Spiritual Care for the Transgender Community: A Seminar for Chaplains and Clinical Pastoral Education Students

Assisting chaplains and CPE students in helping them provide spiritual care to people who are transgendered. &nbsp

Evaluation of Six Satellite-Derived Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetic Active Radiation (FAPAR) Products across the Australian Continent

Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) products from satellite remote sensing are routinely used for diverse applications in Earth System and land surface modelling and monitoring. The availability of numerous products creates a need to understand the level of consistency between products, and reasons for inconsistencies. We evaluate the consistency of six FAPAR products (MODIS, MODIS7TIP, SeaWIFS, MERIS, SPOT-VEG, and AVHRR) across the Australian continent, using multi-year records. We find that seemingly large differences in FAPAR products over much of Australia can be explained by a simple offset present in certain products. Additional inconsistencies arise from different sensitivities in FAPAR to changes in vegetation cover. These inconsistencies can in turn be partially attributed to changes in biome type that are relevant to certain products and other model specific assumptions. The satellite FAPAR products are compared with a dataset of observation-based estimates of fractional vegetation cover at ~600 field sites across Australia. After accounting for offsets in FAPAR, relatively high agreement occurs at sites classified as grasslands, shrublands and managed land (agriculture). Significant disagreement occurs at sites correctly classified as forests. Consequently, some products show significant differences in FAPAR between regions of similar vegetation cover but different biome classification. We find that all products show a much lower sensitivity to fractional vegetation cover (range in coefficient of linear regression: 0.28-0.61) than is predicted theoretically (0.9671.18) using a canopy radiative transfer model directly estimating the absorbtion of photosynthetically active radiation by vegetation. Reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Productivity and biomass of Australia’s rangelands : towards a national database

This paper reviews information about field observations of vegetation productivity in Australia’s rangeland systems and identifies the need to establish a national initiative to collect net primary productivity (NPP) and biomass data for rangeland pastures. Productivity data are needed for vegetation and carbon model parameterisation, calibration and validation. Several methods can be used to estimate pasture productivity at various spatial and temporal scales, ranging from in situ measurements to satellite-based approaches and biogeochemical modelling. However, there is a barrier to implementing national vegetation and carbon modelling schemes because of the lack of digitised and readily available data derived from field observations, not because of the lack of modelling expertise. Our main goal in this paper is to explore the potential for consolida-tion of existing NPP and biomass databases for Australian rangelands. A protocol structure was proposed to establish a productivity database for Australia. The TERN (Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network) national field data network for rangeland pasture productivity monitoring and modelling team could potentially coordinate the database. Government agencies and national and international research institutions could use the outputs from productivity models to inform greenhouse gas emissions and in measuring mitigation activities relevant for reporting against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and other international obligations. Other applications include monitoring fire danger, tracking ecological restoration and protec-tion, and estimating fodder availability. Australian researchers have the tools needed to succeed in creating such a national database and a robust community of practice to curate it, enhance it and benefit from its availability

Radio Galaxy Zoo: host galaxies and radio morphologies derived from visual inspection

ISSN:0035-8711ISSN:1365-2966ISSN:1365-871