Populations of black mangroves (Avicennia sp.) are hypothesized to expand their latitudinal range with global climate change in the 21st century, induced by a reduction in the frequency and severity of coastal freezes, which are known to limit mangrove colony extent and individual tree size, as well as an overall warmer climate. The Gulf of Mexico is located at the northward limit of black mangrove habitat and is therefore a prime candidate for population expansion with global warming. This expansion may come at the expense of existing Gulf coastal saline wetlands that are dominantly Spartina spp. marsh grasses. The present study was conducted to focus, not on the extent to date of this replacement, but to examine the potential implications of a marsh to mangrove transition in Gulf wetlands, specifically 1) resistance to accelerating eustatic sea level rise (ESLR) rates, 2) wetland resistance to wave attack in large storms (increased cyclonic storm frequency/intensity is predicted with future climate warming), and 3) organic carbon sequestration and wetland soil geochemistry. Field sites of adjacent and intergrown Avicennia mangrove and Spartina marsh populations in similar geomorphological setting were selected in back-barrier areas near Port Aransas and Galveston, TX (two sites each) as part of a larger-scale planned study of the full latitudinal transition of the western Gulf funded by the National Institute for Climate Change Research (U.S. Department of Energy). The reconnaissance conducted for site surveys show that black mangrove populations in this part of Texas are clustered near inlet areas, suggesting seed transport vectors are a major control on colony establishment, and likely, on the potential rapidity of wetland habitat replacement. Resistance to ESLR was tested by 1) creating high-accuracy (±1 cm) elevation maps over ~5,000 m² areas of adjacent mangrove and marsh areas, and 2) measuring mineral and organic matter accumulation rates (Pb/Cs radiotracer geochronology, loss on ignition) from auger cores. Elevation surveys in Port Aransas indicate mangrove vegetated areas are 4 cm higher in elevation than surrounding marsh on an average regional scale, and 1 to 2 cm higher at the individual mangrove scale: at the Galveston sites, any trend is complicated by the area's pre-existing geomorphology and the relative youth of the mangrove colonies. ¹³⁷Cs accumulation rates and loss on ignition data indicate that mineral trapping is 4.1 times higher and sediment organics are 1.7 times lower in mangroves at Port Aransas; no such definable trends exist at the Galveston sites or in calculated ²¹⁰Pb sediment accumulation rates. This additional mineral particle trapping in mangroves does not differ in grain size character from marsh mineral accumulation. Elevation change may also be effected by root volume displacement: live root weight measurements in the rooted horizon (~0 to 20 cm depth) are consistently higher in mangrove cores from Port Aransas and the site at the west end of Galveston Island. Port Aransas porosities are lower in mangrove rooted horizons, with a corresponding increase in sediment strength (measured by shear vane in the cores), suggesting mangrove intervals may be more resistant to wave-induced erosion during storm events. Port Aransas mangroves exhibit higher pore water redox potentials and salinities over entire core depths and depressed pH over rooted intervals, suggesting a distinct diagenetic environment exists relative to marsh sites. Increased salinities and higher redox potentials may be a function of the rooting network, which introduces oxygen into the sediment and focuses evapo-transpiration and salt exclusion within this zone: this may prove advantageous when competing with marsh grasses by elevating salinities to levels that are toxic for Spartina. Trends observed in the more mature systems of Port Aransas are generally absent at the Galveston sites, suggesting the youth and physically shorter stature of these systems means they have not yet established a unique sediment signature. / text

Baigiamojo darbo tikslas - nustatyti Baltijos jūros kranto pokyčius, atsiradusius 2005–2009 metais. Tyrimo objektas – penkiolikos kilometrų ilgio Baltijos jūros kranto linijos ruoţas ties Palanga. Tyrimo metodas – empirinis. Kranto linjos pokyčiams nustatyti taikyta 2005 ir 2009 metų ortofotografiniuose ţemėlapiuose M 1: 10 000 išmatuotos koordinatės. Koordinatės išmatuotos kas dvidešimt metrų. Iš viso 751 koordinatė. Atlikta matematinė statistinė išmatuotų kranto linijos pokyčių analizė. Nustatyta, kad 2005–2009 m. kranto linijos padėtis pakito nuo -36 m. iki +27 m. Akumuliacijos arealų plotai apie 15 % didesni uţ eroduojamus plotus. Šiaurinėje tyrinėtos atkarpos pusėje vyrauja eroziniai procesai, o pietinėje – akumuliaciniai. Mokslinis naujumas – nustatyti Baltijos jūros kranto linijos ties Palanga kaitos bendrieji dėsningumai 2005 – 2009 metais. / The objective of the final thesis is to determine changes of the Baltic Sea shore during the period between 2005 and 2009. The research object - 15 kilometers long strip of the Baltic Sea shore beside Palanga. The research method - empirical. Coordinates measured in orthographic maps (scale 1: 10 000) of 2005 and 2009 were applied when determining the changes of the shore strip. The coordinates were measured every 20 meters. There is a 751 coordinate in total. Mathematical statistics analysis of the measured shore strip was performed. It was determined that during the period between 2005 and 2009 the position of the shore strip altered from -36 meters to +27 meters. Cumulative habitat areas are 15% larger than the erodated areas. Erosive processes dominate on the Northern side of the analyzed strip and cumulative processes on the Southern side. The novelty of the research - overall features of the Baltic Sea shore strip alteration beside Palanga during the period of 2005 and 2009 were determined.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Submitted by Claudia Rocha (claudia.rocha@udesc.br) on 2018-02-09T12:25:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 PGCA15MA192.pdf: 1575532 bytes, checksum: 64b6fd74ab7e674270e1107fbb51b295 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-09T12:25:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PGCA15MA192.pdf: 1575532 bytes, checksum: 64b6fd74ab7e674270e1107fbb51b295 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-15 / UNIEDU / FUMDES / The pastures regrowth is a continuous event-dependent and leaf area, as this characteristic affects the growth processes. Accordingly, removal of the leaf area (frequency and magnitude) over a period occupancy must provide forage accumulation effects. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of defoliation on concomitant herbage accumulation of grass-Kikuyu swards (Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. Ex. Chiov.) Under intermittent stocking, testing the hypothesis that there is a reduction in herbage accumulation during the lowering of pastures. The objective of Experiment II was to evaluate the effect of removing leaves fully expanded at the stretching expanding leaves testing the hypothesis that the leaf elongation expanding terminates immediately when all fully expanded leaves are defoliated in oat pastures (Avena strigosa). Treatments consisted of four proportions of defoliation (40, 50, 60 and 70% relative to the initial height) combined at the same height in pre-grazing (20 cm). The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with three replications. Each paddock was busy for heifers and dry cows of the Dutch race in the form of daily strip (2), with periods of occupation of 24 hours and supply of 3 kg DM / 100 kg BW above the desired residue. The rates of growth processes and herbage accumulation were determined by tillers technique marked (20 tillers / track), and the field of readings taken at four moments during the occupation (08:00, 12:00, 18:00, 8:00). In addition, 10 tillers / track were excluded from grazing (using exclusion cages) and evaluated in their morphogenetic rhythms, for the derivation of some data. The variables studied were: elongation rate; proportion of fully expanded leaves and leafless expansion; forage accumulation rate. The effects (linear, quadratic and cubic) of defoliation severity were assessed with the help of orthogonal polynomial contrasts generated by the IML procedure of SAS statistical package for treatments not equidistant. The significance level was 5%. The severity of defoliation targets were not achieved effectively, but a contrast between them was established (40, 46,54% of initial height) having some effect on the viable analyzed (P <0.05). It was found that there was a linear effect between the proportion of leaf area index removed and elongation of leaf blades a day and that consequently the greater leaf area removal negatively affect forage accumulation of pickets with the presence of animals. The percentage of leaf blades bare in treatments with higher proportion kneeling directly affected forage accumulation rate per day. It was concluded that the main determinant that affects the forage accumulation during the occupation period is the rate of IAF removed, and that the occupation reduces forage accumulation. Already with the second experiment it concluded that with the removal of all tiller leaves the fully expanded leaf elongation reduces instantly expanding leaves / A rebrotação de pastos é um evento contínuo e dependente da área foliar, uma vez que tal característica influencia os processos de crescimento de plantas forrageiras. A remoção da área foliar (frequência e magnitude) verificada durante um período de ocupação deve apresentar efeitos no acúmulo de forragem. Sendo assim, o objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da desfolhação no concomitante acúmulo de forragem em pastos de capim-quicuiu (Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. Ex. Chiov.) sob lotação intermitente (experimento I). Adicionalmente, um ensaio foi realizado para testar o efeito da remoção de folhas totalmente expandidas no alongamento de folhas em expansão (experimento II). Os tratamentos do experimento I consistiram de quatro proporções de desfolhação (40, 50, 60 e 70% em relação à altura inicial) combinadas a uma mesma altura em pré-pastejo (20 cm). Os tratamentos do experimento II basearam-se na desfolhação (10 perfilhos) ou não (10 perfilhos) de todas as folhas totalmente expandidas do perfilho. O delineamento experimental foi de blocos completos casualisados com três repetições. Cada piquete foi ocupado por novilhas e vacas secas da raça Holandês na forma de faixa diária (2), com períodos de ocupação de 24 horas e oferta de 3 kg de MS/100 kg PV acima do resíduo pretendido para o experimento I. As taxas dos processos de crescimento e acúmulo de forragem foram determinadas através da técnica de perfilhos marcados, sendo as leituras de campo realizadas em quatro momentos durante a ocupação (08:00, 12:00, 18:00, 08:00). Adicionalmente, 10 perfilhos/faixa foram excluídos do pastejo (com o uso de gaiolas de exclusão) e avaliados em seus ritmos morfogênicos, para a derivação de alguns dados. As variáveis estudadas foram: taxa de alongamento; proporção de folhas totalmente expandidas e em expansão desfolhadas; taxa de acúmulo de forragem. Os efeitos (linear, quadrático e cúbico) da severidade de desfolhação foram avaliados com o auxílio de contrastes de polinômios ortogonais gerado pelo procedimento IML do pacote estatístico SAS para tratamentos não equidistantes. O nível designificância foi de 5%. As metas de severidade de desfolhação não foram efetivamente alcançadas, mas um contraste entre elas foi criado (40, 46, 48, 54% da altura inicial), apresentando efeito sobre a proporção de folhas em expansão e expandidas desfolhadas (P < 0,05). As variáveis de crescimento e produção não responderam significativamente (P > 0,05) às severidades de desfolhação alcançadas, mas variaram de acordo com a proporção do IAF removido (P < 0,05). Com o aumento da proporção de IAF removido, houve uma redução no alongamento de lâminas foliares e no acúmulo de forragem. No experimento II foi verificado que com a remoção de todas as folhas expandidas, houve uma redução na taxa de alongamento foliar nos primeiros dois dias após sua remoção. É possível concluir com o experimento I que o principal determinante que compromete o acúmulo de forragem durante o período de ocupação é a porcentagem do IAF removido, e que a ocupação reduz o acúmulo de forragem. Já com o experimento II foi possível concluir que com a remoção de todas as folhas completamente expandidas dos perfilhos o alongamento de lâmina foliar de folhas em expansão reduz instantaneamente

Diese Arbeit ist eine Sammlung von Studien, welche sowohl die makro-, als auch die mikroökonomischen Aspekte und Charakteristika von Rücküberweisungen pakistanischer Migranten in ihr Heimatland analysieren, sowie deren ökonomische Auswirkungen auf das Konsumverhalten und die Vermögensbildung der Empfängerhaushalte. Es zeigt sich, dass internationale Überweisungen im Vergleich zu anderen finanziellen Mittelflüssen eine stabile und stabilisierende Quelle für Devisen darstellen. Des Weiteren weisen sie mit Blick auf die heimische Wirtschaft ein antizyklisches Verhalten auf, während ihr Verhalten mit Blick auf die Wirtschaft des Gastlandes als azyklisch beschrieben werden kann.  Die Überweisungsströme werden maßgeblich von ihren Transaktionskosten beeinflusst, so dass Migranten in Zeiten hoher Transaktionskosten Rücküberweisungen ins Heimatland entweder einstellen oder informelle Kanäle zum Überweisen nutzen. Im Rahmen dieser Studie stellt sich außerdem heraus, dass Rücküberweisungen als hauptsächlich kurzfristige Einnahmequelle betrachtet werden. Aufgrund dessen werden die Zuflüsse oftmals in die Förderung von Humankapital investiert, wobei dieser Effekt stark abhängig vom Einkommensniveau des Empfängeraushalts ist.  Ferner führen internationale Überweisungen zu einem erheblichen Anstieg des Haushaltsvermögens, wohingegen Inlandsübweisungen keine signifikanten Vermögensänderungen mit sich bringen. Überdies ermöglichen internationale Rücküberweisungen den Empfängerhaushalten das Aufstocken vorsorglicher Ersparnisse.

The rush for land has escalated the last decade, with Sub-Saharan Africa as the most targeted region. Governments, local elites and foreign corporations are increasingly taking control over large areas of agricultural lands with the aim of creating higher financial returns and achieve food security. This phenomenon, known as land grabbing, has received a lot of attention worldwide, not least from non-governmental organizations and scholars stressing the negative impacts on rural farmers and families. Yet, several international organizations as well as many African governments keep advocating the positive effects that land grabbing can have on poverty reduction and economic growth. The dominating capitalist and neoliberal view on development, focusing largely on the economic part, undermines the social and environmental impacts that these investments bring. The purpose of this comparative study is therefore to examine, analyze and compare these impacts in Ghana and Ethiopia, two countries heavily affected by land grabbing. This is done through the lens of political ecology, where concepts such as environmental justice, accumulation by dispossession and sustainable rural livelihoods will be of particular significance. Based on a systematic literature review, the results show that land grabbing projects, said to aim at stimulating economic and social development, have resulted in dispossessions, injustices and environmental conflicts wherein indigenous communities have been deeply affected. Their traditional livelihoods, based mainly on cultivation, fishing, gathering and hunting, have been threatened by several impacts from the land grabs. These include loss of land, declined access to resources, damaged ecosystems, deforestation and lack of alternative ways to maintain food security.

The diploma thesis focuses on problematics connected to the flood and individual kinds of anti-flooding measures in agriculturally used landscape. Theoretical part of the thesis is devoted to the general description of flood problematic. It contains basic terms connected with floods, mentions causes and flood categories, and also the factors that influence it's progress. Thesis includes precautions and solutions of the anti-flood protection. In the practical part of the thesis is characterised chosen region with flood risk. Analysis of the present state includes field research. As a result of the discovered risks have been selected appropriate anti-flood measures for stated location.

La maîtrise de la contamination générée par temps de pluie en milieu urbain constitue un enjeu environnemental important pour limiter la dégradation des milieux aquatiques superficiels. Les outils de modélisation traditionnelle utilisés pour estimer les flux de polluants dans les eaux de ruissellement sont jugés insuffisants dans leur capacité à reproduire les dynamiques des polluants à l’exutoire. Cela est souvent lié au manque de connaissances précises sur les processus en jeu d’une part, et d’autre part aux difficultés d’acquérir des bases de données représentatives et en continu sur des sites réels. Cette thèse a donc pour objectif d’améliorer l’état de la modélisation de la qualité. Elle vise en particulier le développement d’un outil de modélisation conceptuelle de la qualité des eaux de ruissellement à l’échelle du quartier, à partir d’une compréhension approfondie des processus d'accumulation et de lessivage. La simulation des pollutogrammes de matières en suspension (MES) à l’avaloir du bassin versant routier avec les modèles conceptuels d’accumulation-lessivage montre la faible performance des modèles pour estimer les dynamiques d’émissions de MES pour des longues périodes ; la variabilité du processus d’accumulation est le responsable principal de l’inadéquation de ces modèles. L’évaluation de la contribution des retombées atmosphériques sèches à la contamination des eaux de ruissellement en hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques (HAPs) et métaux montrent que l’atmosphère ne joue qu’un rôle très mineur dans la contamination des eaux de ruissellement par ces substances. Ainsi le couplage des modèles atmosphériques, qui ne tiennent pas compte des émissions directes liées au trafic, avec les modèles de qualité de l’eau, ne semble pas très pertinent dans l’objectif d’améliorer la prédiction de la contamination des eaux pluviales à l’exutoire. L’investigation à la micro-échelle du mécanisme de lessivage montre que les particules fines sont les plus susceptibles d’être mobilisées par le ruissellement. Cette étude a été menée en utilisant un simulateur de pluie innovant qui présente les avantages d’être mobile et léger, et la possibilité d’avoir des enregistrements en ligne du débit et de la turbidité. Les nouvelles connaissances acquises sur les processus soulignent une grande variabilité qui remet en cause l'intérêt de leur modélisation avec des approches déterministes. Ces connaissances sont intégrées à l’échelle du quartier pour développer un outil de modélisation conceptuelle basé sur une approche stochastique d'estimation de la concentration moyenne de MES et des paramètres de qualité. Le modèle développé est intégré dans le modèle hydrologique URBS. L’application de ce modèle permet d’intégrer la variabilité spatiale et temporelle des émissions en distinguant les contributions de chaque occupation du sol. Les résultats sont prometteurs en termes d’estimation des niveaux de concentration de MES à l’exutoire du bassin versant et de réplication du comportement général de la dynamique de MES, cependant des améliorations peuvent être envisagés pour consolider l’approche et améliorer ses prédictions. La comparaison de ce modèle avec des approches de modélisation empirique globale, conceptuelle semi-distribuée et physique distribuée, montre qu’en termes de pouvoir prédictif et de fiabilité, l’approche URBS-stochastique en parallèle avec l’approche de modélisation physique distribuée sont les plus performantes. En termes de simplicité d’implémentation et d’ajustement entre les observations et les simulations, les approches de modélisation empirique globale et conceptuelle semi-distribuée sont les plus puissantes. A l’issue de cette comparaison, il est clair qu’il n’existe pas un modèle parfait qui couvre toutes les caractéristiques de la modélisation de la qualité des eaux de ruissellement. Le choix de l’approche de modélisation la plus appropriée doit se faire en fonction des objectifs attendus par le modélisateur / Urban runoff contamination is recognized as a major source of the deterioration of the quality of surface water. Commonly used stormwater quality models have poor performance in predicting the pollutant dynamics at the surface outlet, mainly due to the lack of precise knowledge on the governing processes and the difficulties of acquiring representative and continuous databases on real sites. The main purpose of this Ph.D. thesis is to improve the state of stormwater quality modeling. It aims in particular to develop a conceptual modeling tool for stormwater quality prediction at the scale of a city district catchment, based on a deep understanding of the build-up and the wash-off. The application of commonly used stormwater build-up/wash-off models to simulate the dynamics of total suspended solids (TSS) at the outlet of the road catchment suggests that the models poorly replicate the temporal variability of the TSS concentrations unless short periods are considered. The unpredictable nature of the accumulation is largely responsible for the model failure. The evaluation of the contribution of atmospheric dry deposition to stormwater loads for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metals shows that atmospheric deposition is not a major source of contaminants in stormwater runoff. Thus, linking the air and water compartment in a modeling chain to have more accurate estimates of pollutant loads in stormwater runoff may not be relevant unless the direct traffic emissions are accounted for. The investigation of the wash-off process on elementary surfaces shows that the fine particles are the most likely to be mobilized and transported during a rainfall event. Stormwater samples were collected for this study using an innovative rainfall simulator that allows continuous, on-site monitoring of instantaneous flow and turbidity measurements and that can be easily transported and used on real sites. The new knowledge acquired on the build-up and wash-off processes underlines the great variability of these processes and calls into question their modeling with deterministic approaches. Hence, this knowledge is incorporated into developing a new conceptual stormwater quality model based on the stochastic drawing of event mean concentrations (EMC) of TSS and water quality parameters. The model is integrated within the hydrological model URBS. The application of this approach accounts for the spatial and temporal variability of pollutant emissions by distinguishing the contributions of each land use separately. The obtained results are promising in terms of estimating the concentration levels of TSS at the outlet of the city district catchment and replicating the general behavior of the TSS dynamics. However, improvements can be envisaged to consolidate the approach and improve its predictions. Comparison of this model with global empirical, semi-distributed conceptual and distributed physical modeling approaches shows that in terms of predictive power and stability, the stochastic-URBS and the physically distributed approaches are the most efficient. However, in terms of ease of implementation and best fit between observations and simulations, the global empirical and semi-distributed conceptual modeling approaches are the most powerful. This comparison shows that the perfect model that covers all aspects of stormwater quality modeling does not exist. The choice of the most appropriate modeling approach should mainly be driven by modeling objectives