The effect of environmental factors on spatial variability in land use change in the high-sediment region of China’s Loess Plateau

In areas with topographic heterogeneity, land use change is spatially variable and influenced by climate, soil properties, and topography. To better understand this variability in the high-sediment region of the Loess Plateau in which soil loss is most severe and sediment diameter is larger than in other regions of the plateau, this study builds some indicators to identify the characteristics of land use change and then analyze the spatial variability as it is affected by climate, soil property, and topography. We build two indicators, a land use change intensity index and a vegetation change index, to characterize the intensity of land use change, and the degree of vegetation restoration, respectively. Based on a subsection mean method, the two indicators are then used to assess the spatial variability of land use change affected by climatic, edaphic, and topographic elements. The results indicate that： 1） Land use changed significantly in the period 1998-2010. The total area experiencing land use change was 42,302 km2, accounting for 22.57%of the study area. High-coverage grassland, other woodland, and forest increased significantly, while low-coverage grassland and farmland decreased in 2010 compared with 1998.2） Land use change occurred primarily west of the Yellow River, between 35 and 38 degrees north latitude. The four transformation types, including （a） low-coverage grassland to medium-coverage grassland, （b） medium-coverage grassland to high-coverage grassland, （c） farmland to other woodland, and （d） farmland to medium-coverage grassland, were the primary types of land use change, together constituting 60% of the area experiencing land use change. 3） The spatial variability of land use change was significantly affected by properties of dryness/wetness, soil conditions and slope gradient. In general, land use changed dramatically in semi-arid regions, remained relatively stable in arid regions, changed significantly in clay-rich soil, remained relatively stable in clay-poor soil, changed dramatically in steeper slopes, and remained relatively stable in tablelands and low-lying regions. The increase in vegetation coincided with increasing changes in land use for each physical element. These findings allow for an evaluation of the effect of the Grain to Green Program, and are applicable to the design of soil and water conservation projects on the Loess Plateau of China.     

东北地区农业结构转型时期土地利用变化的成因与效应

During the last decade of the 20th century, extensive conversion in agricultural land use took place in Northeast China. The goal of this study is to ascertain its spatial distribution and regional differentiation, determine its causes, and analyze its environmental impact, Especially we attempt to elucidate how institutional constraints have facilitated the change at a time of agrarian restructuring when newly emerging free market was hybridized with the former planned economy. Information on six categories of land use was mapped from interpretation of Landsat TM images recorded in 1990,1995 and 2000. Most of land use changes took place during the first half of the decade, coinciding with abrupt and chaotic changes in government directives. Farmland was changed mainly to woodland,water body and built-up areas while woodland and grassland were converted chiefly to farmland.Spatially, the change from farmland to woodland was restricted to the west of the study area. The change from grassland to farmland took place in the grazing and farming interlocked west. These chaotic and occasionally conflicting changes were largely caused by lack of stability and consistency in agricultural land use policies promulgated. They have exerted adverse impacts on the local environment, including land degradation, increased flooding, and modified climate regime.     

地下水位变化对干旱区植被盖度的影响及其空间变异特征

Sampling and testing are conducted on groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the 670 km^2 of the Sangong River Basin and semi-variance function analysis is made afterwards on the data obtained by the application of geo-statistics. Results showed that the variance curve of the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage displays an exponential model. Analysis of sampling data in 2003 indicates that the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage change similarly in space in this area. The Sangong River Basin is composed of upper oasis, middle ecotone and lower sand dune. In oasis and ecotone, influenced by irrigation of the adjoining oasis, groundwater level has been raised and soil water content also increased compared with sand dune nearby, vegetation developed well. But in the lower reaches of the Sangong River Basin, because of descending of groundwater level, soil water content decreased and vegetation degenerated. From oasis to abandoned land and desert grassland, vegetation coverage and groundwater level changed greatly with significant difference respectively in spatial variation. Distinct but similar spatial variability exists among the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the study area, namely, the vegetation coverage decreasing (increasing) as the groundwater depth increases (decreases). This illustrates the great dependence of vegetation coverage on groundwater depth in arid regions and further implies that among the great number of factors affecting vegetation coverage in arid regions, groundwater depth turns out to be the most determinant one.     

Land use change and its ecological effect in Qian＇an County of Jilin Province

Based on GIS and statistical methods, with the help of searching historical literatures and calculating the landscape indices, the land use changes of Qian‘an County in both spatial and temporal aspects from 1945 to 1996 has been analyzed in this paper. And the driving forces of land use changes and their ecological effects are discussed too. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) Land use changed greatly in Qian‘an during 1945-1996, characterized by a decrease in grassland, wetland and water bodies, and an increase in cultivated land, saline-alkali land, and the land for housing and other construction purposes. Grassland decreased by 175,828.66 ha, and cultivated land increased by 102,137.23 ha over the half century. Accordingly, the main landscape type changed from a steppe landscape to a managed agricultural ecosystem. (2) Results of correlation analysis show that the land use change in the study area was mainly driven by the socioeconomic factors. (3) The ecological effects of land use change in the area are characterized by serious salinization, degression of soil fertility and the weakening, of landscaoe suitability.     

Land use change and its ecological effect in Qian'an County of Jilin Province

Based on GIS and statistical methods, with the help of searching historical literatures and calculating the landscape indices, the land use changes of Qian'an County in both spatial and temporal aspects from 1945 to 1996 has been analyzed in this paper. And the driving forces of land use changes and their ecological effects are discussed too. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) Land use changed greatly in Qian'an during 1945-1996, characterized by a decrease in grassland, wetland and water bodies, and an increase in cultivated land, saline-alkali land, and the land for housing and other construction purposes. Grassland decreased by 175,828.66 ha, and cultivated land increased by 102,137.23 ha over the half century. Accordingly, the main landscape type changed from a steppe landscape to a managed agricultural ecosystem. (2) Results of correlation analysis show that the land use change in the study area was mainly driven by the socioeconomic factors.　(3) The ecological effects of land use change in the area are characterized by serious salinization, degression of soil fertility and the weakening of landscape suitability.     

中国2010-2015年土地利用变化的时空格局与新特征（英文）

Land use/cover change is an important theme on the impacts of human activities on the earth systems and global environmental change. National land-use changes of China during 2010–2015 were acquired by the digital interpretation method using the high-resolution remotely sensed images, e.g. the Landsat 8 OLI, GF-2 remote sensing images. The spatiotemporal characteristics of land-use changes across China during 2010–2015 were revealed by the indexes of dynamic degree model, annual land-use changes ratio etc. The results indicated that the built-up land increased by 24.6×10~3 km~2 while the cropland decreased by 4.9×10~3 km~2, and the total area of woodland and grassland decreased by 16.4×10~3 km~2. The spatial pattern of land-use changes in China during 2010–2015 was concordant with that of the period 2000–2010. Specially, new characteristics of land-use changes emerged in different regions of China in 2010–2015. The built-up land in eastern China expanded continually, and the total area of cropland decreased, both at decreasing rates. The rates of built-up land expansion and cropland shrinkage were accelerated in central China. The rates of built-up land expansion and cropland growth increased in western China, while the decreasing rate of woodland and grassland accelerated. In northeastern China, built-up land expansion slowed continually, and cropland area increased slightly accompanied by the conversions between paddy land and dry land. Besides, woodland and grassland area decreased in northeastern China. The characteristics of land-use changes in eastern China were essentially consistent with the spatial govern and control requirements of the optimal development zones and key development zones according to the Major Function-oriented Zones Planning implemented during the 12 th Five-Year Plan(2011–2015). It was a serious challenge for the central government of China to effectively protect the reasonable layout of land use types dominated with the key ecological function zones and agricultural production zones in centraland western China. Furthermore, the local governments should take effective measures to strengthen the management of territorial development in future.     

环京津贫困带土地利用变化多情景模拟与景观格局动态变化——以河北省张家口市为例（英文）

Land use/cover change has been recognized as a key component in global change and has attracted increasing attention in recent decades. Scenario simulation of land use change is an important issue in the study of land use/cover change, and plays a key role in land use prediction and policy decision. Based on the remote sensing data of Landsat TM images in 1989, 2000 and 2010, scenario simulation and landscape pattern analysis of land use change driven by socio-economic development and ecological protection policies were reported in Zhangjiakou city, a representative area of the Poverty Belt around Beijing and Tianjin. Using a CLUE-S model, along with socio-economic and geographic data, the land use simulation of four scenarios–namely, land use planning scenario, natural development scenario, ecological-oriented scenario and farmland protection scenario–were explored according to the actual conditions of Zhangjiakou city, and the landscape pattern characteristics under different land use scenarios were analyzed. The results revealed the following:(1) Farmland, grassland, water body and unused land decreased significantly during 1989–2010, with a decrease of 11.09%, 2.82%, 18.20% and 31.27%, respectively, while garden land, forestland and construction land increased over the same period, with an increase of 5.71%, 20.91% and 38.54%, respectively. The change rate and intensity of land use improved in general from 1989 to 2010. The integrated dynamic degree of land use increased from 2.21% during 1989–2000 to 3.96% during 2000–2010.(2) Land use changed significantly throughout 1989–2010. The total area that underwent land use change was 4759.14 km2, accounting for 12.53% of the study area. Land use transformation was characterized by grassland to forestland, and by farmland to forestland and grassland.(3) Under the land use planning scenario, farmland, grassland, water body and unused land shrank significantly, while garden land, forestland and construction land increased. Under the natural development scenario, construction land and forestland increased in 2020 compared with 2010, while farmland and unused land decreased. Under the ecological-oriented scenario, forestland increased dra-matically, which mainly derived from farmland, grassland and unused land. Under the farmland protection scenario, farmland was well protected and stable, while construction land expansion was restricted.(4) The landscape patterns of the four scenarios in 2020, compared with those in 2010, were more reasonable. Under the land use planning scenario, the landscape pattern tended to be more optimized. The landscape became less fragmented and heterogeneous with the natural development scenarios. However, under the ecological-oriented scenario and farmland protection scenario, landscape was characterized by fragmentation, and spatial heterogeneity of landscape was significant. Spatial differences in landscape patterns in Zhangjiakou city also existed.(5) The spatial distribution of land use could be explained, to a large extent, by the driving factors, and the simulation results tallied with the local situations, which provided useful information for decision-makers and planners to take appropriate land management measures in the area. The application of the combined Markov model, CLUE-S model and landscape metrics in Zhangjiakou city suggests that this methodology has the capacity to reflect the complex changes in land use at a scale of 300 m×300 m and can serve as a useful tool for analyzing complex land use driving factors.     

The simulation of LUCC based on Logistic-CA-Markov model in Qilian Mountain area,China

The Qilian mountain area was examined for using the Logistic-CA-Markov coupling model combined with GIS spatial analyst technology to research the transformation of LUCC, driving force system and simulate future tendency of variation. Results show that:(1) Woodland area decreased by 12.55%, while grassland, cultivated land, and settlement areas increased by 0.22%, 7.92%, and 0.03%, respectively, from 1986 to 2014. During the period of 1986 to 2000, forest degradation in the middle section of the mountain area decreased by 1,501.69 km~2. Vegetation cover area improved, with a net increase of grassland area of 38.12 km~2 from 2000 to 2014.(2) For constructing the system driving force, the best simulation scale was 210m×210m. Based on logistic regression analysis, the contribution(weight) of composite driving forces to land use and cover change was obtained, and the weight value was more objectively compared with AHP and MCE method.(3) In the natural scenarios, it is predicted that land use and cover distribution maps of Qilian mountain area in 2028 and 2042, and the Lee-Sallee index test was adopted. Over the next 27 years(2015–2042), farmland, woodland, grassland, settlement areas show an increasing trend, especially settlements with an obvious change of 0.56%. The area of bare land will decrease by 0.89%. Without environmental degradation, tremendous structural change of LUCC will not occur, and typical characteristic of the vertical zone of the mountain would remain. Farmland and settlement areas will increase, but only in the vicinity of Qilian and Sunan counties.     

贵州猫跳河流域土地利用变化和土壤侵蚀(英文)

Due to the extremely poor soil cover, a low soil-forming rate, and inappropriate intensive land use, soil erosion is a serious problem in Guizhou Province, which is located in the centre of the karst areas of Southwest China. In order to bring soil erosion under control and restore environment, the Chinese Government has initiated a serious of ecological rehabilitation projects such as the Grain-for-Green Programme and Natural Forest Protection Program and brought about tremendous influences on land-use change and soil erosion in Guizhou Province. This paper explored the relationship between land use and soil erosion in the Maotiao River watershed, a typical agricultural area with severe soil erosion in central Guizhou Province. In this study, we analyzed the spatio-temporal dynamic change of land-use type in Maotiao River watershed from 1973 to 2007 using Landsat MSS image in 1973, Landsat TM data in 1990 and 2007. Soil erosion change characteristics from 1973 to 2007, and soil loss among different land-use types were examined by integrating the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) with a GIS environment. The results indicate that changes in land use within the watershed have significantly affected soil erosion. From 1973 to 1990, dry farmland and rocky desertified land significantly increased. In contrast, shrubby land, other forestland and grassland significantly decreased, which caused accelerated soil erosion in the study area. This trend was reversed from 1990 to 2007 with an increased area of land-use types for ecological use owing to the implementation of environmental protection programs. Soil erosion also significantly varied among land-use types. Erosion was most serious in dry farmland and the lightest in paddy field. Dry farmland with a gradient of 6°-25° was the major contributor to soil erosion, and conservation practices should be taken in these areas. The results of this study provide useful information for decision makers and planners to take sustainable land use management and soil conservation measures in the area.     

21世纪初中国土地利用变化的空间格局与驱动力

Land use and land cover change as the core of coupled human-environment systems has become a potential field of land change science (LCS) in the study of global environmental change. Based on remotely sensed data of land use change with a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km on national scale among every 5 years, this paper designed a new dynamic regionalization according to the comprehensive characteristics of land use change including regional differentiation, physical, economic, and macro-policy factors as well. Spatial pattern of land use change and its driving forces were investigated in China in the early 21st century. To sum up, land use change pattern of this period was characterized by rapid changes in the whole country. Over the agricultural zones, e.g., Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, the southeast coastal areas and Sichuan Basin, a great proportion of fine arable land were engrossed owing to considerable expansion of the built-up and residential areas, resulting in decrease of paddy land area in southern China. The development of oasis agriculture in Northwest China and the reclamation in Northeast China led to a slight increase in arable land area in northern China. Due to the "Grain for Green" policy, forest area was significantly increased in the middle and western developing regions, where the vegetation coverage was substantially enlarged, likewise. This paper argued the main driving forces as the implementation of the strategy on land use and regional development, such as policies of "Western Development", "Revitalization of Northeast", coupled with rapidly economic development during this period.     

中国中、东部典型样区不同发展水平下土壤与土地利用多样性的对比分析(英文)

Two typical provincial capitals (Nanjing and Zhengzhou) and two counties (Rugao and Yuanyang) in east (Jiangsu Province) and central (Henan Province) China were chosen respectively as the developed and less developed comparative cases for pedodiversity and land use diversity correlative analysis by borrowing the recently better developed pedodiversity methodology. Land use classification was worked out using remote sensing images in three different periods (1986-1988, 2000-2001 and 2004-2006) for these studied case areas before the calculation of the constituent diversity index and spatial distribution diversity index modified after Shannon entropy in 2 km×2 km grid scale of the soil and land use pattern were conducted and then a connection index was proposed to evaluate the relationship between soil and land use diversity. Results show that during the years from 1986 to 2006, the composition and spatial distribution of regional land use pattern had changed greatly. The agricultural land area of all the studied case areas decreased obviously in which Nanjing has the highest decrement of 895.98 km 2 mainly into urban use while the other land use type area changes show the same trend. The connection index of four typical soil family types and typical urban land use types, i.e., urban construction land, transportation land and industrial and mining area all increased in this period. In the studied case areas, there is the highest soil constituent diversity in Zhengzhou at 0.779 while the simplest soil constituent diversity in Rugao at 0.582. Meanwhile we have higher land use diversity in the more urbanized Jiangsu Province than Henan Province, Nanjing is ranking the first that has been getting higher and higher in the three periods at 0.366 in 1986-1988, 0.483 in 2000-2001 and 0.545 in 2004-2006. Finally, the connection index figures to evaluate the relationship between soil and land use diversity of the studied areas were compared to show the similar phenomenon that this figure grows fastest in Nanjing followed by Zhengzhou and other places.     

乾安县土地利用变化及其生态效应

Based on GIS and statistical methods, with the help of searching historical literatures andcalculating the landscape indices, the land use changes of Qian'an County in both spatial and temporalaspects from 1945 to 1996 has been analyzed in this paper. And the driving forces of land use changesand their ecological effects are discussed too. The main findings of this study are as follows:(1)Landuse changed greatly in Qian'an during 1945-1996, characterized by a decrease in grassland, wetlandand water bodies,and an increase in cultivated land, saline-alkali land, and the land for housing andother construction purposes. Grassland decreased by 175,828.66 ha, and cultivated land increased by     

杭州湾南岸滨海平原土地利用变化对土壤发生层次质量演化的影响

Land use change plays an important part in the studies of global environmental change and regional sustainable development. The change of soil quality can particularly reflect the impacts of human socio-economic activities on environment. Taking the coastal plain of south Hangzhou Bay as a study case, we analyzed the effects of land use changes on organic matter （OM）, total nitrogen （TN）, total phosphorus （TP）, available phosphorus （AP）, available potassium （AK）, total salinity （TS）, pH value in soil genetic layers, and assessed soil quality change related to different land use types from 1982 to 2003. The results show that： （1） The general change tendency of soil quality in the coastal plain of south Hangzhou Bay declined obviously in A layer and slightly rise in B （or P） layer and C （or W） layer. The contents of TP decreased generally in all soil genetic layers, but the variety difference of other soil quality indices was relatively great. （2） The change of soil quality in the areas where land use changed is far more remarkable than that with land use unchanged. The value of quality variety is A layer 〉B （or P） layer 〉C （or W） layer. （3） The changes of soil tillage, cultivation, fertilization, irrigation and drainage activities related to land use may make some soil-forming processes disappeared and bring in other new processes which will affect the soil quality and soil genetic layers directly.     

Characterization of landscape pattern based on land economic niche change: A case study in Ganzhou,Gansu Province,China

Land use change has a profound impact on biodiversity and ecological processes, and is closely related to changes in landscape patterns. This paper introduces the theory and method of land economic niche into landscape ecology, which provides a new method for spatial characterization of urban and rural spatial landscape patterns. Based on this theory, this paper analyzes the landscape pattern of Ganzhou District by using Landsat images as data source in 1995, 2000, 2005,2010 and 2015. We calculated the land economic niche by applying the niche potential theory. Combined with the theory of landscape ecology, we explored the effects of the land economic niche change on the landscape pattern at a county scale.The results show that economic niche of construction land, watershed and farmland increased during 1995–2015, and grassland declined significantly. The economic niche of farmland, construction land, watershed and grassland show a negative correlation with the number of patches(NP), fragmentation index(FN) and the fractal dimension index(FD), and had a positive correlation with the aggregation index(AI). There was no significant correlation between the forest land economic niche and landscape metrics. The change of land economic niche has a driving effect on the landscape pattern of the county, which can represent the economic development direction of Ganzhou District. The land economic niche is closely related to the landscape type which can directly obtain an economic benefit.     

Ecosystem carbon storage under different scenarios of land use change in Qihe catchment,China

Regional land use change is the main cause of the ecosystem carbon storage changes by affecting emission and sink process.However,there has been little research on the influence of land use changes for ecosystem carbon storage at both temporal and spatial scales.For this study,the Qihe catchment in the southern part of the Taihang Mountains was taken as an example;its land use change from 2005 to 2015 was analyzed,the Markov-CLUE-S composite model was used to predict land use patterns in 2025 under natural growth,cultivated land protection and ecological conservation scenario,and the land use data were used to evaluate ecosystem carbon storage under different scenarios for the recent 10-year interval and the future based on the carbon storage module of the In VEST model.The results show the following:(1) the ecosystem carbon storage and average carbon density of Qihe catchment were 3.16×107 t and 141.9 t/ha,respectively,and decreased by 0.07×107 t and 2.89 t/ha in the decade evaluated.(2) During 2005–2015,carbon density mainly decreased in low altitude areas.For high altitude area,regions with increased carbon density comprised a similar percentage to regions with decreased carbon density.The significant increase of the construction areas in the middle and lower reaches of Qihe and the degradation of upper reach woodland were core reasons for carbon density decrease.(3) For 2015–2025,under natural growth scenario,carbon storage and carbon density also significantly decrease,mainly due to the decrease of carbon sequestration capacity in low altitude areas;under cultivated land protection scenario,the decrease of carbon storage and carbon density will slow down,mainly due to the increase of carbon sequestration capacity in low altitude areas;under ecological conservation scenario,carbon storage and carbon density significantly increase and reach 3.19×107 t and 143.26 t/ha,respectively,mainly in regions above 1100 m in altitude.Ecological conservation scenario can enhance carbon sequestration capacity but cannot effectively control the reduction of cultivated land areas.Thus,land use planning of research areas should consider both ecological conservation and cultivated land protection scenarios to increase carbon sink and ensure the cultivated land quality and food safety.     

Seasonal changes in the relationship between species richness and community biomass in grassland under grazing and exclosure, Horqin Sandy Land, northern China

How species diversity–productivity relationships respond to temporal dynamics and land use is still not clear in semi-arid grassland ecosystems. We analyzed seasonal changes of the relationships between vegetation cover, plant density, species richness, and aboveground biomass in grasslands under grazing and exclosure in the Horqin Sandy Land of northern China. Our results showed that in grazed and fenced grassland, vegetation cover, richness, and biomass were lower in April than in August, whereas plant density showed a reverse trend. Vegetation cover during the growing season and biomass in June and August were higher in fenced grassland than in grazed grassland, whereas plant density in April and June was lower in fenced grassland than in grazed grassland. A negative relationship between species richness and biomass was found in August in fenced grassland, and in grazed grassland the relationship between plant density and biomass changed from positive in April to negative in August. The relationship between the density of the dominant plant species and the total biomass also varied with seasonal changes and land use (grazing and exclosure). These results suggest that long-term grazing, seasonal changes, and their interaction significantly influence vegetation cover, plant density, and biomass in grasslands. Plant species competition in fenced grassland results in seasonal changes of the relationship between species richness and biomass. Long-term grazing also affects seasonal changes of the density and biomass of dominant plant species, which further affects the seasonal relationship between plant density and biomass in grasslands. Our study demonstrates the importance of temporal dynamics and land use in understanding the relationship between species richness and ecosystem function.     

Desertification Reversion in Relation to Land Use Change and Climate in Naiman County, Inner-Mongolia, China

Analyses of desertified land and land use change in Naiman County of Inner-Mongolia showed that there was a fluctuated in-crease of rain-fed cropland in the period from 1951 to 1960, then decreased until the middle of the 1990＇s, then increased again, while irrigated cropland consistently increased. The woodland and build-up land consistently increased while grassland area de-creased. The area of water body increased from 1975 to 1995 and then decreased while river beach decreased. Wetland change fluctuated with a maximum of 303.53km2 in 1995 and a minimum of 62.08 km2 in 2002. Invasion of cropland into river beach does not only change land coverage on the beach, but also the hydrological process of the river systems and deeply influence wa-ter availability. The correlation between cropland and underground water table is negative and significant. Increase of irrigated cropland is the primary cause of water availability reduction. Water table reduction is negatively correlated to cropland. The total desertified land has decreased since 1975. A rapid increase occurred before 1959, but it is difficult to assess the change of deserti-fication due to lack of data from 1959 to 1975. Changes of different types of desertified lands were different. There is no signifi-cant correlation between land use and different types of desertified land, but there is a significant negative correlation between woodland and total desertified land. The correlation between grassland and total desertified land is positive and significant. There is a significant correlation between different land cover and key factors such as water body and annual precipitation, river beach and runoff, area of shifting dune and annual precipitation, and cropland and underground water table. Desertification reversion in Naiman County is fragile and will be even much more fragile due to population growth, rapid land use and climate change. This will lead to continued invasion of irrigated cropland into more fragile ecosystems and reduction of water availability.     

1987-2007年土耳其伊斯坦布尔黑海沿岸土地利用变化(英文)

Recently,important land use changes have occurred in the Black Sea coastal regions of stanbul due to urban growth and population increases.The objective of this study was to determine changes in land use in the Black Sea coastal regions of stanbul between 1987 and 2007.Landsat 30 m satellite images from 1987 and 2007 are used in the study.The study area is 1000 m in width from the coastline to the land and the study has been carried out using the controlled classification method to classify areas into residential,agricultural,forest,bare land,brush/grassland,and lake/pond land classes.Land use changes between 1987 and 2007 were analysed in detail.Residential areas of the Black Sea coastal regions of stanbul increased by 122% over the two decades.Also an increase of 55% in agriculture areas was observed,while there were decreases of 26% in forest areas and 15% in free land.A 21% increase in the area of brush and grassland took place.Furthermore 79% of the study area was covered by residential areas in 2007.It is probable that pressure on the stanbul coastal regions will continue due to migraton and rapid urbanization.Therefore,Istanbul’s Black Sea coastal regions should be maintained using a sustainable coastal management plan.     

Analysis about the influence on the thermal regime in permafrost regions with different underlying surfaces

In the last several decades, the underlying surface conditions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have changed dramatically, causing permafrost degradation due to climate change and human activities. This change severely influenced the cold regions environment and engineering infrastructure built above permafrost. Permafrost is a product of the interaction between the atmosphere and the ground. The formation and change of permafrost are determined by the energy exchange between earth and atmosphere system. Fieldwork was performed in order to learn how land surface change influenced the thermal regime in permafrost regions. In this article, the field data observed in the Fenghuo Mountain regions was used to analyze the thermal conditions under different underlying surfaces on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Results show that underlying surface change may alter the primary energy balance and the thermal conditions of permafrost. The thermal flux in the permafrost regions is also changed, resulting in rising upper soil temperature and thickening active layer. Vegetation could prevent solar radiation from entering the ground, cooling the ground in the warm season. Also, vegetation has heat insulation and heat preservation functions related to the ground surface and may keep the permafrost stable. Plots covered with black plastic film have higher temperatures compared with plots covered by natural vegetation. The reason is that black plastic film has a low albedo, which could increase the absorbed solar radiation, and also decrease evapotranspiration. The ＂greenhouse effect＂ of transparent plastic film might effectively reduce the emission of long-wave radiation from the surface, decreasing heat loss from the earth＇s surface, and prominently increasing ground surface temperature.     

Land cover changes in the rural-urban interaction of Xi＇an region using Landsat TM/ETM data

Landsat ETM/TM data and an artificial neural network （ANN） were applied to analyse the expansion of the city of Xi＇an and land use/cover change of its surrounding area between 2000 and 2003. Supervised classification and normalized difference barren index （NDBI） were used respectively to retrieve its urban boundary. Results showed that the urban area increased by an annual rate of 12.3%, with area expansion from 253.37 km^2 in 2000 to 358.60 km^2 in 2003. Large areas of farmland in the north and southwest were converted into urban construction land. The land use/cover changes of Xi＇an were mainly caused by fast development of urban economy, population immigration from countryside, great development of infrastructure such as transportation, and huge demands for urban market. In addition, affected by the government policy of “returning farmland to woodland”, some farmland was converted into economic woodland, such as Chinese goosebeerv garden, vineyard etc.