Edaphic Differentiation of Some Forest Types in Eastern Australia: II. Soil Chemical Factors

1969 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 817 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Forest Types ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Chemical Factors ◽  
Edaphic Differentiation

scholarly journals Evaluation of Spectral Indices for Assessing Fire Severity in Australian Temperate Forests

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bang Tran ◽  
Mihai Tanase ◽  
Lauren Bennett ◽  
Cristina Aponte
Keyword(s):  
Forest Type ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Spectral Indices ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Severity Classification ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Regeneration Strategies ◽  
Open Forests ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Spectral indices derived from optical remote sensing data have been widely used for fire-severity classification in forests from local to global scales. However, comparative analyses of multiple indices across diverse forest types are few. This represents an information gap for fire management agencies in areas like temperate south-eastern Australia, which is characterised by a diversity of natural forests that vary in structure, and in the fire-regeneration strategies of the dominant trees. We evaluate 10 spectral indices across eight areas burnt by wildfires in 1998, 2006, 2007, and 2009 in south-eastern Australia. These wildfire areas encompass 13 forest types, which represent 86% of the 7.9M ha region’s forest area. Forest types were aggregated into six forest groups based on their fire-regeneration strategies (seeders, resprouters) and structure (tree height and canopy cover). Index performance was evaluated for each forest type and forest group by examining its sensitivity to four fire-severity classes (unburnt, low, moderate, high) using three independent methods (anova, separability, and optimality). For the best-performing indices, we calculated index-specific thresholds (by forest types and groups) to separate between the four severity classes, and evaluated the accuracy of fire-severity classification on independent samples. Our results indicated that the best-performing indices of fire severity varied with forest type and group. Overall accuracy for the best-performing indices ranged from 0.50 to 0.78, and kappa values ranged from 0.33 (fair agreement) to 0.77 (substantial agreement), depending on the forest group and index. Fire severity in resprouter open forests and woodlands was most accurately mapped using the delta Normalised Burnt ratio (dNBR). In contrast, dNDVI (delta Normalised difference vegetation index) performed best for open forests with mixed fire responses (resprouters and seeders), and dNDWI (delta Normalised difference water index) was the most accurate for obligate seeder closed forests. Our analysis highlighted the low sensitivity of all indices to fire impacts in Rainforest. We conclude that the optimal spectral index for quantifying fire severity varies with forest type, but that there is scope to group forests by structure and fire-regeneration strategy to simplify fire-severity classification in heterogeneous forest landscapes.

A new low-cost hairtube design for the detection of the spotted-tailed quoll Dasyurus maculatus in south-eastern Australia.

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
AJ Murray
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Fragmented Distribution ◽  
Carnivorous Marsupial ◽  
South Eastern Australia

THE spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) is the largest carnivorous marsupial extant on mainland Australia, where it has a fragmented distribution in forested habitats in the eastern part of the continent. This species is also found in Tasmania. D. maculatus have been found in a wide variety of forest types from sea level to over 1400 m above sea level, in areas generally receiving in excess of 600 mm of rainfall (Mansergh 1983). The distribution of D. maculatus is believed to have declined by over 50% following European settlement (Mansergh 1983).

Rail survey plans to remote sensing: vegetation change in the Mulga Lands of eastern Australia and its implications for land use

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roderick J. Fensham ◽  
Owen Powell ◽  
James Horne
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Eastern Australia

There is a prevailing paradigm that woody vegetation is expanding at the expense of grassland with reduced burning under pastoralism in the Mulga Lands biogeographic region in eastern Australia. This raises the possibility that the region is acting as a carbon sink. Vegetation boundaries were precisely positioned from rail survey plans dating from 1895 to 1900. This baseline was compared with the position of boundaries on 1952 aerial photography and 2010 Google Earth imagery. The conversion of forest to non-forest by mechanical clearing was also mapped from satellite imagery. There was no consistent trend in the direction of boundary movement for mulga (Acacia aneura F.Muell. ex Benth.), gidgee (Acacia cambagei R.T. Baker) forest or miscellaneous other forest types. The stability of the boundaries, despite the transition from aboriginal management to rangeland pastoralism, contrasts with dramatic declines in tree cover resulting from mechanical clearing. Mapping of forest cover from satellite imagery reveals that conversion of forest to non-forest has reduced mulga forest to 74%, gidgee forest to 30% and miscellaneous forest types to 82% of their original area. Annual clearing rates for the period between 1997 and 2005 were 0.83, 0.95 and 0.43% for those forest types, respectively. Clearing has declined substantially in the period 2005–09 since the advent of recent regulations in Queensland. The area remains a source of carbon emissions but this situation may reverse if restoration of mulga dry forest becomes an attractive land use with an emerging carbon market.

Characteristics Of The Structure Formation Of Gypsum Binder Modified With Zinc Hydrosilicates

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-46
Keyword(s):  
Synergistic Effect ◽  
Physicochemical Properties ◽  
Structure Formation ◽  
Silicic Acid ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Crystal Formation ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Chemical Factors ◽  
Sorption Characteristics

The authors' methodic for assessing the role of chemical and physic-chemical factors during the structure formation of gypsum stone is presented in the article. The methodic is also makes it possible to reveal the synergistic effect and to determine the ranges of variation of controls factors that ensure maximum values of such effect. The effect of a micro-sized modifier based on zinc hydro-silicates on the structure formation of building gypsum is analyzed and corresponding dependencies are found. It is shown that effects of influence of modifier on the properties of gypsum compositions are determined by chemical properties of modifier. Among the mentioned properties are sorption characteristics (which depend on the amount of silicic acid and its state) and physicochemical properties - the ability to act as a substrate during crystal formation. The proposed method can also be extended to other binding substances and materials. This article contributes to the understanding of the processes that occur during the structure formation of composites, which will make it possible to control the structure formation in the future, obtaining materials with a given set of properties.

Geobotanical mapping of vegetation in "Stolby" Reserve

2002 ◽  
pp. 32-43
Author(s):  
V. I. Vlasenko ◽  
M. G. Erunova ◽  
I. S. Scerbinina
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Mapping Unit ◽  
Vegetation Map ◽  
North West ◽  
Mountain Part ◽  
Mountain Taiga

The reserve “Stolby” is characteristic key plot of the mountain-taiga and subtaiga-forest steppe altitudinal belts in the East Sayan Mountains, where anthropogenic influence is the least pronounced. It was founded in 1925, in 15 km southward of Krasnoyarsk city, on north-west spurs of the Western Sayan Mountains which adjoin closely to right bank of the Yenisei River bordering upon the Middle Siberian Plateau. Reserve's physiography is characterized by low mountain and middle mountain erosion-accumulation relief with absolute heights of 200-800 m. Low mountain part (200-500 m) is composed of loose sedimentary rocks. In the middle mountain part of the reserve (500-800 m) there are outcrops of sienite rocks of various stages of destruction. Vegetation and soils of the reserve change in agreement with absolute heights and climate. In low mountains spread the subtaiga and forest-steppe leaved-light needle forests on mountain grey forest soils (8.1 % of reserve territory); the middle mountain part is occupied by the light needle and dark needle taiga forests on mountain podzol soils (91.9 % of the area). As the basement for vegetation map we took the map of forest environments of reserve by T. N. Butorina compiled according to materials of land forest management of 1977 year. As the result of forest management near 2000 biogeocoenoses were distinguished. The type of biogeocoenosis, according to V. N. Sukachev, is selected as mapping unit. Biogeocoenoses were united into 70 groups of forest types, representing 21 series of associations which are reflected in the map legend (Fig. 1). The main goal of map is to show the territorial distribution of groups and series of types of biogeocoenoses in the main structural units - altitudinal be't complexes (ВПК) which are equivalents of altitudinal vegetation belts. For designation of forest tree species various kinds of hatches were used. Formations of Siberian pine, larch, pine, fir, spruce, birch and aspen forests are shown on the map. Within the ВПК arabic numerals show the groups of types of biogeocoenoses (forest types), united into series according to similarity of dominants in ground layer. The mountain-taiga ВПК includes the following series and groups of types of biogeocoenoses: dwarf-shrub-moss (1-4); sedge-moss (5-9); bilberry-low herb-moss (10-14); tall herb-sedge (15-19); tall herb-wood sour-moss (20-26); tall herb-small reed (27-32). The subtaiga-forest steppe ВГ1К embraces: shrub steppificated (33-34); shrub-forb steppificated (35-38): sedge- bilberry (39-40); sedge-forb (41-43); bracken (44); small reed-forb (45); bilberrv-forb- sedge (46, 47); forb-tall herb (48-51); tall herb (52-55); wet tall herb-small reed (56-59); fern-tall herb (60). Intrazonal phytocoenoses: brook tall herb (61-63); brook shrub (64-68); lichen-moss (69); cowberry (70). In 1999-2000 on the base of topographic map in a scale 1 : 25 000, map of forest environments, transformed by us into vegetation map of the reserve, M. J . Erunova and I. S. Scerbinina worked out an electronic variant. For this project the instrumental facilities of GIS, GeoDraw and GeoGraph (CGI IG RAS, Moscow) and programs of Geophyt were used.

OCCURRENCE OF THE RISKS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF RESPIRATORY DISEASES IN CHILDREN EXPOSED TO THE CHEMICAL FACTORS OF THE EXPOSURE OF ALUMINA REFINERY- ASSOCIATED BUSINESS ACTIVITY

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Zemlianova ◽  
I.V. Tikhonova
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Tract ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
Inflammatory Diseases ◽  
Allergic Inflammation ◽  
Respiratory Morbidity ◽  
Upper Respiratory Tract ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Chemical Factors ◽  
Chronic Lymphoproliferative Diseases

Alumina refineries are among the leading sources of atmospheric air pollution with a wide range of pollutants hazardous to human respiratory organs. It is relevant to study and evaluate the occurrence of the risks for development of respiratory diseases in children living in the area affected by the emission components of an alumina refinery. We assessed air quality of the area under observation and comparison according to monitoring observations, risk of non-carcinogenic effects from the respiratory organs. The content of chemicals in the blood and urine adequate to risk factors was quantified. The structure of individual groups of respiratory diseases was analyzed. The causal relationships of violations of laboratory parameters with an increased content of chemicals in biological media were evaluated. It was found that an aerogenic exposure of chemical pollutants is formed on the territory with the production of metallurgical alumina. It determines the risk for development of respiratory diseases, exceeding an acceptable level up to 49.9 times. In the exposed children, the content of manganese, chromium, nickel, copper, xylenes, formaldehyde and aluminum, fluoride ion in the urine was increased to 4.2 times in relation to the indices in the comparison group. A high level of additional respiratory morbidity(1.8 times) was revealed. Chronic lymphoproliferative diseases of the nasopharynx and inflammatory diseases of the upper respiratory tract (up to 6.6 times more often), inflammatory diseases with a predominance of the mechanism of allergic inflammation ( up to 2.1 times more often)are more often detected in the framework of the respiratory diseases. Negative effects on the part of the respiratory system in the form of activation of antioxidant processes, the development of an inflammatory reaction, local, general and specific sensitization of the respiratory tract were established. It confirms the occurrence of the risks for the development of respiratory diseases in children in the exposure area of the chemical factors of alumina refinery-associated economic activity.

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