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We analyzed the possibility of introducing a single stochastic scaling parameter a to describe the spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties, using the soil hydraulic properties of the Hamra field (Russo and Bresler 1981) and the Panache field (Nielsen, Biggar, and Erh 1973). In the traditional approach (Peck, Luxmoore, and Stolzy 1977; Russo and Bresler 1980; Warrick, Mullen, and Nielsen 1977), sets of scaling factors are estimated from the h(s) and K(s) functions. For "perfectly similar media," the two sets of a should be identical. Even though the sets of a in these studies were found to be correlated (table 2), they possessed different statistical properties, and were not identical. Results of structural analyses of the sets of a from the two fields suggested that the spatial structures of the two a-sets are quite distinct, reflecting the different spadal behavior of the h(θ) and the K(θ) functions. Moreover, there was poor correlation between the uncorrelated residuals of the a-sets, indicating that part of the high correlation between the a-sets found in earlier work must stem from the presence of an undetected drift and from correlation between nearby measurements. Under field conditions, the saturated hydraulic conductivity is controlled by the flow of water through large structural voids (macropores), which drain at very small negative values of water pressure. Because of this, we tried eliminating Ks by using relative hydraulic properties instead of the hydraulic properties themselves to estimate the scaling factor sets. For the Hamra field, for which we assumed that the hydraulic properties could be described by the model of Brooks and Corey (1964), we found the resultant sets of scaling factors to be highly correlated (R2 = 0.996) with the same spatial structure, but with slightly different variance. By examining the relationships between the two a-sets implied by the Brooks and Corey (1964) model we saw that (1) in general, both sets will be functions of the range of water saturation values used to estimate them, (2) the correlation between the two sets can be improved for media with broad pore-size distributions, and (3) the two sets will be identical if and only if the relative hydraulic conductivity function K,.(hr) is described by the deterministic function Kr(hr) = hy -2 ("strictly similar media"). This analysis suggests that, for media that are not well described by Kr = hr -2, a scaling factor would be required in addition to a in order to achieve agreement between scaled values of hr(θ) and Kr(θ) at all points. A general model Kr = hr -η was proposed, with η as a second stochastic scaling factor for media that do not obey the restrictive assumptions of macroscopic Miller similitude. In the Hamra field, this modified scaling procedure produced perfect agreement between the scaling hydraulic properties. In the Panache field, with values of η determined from linear regression analysis of the logarithmic transformations of Kr and h,., agreement was improved considerably between the scaled hydraulic properties as compared to the more restrictive scaling procedure. In contrast to the Hamra field, however, there remained some significant differences between the scaled properties. These differences may have been artifacts of the different methods used to estimate the hIs) and the K(s) functions for the Panache field. The results of our analysis suggest that in any transient transport problem involving both K(s) and h(s), the description of their spatial variability requires the use of at least three stochastic variates-Ks , α, and η-not a alone.
Agro-technology
(2001)
The leaf beetle Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), (D.v.v.), also called the western corn rootworm, is endemic to the New World and ranks among the top ten insect pests in worldwide grain production. D.v.v. causes annual damages of 1 billion US Dollars and is a notoriously difficult insect pest to control and manage, as entomological history of the past 50 years amply demonstrates (METCALF 1986). Considering recent emphasis on environmentally compatible and sustainable management strategies, entomologists and practitioners are encouraged to pay increased attention to novel approaches such as biotechnial methods which today are characterized by preferential use of signal compounds. Fortunately, both insect and plants provide a wide variety of such natural resources. In the case of D.v.v., sex pheromonesand plant kairomones as specific attractants and management tools are relatively well investigated through numerous contributions by GUSS et al. (1982), METCALF & METCALF (1992), METCALF (1994) and many recent publications on the advance and spread of D.v.v. within Europe (BERGER 1995-2004, HUMMEL 2003). Principle of MSD method: In this paper, the plant kairomone 4-methoxycinnamaldehyde (MCA), a specific attractant for D.v.v., is being used as a tool within the newly proposed "MSD" strategy. It combines a two pronge approach consisting as the well known mass trapping with the novel shielding and deflecting, called in short "diversion" and introduced here for the first time. An invisible “curtain” or “fence” of MCA vapor released from a MCA trap line establishes a behavioral barrier which the flying beetles cannot easily pass without being 1. either caught in one of the high capacity traps or 2. being diverted elsewhere. The net effect is a significant reduction in adult population density and oviposition within the MCA treated field as compared to an untreated control field. These effects can be experimentally measured by 1. adult beetle counts on maize plants, 2. by counts in independent monitoring traps baited with the D.v.v. sex pheromone, and 3. by egg counts taken in soil samples.
The Lake Chad Basin is a major geographical region in the central part of the Sudan zone of Africa. The northern parts, however, extend into the Sahel and the southern parts of the Sahara desert. It consists of an extensive shallow depression of about 1.536.000 km2 (600.000 miles2) of which about 10% lies in Nigeria. The greater part is shared between the three countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Climatically and agriculturally, the Chad Basin lies within the dry or semi-arid zone of Nigeria. It is a marginal area which has experienced severe droughts and considerable environmental changes in recent years. The natural environment, its use and misuse, and the threat of life posed by environmental pollution dominate discussions on environmental change. But in addition to the natural or physical environment, there are other equally important 'environments' which deserve some attention in view of the role that they play in generating economic growth and in ensuring sustainable development which is the central issue in our concern about the environment. These other environments are the cultural environment, the political environment and the economic environment, both internal and external. In the Chad Basin, all these other environments, along with the natural environment have been greatly influenced by its land locked location in the heart of Africa.
The objective of this paper is to combine the environmental conception of the Kanuri with detailed findings of pedological and botanical field investigations. Interpretation of multitemporal satellite data and aerial photographs should provide land cover and land use information for an extended area. The area of investigation was outlined within the transitional zone from the clay plains to the sandy areas by interpretation of satellite images. The presented subset of a SPOT-XS-satellite image shows part of the Marte Local Government Area with its capital Old Marte in the north-eastern part of the image. The darker colours represent the clay plains while the lighter parts are related to the sandy areas. Almost half of the research area is covered by clay but all settlements are located on the slightly elevated sandy areas. Within these sandy areas different gray shades demonstrate the pattern of the rainy season farming area. Differences in colour within the clay plains are mainly due to variances in soil, water content and vegetation cover. In the north-eastern part of the image irrigation channels of the South Chad Irrigation Project are visible. The main attention, especially of the pedological and botanical research, was directed towards the south-western part of the subset in the vicinity of the villages of Wulwa, Dura, Kajere and Ngubdori.