• Title/Summary/Keyword: natural ecosystems

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Mediation of Gene Flow in Tropical Trees of Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Onokpise, Oghenekome U.;Akinyele, Adejoke O.
    • Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 2012
  • Tropical forests whether fragmented or undisturbed or be they equatorial or deciduous, remain the storehouse of biodiversity for hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species. This unique characteristic continues to attract a wide range of scientists and international organizations to study and attempt to understand tropical forest ecosystems. Gene flow is mediated by pollen, seed and seedling dispersal, and factors affecting this gene flow include phenology, spatial distribution, population structures, seed predation, sexual and mating systems as well as physical and biological barriers to gene flow. Two methods are used in measuring gene flow: direct method that relies on the actual observation of seed and pollen dispersal, whereas indirect methods involve the use of genetic markers such as allozymes and DNA techniques. Political strife, extreme natural and artificial disasters, the lack of a comprehensive forestry research vision, coupled with difficult socio-economic conditions in Africa have made the environment quite difficult for sustained research activities on the part of those undertaking or wishing to undertake such studies. Gene flow studies in this region are few and far between. This review elaborates on the mechanisms of gene flow mediation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A Study on the Environmental Assessment of Development Projects within Management Zones (관리지역 내 개발사업에 대한 환경성 평가방안 연구)

  • Sung, Hyun-Chan
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.114-127
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    • 2010
  • This study aimed at reviewing the case examples of environmental assessment of development projects within management zones, identifying problems and improvement opportunities and suggesting the direction of environmental assessment for management zones that are increasingly segmented Findings showed that first, the assessment of environment soundness in management zones must incorporate the national land environmental map and wide-area ecological axes established by the Ministry of Environment. Second, regarding development activities in management zones, rather than an issue of simply destroying natural environment in a development site itself during a development period, an issue of permanently isolating ecosystems from surrounding areas in a mid/long-term perspective and continually polluting water in mid-stream/upstream regions where sites are located must be considered. Third, in the case of development projects with vast areas, existing plant communities will be disturbed and the naturalness of vegetation will gradually decline due to foreign tree species introduced for landscape architecture. Therefore, creating buffer forests at forest boundaries and planting native tree species that are same as nearby tree species must be examined. Last but not least, when assessing the environmental soundness of management zones, it would be crucial to comprehensively review the environmental, social and locational features of management zones, including surrounding areas, and set the direction of environmental assessment accordingly.

Punching shear behavior of recycled aggregate concrete

  • Dan, Saikat;Chaudhary, Manpreet;Barai, Sudhirkumar V.
    • Computers and Concrete
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.321-333
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    • 2018
  • Flat-slabs, being a significant structural component, not only reduce the dead load of the structure but also reduce the amount of concrete required for construction. Moreover the use of recycled aggregates lowers the impact of large scale construction to nearby ecosystems. Recycled aggregate based concrete being a quasi-brittle material shows enormous cracking during failure. Crack growth in flat-slabs is mostly in sliding mode (Mode II). Therefore sufficient sections need to be provided for resistance against such failure modes. The main objective of the paper is to numerically determine the ultimate load carrying capacity of two self-similar flat-slab specimens and validate the results experimentally for the natural aggregate as well as recycled aggregate based concrete. Punching shear experiments are carried out on circular flat-slab specimen on a rigid circular knife-edge support built out of both normal (NAC) and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC, with full replacement). Uniaxial compression and bending tests have been conducted on cubes, cylinders and prisms using both types of concrete (NAC and RAC) for its material characterization and use in the numerical scheme. The numerical simulations have been conducted in ABAQUS (a known finite element software package). Eight noded solid elements have been used to model the flat slab and material properties have been considered from experimental tests. The inbuilt Concrete Damaged Plasticity model of ABAQUS has been used to monitor crack propagation in the specimen during numerical simulations.

Multi-cloud Technology Introduction and Research Trends (멀티 클라우드 기술 개요 및 연구 동향)

  • Kim, B.S.;Jung, Y.W.;Oh, B.T.;Kim, S.Y.;Son, S.;Seo, J.H.;Bae, S.J.;Lee, G.C.;Kang, D.J.
    • Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.45-54
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    • 2020
  • The cloud computing industry has focused on establishing a cloud-based business environment for enterprises with efforts to convert using their own on-premise computing infrastructures to using cloud services. With these efforts, using cloud services has become natural, especially for the IT industry. The cloud computing industry is moving toward proliferation of the cloud computing environment into various evolving industries. Along with industrial trends, new technical trends such as edge computing and multi-cloud are emerging. These trends are expected to create new business models and develop related service ecosystems, providing new opportunities for service providers and new experiences for users. A mong those emerging technologies, multi-cloud technology is expected to realize unlimited global cloud computing resources by unifying cloud resources from multiple public cloud service providers. In this paper, we introduce the concept and related trends of multi-cloud technology. Subsequently, we analyze the main functionalities and several use cases of multi-cloud technology. Finally, we summarize the effects and usefulness of multi-cloud technology in the domestic cloud industry.

Evaluation of Potential Distribution Area of the Red Swamp Crayfish (Procambarus clarkia) in South Korea (미국가재(Procambarus clarkia)의 국내 출현 및 잠재 분포 지역 평가)

  • Lee, Dae-Seong;Park, Young-Seuk
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.52 no.4
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    • pp.340-347
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    • 2019
  • The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkia) originated from the North America distribute widely as invasive species throughout the world including Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America. The red swamp crayfish is also an invasive species in South Korea. We aimed to characterize the occurrence and distribution pattern of the red swamp crayfish, and evaluate the potential distribution of this species in South Korea. In South Korea, the red swamp crayfish was firstly reported in Seoul in 1996, and recently its occurrence is frequently reported at streams or reservoirs at different regions, showing the expansion of its distribution area. The red swamp crayfish has high potential to occur in the nationwide scale in South Korea because of their biological adaptation, effects of climate change, changes of their habitat condition, and various types of human activities. Finally, our results revealed the necessary to conduct an extensive field survey, to keep up a monitoring program for the occurrence of alien species, and to implement a strategy to prevent the dispersal of alien species in the natural ecosystems.

Photosynthetic carbon fixation by tropical coral reef phytoplankton assemblages: a UVR perspective

  • Li, Gang;Che, Zhiwei;Gao, Kunshan
    • ALGAE
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.281-288
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    • 2013
  • Photosynthetic carbon fixation regulates air-sea $CO_2$ fluxes in the waters of coral reefs. However, little has been documented on the effects of solar UV radiation (UVR, 280-400 nm) upon photosynthetic behaviors of phytoplankton dwelling in these ecosystems. In order to evaluate the aforesaid, surface dwelling tropical coral reef phytoplankton assemblages collected from the South China Sea were exposed to solar radiation (i.e., photosynthetically active radiation [PAR] + UV radiation A [UVA] + UV radiation B [UVB], 280-700 nm; PAR + UVA, 320-700 nm; and PAR, 400-700 nm) under static or simulated-mixing conditions. Under the static condition, UVA and UVB significantly reduced the carbon fixation with the maximum of 22.4 and 15.3%, respectively; while lower UVR-related photosynthetic inhibition was observed in case of phytoplankton samples being subjected to mixing. At a moderate level of mixing (i.e., circulation time 80 min), the UVA and UVB caused inhibition were lowered by 52.1 and 79.6%, respectively. Based on this it could be stated that vertical mixing induced by winds and/or tides in the natural environments could reduce the inhibitory effect of solar UVR on phytoplankton productivity in the coral reefs water.

Identification of Culturable Bioaerosols Collected over Dryland in Northwest China: Observation using a Tethered Balloon

  • Chen, Bin;Kobayashi, Fumihisa;Yamada, Maromu;Kim, Yang-Hoon;Iwasaka, Yasunobu;Shi, Guang-Yu
    • Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.5 no.3
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    • pp.172-180
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    • 2011
  • The transfer of microorganisms is important process for ecosystems. Microorganisms in dryland can transport itself to wetland through atmospheric diffusion, but only few papers reported about the atmospheric bioaerosol present over dryland. We carried out the direct sampling using a tethered balloon over Dunhuang City, China's northwestern dryland. Bioaerosols were collected using a tethered balloon with a bioaerosol collector at 820 m above the ground (1,960 m above the sea level) around noon on August 17, 2007. The bioaerosols were cultured after the collection at Dunhuang Meteorological observatory. Two strains of molds were isolated using the Nutrient agar medium. About 400-bp 18S rRNA partial sequences were amplified by PCR and determined afterwards. The results of a homology search by 18S rRNA sequences of isolates in DNA databases (GenBank, DDBJ, and EMBL) and an observation of the form revealed that two bioaerosols in the convective mixed layer over Dunhuang City were Cladosporium sp. and Aspergillus sp.

Vertical and horizontal distributions of ellipsoidal Alexandrium (Dinophyceae) cysts in coastal sediment with special reference to paralytic shellfish poisoning caused by tsunamis -a case study of Osaka Bay(Japan) and the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula

  • Matsuoka, Kazumi;Yamamoto, Keigo;Akiyama, Satoshi;Kojima, Natsuhiko;Shin, Hyeon Ho
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.37 no.3
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    • pp.268-277
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    • 2019
  • Severe damages will result in human society, when several different critical natural phenomena coincide. One example relates to the resting cysts of Alexandrium species (dinoflagellates that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning), which are preserved in surface sediments throughout Osaka Bay, Japan. These cysts have been found to accumulate particularly densely in shallow areas in the inner parts of Osaka Bay, where a tsunami caused by an earthquake could occur any time. Damage by a tsunami could cause a change of the coastal ecosystems at Osaka Bay including the resuspension of surface sediments containing resting Alexandrium tamarense cysts and the subsequent redistribution of the cysts in newly deposited sediment. Under certain environmental conditions, these cysts could germinate and form dense blooms, leading to paralytic shellfish poisoning. Such a scenario could also affect other coastal areas, including the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.

Lessons from FIFE on Scaling of Surface Fluxes at Gwangneung Forest Site (광릉 산림지의 지표 플럭스 스케일링에 관한 FIFE로부터의 교훈)

  • Hong Jinkyu;Lee Dongho;Kim Joon
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.4-14
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    • 2005
  • CarboKorea and HydroKorea are the domestic projects aiming to improve our understanding of carbon and water cycles in a typical Korean forest located in a complex terrain with a watershed connected to large rivers. The ultimate goal is to provide a nowcasting of these cycles for the whole Peninsula. The basic strategy to achieve such goal is through the inter- and multi-disciplinary studies that synthesize the in-situ field observation, modeling and remote sensing technology. The challenge is the fact that natural ecosystems are nonlinear and heterogeneous with a wide range of spatio-temporal scales causing the variations of mass and energy exchanges from a leaf to landscape scales. Our paradigm now shifts from temporal variation at a point to spatial patterns and from spatial homogeneity to complexity of water and carbon at multiple scales. Yet, a large portion of our knowledge about land-atmosphere interactions has been established based on tower observations, indicating that the development of scaling logics holds the key to the success of CarboKorea and HydroKorea. Here, we review the pioneering work of FIFE (First ISLSCP Field Experiment) on scaling issues in a temperate grassland and discuss the lessons from it for the application to Gwangneung forest site.

Use of Water Buffalo for Environmental Conservation of Waterland - Review -

  • Georgoudis, A.G.;Papanastasis, V.P.;Boyazoglu, J.G.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.12 no.8
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    • pp.1324-1331
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    • 1999
  • The aim of this paper is to propose the preservation of buffaloes not only as productive livestock, but also as a part of the biodiversity of wetlands and especially of the Greek wetlands. The water buffalo used to be an integral part of the biodiversity of many Greek wetland ecosystems, enriched their landscape, and provided invaluable services and products to the rural people and to the economy in general. Its total population before the 1950s was over 100,000 animals. Presently, it is found only in four wetland sites in Macedonia and Thrace and in the estuaries of Rivers Gallikos and Axios, with a total population of a few hundred animals. These wetlands are Ramsar Sites. Even this small population is threatened with immediate extinction because of the rapidly changing rural socio-economic conditions and the expansion of cultivated fields into wet meadows. Farmers and consumers are rapidly losing contact with this mammal and its products. This species possesses minimum requirements for treatment and is characterized by the ability of utilizing roughage of variable nutritional value. These factors are promising to render buffalo breeding a valuable branch of the Greek livestock sector, which can also contribute to the maintenance of the wetlands.