Suitability of extractants for predicting available sulfur in natural grassland in the Inner Mongolia steppe of China

It was the objective of this study to compare the suitability of different extractants for predicting the availability of sulfur (S) in natural grassland in a sulfur response trial on three different soil types in the Inner Mongolia steppe of China. For soil analysis, seven different extractants have been employed. The inorganic SO4-S concentration was determined by ion chromatography. Additionally, in the Ca(H-2-PO4)(2) extract the total soluble S was determined employing turbidimetry. Weak salt solutions (0.15% CaCl2, Ca(H2PO4)(2), and KH2PO4) extracted similar amounts Of SO4-S. Extraction with 0.025 M KCl provided the lowest SO4-S values. Deionized water dissolved significantly more SO4-S in the control plots than most weak salt extractants. The concentration of soluble organic S decreased in the control plots after 100 days of plant growth, indicating that the organic S pool contributed significantly to the S nutrition of the forage crops. Significant relationships among the SO4-S in the soil determined in different extracts and crop yield, sulfur content in the forage, and total sulfur uptake were only found for the Ca(H2PO4)(2) extract. In general, the correlation coefficients proved to be unsatisfactory for field experimentation.

Seasonal changes in weight and body composition of yak grazing on alpine-meadow grassland in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau of China

Forty-five male yaks (born April 2001) were studied to determine how seasonal changes on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau affected BW and body composition. Thirty yaks were weighed monthly from birth to 26 mo of age to determine seasonal changes in BW. The remaining 15 yaks were allocated randomly to five groups (three yaks per group), designated for slaughter at 13, 15, 18, 22, and 25 mo to measure seasonal effects on body chemical composition. All yaks were grazed on the alpine-meadow grassland of the plateau without any supplementation. All BW and body composition data were calculated on an individual basis. Body weight and body composition data were both compared across seven growth periods spanning 2 yr and defined by season. From April (birth) to December 2001 of the first growing season, yak BW increased (P < 0.01); however, during the subsequent cold season (December 2001 to May 2002), BW decreased (P < 0.01). The second growing season ran from May 2002 (13 mo of age) to October 2002 (18 mo of age), and the second live weight-loss season ran from October 2002 until May 2003. The weight loss experienced by yaks during the first weight loss season was 25.64% of the total weight gain in the first growing season. The weight loss experienced by yaks during the second weight-loss season was 29.73% of the total weight gain in the second growing season. Energy retention in the second growing season was 291.07 MJ, 50.8% of which was consumed during the subsequent cold season. Energy accumulation in the summer (from May to July) and fall (from July to October) of the second growing season did not differ (5.01 and 6.30 MJ/kg of EBW gain, respectively; P = 0.63). The energy mobilized during the second winter (from October 2002 to February 2003) was 16.49 MJ/kg of EBW, and in the second spring (from February to May 2003), it was 9.06 MJ/kg of EBW. These data suggest that the decrease in grazing yak BW during the first cold season is much less than during the second cold season, and that the energy content per unit of BW mobilized is greater (P = 0.02) in winter than in spring. Results from this study demonstrate highly efficient compensatory growth in grazing yaks following the first weight loss period during the first cold season. This benefit could be exploited by herders to improve yak production. Yaks may have developed a type of self-protection mechanism to overcome the long cold seasons in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

中国黄土高原洛川剖面 630 kyr 以来的孢粉记录

It is known that global climate changed from the early Tertiary “Green House” to the Quaternary “Ice House” of cyclic glacial-interglacial climatic changes. Since the middle Pleistocene, the climate cycles changed from 40 kyr to 100 kyr, and the amplitudes of climatic fluctuations increased significantly. Therefore, it is important to study the climate changes since the middle Pleistocene. The loess-paleosol sequence in China is considered as one of the most continuous continental records of the last 2.58 Ma. Paleoclimatic and environmental changes have been widely extracted through various climatic parameters. However, the history of paleovegetation on the Loess Plateau still remains unclear. Did an extensive broadleaf forest ever exist on the Loess Plateau? Pollen preserved in the loess and paleosol provides a direct record for vegetation and paleoenvironmental change on the Plateau. However, because it is difficult to extract sufficient pollen grains from loess, the pollen record since the middle Pleistocene especially in the central part of the Chinese Loess Plateau has not been well studied. So we preliminarily focus on the palynological records of the loess-paleosol sequence spanning the last 630 kyr at Luochuan and aim to understand the evolution of vegetation and climate change on the Chinese Loess Plateau. The main results and conclusions are as follows: 1. The palynological results show that the grassland has been a dominant vegetation in the Luochuan area since 630 kyr, even during the intervals of relatively warm and wet climatic conditions. 2. The pollen concentration of Luochuan section sharply decreases from the bottom of S1 to downward depth. This decrease can be attributed to depositional environment rather than climate change. In loess, not only oxidation, but also the PH of deposits and bacteria or fungi have been able to degrade sporopollenin. 3. The paleoclimatic condition during S4 stage, characterized with warmer condition during the early stage, was warmer and wetter than that during S5 in Luochuan area. Paleoclimate was warmer and wetter during the early stage of S5 and became colder and drier later. The special pedogenic features of S5-I can be attributed to a prolonged pedogenic duration rather than a warm-wet climate. 4. Evidence from pollen assemblage suggests that the Holocene vegetation has been affected by human impacts, especially after the Yangshao Culture. 5. The present steppe environment on the loess plateau is mainly due to natural conditions. Temperature, seasonal precipitation and soil structure are three important factors which control the vegetation type. 6. The vegetation on the loess plateau is characterized with zonal or azonal distribution. So local conditions should be taken into account when recover natural vegetation. Finally, the restoration and reconstruction of ecosystem on the loess plateau area should be focused on planting grassland rather than forests.

末次盛冰期以来中国陆地生态系统碳储量变化研究

Carbon is an essential element for life, food and energy. It is also a key element in the greenhouse gases and therefore plays a vital role in climatic changes. The rapid increase in atmospheric concentration of CO_2 over the past 150 years, reaching current concentrations of about 370 ppmv, corresponds with combustion of fossii fuels since the beginning of the industrial age. Conversion of forested land to agricultural use has also redistributed carbon from plants and soils to the atmosphere. These human activities have significantly altered the global carbon cycle. Understanding the consequences of these activities in the coming decades is critical for formulating economic, energy, technology, trade, and security policies that will affect civilization for generations. Under the auspices of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), several large international scientific efforts are focused on elucidating the various aspects of the global carbon cycle of the past decade. It is only possible to balance the global carbon cycle for the 1990s if there is net carbon uptake by terrestrial ecosystems of around 2 Pg C/a. There are now some independent, direct evidences for the existence of such a sink. Policymarkers involved in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN-FCCC) are striving to reach consensuses on a 'safe path' for future emissions, the credible predictions on where and how long the terrestrial sink will either persist at its current level, or grow/decline in the future, are important to advice the policy process. The changes of terrestrial carbon storage depend not only on human activities, but also on biogeochemical and climatological processes and their interaction with the carbon cycles. In this thesis, the climate-induced changes and human-induced changes of carbon storage in China since the past 20,000 years are examined. Based on the data of the soil profiles investigated during China's Second National Soil Survey (1979-1989), the forest biomass measured during China's Fourth National Forest Resource Inventory (1989-1993), the grass biomass investigated during the First National Grassland Resource Survey (1980-1991), and the data collected from a collection of published literatures, the current terrestrial carbon storage in China is estimated to -144.1 Pg C, including -136.8 Pg C in soil and -7.3 Pg C in vegetation. The soil organic (SOC) and inorganic carbon (SIC) storage are -78.2 Pg C and -58.6 Pg C, respectively. In the vegetation reservoir, the forest carbon storage is -5.3 Pg C, and the other of-1.4 Pg C is in the grassland. Under the natural conditions, the SOC, SIC, forest and grassland carbon storage are -85.3 Pg C, -62.6 Pg C, -24.5 Pg C and -5.3 Pg C, respectively. Thus, -29.6 Pg C organic carbon has been lost due to land use with a decrease of -20.6%. At the same time, the SIC storage also has been decreased by -4.0 Pg C (-6.4%). These suggest that human activity has caused significant carbon loss in terrestrial carbon storage of China, especially in the forest ecosystem (-76% loss). Using the Paleocarbon Model (PCM) developed by Wu et al. in this paper, total terrestrial organic carbon storage in China in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was -114.8 Pg C, including -23.1 Pg C in vegetation and -86.7 Pg C in soil. At the Middle Holocene (MH), the vegetation, soil and total carbon were -37.3 Pg C, -93.9 Pg C and -136.0 Pg C, respectively. This implies a gain of-21.2 Pg C in the terrestrial carbon storage from LGM to HM mainly due to the temperature increase. However, a loss of-14.4 Pg C of terrestrial organic carbon occurred in China under the current condition (before 1850) compared with the MH time, mainly due to the precipitation decrease associated with the weakening of the Asian summer monsoon. These results also suggest that the terrestrial ecosystem in China has a substantial potential in the restoration of carbon storage. This might be expected to provide an efficient way to mitigate the greenhouse warming through land management practices. Assuming that half of the carbon loss in the degraded terrestrial ecosystem in current forest and grass areas are restored during the next 50 years or so, the terrestrial ecosystem in China may sequestrate -12.0 Pg of organic carbon from the atmosphere, which represents a considerable offset to the industry's CO2 emission. If the ' Anthropocene' Era will be another climate optimum like MH due to the greenhouse effect, the sequestration would be increased again by -4.3 - 9.0 Pg C in China.

Using hybrid knowledge engineering and image processing in color virtual restoration of ancient murals

IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 1338-1343, 2003.

Time required for the restoration of normal heavy exercise Vo(2) kinetics following prior heavy exercise

Burnley, M., Doust, J. and Jones, A. (2006). Time required for the restoration of normal heavy exercise Vo(2) kinetics following prior heavy exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology. 101(5), pp.1320-1327 RAE2008

Competitive relationships in a fertile grassland community - does size matter?

John Warren, Fred Wilson & Anita Diaz (2002). Competitive relationships in a fertile grassland community - does size matter? Oecologia, 132 (1) pp.125-130 Sponsorship: SEERAD / Leverhulme Trust RAE2008

Rainfall infiltration and soil hydrological characteristics below ancient forest, planted forest, and grassland in a temperate northern climate

How rainfall infiltration rate and soil hydrological characteristics develop over time under forests of different ages in temperate regions is poorly understood. In this study, infiltration rate and soil hydrological characteristics were investigated under forests of different ages and under grassland. Soil hydraulic characteristics were measured at different scales under a 250 year old grazed grassland (GL), a six (6 yr) and 48 (48 yr) year old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) plantation, remnant 300 year old individual Scots pines (OT) and a 4000 year old Caledonian Forest (AF). In-situ field saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs) was measured and visible root:soil area was estimated from soil pits. Macroporosity, pore structure, and macropore connectivity were estimated from X-ray tomography of soil cores, and from water-release characteristics. At all scales the median values for Kfs, root fraction, macro-porosity and connectivity values tended to AF > OT > 48 yr > GL > 6 yr, indicating that infiltration rates and water storage increased with forest age. The remnant Caledonian Forest had a huge range of Kfs (12 to > 4922 mm h-1), with maximum Kfs values 7 to 15 times larger than 48-year-old Scots pine plantation, suggesting that undisturbed old forests, with high rainfall and minimal evapotranspiration in winter, may act as important areas for water storage and sinks for storm rainfall to infiltrate and transport to deeper soil layers via preferential flow. The importance of the development of soil hydrological characteristics under different aged forests is discussed.

Example-Based Image Restoration via Boosted Classifiers

We propose a novel image registration framework which uses classifiers trained from examples of aligned images to achieve registration. Our approach is designed to register images of medical data where the physical condition of the patient has changed significantly and image intensities are drastically different. We use two boosted classifiers for each degree of freedom of image transformation. These two classifiers can both identify when two images are correctly aligned and provide an efficient means of moving towards correct registration for misaligned images. The classifiers capture local alignment information using multi-pixel comparisons and can therefore achieve correct alignments where approaches like correlation and mutual-information which rely on only pixel-to-pixel comparisons fail. We test our approach using images from CT scans acquired in a study of acute respiratory distress syndrome. We show significant increase in registration accuracy in comparison to an approach using mutual information.

Valuing ecosystem services from wetlands restoration in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley

This study assesses the value of restoring forested wetlands via the U.S. government's Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley by quantifying and monetizing ecosystem services. The three focal services are greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, nitrogen mitigation, and waterfowl recreation. Site- and region-level measurements of these ecosystem services are combined with process models to quantify their production on agricultural land, which serves as the baseline, and on restored wetlands. We adjust and transform these measures into per-hectare, valuation-ready units and monetize them with prices from emerging ecosystem markets and the environmental economics literature. By valuing three of the many ecosystem services produced, we generate lower bound estimates for the total ecosystem value of the wetlands restoration. Social welfare value is found to be between $1435 and $1486/ha/year, with GHG mitigation valued in the range of $171 to $222, nitrogen mitigation at $1248, and waterfowl recreation at $16. Limited to existing markets, the estimate for annual market value is merely $70/ha, but when fully accounting for potential markets, this estimate rises to $1035/ha. The estimated social value surpasses the public expenditure or social cost of wetlands restoration in only 1 year, indicating that the return on public investment is very attractive for the WRP. Moreover, the potential market value is substantially greater than landowner opportunity costs, showing that payments to private landowners to restore wetlands could also be profitable for individual landowners. © 2009 Elsevier B.V.

Restoration of beta-adrenergic signaling in failing cardiac ventricular myocytes via adenoviral-mediated gene transfer.

Cardiovascular gene therapy is a novel approach to the treatment of diseases such as congestive heart failure (CHF). Gene transfer to the heart would allow for the replacement of defective or missing cellular proteins that may improve cardiac performance. Our laboratory has been focusing on the feasibility of restoring beta-adrenergic signaling deficiencies that are a characteristic of chronic CHF. We have now studied isolated ventricular myocytes from rabbits that have been chronically paced to produce hemodynamic failure. We document molecular beta-adrenergic signaling defects including down-regulation of myocardial beta-adrenergic receptors (beta-ARs), functional beta-AR uncoupling, and an up-regulation of the beta-AR kinase (betaARK1). Adenoviral-mediated gene transfer of the human beta2-AR or an inhibitor of betaARK1 to these failing myocytes led to the restoration of beta-AR signaling. These results demonstrate that defects present in this critical myocardial signaling pathway can be corrected in vitro using genetic modification and raise the possibility of novel inotropic therapies for CHF including the inhibition of betaARK1 activity in the heart.

Facilitation shifts paradigms and can amplify coastal Restoration efforts

Restoration has been elevated as an important strategy to reverse the decline of coastal wetlands worldwide. Current practice in restoration science emphasizes minimizing competition between outplanted propagules to maximize planting success. This paradigm persists despite the fact that foundational theory in ecology demonstrates that positive species interactions are key to organism success under high physical stress, such as recolonization of bare substrate. As evidence of how entrenched this restoration paradigm is, our survey of 25 restoration organizations in 14 states in the United States revealed that >95% of these agencies assume minimizing negative interactions (i.e., competition) between outplants will maximize propagule growth. Restoration experiments in both Western and Eastern Atlantic salt marshes demonstrate, however, that a simple change in planting configuration (placing propagules next to, rather than at a distance from, each other) results in harnessing facilitation and increased yields by 107% on average. Thus, small adjustments in restoration design may catalyze untapped positive species interactions, resulting in significantly higher restoration success with no added cost. As positive interactions between organisms commonly occur in coastal ecosystems (especially in more physically stressful areas like uncolonized substrate) and conservation resources are limited, transformation of the coastal restoration paradigm to incorporate facilitation theory may enhance conservation efforts, shoreline defense, and provisioning of ecosystem services such as fisheries production.

Regularized iterative and non-iterative procedures for object restoration from experimental data

A regularized algorithm for the recovery of band-limited signals from noisy data is described. The regularization is characterized by a single parameter. Iterative and non-iterative implementations of the algorithm are shown to have useful properties, the former offering the advantage of flexibility and the latter a potential for rapid data processing. Comparative results, using experimental data obtained in laser anemometry studies with a photon correlator, are presented both with and without regularization. © 1983 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Regularized iterative and noniterative procedures for object restoration in the presence of noise :an error analysis

An analysis is carried out, using the prolate spheroidal wave functions, of certain regularized iterative and noniterative methods previously proposed for the achievement of object restoration (or, equivalently, spectral extrapolation) from noisy image data. The ill-posedness inherent in the problem is treated by means of a regularization parameter, and the analysis shows explicitly how the deleterious effects of the noise are then contained. The error in the object estimate is also assessed, and it is shown that the optimal choice for the regularization parameter depends on the signal-to-noise ratio. Numerical examples are used to demonstrate the performance of both unregularized and regularized procedures and also to show how, in the unregularized case, artefacts can be generated from pure noise. Finally, the relative error in the estimate is calculated as a function of the degree of superresolution demanded for reconstruction problems characterized by low space–bandwidth products.

On the problems of object restoration and image extrapolation in optics

In this paper we consider the problems of object restoration and image extrapolation, according to the regularization theory of improperly posed problems. In order to take into account the stochastic nature of the noise and to introduce the main concepts of information theory, great attention is devoted to the probabilistic methods of regularization. The kind of the restored continuity is investigated in detail; in particular we prove that, while the image extrapolation presents a Hölder type stability, the object restoration has only a logarithmic continuity. © 1979 American Institute of Physics.