustainable development of degraded and restored ecosystems, we studied the effect of land degradation on species composition, species diversity, and vegetation productivity, and examined the relative influence of various rehabilitation practices (two seeding treatments and a non-seeded natural recovery treatment) on community structure and vegetation productivity in early secondary succession. The results showed: (1) All sedge and grass species of the natural steppe meadow had disappeared from the severely degraded land. The above-ground and root biomass of severely degraded land were only 38 and 14.7%, respectively, of those of the control. So, the original ecosystem has been dramatically altered by land degradation on alpine steppe meadow. (2) Seeding measures may promote above-ground biomass, particularly grass biomass, and ground cover. Except for the grasses seeded, however, other grass and sedge species did not occur after seeding treatments in the sixth year of seeding. Establishment of grasses during natural recovery treatment progressed slowly compared with during seeding treatments. Many annual forbs invaded and established during the 6 years of natural recovery. In addition, there was greater diversity after natural recovery treatment than after seeding treatments. (3) The above-ground biomass after seeding treatment and natural recovery treatment were 114 and 55%, respectively, of that of the control. No significant differences in root biomass occurred among the natural recovery and seeded treatments. Root biomass after rehabilitation treatment was 23-31% that of the control.

Nonlinear fatigue damage model based on the residual strength degradation law

In this paper, a logarithmic expression to describe the residual strength degradation process is developed in order to fatigue test results for normalized carbon steel. The definition and expression of fatigue damage due to symmetrical stress with a constant amplitude are also given. The expression of fatigue damage can also explain the nonlinear properties of fatigue damage. Furthermore, the fatigue damage of structures under random stress is analyzed, and an iterative formula to describe the fatigue damage process is deduced. Finally, an approximate method for evaluating the fatigue life of structures under repeated random stress blocking is presented through various calculation examples.

Degradation failure features of chromium-plated gun barrels with a laser-discrete-quenched substrate

The effect of substrate laser-discrete quenching on the degradation failure of chromium-plated gun barrels was metallurgically investigated. The results show that substrate laser-discrete quenching changes the failure patterns of chromium coatings during firing, and some periodic through-thickness cracks in the fired chromium coatings are justly located at original substrate zones between two adjacent laser-quenched tracks. Moreover, chromium coatings and the laser-quenched zones on the substrate are simultaneously degraded in microstructure and property during firing. Furthermore, the periodic structure of the laser-discrete-quenched steel (LDQS) substrate near the breech remains after firing, and the hardness of the fired laser-quenched zones is still higher than that of original substrates. The specific failure features were utilized to illustrate the mechanism of the extended service life of chromium-plated gun barrels with the LDQS substrate. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Post-cyclic Strength Degradation of Undisturbed and Remolded Marine Silty Clay

A series of static and cyclic-static tri-axial compression tests under consolidated-undrained conditions are carried out to study the characteristics of post-cyclic strength of the undisturbed and the remolded samples of marine silty clay. It is found that the post-cyclic monotonic strength decreases if the cyclic strain or pore pressure is over a certain value. The maximum degradation is 10% for undisturbed samples while 70% for remolded ones. The relationship between normalized undrained shear strength and apparent overconsolidation ratio, which is determined by the excess pore pressure induced by cyclic loading, is also established. Static consolidated-undrained tests on overconsolidated remolded samples are also performed. It is proposed that the static consolidated-undrained tests may be substituted for the cyclic-static consolidated-undrained tests if the post-cyclic strength degradation of remolded silty clay is needed to be evaluated simply.

Study on the Capacity Degradation of Bucket Foundation in Liquefied Sand Layer under Cyclic Loads

The capacity degradation of bucket foundation in liquefied sand layer under cyclic loads such as equivalent dynamic ice-induced loads is studied. A simplified numerical model of liquefied sand layer has been presented based on the dynamic centrifuge experiment results. The ice-induced dynamic loads are modeled as equivalent sine cyclic loads, the liquefaction degree in different position of sand layer and effects of main factors are investigated. Subsequently, the sand resistance is represented by uncoupled, non-linear sand springs which describe the sub-failure behavior of the local sand resistance as well as the peak capacity of bucket foundation under some failure criterion. The capacity of bucket foundation is determined in liquefied sand layer and the rule of capacity degradation is analyzed. The capacity degradation in liquefied sand layer is analyzed comparing with that in non-liquefied sand layer. The results show that the liquefaction degree is 0.9 at the top and is only 0.06 at the bottom of liquefied sand layer. The numerical results are agreement well with the centrifugal experimental results. The value of the degradation of bucket capacity is 12% in numerical simulating whereas it is 17% in centrifugal experiments.

Reduced deep-tissue image degradation in three-dimensional multiphoton microscopy with concentric two-color two-photon fluorescence excitation

We theoretically demonstrate that enhanced penetration depth in three-dimensional multiphoton microscopy can be achieved using concentric two-color two-photon (C2C2P) fluorescence excitation in which the two excitation beams are separated in space before reaching their common focal spot. Monte Carlo simulation shows that, in comparison with the one-color two-photon excitation scheme, the C2C2P fluorescence microscopy provides a significantly greater penetration depth for imaging into a highly scattering medium. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Analysis of beam-quality degradation in nonlinear frequency conversion

Based on the ripple transfers of electric-field amplitude and phase in frequency tripling, simple formulas are derived for the harmonic laser's beam-quality factor M-3omega(2), with an arbitrary fundamental incidence to ideal nonlinear crystals. Whereas the harmonic beam's quality is generally degraded, the beam's divergence is similar to that of the fundamental after nonlinear frequency conversion. For practical crystals with periodic surface ripples that are caused by their machining, a multiorder diffractive model is presented with which the focusing properties of harmonic beams can be studied. Predictions of the theories are shown to be in excellent agreement with full numerical simulations. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.