Geochemical processes affecting meltwater chemistry and the formation of saline ponds in the Victoria Valley and Bull Pass region,Antarctica

Major ion, trace element and nutrient concentrations have been determined in meltwater streams, frozen lakes and isolated saline ponds of the Victoria Valley and Bull Pass regions in Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geochemical processes affecting glacial meltwater composition with time and distance from the source glaciers include solute acquisition by soil salt leaching and solute concentrations by evaporation. Evaporation in the marginal lake melt and in isolated saline ponds appears to increase the Mg/Ca ratio of these meltwaters relative to that of meltwater streams. With progressive evaporation gypsum and calcite may precipitate, leading to the development of Na-Cl and Na-HCO₃ brine ponds. These ponds may be vertically stratified with respect to temperature and salinity if they experience partial or complete freezing over the winter season. The chemical characteristics and nutrient concentrations of meltwaters in the Victoria Valley are similar to those of other drainage systems in the region, although the Ca-Cl brines reported from the Wright Valley immediately to the south were not observed. Trace element (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Mn and Fe) concentrations measured in the lakes and large ponds do not show any evidence of unusual enrichment in the drainage.     

Eradication of the melon fly,Dacus cucurbitae,from Kume is., Okinawa with the sterile insect release method

The sterile insect release method was applied to eradicate the melon fly, Dacus cucurbitae, from the 58.5 km² island of Kume, in the Okinawa Islands group. Weekly releases of 1 to 1.5 million flies irradiated as pupae with 6–7 kR from a cobalt-60 source did not decrease the wild melon fly population. Releases of 1.5–2 million pupae per week made from September, 1975 to January, 1976 decreased the percent egg-hatch of females caught on Kume Is., but did not decrease the percent infestation significantly. The number of pupae released was increased from February, 1976 to accelerate the eradication process. When the number of pupae released exceeded 3.5 million per week, a rapid increase in the ratio of marked (sterile) to unmarked (wild) flies, a remarkable decrease in percent egg-hatch, and a decrease in percent infestation of fruits were observed. There has been no sign of melon fly infestation in wild cucurbit fruits from October, 1976 to the present time (April, 1977), despite the fact that more than 70,000 fruits were carefully examined. The eradication of the melon fly from Kume Is. was thus achieved by April, 1977, after the release of 264 million sterile fly pupae.     

A New Estimation Method for Noncompartmental Pharmacokinetic Analysis

The mathematical tools of Hilbert space theory and Gauß quadrature are used to derive a new method of curve fitting and calculation of statistical moments of the concentration-time curve.     

Intervening in pest outbreaks: Simulation studies with the western tent caterpillar

A stochastic model mimicking the behavior of the western tent-caterpillar populations on Vancouver Island was used to study methods of suppressing an outbreak. Since many forest defoliators often receive only one treatment during their outbreak period, we applied a hypothetical single treatment at different times during a simulated outbreak, to assess the influence of timing. Intervening early in the cycle was the best method of suppressing numbers below a tolerable threshold during a particular outbreak. Treatment during the most rapid period of increase was less effective, and treatments at or beyond the peak provided little relief during that particular outbreak. For longer-term protection, however, treating the refugia of a declining population was far superior to less selective intervention. Concentrating the treatment within these refuges decimated the breeding stock surviving there at a time when the population could least afford such injury. Timing and focussing the intervention to obtain that maximal impact thus prolonged the period of suppression during the next outbreak.     

Dispersive behaviour of larvae of the common cabbage butterflyPieris rapae crucivora

To investigate the aggregative nature of the larvae of Pieris rapae crucivora, each 50 individuals of the 4th and 5th instar larvae collected from cabbage farms and reared under crowded and solitary conditions were released on an experimental arena and their dispersive behaviour was observed with the lapse of time. Both the 4th and 5th instar larvae showed the trend to approach toward random distribution when they were released under clumped condition, and they maintained random distribution when they were released at random. Therefore, it may be concluded that the larvae have not any aggregative nature caused by the mutual attraction among individuals. However, as the larvae reared in crowds sometimes showed the slight aggregative behaviour, it seems that the larval dispersal is different between densely and sparsely populated plants in field.     

粤港澳大湾区生态系统健康时空变化及其对城镇化的响应

区域生态系统健康评价是获取区域生态系统状况的重要手段，对生态保护和恢复具有现实的指导意义。研究从人类与生态系统耦合角度出发，基于生态系统完整性以及人类对生态系统服务的需求，在“活力-组织力-弹性”框架基础上引入生态系统服务供需指标构建评价框架。以粤港澳大湾区为例，分析2005—2018年生态系统健康时空变化特征及其对城镇化的响应。研究结果表明：(1)2005—2018年间，大湾区生态系统健康呈现中部低四周高的空间格局，以好，较好和一般水平为主；从时间变化上来看，大湾区四周山区生态系统健康状况有所改善，而中部地区健康状况则逐渐恶化。(2)大湾区生态系统活力在改善区域生态系统健康中发挥了重要的作用；此外，生态系统服务供需对传统生态系统健康评价结果进行适当修正，生态系统服务供需赤字加剧了中部地区生态系统健康状况的恶化。(3)大湾区生态系统健康与人口城镇化、土地城镇化间均存在显著的空间负相关性，其中，土地城镇化对生态系统健康的负面影响越来越显著，特别是大湾区中部地区。研究以期为生态系统健康评价提供新思路，同时为大湾区生态系统保护与管理提供参考。