scholarly journals Modeling Critical Forest Habitat in the Southern Coal Fields of West Virginia

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron E. Maxwell ◽  
Michael P. Strager ◽  
Charles B. Yuill ◽  
J. Todd Petty
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
Fragmentation Model ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Forest Habitat ◽  
Elevation Data ◽  
Morphological Image Analysis ◽  
Forest Values ◽  
The Impact

Throughout the Central Appalachians of the United States resource extraction primarily from coal mining has contributed to the majority of the forest conversion to barren and reclaimed pasture and grass. The loss of forests in this ecoregion is significantly impacting biodiversity at a regional scale. Since not all forest stands provide equal levels of ecological functions, it is critical to identify and map existing forested resources by the benefits that accrue from their unique spatial patterns, watershed drainage, and landscape positions. We utilized spatial analysis and remote sensing techniques to define critical forest characteristics. The characteristics were defined by applying a forest fragmentation model utilizing morphological image analysis, defining headwater catchments at a 1 : 24,000 scale, and deriving ecological land units (ELUs) from elevation data. Once critical forest values were calculated, it was possible to identify clusters of critical stands using spatial statistics. This spatially explicit method for modeling forest habitat could be implemented as a tool for assessing the impact of resource extraction and aid in the conservation of critical forest habitat throughout a landscape.

China’s Balancing Behaviour Against the United States and the Special Importance of Myanmar

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-201
Author(s):  
Md Abdul Mannan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
The World ◽  
East And Southeast Asia ◽  
Peaceful Development ◽  
China's Politics ◽  
The Impact

As China rises, Sino–US competition for influence in East and Southeast Asia has become inescapable. China’s growing influence on its south-western neighbour, Myanmar, is a case in point. The impact of China’s rise is more strongly felt, politically and economically, in Myanmar than elsewhere in the world. This article asks the follow question: What explains China’s more aggressive political and economic clout in Myanmar than elsewhere in the world? To answer this question, this article argues that Myanmar holds a unique importance to China’s balancing act against the preponderance of American power in a unipolar world. Most of the available literature on China’s inroads into Myanmar focus on China’s geopolitical and strategic interests. With such focus, existing literatures take on Myanmar’s importance to China in terms of China’s politics of resource extraction that meets the requirement of its overall economic development. There is no denying it—resource extraction is important for China in order to feed its expanding economy. But hardly any study frames Myanmar’s special weight in China’s politics of resource extraction from the perspective of Beijing’s balancing act against the United States (US). China’s balancing act is characterized by an ‘economic prebalancing’ strategy. The strategy is rooted in China’s grand strategy of acquiring ‘comprehensive national strength’, and more precisely, it is embedded in Beijing’s ‘peaceful development’ strategy. The article asserts that Myanmar is critically important in China’s economic prebalancing strategy against the United States.

scholarly journals Monitoring the Responses of Deciduous Forest Phenology to 2000–2018 Climatic Anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2806
Author(s):  
Kevin Bórnez ◽  
Aleixandre Verger ◽  
Adrià Descals ◽  
Josep Peñuelas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Phenological Metrics ◽  
The Impact

Monitoring the phenological responses of deciduous forests to climate is important, due to the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events associated with climate change and global warming, which will in turn affect vegetation seasonality. We investigated the spatiotemporal patterns of the response of deciduous forests to climatic anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere, using satellite-derived phenological metrics from the Copernicus Global Land Service Leaf Area Index, and multisource climatic datasets for 2000–2018 at resolutions of 0.1°. Thereafter, we assessed the impact of extreme heatwaves and droughts on this deciduous forest phenology. We assumed that changes in the deciduous forest phenology in the Northern Hemisphere for the period 2000–2018 were monotonic, and that temperature and precipitation were the main climatic drivers. Analyses of partial correlations of phenological metrics with the timing of the start of the season (SoS), end of the season (EoS), and climatic variables indicated that changes in preseason temperature played a stronger role than precipitation in affecting the interannual variability of SoS anomalies: the higher the temperature, the earlier the SoS in most deciduous forests in the Northern Hemisphere (mean correlation coefficient of –0.31). Correlations between the SoS and temperature were significantly negative in 57% of the forests, and significantly positive in 15% of the forests (P < 0.05). Both temperature and precipitation contributed to the advance and delay of the EoS. A later EoS was significantly correlated with a positive Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at the regional scale (~30% of deciduous forests). The timings of the EoS and SoS shifted by > 20 d in response to heatwaves throughout most of Europe in 2003, and in the United States of America in 2012. This study contributes to improve our understanding of the phenological responses of deciduous forests in the Northern Hemisphere to climate change and extreme climate events.

scholarly journals Analysis Results of COVID-19 Data by GIS at Different Scales

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
yanxiang li ◽  
zhanliang yuan ◽  
qiaoqiao wang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rapid Rate ◽  
Global Epidemic ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Since the emergence of the new corona virus Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19), it has spread rapidly around the world and has had a serious impact on world economic and social development. In this article, we reviewed the pathogenesis, development process, and the impact and loss of COVID-19 on global human health. Combined with the GIS method, the global distribution of COVID-19 was visualized at multiple scales, and the core areas of the COVID-19 epidemic at different scales were determined. And use the global real-time updated infection data to judge the overall development trend of COVID-19. After visualizing and analyzing the global epidemic data, it was found that the number of patients with COVID-19 at the global scale is still growing at a relatively rapid rate, but the global average mortality rate is drop rapidly. The country with the highest mortality rate at the national scale is 16.24% in Belgium, followed by France and Italy, with mortality rates of 15.31% and 14.4%, respectively. Changes in the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States at the regional scale have a major impact on the global epidemic. Although the mortality rate in the United States is gradually declining, the number of infections and deaths is still increasing at a relatively rapid rate. At the regional scale, the New York epidemic is a hot spot in the United States and should be given high priority.

scholarly journals A nonlinear relationship between marsh size and sediment trapping capacity compromises salt marshes’ stability

Geology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 966-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmine Donatelli ◽  
Xiaohe Zhang ◽  
Neil K. Ganju ◽  
Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta ◽  
Sergio Fagherazzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Intertidal Area ◽  
Sediment Trapping ◽  
Marsh Erosion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Salt Marsh Area

Abstract Global assessments predict the impact of sea-level rise on salt marshes with present-day levels of sediment supply from rivers and the coastal ocean. However, these assessments do not consider that variations in marsh extent and the related reconfiguration of intertidal area affect local sediment dynamics, ultimately controlling the fate of the marshes themselves. We conducted a meta-analysis of six bays along the United States East Coast to show that a reduction in the current salt marsh area decreases the sediment availability in estuarine systems through changes in regional-scale hydrodynamics. This positive feedback between marsh disappearance and the ability of coastal bays to retain sediments reduces the trapping capacity of the whole tidal system and jeopardizes the survival of the remaining marshes. We show that on marsh platforms, the sediment deposition per unit area decreases exponentially with marsh loss. Marsh erosion enlarges tidal prism values and enhances the tendency toward ebb dominance, thus decreasing the overall sediment availability of the system. Our findings highlight that marsh deterioration reduces the sediment stock in back-barrier basins and therefore compromises the resilience of salt marshes.

scholarly journals The impact of marine organics on the air quality of the western United States

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 6257-6278 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Gantt ◽  
N. Meskhidze ◽  
A. G. Carlton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Western United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The impact of marine organic emissions to the air quality in coastal areas of the western United States is studied using the latest version of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional-scale Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQv4.7) modeling system. Emissions of marine isoprene, monoterpenes, and primary organic matter (POM) from the ocean are implemented into the model to provide a comprehensive view of the connection between ocean biology and atmospheric chemistry and air pollution. Model simulations show that marine organics can increase the concentration of PM2.5 by 0.1–0.3 μg m−3 (up to 5%) in coastal cities. This increase in the PM2.5 concentration is primarily attributed to the POM emissions, with small contributions from the marine isoprene and monoterpenes. When marine organic emissions are included, organic carbon (OC) concentrations over the remote ocean are increased by up to 50% (25% in coastal areas), values consistent with recent observational findings. This study is the first to quantify the air quality impacts from marine POM and monoterpenes for the United States, and highlights the need for inclusion of marine organic emissions in air quality models.

Demonstrating Nutrient Cost Gradients: A Brooklyn Case Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 244-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Karp ◽  
Gary Wong ◽  
Marguerite Orsi
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Food Selection ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Caloric Density ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Introduction: Foods dense in micronutrients are generally more expensive than those with higher energy content. These cost-differentials may put low-income families at risk of diminished micronutrient intake. Objectives: We sought to determine differences in the cost for iron, folate, and choline in foods available for purchase in a low-income community when assessed for energy content and serving size. Methods: Sixty-nine foods listed in the menu plans provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for low-income families were considered, in 10 domains. The cost and micronutrient content for-energy and per-serving of these foods were determined for the three micronutrients. Exact Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for comparisons of energy costs; Spearman rho tests for comparisons of micronutrient content. Ninety families were interviewed in a pediatric clinic to assess the impact of food cost on food selection. Results: Significant differences between domains were shown for energy density with both cost-for-energy (p < 0.001) and cost-per-serving (p < 0.05) comparisons. All three micronutrient contents were significantly correlated with cost-for-energy (p < 0.01). Both iron and choline contents were significantly correlated with cost-per-serving (p < 0.05). Of the 90 families, 38 (42 %) worried about food costs; 40 (44 %) had chosen foods of high caloric density in response to that fear, and 29 of 40 families experiencing both worry and making such food selection. Conclusion: Adjustments to USDA meal plans using cost-for-energy analysis showed differentials for both energy and micronutrients. These differentials were reduced using cost-per-serving analysis, but were not eliminated. A substantial proportion of low-income families are vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document