• Title/Summary/Keyword: Gradients

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Carbon stocks and factors affecting their storage in dry Afromontane forests of Awi Zone, northwestern Ethiopia

  • Gebeyehu, Getaneh;Soromessa, Teshome;Bekele, Tesfaye;Teketay, Demel
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.43 no.1
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    • pp.43-60
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    • 2019
  • Background: Tropical montane forests played an important role in the provision of ecosystem services. The intense degradation and deforestation for the need of agricultural land expansion result in a significant decline of forest cover. However, the expansion of agricultural land did not completely destruct natural forests. There remain forests inaccessible for agricultural and grazing purpose. Studies on these forests remained scant, motivating to investigate biomass and soil carbon stocks. Data of biomass and soils were collected in 80 quadrats ($400m^2$) systematically in 5 forests. Biomass and disturbance gradients were determined using allometric equation and disturbance index, respectively. The regression modeling is employed to explore the spatial distribution of carbon stock along disturbance and environmental gradients. Correlation analysis is also employed to identify the relation between site factors and carbon stocks. Results: The result revealed that a total of 1655 individuals with a diameter of ${\geq}5cm$, representing 38 species, were measured in 5 forests. The mean aboveground biomass carbon stocks (AGB CS) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks at 5 forests were $191.6{\pm}19.7$ and $149.32{\pm}6.8Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. The AGB CS exhibited significant (P < 0.05) positive correlation with SOC and total nitrogen (TN) stocks, reflecting that biomass seems to be a general predictor of SOCs. AGB CS between highly and least-disturbed forests was significantly different (P < 0.05). This disturbance level equates to a decrease in AGB CS of 36.8% in the highly disturbed compared with the least-disturbed forest. In all forests, dominant species sequestrated more than 58% of carbon. The AGB CS in response to elevation and disturbance index and SOC stocks in response to soil pH attained unimodal pattern. The stand structures, such as canopy cover and basal area, had significant positive relation with AGB CS. Conclusions: Study results confirmed that carbon stocks of studied forests were comparable to carbon stocks of protected forests. The biotic, edaphic, topographic, and disturbance factors played a significant variation in carbon stocks of forests. Further study should be conducted to quantify carbon stocks of herbaceous, litter, and soil microbes to account the role of the whole forest ecosystem.

Vegetation Structure and Distribution characteristics of Forest Community along Elevation on Mt. Hallasan (제주도 남동사면의 산림식생구조와 해발고별 산림군집 및 개체군 분포 특성)

  • Lee, Jeong Eun;Yun, Chung Weon
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.110 no.2
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    • pp.141-154
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    • 2021
  • The change in vegetation structure along elevational gradients on the southeastern part of Mt. Hallasan was studied. Vegetation data were collected with 59 quadrates located from 16 to 1,565 m with 100 m intervals. Community types were classified using cluster analysis, and species composition and diversity were analyzed along elevational gradients. The vegetation was classified into seven, namely, type 1 Quercus serrata community, type 2 Carpinus tschonoskii community, type 3 Carpinus laxiflora community, type 4 Pinus densiflora community, type 5 Abies koreana community, type 6 Castanopsis sieboldii community, and type 7 Quercus acuta community. The species with a high importance value in tree layer in each elevational zone were C. sieboldii and Q. acuta at 100-600 m; C. laxiflora, Q. serrata, and C. tschonoskii at 700-800 m; P. densiflora at 1,100-1,200 m; and Abies koreana at 1,500-1,600 m. The species diversity indicated higher value at 700-800 m, 1,200-1,300 m and 1,400-1,500 m than at the other elevation.

Ecological Niche Overlap Between Quercus acutissima and Q. dentata with Soil Moisture and Nutrient Gradients (상수리나무와 떡갈나무의 수분과 영양소 구배에 따른 생태지위 중복역)

  • Kyeong Mi Cho;Ara Seol;Yoon Kyung Choi;Se Hee Kim;Eui Joo Kim;Yoon Seo Kim;Jung Min Lee;Ju Seon Lee;Gyu Ri Kim;Ji Won Park;Jae Hoon Park;Young Han You
    • Journal of Wetlands Research
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.159-165
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    • 2023
  • This study measured the ecological niche overlap between two deciduous oak species(Quercus acutissmia and Q. dentata) according to the change in growth responses after treating with the moisture and nutrient contents of the soil at four gradients, and interpreted the degree of competition between the two oak species by ordination method. In the moisture environment gradient, the ecological niche overlap of the two species was high in the photosynthesis-related leaf organs and low in plant architecture such as shoot length. In addition, in case of competition between two oaks, Q. dentata was remarkably dominant in soil moisture gradient, but Q. acutissimia slightly was slightly advantageous over Q. dentata in the soil nutrient gradient. These results show that even in a similar taxonomical group growing in a similar habitat, the response to the organ system of the plant varies depending on the type of environment factor, resulting in different competitive differences among plants.

Variations in Ecological Niche of Quercus variabilis and Quercus acutissima Leaf Morphological Characters in Response to Moisture and Nutrient Gradient Treatments under Climate Change Conditions (기후변화 조건에서 수분구배 및 영양소 구배에 따른 굴참나무와 상수리나무 잎 형태적 특성의 생태지위 변화)

  • Park, Yeo-Bin;Kim, Eui-Joo;Park, Jae-Hoon;Kim, Yoon-Seo;Park, Ji-Won;Lee, Jung-Min;You, Young-Han
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.43-53
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    • 2024
  • This study attempted to elucidate the ecological niches and influencing environmental factors of Quercus variabilis and Quercus acutissima, which are representative deciduous broad-leaved trees in Korean forests, taxonomically close and genetically similar, under climate change conditions. Under climate change conditions induced by increased CO2 and temperature, soil moisture and nutrient environments were manipulated in four gradients. At the end of the growing, plants were harvested to measure growth responses, calculate ecological niches, and compare them with those of the control. Eperimental plants were grown for 180 days in a glass greenhouse designed with four gradients each for soil moisture and nutrient environments under climate change conditions induced by increased CO2 and temperature. After harvesting, growth responses of leaf traits were measured, ecological niches were calculated, and these were compared with those of the control groups. Furthermore, the responses of the two species' populations were interpreted using principal component analysis(PCA) based on leaf trait measurements. As a result, under climate change conditions, the ecological niche breadth for moisture environment was broader for Quercus variabilis than Quercus acutissima, whereas for the nutrient environment, Quercus acutissima exhibited a broader niche breadth than Quercus variabilis. And the rate of change in ecological niche breadth due to climate change decreased for Quercus variabilis in both moisture and nutrient environments, while for Quercus acutissima, it increased in the moisture environment but decreased in the nutrient environment. Additionally, in terms of group responses, both Quercus variabilis and Quercus acutissima expanded their ecological niches under climate change conditions in both soil moisture and nutrient conditions, with Quercus acutissima exhibiting a broader niche than Quercus variabilis under nutrient conditions. These results indicate that the changes in leaf morphological characteristics and the responses of individuals reflecting them vary not only under climate change conditions but also depending on environmental factors.

The Great Western Woodlands TERN SuperSite: ecosystem monitoring infrastructure and key science learnings

  • Suzanne M Prober;Georg Wiehl;Carl R Gosper;Leslie Schultz;Helen Langley;Craig Macfarlane
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.47 no.4
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    • pp.272-281
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    • 2023
  • Ecosystem observatories are burgeoning globally in an endeavour to detect national and global scale trends in the state of biodiversity and ecosystems in an era of rapid environmental change. In this paper we highlight the additional importance of regional scale outcomes of such infrastructure, through an introduction to the Great Western Woodlands TERN (Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network) SuperSite, and key findings from three gradient plot networks that are part of this infrastructure. The SuperSite was established in 2012 in the 160,000 km2 Great Western Woodlands region, in a collaboration involving 12 organisations. This region is globally significant for its largely intact, diverse landscapes, including the world's largest Mediterranean-climate woodlands and highly diverse sandplain shrublands. The dominant woodland eucalypts are fire-sensitive, requiring hundreds of years to regrow after fire. Old-growth woodlands are highly valued by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and managing impacts of climate change and the increasing extent of intense fires are key regional management challenges. Like other TERN SuperSites, the Great Western Woodlands TERN SuperSite includes a core eddy-covariance flux tower measuring exchanges of carbon, water and energy between the vegetation and atmosphere, along with additional environmental and biodiversity monitoring around the tower. The broader SuperSite incorporates three gradient plot networks. Two of these represent aridity gradients, in sandplains and woodlands, informing regional climate adaptation and biodiversity management by characterising biodiversity turnover along spatial climate gradients and acting as sentinels for ecosystem change over time. For example, the sandplains transect has demonstrated extremely high spatial turnover rates in plant species, that challenge traditional approaches to biodiversity conservation. The third gradient plot network represents a 400-year fire-age gradient in Eucalyptus salubris woodlands. It has enabled characterisation of post-fire recovery of vegetation, birds and invertebrates over multi-century timeframes, and provided tools that are directly informing management to reduce stand-replacing fires in eucalypt woodlands. By building regional partnerships and applying globally or nationally consistent methodologies to regional scale questions, ecological observatories have the power not only to detect national and global scale trends in biodiversity and ecosystems, but to directly inform environmental decisions that are critical at regional scales.

Computer Vision Approach for Phenotypic Characterization of Horticultural Crops (컴퓨터 비전을 활용한 토마토, 파프리카, 멜론 및 오이 작물의 표현형 특성화)

  • Seungri Yoon;Minju Shin;Jin Hyun Kim;Ho Jeong Jeong;Junyoung Park;Tae In Ahn
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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    • v.33 no.1
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    • pp.63-70
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    • 2024
  • This study explored computer vision methods using the OpenCV open-source library to characterize the phenotypes of various horticultural crops. In the case of tomatoes, image color was examined to assess ripeness, while support vector machine (SVM) and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) methods effectively identified ripe tomatoes. For sweet pepper, we visualized the color distribution and used the Gaussian mixture model for clustering to analyze its post-harvest color characteristics. For the quality assessment of netted melons, the LAB (lightness, a, b) color space, binary images, and depth mapping were used to measure the net patterns of the melon. In addition, a combination of depth and color data proved successful in identifying flowers of different sizes and distances in cucumber greenhouses. This study highlights the effectiveness of these computer vision strategies in monitoring the growth and development, ripening, and quality assessment of fruits and vegetables. For broader applications in agriculture, future researchers and developers should enhance these techniques with plant physiological indicators to promote their adoption in both research and practical agricultural settings.

Improvement of shear deformation by controlling reduction per a rolling pass during asymmetrical cold rolling in AA 5052 (AA5052 판재의 비대칭 냉간압연 시 압연 패스당 압하율 제어에 의한 전단 변형 향상)

  • Kang, H.G.;Han, Y.H.;Huh, M.Y.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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    • 2007.05a
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    • pp.226-228
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    • 2007
  • During asymmetrical cold rolling in AA 5052 sheet a reduction per a rolling pass was varied to investigate the effect of the ratio of the contact length between the roll and sample ($l_c$) to the sheet thickness (d) on the formation of shear textures. In order to intensify the shear deformation during asymmetrical rolling, AA 5052 sheet was asymmetrically cold rolled without lubrication by using different roll velocities of upper and lower rolls. Asymmetrical rolling with $l_c$/d=1.8 led to the formation of texture gradients throughout the sheet thickness in which the outer thickness layers depicted shear textures and the center thickness layers displayed a rolling texture. Asymmetrical rolling with $l_c$/d=3.1 gave rise to the formation of shear textures in the whole through-thickness layer. The strain states associated with asymmetrical rolling were investigated by the finite element method (FEM) simulation. FEM results indicated that the evolution of deformation texture in a thickness layer is strongly governed by integrated values of strain rates and along the streamline in the roll gap.

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Possible Implication for an Indirect Interaction between Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor and (Na,K)ATPase

  • Oh, Ji-Hyun;Lee, Kyung-Lim
    • Archives of Pharmacal Research
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    • v.21 no.6
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    • pp.707-711
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    • 1998
  • The (Na,K)ATPase is responsible for generating the ionic gradients and membrane potentials by the exchange of intracellular $Na^+$ for $K^+$. It has been recentl y shown that (Na,K)ATPase is involved in the exocytic pathway of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), although it is not known that bFGF is secreted to the outside of cell through direct interaction with (Na,K) ATPase. To understand the role for (Na,K)ATPase in the secretary pathway of bFGF, we have sought to identify the cytoplasmic domains of the alpha1 isoform of (Na,K)ATPase interacting with bFGF by yeast two-hybrid system. We have also investigated the interaction between the alpha2 isoform of (Na,K)ATPase and bFGF to find out whether the interaction is isoform-specific. We found that none of the cytoplasmic domains of (Na,K)ATPase isoforms interacted with bFGF. The result suggests that the interaction between bFGF and (Na,K)ATPase might be indirect, thus requiring other proteins which are involved in the formation of protein complexes for the interaction, although we cannot exclude the possibility that the interaction requires the element of the whole alpha subunit structure that was not present in the isolated alpha subunit cytoplasmic domains.

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TIME EVOLUTION OF SCOUR AROUND BRIDGE ABUTMENTS

  • Francesco Ballio;Enrico Orsi
    • Water Engineering Research
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    • v.2 no.4
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    • pp.243-259
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    • 2001
  • Local phenomena around bridge piers and abutments are generally considered to be similar, nevertheless the presence of the incoming boundary layer on the side wall in the abutment case generates extra pressure gradients and consequently a more complex vortex pattern. In the literature, experimental data for bridge abutments are relatively scarce; in particular almost no data are available for the time evolution of the scour. In this work we present the results of several long duration (3 days longrightarrow5weeks) clear water scour laboratory tests around bridge abutments; the time evolution of the erosion process is analysed with respect to local and global characteristic values (maxima, volume, hole shape). In particular we analyse the effect of the constriction ratio b/B between the transversal obstacle dimension and the flume width: in many practical situations abutments (or piers) obstruct a significant portion of the channel, so that the average acceleration due to constriction is expected to increase the scour effects of the local acceleration around the obstacle. Measured values for maximum scour are poorly predicted by literature formulas. Scour depths are positively correlated with the constriction ratio, but increases are smaller than expected from literature indications. Experimental results show that models for bridge piers cannot be directly applied to abutments; in particular, time scales for the latter are significantly larger than for piers.

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Active Exchange of Water and Nutrients between Seawater and Shallow Pore Water in Intertidal Sandflats

  • Hwang, Dong-Woon;Kim, Gue-Buem;Yang, Han-Soeb
    • Ocean Science Journal
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    • v.43 no.4
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    • pp.223-232
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    • 2008
  • In order to determine the temporal and spatial variations of nutrient profiles in the shallow pore water columns (upper 30 cm depth) of intertidal sandflats, we measured the salinity and nutrient concentrations in pore water and seawater at various coastal environments along the southern coast of Korea. In the intertidal zone, salinity and nutrient concentrations in pore water showed marked vertical changes with depth, owing to the active exchange between the pore water and overlying seawater, while they are temporally more stable and vertically constant in the sublittoral zone. In some cases, the advective flow of fresh groundwater caused strong vertical gradients of salinity and nutrients in the upper 10 cm depth of surface sediments, indicating the active mixing of the fresher groundwater with overlying seawater. Such upper pore water column profiles clearly signified the temporal fluctuation of lower-salinity and higher-Si seawater intrusion into pore water in an intertidal sandflat near the mouth of an estuary. We also observed a semimonthly fluctuation of pore water nutrients due to spring-neap tide associated recirculation of seawater through the upper sediments. Our study shows that the exchange of water and nutrients between shallow pore water and overlying seawater is most active in the upper 20 cm layer of intertidal sandflats, due to physical forces such as tides, wave set-up, and density-thermal gradient.