439 resultados para Mounds


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Termites are the most important soil ecosystem engineers of semi-arid and arid habitats. They enhance decomposition processes as well as the subsequent mineralisation of nutrients by bacteria and fungi. Through their construction of galleries, nests and mounds, they promote soil turnover and influence the distribution of nutrients and also alter texture and hydrological properties of soils, thereby affecting the heterogeneity of their ecosystem. The main aim of the present thesis was to define the impact of termites on ecosys-tem functioning in a semi-arid ecosystem. In a baseline study, I assessed the diversity of termite taxa in relation to the amount of precipitation, the vegetation patterns and the land use systems at several sites in Namibia. Subsequently, I focussed on a species that is highly abundant in many African savannas, the fungus growing and mound building species Macro-termes michaelseni (Sjöstedt, 1914). I asked how this species influences the spatial hetero-geneity of soil and vegetation patterns. From repeated samplings at 13 sites in Namibia, I obtained 17 termite taxa of 15 genera. While the type of land use seems to have a minor effect on the termite fauna, the mean annual precipitation explained 96% and the Simpson index of vascular plant diversity 81% of the variation in taxa diversity. The number of termite taxa increased with both of these explanation variables. In contrast to former studies on Macrotermes mounds in several regions of Africa that I reviewed, soil analyses from M. michaelseni mounds in the central Namibian savanna revealed that they contain much higher nitrogen contents when compared to their parent material. Further analyses revealed that nitrate forms a major component of the nitrogen content in termite mounds. As nitrate solves easily in water, evaporation processes are most probably responsible for the transport of solved nitrates to the mound surface and their accumulation there. The analysed mounds in central Namibia contained higher sand propor-tions compared to the mounds of the former studies. Through the higher percentage of coarse and middle sized pores, water moves more easily in sandy soils compared to more clayey soils. In consequence, evaporation-driven nitrate accumulation can occur in the studied mounds at high rates. ff...

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Clay minerals recovered from the Galapagos hydrothermal mounds (Holes 506C, 507D, and 509B) are mainly iron-rich nontronite-like minerals enriched in potassium. Nontronites from Hole 509B show a distinct tendency to become micaceous toward the lower beds of clay sediments. Mn-crusts consist mainly of todorokite or a mixture of todorokite and nontronite. Minerals of clay and Mnrich sediments in the mounds originated from hydrothermal solutions of uncertain origin. Pelagic oozes from hydrothermal mounds and from areas between mounds (Hole 506D) consist mainly of calcite. In the carbonate beds on or near the hydrothermal mounds an admixture of smectite is often found.

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"Reprint from the Journal of the Academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia, vol. XVI."

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Summary in French.

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Oriental research and the Bible, by J. F. McCurdy.--The mounds of Palestine, by F. J. Bliss.--Explorations in Babylonia, by H. V. Hilprecht.--Research in Egypt, by A. H. Sayce.--Discoveries and researches in Arabia, by F. Hommel.--The Hittites, by W. H. Ward.--Early Greek manuscripts from Egypt, by J. P. Mahaffy.--New light on the Book of Acts, by W. M. Ramsay.--Indexes.

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Principally a reply to statements in H.W. Henshaw's Animal carvings from mounds in the Mississippi Valley, published in the 2nd annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1883.

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W.C. Mills, curator and librarian.

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The Native Americans and Nature in Illinois activity book from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is designed to supplement your curriculum in a variety of ways. The information and activities contained in this publication are targeted to grades kindergarten through three and can help you meet the following Illinois Learning Standards: 16.A.1a; 16.C.1a (U.S.).

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Includes bibliographical references (p. 407-419).