A gravity and geologic survey was carried out over a port ion of the Nelson ultramafic belt of the South Island . In this region, the ultramafic rocks outcrop over a 5-mile-wide belt and abut against the Alpine greywacke along the right lateral transcurrent Alpine Fault. The dunite and peridotite of the ultram afic belt as well as the overlying geosynclinal sediments strike north . At their sou...

The raw beauty of the alpine life zone, present on all continents, has long held the fascination of geographers and naturalists. Scientific work in alpine tundra has focused on glaciology, hydrology, terrestrial ecology and climatology, with surprisingly little previous research on stream ecology. We initiated a comprehensive study of alpine stream ecology involving a year-round sampling progra...

Wireless sensor network (WSN) shows unique advantages in cold alpine area comparing with traditional in-situ monitoring approaches. This paper presents two WSN applications in cold alpine area, one in the Hulugou watershed and the other in the Babaohe watershed, both of which are situated in the upper mountainous reach of the Heihe River Basin of West China. Apart from introductions to the two ...

With the aim of identifying the factors of alpine skiers' biomotor status in predicting their specific skills, three variable sets were used, comprised of the total of 24 measures (9 variables for assessing anthropometric characteristics, 8 variables for assessing motor abilities and 7 variables for assessing specific ski skills of alpine skiing), on a sample of 79 ski instructor candidates. Af...

The vairone Leuciscus souffia is a cyprinid fish that inhabits river systems in and around the Alps. The complete mitochondrial DNA control region (945 bp) was sequenced in 295 vairone from 22 populations in Central Europe. A total of 51 haplotypes were identified with a maximum pairwise distance between haplotypes of 5.6%. Phylogenetic analyses revealed two major clades in L. souffia, an 'Ital...

Climate change effects on snow cover and thermic regime in alpine tundra might lead to a longer growing season, but could also increase risks to plants from spring frost events. Alpine snowbeds, i.e. alpine tundra from late snowmelt sites, might be particularly susceptible to such climatic changes. Snowbed communities were grown in large monoliths for two consecutive years, under different mani...

We assessed if the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors for plant community composition differs along environmental gradients and between functional groups, and asked which implications this may have in a warmer and wetter future. The study location is a unique grid of sites spanning regional-scale temperature and precipitation gradients in boreal and alpine grasslands in southern ...

Worldwide, many plant species are experiencing an earlier onset of spring phenophases due to climate warming. Rapid recent temperature increases on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have triggered changes in the spring phenology of the local vegetation. However, remote sensing studies of the land surface phenology have reached conflicting interpretations about green-up patterns observed on the TP since ...

INTRODUCTION Head injuries represent a concern in skiing and snowboarding, with traumatic brain injuries being the most common cause of death. AIM To describe the mechanisms of head and face injuries among World Cup alpine and freestyle skiers and snowboarders. METHODS We performed a qualitative analysis of videos obtained of head and face injuries reported through the International Ski Fed...

Ophiocordyceps sinensis, one of the most important income sources of rural Tibetan families, is an entomopathogenic fungus that parasitizes the ghost moth Thitarodes larvae, which live in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas. The annual yield of O. sinensis has gradually declined in recent years. However, there is no effective method to sustain or increase the yield of O. ...