The Field Station

Author(s):  
Pierre Charles-Dominique
Keyword(s):  
Hydrobiologia ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 290 (1-3) ◽  
pp. ix-x ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Maitland ◽  
James D. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2045
Author(s):  
Anaí Caparó Bellido ◽  
Bradley C. Rundquist

Snow cover is an important variable in both climatological and hydrological studies because of its relationship to environmental energy and mass flux. However, variability in snow cover can confound satellite-based efforts to monitor vegetation phenology. This research explores the utility of the PhenoCam Network cameras to estimate Fractional Snow Cover (FSC) in grassland. The goal is to operationalize FSC estimates from PhenoCams to inform and improve the satellite-based determination of phenological metrics. The study site is the Oakville Prairie Biological Field Station, located near Grand Forks, North Dakota. We developed a semi-automated process to estimate FSC from PhenoCam images through Python coding. Compared with previous research employing RGB images only, our use of the monochrome RGB + NIR (near-infrared) reduced pixel misclassification and increased accuracy. The results had an average RMSE of less than 8% FSC compared to visual estimates. Our pixel-based accuracy assessment showed that the overall accuracy of the images selected for validation was 92%. This is a promising outcome, although not every PhenoCam Network system has NIR capability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 194008292110147
Author(s):  
Dipto Sarkar ◽  
Colin A. Chapman

The term ‘smart forest’ is not yet common, but the proliferation of sensors, algorithms, and technocentric thinking in conservation, as in most other aspects of our lives, suggests we are at the brink of this evolution. While there has been some critical discussion about the value of using smart technology in conservation, a holistic discussion about the broader technological, social, and economic interactions involved with using big data, sensors, artificial intelligence, and global corporations is largely missing. Here, we explore the pitfalls that are useful to consider as forests are gradually converted to technological sites of data production for optimized biodiversity conservation and are consequently incorporated in the digital economy. We consider who are the enablers of the technologically enhanced forests and how the gradual operationalization of smart forests will impact the traditional stakeholders of conservation. We also look at the implications of carpeting forests with sensors and the type of questions that will be encouraged. To contextualize our arguments, we provide examples from our work in Kibale National Park, Uganda which hosts the one of the longest continuously running research field station in Africa.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 824
Author(s):  
Egor Dyukarev ◽  
Evgeny Zarov ◽  
Pavel Alekseychik ◽  
Jelmer Nijp ◽  
Nina Filippova ◽  
...  

The peatlands of the West Siberian Lowlands, comprising the largest pristine peatland area of the world, have not previously been covered by continuous measurement and monitoring programs. The response of peatlands to climate change occurs over several decades. This paper summarizes the results of peatland carbon balance studies collected over ten years at the Mukhrino field station (Mukhrino FS, MFS) operating in the Middle Taiga Zone of Western Siberia. A multiscale approach was applied for the investigations of peatland carbon cycling. Carbon dioxide fluxes at the local scale studied using the chamber method showed net accumulation with rates from 110, to 57.8 gC m−2 at the Sphagnum hollow site. Net CO2 fluxes at the pine-dwarf shrubs-Sphagnum ridge varied from negative (−32.1 gC m−2 in 2019) to positive (13.4 gC m−2 in 2017). The cumulative May-August net ecosystem exchange (NEE) from eddy-covariance (EC) measurements at the ecosystem scale was −202 gC m−2 in 2015, due to the impact of photosynthesis of pine trees which was not registered by the chamber method. The net annual accumulation of carbon in the live part of mosses was estimated at 24–190 gC m−2 depending on the Sphagnum moss species. Long-term carbon accumulation rates obtained by radiocarbon analysis ranged from 28.5 to 57.2 gC m−2 yr−1, with local extremes of up to 176.2 gC m−2 yr−1. The obtained estimates of various carbon fluxes using EC and chamber methods, the accounting for Sphagnum growth and decomposition, and long-term peat accumulation provided information about the functioning of the peatland ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales. Multiscale carbon flux monitoring reveals useful new information for forecasting the response of northern peatland carbon cycles to climatic changes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 183-185 ◽  
pp. 1190-1194
Author(s):  
Jun Ke Zhang ◽  
Qing Ju Hao ◽  
Chang Sheng Jiang ◽  
Yan Wu

The impact of conservation tillage practices on carbon sequestration has been of great interest in recent years. This experiment analyzed the organic carbon status of soils sampled at depth increments from 0 to 60 cm after 20 years in a purple paddy soil. The tillage experiment was established in the Key Field Station for Monitoring of Eco-Environment of Purple Soil of the Ministry of Agriculture of China, located in the farm of Southwest University (30°26′N, 106°26′E), Chongqing. In this paper, five tillage treatments including conventional tillage with rice only system (DP), conventional tillage with rotation of rice and rape system (SL), no-till and ridge culture with rotation of rice and rape system (LM), no-till and plain culture with rotation of rice and rape system (XM) and tillage and ridge culture with rotation of rice and rape system (LF) were selected as research objectives to measure SOC storage and stratification ratio of SOC (CSR). The SOC storage under different tillage systems was calculated based on an equivalent soil mass. The CSR can be used as an indicator of soil quality because surface organic matter is essential to erosion control, water infiltration, and the conservation of nutrients. Results showed that in soil under no-till SOC was concentrated near the surface, while in tilled soil SOC decreased equably with the increase of soil depth. The difference of SOC contents between the five tillage systems was the largest in the top soil and the lowest in the bottom soil. The order of SOC storage was LM (158.52 Mg C•ha-1) >DP (106.74 Mg C•ha-1) >XM (100.11 Mg C•ha-1) >LF (93.11 Mg C•ha-1) >SL (88.59 Mg C•ha-1), LM treatment was significantly higher than the other treatments. The CSR of 0-10/50-60 cm was 2.65, 2.70 and 2.14 under LM, XM and LF treatments, while 1.54 and 1.92 under DP and SL treatments. We considered CSR>2 indicate an improvement in soil quality produced by changing from tillage to no-tillage, as well as changing from plane to ridge. Overall, long-term LM treatment is a valid strategy for increasing SOC storage and improving soil quality in a purple paddy soil in Southwest China.


Author(s):  
D. W. Verwoerd ◽  
W. J. H. Andrews

WHAndrews qualified as a veterinarian in London in 1908 and was recruited soon after, in 1909, by Sir Arnold Theiler to join the staff of the newly established veterinary laboratory at Onderstepoort. After initial studies on the treatment of trypanosomosis and on snake venoms he was deployed by Theiler in 1911 to start research on lamsiekte (botulism)at a field station on the farm Kaffraria near Christiana, where he met and married his wife Doris. After a stint as Captain in the SA Veterinary Corps during World War I he succeeded D T Mitchell as head of the Allerton Laboratory in 1918, where he excelled in research on toxic plants, inter alia identifying Matricaria nigellaefolia as the cause of staggers in cattle.Whenthe Faculty ofVeterinary Science was established in 1920 he was appointed as the first Professor of Physiology. After the graduation of the first class in 1924, and due to health problems, he returned to the UK, first to the Royal Veterinary College and then to the Weybridge Veterinary Laboratories of which he became Director in 1927.After his retirement in 1947 he returned to South Africa as a guest worker at Onderstepoort where he again became involved in teaching physiologywhenProf. Quin unexpectedly died in 1950. Andrews died in Pretoria in 1953 and was buried in the Rebecca Street Cemetery.


1953 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 430 ◽  
Author(s):  
RH Hayman

Occasions of unduly heavy and prolonged rainfall during the period April 1946 – July 1951 resulted in the occurrence of fleece-rot in sheep of the Field Station flock in each of the six years. Data obtained from periodic examinations of the flock have been related to the nature of climatic conditions associated with outbreaks of the disease. They show that when rain occurs in falls of sufficient intensity and frequency to wet sheep to the skin for a period of a week or more, fleece-rot may be expected to develop in some of them. The longer the period for which the sheep are kept wet, the greater the number in a flock which will be affected. Fleece-rot was experimentally induced in four out of five Merino sheep known to be susceptible to the condition, whereas five animals known to be resistant were unaffected by the same treatment. Microscopic examination of skin sections taken from naturally occurring cases revealed the presence of a dermatitis. A similar condition was observed in skin sections from the animals in which fleece-rot was experimentally induced. Young sheep were found to be more susceptible than old. There was no association between degree of wrinkling and susceptibility or between 'grip' and susceptibility. When subjectively-appraised attributes of the fleece were related to the occurrence of fleece-rot, confusing results were obtained. However, when measured fleece data, obtained from a group of Merino sheep which had been under observation for four consecutive years, were considered, it was found that those for clean-scoured yield, wax and suint ratio, and density of fibre population per unit area of skin surface, were related to resistance or susceptibility. Nevertheless, a number of animals were found which were susceptible or resistant to the disease despite the nature of their fleece attributes. Differences in susceptibility were found between families of Merino sheep. These are associated with between-family differences for the fleece attributes found to be important in fleece-rot reaction.


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