The rate of dust fallout was monitored during a period from August 2009 to July 2011 in protected (closed) and non-protected/open (unenclosed) areas in the northern desert of Kuwait. The dust fallout rates on degraded...The rate of dust fallout was monitored during a period from August 2009 to July 2011 in protected (closed) and non-protected/open (unenclosed) areas in the northern desert of Kuwait. The dust fallout rates on degraded and protected sites were on average 18.8 and 44.1 g·m-2·month-1, respectively. Higher rate of dust fallout in protected area may be attributed to biologic factors that are responsible for relative abundance of fine-grained sediment accumulations (Mostly silty sand). Wind deflation of fine grained sediment fractions and development of coarse-grained surface lag deposits in degraded area may be accountable for the reduction of its potentiality for suspended dust. The study indicates the importance of the vegetation cover in regulating sediment availability for atmospheric dust emission.展开更多
Mountain protected areas are characterized by high biodiversity,which makes it a great challenge for managers to maintain a balance between their use and the stability of natural ecosystems.Maintaining that balance is...Mountain protected areas are characterized by high biodiversity,which makes it a great challenge for managers to maintain a balance between their use and the stability of natural ecosystems.Maintaining that balance is particularly difficult in areas with high tourism pressure.The expected volume of tourist traffic should be considered at the planning stage of the tourist infrastructure development process.Insufficient capacity of tourist infrastructure can lead to environmental degradation,which is hard,or at times impossible,to repair.In our research,we identified patterns of tourist footpath and road functioning in an environmentally protected area with high volumes of tourist traffic.Data from geomorphologic mapping was analyzed in order to identify tourist footpath and road structures in the Tatra National Park(TNP).Fieldwork was conducted in several stages between 1995 and 2019.Orthophotomaps from the years 1977,2009,2017 and 2019 were used to identify and compare degraded zones along selected tourist footpaths.Degraded zones were defined as areas surrounding a footpath or tourist road with a mean width larger than or equal to 10 meters,with heavily damaged or completely removed vegetation and exposed,weathered cover,where geomorphic processes that would not take place under normal conditions are readily observable.The examined tourist footpaths and roads vary in terms of their morphometric parameters.Research has shown important differences between mean and maximum footpath width as well as maximum incision depth for the forest zone versus the subalpine and alpine zones.A lack of differences in these parameters was noted between the alpine and subalpine zones.Research has shown that an increase in the surface area of degraded zones found adjacent to tourist footpaths occurred in all the studied geo-ecological zones in the study period.However,the largest increase occurred atop wide ridgelines found in the alpine zone.Degraded zones may be an indication of exceeding the tourist carrying capacity of a mountai展开更多
Ecosystem degradation occurs in parallel with desertification process in sandy areas of North China. The vast sandy areas in North China are characterized with flexible environments and fragile ecosystems as well as i...Ecosystem degradation occurs in parallel with desertification process in sandy areas of North China. The vast sandy areas in North China are characterized with flexible environments and fragile ecosystems as well as intensive human activities. Due to the annual precipitation gradient decreases from east to west in North China, the whole sandy region falls into 3 main climatic zones: arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones.The ecosystems in each type of climatic zones are different in climatic conditions, human activities, cultural dimensions, vegetation covers, landscapes, and causes and processes of ecosystem degradation. Therefore, the most effective rehabilitation measures of degraded ecosystems in different types of the climatic zones are also different. For the arid sandy areas, vegetation rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems needs to be completely closed, assisting with artificial measures, such as plantation, irrigation or others. For semi-arid sandy areas, the effective measures of vegetation rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems include increasing of proportion of forests and rangelands and limitation of reclamation; reducing the carrying capacity of livestock on unit area of rangelands and growth of fodder plants; and plantation on the lowlands between sand dunes. For the dry sub-humid areas, the most effective measure is enclosure of degraded ecosystems combined with plantation, and in some cases, just stop uses by grazing or reclamation.展开更多
文摘The rate of dust fallout was monitored during a period from August 2009 to July 2011 in protected (closed) and non-protected/open (unenclosed) areas in the northern desert of Kuwait. The dust fallout rates on degraded and protected sites were on average 18.8 and 44.1 g·m-2·month-1, respectively. Higher rate of dust fallout in protected area may be attributed to biologic factors that are responsible for relative abundance of fine-grained sediment accumulations (Mostly silty sand). Wind deflation of fine grained sediment fractions and development of coarse-grained surface lag deposits in degraded area may be accountable for the reduction of its potentiality for suspended dust. The study indicates the importance of the vegetation cover in regulating sediment availability for atmospheric dust emission.
基金part of the project“Relief transformation of mountain areas as a result of anthropogenic activity”funded by the Pedagogical University of Krakow(Poland),project number BN.610-193/PBU/2020。
文摘Mountain protected areas are characterized by high biodiversity,which makes it a great challenge for managers to maintain a balance between their use and the stability of natural ecosystems.Maintaining that balance is particularly difficult in areas with high tourism pressure.The expected volume of tourist traffic should be considered at the planning stage of the tourist infrastructure development process.Insufficient capacity of tourist infrastructure can lead to environmental degradation,which is hard,or at times impossible,to repair.In our research,we identified patterns of tourist footpath and road functioning in an environmentally protected area with high volumes of tourist traffic.Data from geomorphologic mapping was analyzed in order to identify tourist footpath and road structures in the Tatra National Park(TNP).Fieldwork was conducted in several stages between 1995 and 2019.Orthophotomaps from the years 1977,2009,2017 and 2019 were used to identify and compare degraded zones along selected tourist footpaths.Degraded zones were defined as areas surrounding a footpath or tourist road with a mean width larger than or equal to 10 meters,with heavily damaged or completely removed vegetation and exposed,weathered cover,where geomorphic processes that would not take place under normal conditions are readily observable.The examined tourist footpaths and roads vary in terms of their morphometric parameters.Research has shown important differences between mean and maximum footpath width as well as maximum incision depth for the forest zone versus the subalpine and alpine zones.A lack of differences in these parameters was noted between the alpine and subalpine zones.Research has shown that an increase in the surface area of degraded zones found adjacent to tourist footpaths occurred in all the studied geo-ecological zones in the study period.However,the largest increase occurred atop wide ridgelines found in the alpine zone.Degraded zones may be an indication of exceeding the tourist carrying capacity of a mountai
文摘Ecosystem degradation occurs in parallel with desertification process in sandy areas of North China. The vast sandy areas in North China are characterized with flexible environments and fragile ecosystems as well as intensive human activities. Due to the annual precipitation gradient decreases from east to west in North China, the whole sandy region falls into 3 main climatic zones: arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones.The ecosystems in each type of climatic zones are different in climatic conditions, human activities, cultural dimensions, vegetation covers, landscapes, and causes and processes of ecosystem degradation. Therefore, the most effective rehabilitation measures of degraded ecosystems in different types of the climatic zones are also different. For the arid sandy areas, vegetation rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems needs to be completely closed, assisting with artificial measures, such as plantation, irrigation or others. For semi-arid sandy areas, the effective measures of vegetation rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems include increasing of proportion of forests and rangelands and limitation of reclamation; reducing the carrying capacity of livestock on unit area of rangelands and growth of fodder plants; and plantation on the lowlands between sand dunes. For the dry sub-humid areas, the most effective measure is enclosure of degraded ecosystems combined with plantation, and in some cases, just stop uses by grazing or reclamation.
