Seasonal variations in species diversity, dry matter and net primary productivity of herb layer of Quercus leucotrichophora-Pinus roxburghii mixed forest in Kumaun Himalaya, India

Plant biomass, species diversity and net primary productivity are presented for herb layer of banj oak （Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus）-chir pine （Pinus roxburghii Sarg.） mixed forest in Kumaun, central Himalaya, India. The species diversity declined from a maximum （3.56） in September to a minimum （2.11） in December. The monthly live shoots biomass exhibited a single peak growth pattern with highest live shoot biomass of 185 g·m^-2 in August. The seasonal pattem showed that the maximum above-ground production （131 g·m^-2） occurred during the rainy season and the minimum （1 g·m^-2） during winter season. The be- low-ground production was maximum during winter season （84 g·m^2） and minimum during summer season （34 g＇m＇2）. The annual net shoot production was 171 g·^2m^-1 and total below-ground production was 165 g·m^2. Of the total input 61% was channeled to above-ground parts and 39% to below-ground parts. Transfer of live shoots to dead shoots compartments and that of dead shoots to litter compartments was 61% and 66%, respectively. The total dry matter disappearance was 61% of the total input within annual cycle. The herb layer showed a net accumulation of organic matter, indicating the seral nature of the community.

A comprehensive assessment and analysis of Antarctic satellite grounding line products from 1992 to 2009

In this paper,we present the results of a comprehensive assessment and analysis of five major Antarctic grounding line(GL)products from remote sensing data.The systematic assessment of this large amount of GL data was performed using a new two-step framework and implementation strategy,in which 84.4%of the product data were processed effectively by using a set of developed assessment metrics,with the remaining 15.6%handled by a comprehensive manual processing procedure aided by additional multisource data.The radar GL product shows a high quality(inconsistency of 0.3%)and is recommended for use wherever available.Meanwhile,the optical image GL products show a lower quality(inconsistency of 3-12%)but offer complete coverage,particularly in areas of weak tides.The GL analysis based on the assessed products(1992–2009)showed that 9.5%of the entire Antarctic GL were retreating or advancing,classified as a dynamic state.At the basin scale,the highest retreat rate was−1544±51 m a^(-1) in Basin 22(including Pine Island Glacier)and the highest advancement rate was 304±16 m a^(-1) in Basin 14(including Mertz Glacier).The West Antarctic Ice Sheet(WAIS)and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet(EAIS)showed the average GL change rates of−370±8 m a^(-1) and 5±7 m a^(-1),respectively,indicating that there was a clear trend of GL retreat in WAIS and a balanced to slightly advanced GL state in EAIS(except for the region around Totten).

Production and Detection of Ultracold Ground State 85Rb133Cs Molecules in the Lowest Vibrational Level by Short-Range Photoassociation

We investigate the production of ultracold ground state x^1∑7＋（u = 0） RbCs molecules in the lowest vibrational level via short-range photoassociation followed by spontaneous emission. The starting point is the laser cooled 85Rb and laa cs atoms in a dual species, forced dark magneto-optical trap. The special intermediate level （5）O＋ （u = 10） correlated to the （2）311 electric state is achieved by the photoassociation process. The formed ground state X1∑＋ （u = 0） molecule is resonantly excited to the 2111 intermediate state by a 651 nm pulse laser and is ionized by a 532nm pulse laser and then detected by the time-of-flight mass spectrum. Saturation of the photoionization spectroscopy at large ionization laser energy is observed and the ionization efficiency is obtained from the fitting. The production of ultracold ground state 85Rblaacs molecules is facilitative for the further research about the manipulation of ultracold molecules in the rovibrational ground state.