With the hot summers of recent years causing significant heat damage to broccoli heads within the Willamette valley, varietal screenings for newer and more heat tolerant varieties became necessary. Most commercially available broccoli varieties are bred for production within milder and more climatically stable regions, such as the Salinas Valley...
The Coral Triangle Initative is a new initative in environmental ecosystem management which as officially kicked-off by 6 countries in December 2007. The paper reviews the history of the initiative (transboundary international "Peace parks" concept, bringing together other eco-regional initiatives) and points to the direction it is currently taking with...
Climate change may cause significant changes in the distribution, abundance, and species mix of commercial fishery resources. In any given area stocks of some species may decline; stocks of other species may increase; and new species may appear in commercially significant volumes. However, it is difficult to predict what specific...
Meteorological aspects of geothermal energy development are first
discussed in general terms. An instructive case study is then presented
of a hypothetical 100 MW geothermal electrical generating plant at
a site near Vale, Oregon. Long-term climate data from Ontario Airport
near Ontario, Oregon, are used to describe meteorological characteristics
of...
Birth and pupping season records of Pacific harbor seals
(Phoca vitulina richardsi) were used in an analysis of
photoperiod effect on the timing of birth in this species. Dates
and latitudes of births were converted into photoperiods using a
photoperiod equation. Sequential dates from parturition were
converted into photoperiods and...
In this work we consider a model for pattern-producing vegetation in semi-arid regions of the world proposed by Klausmeier. It is a coupled nonlinear diffusion-advection evolutionary PDE system describing the vegetation density and water amount. The model was studied extensively by J.Sherratt who took into consideration the field data for...
In arid and semi-arid deserts, soils are commonly covered with biological soil crusts. The
study of arid biocrusts and their ecological function has become increasingly common in
the literature over the last several decades. Interestingly, no mention is made of
biological soil crusts in forested ecosystems, raising the question as...
Five simulated precipitation patterns characteristic of the Columbia
Basin and Plateau region and six fertilization rates were evaluated
for their effect on percent crude protein, percent in vitro dry matter
digestibility, fiber content, and yield of wheat aftermath on a commercial
farm in north central Oregon.
The higher moisture regimes...
With the rapid increase of the world energy demand and
consumption, the method and techniques to analyze, improve
and optimize energy conversion systems have to deal not only
with direct fuel exergy (energy) consumption, but also with
other resources, which have associated exergy consumptions,
and with environmental impacts, such as...