The safeguarding of Venice and the Venetian lagoon (Italy) from rising water is of great national interest. Besides the normal tidal regime, the effects of an increase in the frequency and intensity of floods in the...The safeguarding of Venice and the Venetian lagoon (Italy) from rising water is of great national interest. Besides the normal tidal regime, the effects of an increase in the frequency and intensity of floods in the lagoon have been accentuated by a reduction in the elevation of the land in respect to the actual average sea level. With the aim of reducing the vulnerability of the lagoon, the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific and Technological Research financed the research project "The geotechnical model of the subsurface for the safeguarding of Venice and its lagoon", to study the compressibility of the lagoon deposits, both by natural causes and as a consequence of overloading with heavy structures. The project involved the construction of a large experimental embankment in the Treporti area of the lagoon, in order to perform a full-scale long-term compression test on the lagoon soils. By using various geomatic and geotechnical monitoring techniques, it was possible to appraise very small vertical movements of the ground induced by the compressibility of the highly heterogeneous silty formations. High-precision data was acquired by means of classical topographic methodologies integrated with continuous GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements. In addition, vertical displacements of the ground were obtained using geotechnical instrumentation. This cross-monitoring approach provided a valuable tool for analyzing both the natural and anthropic causes of settlement.展开更多
Understanding present patterns of genetic diversity is critical in order to design effective conservation and manage- ment strategies for endangered species. Tangjiahe Nature Reserve (NR) is one of the most importan...Understanding present patterns of genetic diversity is critical in order to design effective conservation and manage- ment strategies for endangered species. Tangjiahe Nature Reserve (NR) is one of the most important national reserves for giant pandas Ailuropoda melanoleuca in China. Previous studies have shown that giant pandas in Tangjiahe NR may be threatened by population decline and fragmentation. Here we used 10 microsatellite DNA markers to assess the genetic variability in the Tang- jiahe population. The results indicate a low level of genetic differentiation between the Hongshihe and Motianling subpopulations in the reserve. Assignment tests using the Bayesian clustering method in STRUCTURE identified one genetic cluster from 42 in- dividuals of the two subpopulations. All individuals from the same subpopulation were assigned to one cluster. This indicates high gene flow between subpopulations. F statistic analyses revealed a low Fzs-value of 0.024 in the total population and implies a randomly mating population in Tangjiahe NR. Additionally, our data show a high level of genetic diversity for the Tangjiahe population. Mean allele number (A), Allelic richness (AR) and mean expected heterozygosity (HE) for the Tangjiahe population was 5.9, 5.173 and 0.703, respectively. This wild giant panda population can be restored through concerted effort展开更多
文摘The safeguarding of Venice and the Venetian lagoon (Italy) from rising water is of great national interest. Besides the normal tidal regime, the effects of an increase in the frequency and intensity of floods in the lagoon have been accentuated by a reduction in the elevation of the land in respect to the actual average sea level. With the aim of reducing the vulnerability of the lagoon, the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific and Technological Research financed the research project "The geotechnical model of the subsurface for the safeguarding of Venice and its lagoon", to study the compressibility of the lagoon deposits, both by natural causes and as a consequence of overloading with heavy structures. The project involved the construction of a large experimental embankment in the Treporti area of the lagoon, in order to perform a full-scale long-term compression test on the lagoon soils. By using various geomatic and geotechnical monitoring techniques, it was possible to appraise very small vertical movements of the ground induced by the compressibility of the highly heterogeneous silty formations. High-precision data was acquired by means of classical topographic methodologies integrated with continuous GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements. In addition, vertical displacements of the ground were obtained using geotechnical instrumentation. This cross-monitoring approach provided a valuable tool for analyzing both the natural and anthropic causes of settlement.
文摘Understanding present patterns of genetic diversity is critical in order to design effective conservation and manage- ment strategies for endangered species. Tangjiahe Nature Reserve (NR) is one of the most important national reserves for giant pandas Ailuropoda melanoleuca in China. Previous studies have shown that giant pandas in Tangjiahe NR may be threatened by population decline and fragmentation. Here we used 10 microsatellite DNA markers to assess the genetic variability in the Tang- jiahe population. The results indicate a low level of genetic differentiation between the Hongshihe and Motianling subpopulations in the reserve. Assignment tests using the Bayesian clustering method in STRUCTURE identified one genetic cluster from 42 in- dividuals of the two subpopulations. All individuals from the same subpopulation were assigned to one cluster. This indicates high gene flow between subpopulations. F statistic analyses revealed a low Fzs-value of 0.024 in the total population and implies a randomly mating population in Tangjiahe NR. Additionally, our data show a high level of genetic diversity for the Tangjiahe population. Mean allele number (A), Allelic richness (AR) and mean expected heterozygosity (HE) for the Tangjiahe population was 5.9, 5.173 and 0.703, respectively. This wild giant panda population can be restored through concerted effort