ID: 56692
Title: Identification of compatible shade tolerant fodder suited under Ailanthus excelsa
Author: R Ravi, M P Divya, T Mohan Raj and P Ratha Krishnan
Editor: Dr. V R R Singh
Year: 2011
Publisher: The Indian Forester, Vol 137, No 7, July 2011
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: Forestry
Keywords: Ailanthus excelsa, compatible, fodder, inter cropping and shade
Abstract: In order to select the compatible shade tolerant fodder crops under Ailanthus excelsa Roxb. studies were carried out at Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam (T.N) by planting four shade tolerant fodder crops viz., cowpea, sorghum, Desmanthus and Stylosanthus under fifteen year old Ailanthus trees. The observations revealed that the growth and yield of the test crops were reduced under intercropping when compared to pure cropping. Among the test crops, Desmanthus was most affected and fodder cowpea was the least affected. So fodder cowpea is identified as a best compatible fodder suited under Ailanthus excelsa.
Location: Kumta Field Station
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56691
Title: Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with medicinally important and natural dye yielding plant (Indigofera tinctoria, L.) from Kanyakumari district; Tamil Nadu
Author: S K Sundar, A Palavesam, V Mohan and B Parthipan
Editor: Dr. V R R Singh
Year: 2011
Publisher: The Indian Forester, Vol 137, No 7, July 2011
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: Forestry
Keywords: Arbuscular Mycorrhizla fungi, Glomus, Indigofera tinctoria, Diversity index, Dye yielding plant
Abstract: In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate the status of AM fungal association and the physico-chemical properties of the rhizosphere soil of an important medicinal platn. Indigofera tinctoria from three different localities of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. The physico-chemical analysis showed that the soil was slightly acidic to neutral pH. The nutrient status was found to be low to moderate in nature. The diversity of AM fungal species was also investigated and it was observed that the plant was positive for AM association and has distinct pattern of AM fungal diversity with 15 different AM fungal species of four genera in the three sites studied. Among them, the genus Glomus was the dominant one. Trap culture study was conducted to isolate AM fungal spores which showed presence of two additional AM fungal species. The species richness, diversity indices, colonization percentage and spore numbers of AM fungi were higher in Veli hills region followed by other two sites.
Location: Kumta Field Station
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56690
Title: Traditional knowledge of wild medicinal plants of Baria Forest Division, Dahod district, Gujarat state
Author: G Yadaiah, Parul Joshi and Bindiya Oza
Editor: Dr. V R R Singh
Year: 2011
Publisher: The Indian Forester, Vol 137, No 7, July 2011
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: Forestry
Keywords: Ayurveda, Medicinal plants, traditional knowledge, local uses
Abstract: Survey was conducted in randomnly selected 23 villages of the Baria forest division. A systematic questionnaire was prepared and based on it questions were asked to the tribals. From the survey, 94 species were identified which are bying used as folk medicine by the tribal people of Baria division. Some of these plants were commonly used in all the villages surveyed for same diseases, but there are some plants which are varied in their uses among villages. Most of the plants which are used as folk medicines by tribals of the Baria division are collected from the adjoining forest areas while some speciese are also found in the adjoining areas of the farm and households of tribals. The medicinal plants plants commonly used by tribal are Butea monosperm, Plumbago zylenica, Tridax procumbens, Leptadenia reticulata, Helicteres isora, Cissus quadrangularis etc.
Location: Kumta Field Station
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56689
Title: STream discharge analysis under different forest covers: A case study from paired microwatersheds of garhwal Himalaya, India
Author: Rajeev Kr. Tiwari, S P Rai, N Qazi and Bhishm Kumar
Editor: Dr. V R R Singh
Year: 2011
Publisher: The Indian Forester, Vol 137, No 7, July 2011
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: Forestry
Keywords: Forest Hydrology, Watershed, Rainfall, Discharge
Abstract: Two microwatersheds namely Arnigad and Bansigad near Mussoorie, equipped with hydrometeorological instruments were selected to monitor the impact of forest cover on stream discharge. Arnigad microwatershed is having dense forest cover and Bansigad is with degraded forest. Total rainfall received in the Arnigad and Bansigad micro watersheds are 2905 mm and 2958 mm, generating runoff of 1627 mm and 1932 mm respectively during the year 2008-09. During the monsoon period from June to September, 2008 both the watersheds received about 86-88% of the total rainfall while runoff percentage during June to September was 81% in Bansigad and 60% in Arnigad watershed. Total annual discharge of the stream under degraded forest cover was higher by 305 mm (19%). Total stream discharge under dense forest during the non monsoon period from October, 2008 to March, 2009 was higher by 50%.
Location: Kumta Field Station
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56688
Title: Biogas: Collecting, refining, feeding
Author: Torsten Thomas
Editor: Dr Volker Buddensiek
Year: 2010
Publisher: BVA Bielefelder Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, August 2010
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: The magazine for renewable energies - Sun & Wind Energy
Keywords: Biogas
Abstract: In the north of the Netherlands, an idea has been developed which is designed to reduce the costs of producing biomethane with the quality of natural gas. This offers the possibility to boost the fermentation of biogas for feeding into the gridl
Location: 232
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56687
Title: Alpha Ventus: No power without play
Author: Jorn Iken
Editor: Dr Volker Buddensiek
Year: 2010
Publisher: BVA Bielefelder Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, August 2010
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: The magazine for renewable energies - Sun & Wind Energy
Keywords: Multibrid turbines
Abstract: Alpha Ventus is a test field-so it is OK when sometimes things don ' t work properly. The 5 MW Multibrid turbines, however, have been put out of action by an inattentive design engineer.
Location: 232
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56686
Title: Canada: Energy policy up to the provinces
Author: Rebecca Raspe
Editor: Dr Volker Buddensiek
Year: 2010
Publisher: BVA Bielefelder Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, August 2010
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: The magazine for renewable energies - Sun & Wind Energy
Keywords: Wind power, solar energy
Abstract: While wind power utilization is following a dynamic development, the solar energy market in Canada so far is still small. But the provinces, above all Ontario, offer a number of successful promotional programs.
Location: 232
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56685
Title: PV in the Czech Republic
Author: Rebecca Raspe
Editor: Dr Volker Buddensiek
Year: 2010
Publisher: BVA Bielefelder Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, August 2010
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: The magazine for renewable energies - Sun & Wind Energy
Keywords: PV companies
Abstract: Offering favourable conditions, the Czech Republic has attracted an enormous interest by PV companies. However, the government and grid operators are now ambitious to stronger regulate the booming market and fend off speculators.
Location: 232
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56684
Title: Reprint of: Estimation of forest above-ground biomass using multi-parameter remote sensing data over a cold and arid area
Author: Xin Tian, Zhongbo Su, Erxue Chen, Zengyuan Li, Christian van der Tol, Jianping Guo, Qisheng He
Editor: Freek van der Meer
Year: 2012
Publisher: Elsevier, vol 17, July 2012
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Keywords: k-NN method, Regression method, Above-ground biomass, configuration
Abstract: Remote sensing is a valuable tool for estimating forest bimass in remote areas. This study explores retrieval of forest above-ground biomass (AGB) over a cold and arid region in Northwest China, using two different methods (non-parametric and parameteric) field data, and three different remote sensing data: a SPOT-5 HRG image, multi-temporal dual-polarization ALOS PALSAR and airborne LiDAR data. The non-parametric method was applied in 300 different configurations, varying both the mathematical formulation and the data input (SPOT-5 and ALOS PALSAR), and the quality of the performance of each configuration was evaluated by Leave One Out (LOO) cross-validation against ground measurements. For the parametric method (the multivariate linear regression), the same remote sensing data were used, but in one additional configuration the airborne LiDAR data were used for stepwise multiple regression.
The result of the best performing non-parametric configuration was satisfactory (R=0.69 and RMSE = 20.7 tons/ha). The results for the parametric method were notoriously inaccurate, except for the case where airborne LiDAR data were included. The regression method with ariborne low density LiDAR point cloud data was the best of all tested methods (R = 0.84 and RMSE = 15.2 tons/ha). A cross comparison of the two best results showed that the non-parametric method performs nearly as well as the parametric method with LiDAR data, except for some areas where forests have a very heterogeneoius structure. It is concluded that the non-parametric method with SPOT data is able to map forest AGB operatively over the cold and arid region as an alternative to the more expensive airborne LiDAR data.
Location: 231
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56683
Title: Vegetation primary production estimation at maize and alpine meadow over the Heihe River Basin, China
Author: Xufeng Wang, Mingguo Ma, Guanghui Huang, Frank Veroustraete, Zhihui Zhang, Yi Song, Junlei Tan
Editor: Freek van der Meer
Year: 2012
Publisher: Elsevier, vol 17, July 2012
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Keywords: Gross Primary Production, Vegetation Photosyntheis Model, Cropland, Alpine meadow, Light use efficiency, Heihe River Basin
Abstract: The accurate estimation of Gross Primary Production (GPP) is an important issue in carbon cycle studies. In this study, GPP dynamic of two typical vegetation in Heihe River Basin (alpine meadow in the upper stream and maize in middle stream) were estimated using Eddy Covariance (EC) and Vegetation Photosynthesis Model (VPM). Yearly GPP observed by EC at alpine meadow is 853gC/m2/yr, which is only half of GPP of the value 1567 gC/m2/yr at maize field. This is mainly attributed to irrigation, fertilization and high light use efficiency at maize field. More than 80% carbon fixed by photosynthesis is release to atmosphere through ecosystem respiration at alpine meadow and at maize field 60%. The maximum light use efficiency of maize is 2.66 gC/MJ ARAR, while it is 1.6 gC/MJ ARAR at alpine meadow. VPM can correctly simulate seasonal dynamic and magnitude of GPP at both of the two sites. GPP values predicted by VPM were 872 gC/m2/yr at alpine meadow site and 1246 gC/m2/yr at maize site. The determination coefficients were as large as 0.9 at the alpine meadow site and 0.93 at the maize site. Average GPP value at each season predicted by VPM is very close to that observed by EC.
Location: 231
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56682
Title: Estimatio of evapotranspiration in an arid region by remote sensing-A case study in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin
Author: Xingmin Li, Ling Lu, Wenfeng Yang, Guodong Cheng
Editor: Freek van der Meer
Year: 2012
Publisher: Elsevier, vol 17, July 2012
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Keywords: Heihe River Basin, Evapotranspiration, Remote sensing, Evaporative fraction
Abstract: Estimating surface evapotranspiration is extremely important for the study of water resources in arid regions. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ' s Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA/AVHRR), meteorological observatins and data obtained from the Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER) project in 2008 are applied to the evaporative fraction model to estimate evapotranspiration over the Heihe River Basin. The calculation method for the parameters used in the model and the evapotranspiration estimation results are analyzed and evaluated. The results observed within the oasis and the banks of the river suggest that more evapotranspiration occurs in the inland river basin in the arid region from May to September. Evapotranspiration values for the oasis, where the land surface types and vegetations are highly variable, are relatively small and heterogeneous. In the Gobi desert and other deserts with little vegetation, evapotranspiration remains at its lowest level during this period. These results reinforce teh conclusion that rational utilization of water resources in the oasis is essential to manage the water resources in the inland river basin. In the remote sensing-based evapotranspiration model, the accuracy of the parameter estimate directly affects the accuracy of the evapotranspiration results; more accurate parameter values yield more precise values for evapotranspiration. However, when using the evaporative fraction to estimate regional evapotranspiration, better calculation results can be achieved only if evaporative fraction is constant in the daytime.
Location: 231
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56681
Title: A revised surface resistance parameterisation for estimating latent heat flux from remotely sensed data
Author: Yi Song, Jiemin Wang, Kun Yang, Mingguo Ma, Xin Li, Zhihui Zhang, Xufeng Wang
Editor: Freek van der Meer
Year: 2012
Publisher: Elsevier, vol 17, July 2012
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Keywords: Latent heat flux, Landsat TM and ETM+, Surface resistance
Abstract: Estimating evapotranspiration (ET) is required for many environmental studies. Remote sensing provides the ability to spatially map latent heat flux. Many studies have developed approaches to derive spatially distributed surface energy fluxes from various statellite sensors with the help of field observations.
In this study, remote-sensing -based ? E mapping was conducted using a Lansat Thematic Mapper (TM) image and an Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image. The remotely sensed data and field observations employed in this study were obtained from Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER). A biophysics-based surface resistance model was revised to account for water stress and temperature constraints. The precision of the results was validated using ' ground truth ' data obtained by eddy covariance (EC) system.
Scale effects play an important role, especially for parameter optimisation and validation of the latent heat flux (? E). After considering the footprint of EC, the ?E derived from the remote sensing data was comparable to the EC measured value during the satellite ' s passage. The results showed that the revised surface resistance parameterisation scheme was useful for estimating the latent heat flux over cropland in arid regions.
Location: 231
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56680
Title: Separating vegetaion and soil temperature using airborne multiangular remote sensing image data
Author: Qiang Liu, Chunyan Yan, Qing Xiao, Guangjian Yan, Li Fang
Editor: Freek van der Meer
Year: 2012
Publisher: Elsevier, vol 17, July 2012
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Keywords: Component temperature, Multiangular remote sensing, WATER
Abstract: Land surface temperature (LST) is a key parameter in land process research. Many research efforts have been devoted to increase the accuracy of LST retrieval from remote sensing. However, because natural land surface is non-isothermal, component temperature is also required in applications such as evapo-transpiration (ET) modeling. This paper proposes a new algorithm to separately retrieve vegetation temperature and soil background temperature from multiangular thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing data. The algorithm is based on the localized correlation between the visible/near-infrared (VNIR) bands and the TIR band. This method was tested on the airborne image data acquired during the Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER) campaign. Preliminary validation indicates that the remote sensing-retrieved results can reflect the spatial and temporal trend of component temperatures. The accuracy is within three degrees while the difference between vegetain and soil temperature can be as large as twenty degrees.
Location: 231
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56679
Title: Maqu network for validation of satellite-derived soil moisture products
Author: L Dente, Z Vekerdy, J Wen, Z Su
Editor: Freek van der Meer
Year: 2012
Publisher: Elsevier, vol 17, July 2012
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Keywords: Soil moisture, Tibetan Plateau, AMSR-E, ASCAT, Validation
Abstract: Soil moisture monitoring of the Tibetan Plateau is of primary importance for understanding land-atmospere interactions of this region and their effects on the climate of eastern and South-East Asia. Operational satellite-derived soil moisture products, such as those obtained from AMSR-E data by VUA-NASA and ASCAT data by TU-Wien, as well as that to become available in the near future (such as data from SMOS and SMAP), can provide the information requried, but their accuracy for this region needs to be evalukated before further application. For this reason, a soil moisture and temperature monitoring network was set up in the water source region of the Yellow River, in the north-eastern region of the Tibetan Plateau (Maqu country). It consists of 20 stations distributed, acorrding to a stratified sampling, over an area approximately 40 km x 80 km.
This study describes the Maqu network and presents the first set of data measured from July 2008 to December 2009, which shows the capability of the network to monitor the spatial and temporal soil moisture variability of the area with a high degree of accuracy. Temporal stability analyses revealed that the soil moisture spatial patterns are not always stable in time. The sites show the highest and the most variable bias with respect to the average are located in regions with extreme soil properties, covering relatively small areas.
The weighted spatial average of measured soil moisture was successfully used as ground reference for the validation of the AMSR-E soil mosiutre products and ASCAT soil wetness index products. For the monsoon season, overall good agreement was found between in situ time series and AMSR-E products, with a linear fit between the two datasets close to the 1:1 line and a standard error of the regression lower than 0.05. The agreement between ASCAT and in situ data was affected by several large variations of the former corresponding to little changes of the latter, thus the standard error of the regression was higher than 0.07.
Location: 231
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None
ID: 56678
Title: Improving land surface soil moisture and energy flux simulations over the Tibetan plateau by the assimilation of the microwave remote sensing data and the GCM output into a land surface model
Author: Hui Lu, Toshio Koike, Kun Yang, Zeyong Hu, Xiangde Xu, Mohamed Rasmy, David Kuria, Katsunori Tamagawa
Editor: Freek van der Meer
Year: 2012
Publisher: Elsevier, vol 17, July 2012
Source: Centre for Ecological Sciences
Reference: None
Subject: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Keywords: Microwave remote sensing, soil moisture, surface energy flux, data assimilation, Tibetan plateau
Abstract: The land surface soil moisture is a crucial variable in weather and climate models. This study presents a land data assimilation system (LDAS) that aims to improve the simulation of the land surface soil moisture and energy fluxes by merging the microwave remote sensing data and the general circulation model (GCM) output into a land surface model (LSM). This system was applied over the Tibetan Plateau, using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data as forcing data and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometers for EOS (AMSR-E) brightness temperatures as an observation. The performance of our four data sources, which were NCEP, AMSR-E, LDAS and simulations of Simple Biosphere Model 2 (SiB2), was assessed agaisnt 5 months of in situ measurements that were performed at two stations: Gaize and Naqu. For the surface soil moisture, the LDASsimulations were superior to both NCEP and SiB2, and there was more than a one-third reduction in the root mean squared errors (RMSE) for both of the stations. Compared with the AMSR-E soil moisture retrievals, the LDAS simulations were comparable at the Gaize station, and they were superior at the Naqu station. For the whole domain intercomparison, the results showed that the LDAS simulation of the soil moisture field was more realistic than the NCEP and SiB2 simulations and that the LDAS could estimate land surface states properly even in the regions where AMSR-E failed to cover and /or during the periods that the satellite did not overpass. For the surface energy fluxes, the LDAS estimated the latent heat flux with an acceptable accuracy (RMSE less than 35 W/m2), with a one-third reduction in the RMSE from the SiB2. For the 5-month whole plateau simulation, the LDAS produced a much more reasonable Bowen Ratio than the NCEP, and it also generated a clear constrast of the land surface status over the plateau, which was wet in the southeast and dry in the northwest, during hte monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Because the LDAS only uses globally available data sets, this study reveals the potential of the LDAS to improving the land surface energy and water flux simulations in ungauged and /or poorly gauged regions.
Location: 231
Literature cited 1: None
Literature cited 2: None