Monitoring and assessing land degradation: new approaches

This chapter examines land degradation in southern Africa. The focus is on the major issue of erosion by water at scales ranging from a few square metres to assessments that aim to cover the whole region. Approaches to measure and reconstruct both current and historical erosion rates are considered, focusing on the period since the arrival of Europeans who brought many of their farming and management practices with them. In most parts of the country, the impact of humans on the landscape has been clear for the last 200 years. This is referred to as ’accelerated erosion’, i.e., erosion at rates that are above the natural geological norm for the current climatic conditions. The chapter considers a range of techniques including direct measurement, remote sensing, fingerprinting and modelling as approaches to the monitoring and assess land degradation

The closed spiracle phase of discontinuous gas exchange predicts diving duration in the grasshopper Paracinema tricolor

The discontinuous gas exchange (DGE) pattern of respiration shown by many arthropods includes periods of spiracle closure (C-phase) and is largely thought to serve as a physiological adaptation to restrict water loss in terrestrial environments. One major challenge to this hypothesis is to explain the presence of DGE in insects in moist environments. Here, we show a novel ecological correlate of the C-phase, namely, diving behaviour in mesic Paracinema tricolor grasshoppers. Notably, maximal dive duration is positively correlated with C-phase length, even after accounting for mass scaling and absolute metabolic rate. Here, we propose that an additional advantage of DGE may be conferred by allowing the tracheal system to act as a sealed underwater oxygen reservoir. Spiracle closure may facilitate underwater submersion, which, in turn, may contribute to predator avoidance, the survival of accidental immersion or periodic flooding and the exploitation of underwater resources

Differentials in the homological homotopy fixed point spectral sequence

We analyze in homological terms the homotopy fixed point spectrum of a T-equivariant commutative S-algebra R. There is a homological homotopy fixed point spectral sequence with E^2_{s,t} = H^{-s}_{gp}(T; H_t(R; F_p)), converging conditionally to the continuous homology H^c_{s+t}(R^{hT}; F_p) of the homotopy fixed point spectrum. We show that there are Dyer-Lashof operations beta^epsilon Q^i acting on this algebra spectral sequence, and that its differentials are completely determined by those originating on the vertical axis. More surprisingly, we show that for each class x in the $^{2r}-term of the spectral sequence there are 2r other classes in the E^{2r}-term (obtained mostly by Dyer-Lashof operations on x) that are infinite cycles, i.e., survive to the E^infty-term. We apply this to completely determine the differentials in the homological homotopy fixed point spectral sequences for the topological Hochschild homology spectra R = THH(B) of many S-algebras, including B = MU, BP, ku, ko and tmf. Similar results apply for all finite subgroups C of T, and for the Tate- and homotopy orbit spectral sequences. This work is part of a homological approach to calculating topological cyclic homology and algebraic K-theory of commutative S-algebras.Comment: Published by Algebraic and Geometric Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/agt/AGTVol5/agt-5-27.abs.htm

Modelling the effectiveness of grass buffer strips in managing muddy floods under a changing climate

Muddy floods occur when rainfall generates runoff on agricultural land, detaching and transporting sediment into the surrounding natural and built environment. In the Belgian Loess Belt, muddy floods occur regularly and lead to considerable economic costs associated with damage to property and infrastructure. Mitigation measures designed to manage the problem have been tested in a pilot area within Flanders and were found to be cost-effective within three years. This study assesses whether these mitigation measures will remain effective under a changing climate. To test this, the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model was used to examine muddy flooding diagnostics (precipitation, runoff, soil loss and sediment yield) for a case study hillslope in Flanders where grass buffer strips are currently used as a mitigation measure. The model was run for present day conditions and then under 33 future site-specific climate scenarios. These future scenarios were generated from three earth system models driven by four representative concentration pathways and downscaled using quantile mapping and the weather generator CLIGEN. Results reveal that under the majority of future scenarios, muddy flooding diagnostics are projected to increase, mostly as a consequence of large scale precipitation events rather than mean changes. The magnitude of muddy flood events for a given return period is also generally projected to increase. These findings indicate that present day mitigation measures may have a reduced capacity to manage muddy flooding given the changes imposed by a warming climate with an enhanced hydrological cycle. Revisions to the design of existing mitigation measures within existing policy frameworks are considered the most effective way to account for the impacts of climate change in future mitigation planni

The Key Elements and Drivers of the Defense Acquisition System

Symposium PresentationApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The Key Elements and Drivers of the Defense Acquisition System

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumA systemic diagram (systemigram) was developed to provide a systems view of the key elements and drivers of the complex defense acquisition system in the United States. An iterative process was used to develop the systemigram, after assessing the basic relationships among key actors and organizations within the system. The diagram provides a high-level overview of the Department of Defense ecosystem as it relates to acquisition, addressing the lack of available high-level visual representations of the overall acquisition system elements and their basic interactions within the literature. Using this diagram, individuals unfamiliar with the defense acquisition system can become better acquainted with it, while those familiar with defense acquisition are provided with a useful artifact to stimulate shared understanding, spark conversations about how to improve acquisition outcomes, and focus on the key inputs, processes, and ultimate goal of military capability.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited