Dual-service wireless LAN antenna-remoting system using uncooled directly modulated D'FB laser diodes

We report a fibre-optic wireless distribution system, which allows antenna-remoting of a dual-service IEEE 802.11b/g WLAN operating at 2.4GHz up to 700m over low-bandwidth 62.5/125μm MMF using highly linear uncooled directly modulated laser diodes. © 2004 Optical Society of America.

Marine Fisheries Stock Assessment Improvement Plan: report of the National Marine Fisheries Service National Task Force for Improving Fish Stock Assessments

This report argues for greatly increased resources in terms of data collection facilities and staff to collect, process, and analyze the data, and to communicate the results, in order for NMFS to fulfill its mandate to conserve and manage marine resources. In fact, the authors of this report had great difficulty defining the "ideal" situation to which fisheries stock assessments and management should aspire. One of the primary objectives of fisheries management is to develop sustainable harvest policies that minimize the risks of overfishing both target species and associated species. This can be achieved in a wide spectrum of ways, ranging between the following two extremes. The first is to implement only simple management measures with correspondingly simple assessment demands, which will usually mean setting fishing mortality targets at relatively low levels in order to reduce the risk of unknowingly overfishing or driving ecosystems towards undesirable system states. The second is to expand existing data collection and analysis programs to provide an adequate knowledge base that can support higher fishing mortality targets while still ensuring low risk to target and associated species and ecosystems. However, defining "adequate" is difficult, especially when scientists have not even identified all marine species, and information on catches, abundances, and life histories of many target species, and most associated species, is sparse. Increasing calls from the public, stakeholders, and the scientific community to implement ecosystem-based stock assessment and management make it even more difficult to define "adequate," especially when "ecosystem-based management" is itself not well-defined. In attempting to describe the data collection and assessment needs for the latter, the authors took a pragmatic approach, rather than trying to estimate the resources required to develop a knowledge base about the fine-scale detailed distributions, abundances, and associations of all marine species. Thus, the specified resource requirements will not meet the expectations of some stakeholders. In addition, the Stock Assessment Improvement Plan is designed to be complementary to other related plans, and therefore does not duplicate the resource requirements detailed in those plans, except as otherwise noted.

A guide to monitoring reef fish in the National Park Service's South Florida/Caribbean Network

Reef fishes are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems and economies of southern Florida and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Throughout Florida and the USVI, reef fish are under threat from a variety of anthropogenic and natural stressors including overfishing, habitat loss, and environmental changes. The South Florida/Caribbean Network (SFCN), a unit of the National Park Service (NPS), is charged with monitoring reef fishes, among other natural and cultural resources, within six parks in the South Florida - Caribbean region (Biscayne National Park, BISC; Buck Island Reef National Monument, BUIS; Dry Tortugas National Park, DRTO; Everglades National Park, EVER; Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, SARI; Virgin Islands National Park, VIIS). Monitoring data is intended for park managers who are and will continue to be asked to make decisions to balance environmental protection, fishery sustainability and park use by visitors. The range and complexity of the issues outlined above, and the need for NPS to invest in a strategy of monitoring, modeling, and management to ensure the sustainability of its precious assets, will require strategic investment in long-term, high-precision, multispecies reef fish data that increases inherent system knowledge and reduces uncertainty. The goal of this guide is to provide the framework for park managers and researchers to create or enhance a reef fish monitoring program within areas monitored by the SFCN. The framework is expected to be applicable to other areas as well, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. The favored approach is characterized by an iterative process of data collection, dataset integration, sampling design analysis, and population and community assessment that evaluates resource risks associated with management policies. Using this model, a monitoring program can adapt its survey methods to increase accuracy and precision of survey estimates as new information becomes available, and adapt to the evolving needs and broadening responsibilities of park management.

Sampling design tool for ArcGIS: Instruction manual.[for ESRI ArcGIS 10.0 Service Pack 3 or higher]

The Biogeography Branch’s Sampling Design Tool for ArcGIS provides a means to effectively develop sampling strategies in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. The tool was produced as part of an iterative process of sampling design development, whereby existing data informs new design decisions. The objective of this process, and hence a product of this tool, is an optimal sampling design which can be used to achieve accurate, highprecision estimates of population metrics at a minimum of cost. Although NOAA’s Biogeography Branch focuses on marine habitats and some examples reflects this, the tool can be used to sample any type of population defined in space, be it coral reefs or corn fields.

Gap analysis of marine ecosystem data for the Department of Interior, National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring Program

The Gap Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Data project is a review of available geospatial data which can assist in marine natural resource management for eight park units. The project includes the collection of geospatial information and its incorporation in a single consistent geodatabase format. The project also includes a mapping portal which can be seen at: http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/explorer/gapanalysis/gap_analysis.html In addition to the collection of geospatial information and mapping portal we have conducted a gap analysis of a standard suite of available information for managing marine resources. Additional gap were identified by interviewing park service staff.

全球变化的中国北方林生态系统生产力及其生态系统公益

基于我国北方林一兴安落叶松林的实际观测资料对国际著名的CENTURY模型进行了验证，进而模拟了我国北方林一兴安落叶松林的碳循环动态;结合全球变化的预测结果，模拟了全球气候变化下中国北方林生物量、生产力以及碳吸收能力的变化;并且预测了大兴安岭地区的自然干扰因子（林火）和人类活动（采伐、搂除枯枝落叶）对兴安落叶松林碳循环的影响。建立了综合反映兴安落叶松林生物学特性（年龄、蓄积量）及气候因素（年均温、年降水）共同作用下的兴安落叶松林净第一性生产力模型一材积驱动模型。评估了我国森林的生态系统公益价值，并建立了森林生态系统公益价值与其总生产力的回归关系。具体结果如下： (1) 我国北方林的植物总生物量为112. llt．hm-2，净第一性生产力为403. 07gC.m-2.a-l。 (2) 建立了兴安落叶松林的生物气候生产力模型： NPP= (0.3318ln (V/A) +0.4747)×30 (l_e-0'0009695E) 为基于森林资源清查资料与气候资料估算森林生产力提供了方法。 (3) 兴安落叶松林生态系统每年可净吸收碳2.65 t．hm-2，是一个重要的碳汇。 (4) 大气C02浓度倍增将使兴安落叶松林的净笫一性生产力增加9. 8%，并且提高了兴安落叶松林的碳汇功能。 (5) 温度上升将增加兴安落叶松林的生物量和净初级生产力，并且其碳汇功能也有所提高。对兴安落叶松林生长的主要限制因子是温度而不是水分。 (6) 林火使兴安落叶松林的生物量降低，但同时也促进了兴安落叶松的更新及幼树的生长，火烧后兴安落叶松林的生产力均有所增加。火烧的强度越大，烧死的森林生物量越多，火后的恢复期也越长。 (7) 一定强度的采伐有利于兴安落叶松林的更新和幼苗、幼树的生长，从而既得到了直接的经济效益，同时又可以保持一定的生态效益。 (8) 搂除枯枝落叶层在短时间内促进了兴安落叶松林的生长，但长期下去，则将导致土壤越来越贫瘠，不利于森林的生长。 (9) 兴安落叶松林所创造的生态系统公益的总价值约为2409.96×106US$．a-，其生态效益的价值是其所创造的经济价值的2.52倍，反映了生态效益的显著性。 (10) 在对我国各类型森林的生态系统公益价值评估的基础上建 立了森林生态系统公益价值与其生产力的回归关系：Va=108.25×1 06×(Tp)0'93，简化了生态系统公益价值的评估计算工作。

Fire, climate, and vegetation: the sedimentary record of fire in montane meadows, Sierra Nevada, California, USA [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Though knowledge of fire occurrence and weather pattern relationships has been used for many years by land managers in, for instance, prescribed fire planning, understanding of the relationship between Holocene climates and fire is just beginning to be investigated. We are investigating this relationship in a major mountain range in California, examining charcoal and pollen content in sediments of montane meadows to compare paleo-fire and paleo-vegetation (thus, climate) sequences for the Holocene.