Assessing natural and cultural influence on soil in remnant tropical woodlands

Rural Hong Kong contains culturally protected enclaves of remnant woodlands that provide sanctuary for vegetation, wildlife and soil. This study focuses on the influence of natural and cultural factors on soil properties in woodlands with different human activities. At each of the nine selected sites, two pits were dug to collect soil samples for analysis of 24 physical and chemical properties. Analyses of variance between soil attributes and site factors suggest the prominence of woodland size, and important contribution of topography, aspect and parent material. Soil indicators of human impacts and the tenacity of woodland soil towards anthropogenic disturbance were demonstrated.     

发展中国家食物安全研究的新进展

本文回顾了七十年代以来食物安全概念的演变历史，特别是介绍了森(Sen)的食物权利理论在这个历史过程中的作用，评价了当前的主要研究热点，展望了将来的几个研究趋势。指出食物安全的概念不能也不应该以单一的观点、方法和尺度来定义，食物安全的研究必须要更紧密地与更广泛的人文安全和环境变化的内容联系在一起，才能更深入地进行下去。     

Controlling factors of gullying in the Maracujá Catchment,southeastern Brazil

Hundreds of gullies (‘voçorocas’) of huge dimensions (up to 400–500 m long, 150 m wide and 50 m deep) are very common in the small Maracujá Catchment in southeastern Brazil. These erosional features, which occur with an uneven intensity throughout the area, started due to bad soil management practices at the beginning of European settlement, at the end of the 17th century, and nowadays are still evolving, but at a slower rate. As surface soils are usually very resistant to erosion, the outcrop of the more erodible basement saprolites seems to be an essential condition for their beginning. An analysis of well known erosion controlling factors was performed, aiming to explain the beginning and evolution of these gullies and to understand the reasons for their spatial distribution. Data shows that geology and, mainly, geomorphology are the main controlling factors, since gullies tend to be concentrated in basement rock areas with lower relief (domain 2) of Maracujá Catchment, mainly at the fringes of broad and flat interfluves. At the detailed scale (1:10 000), gullies are more common in amphitheatre‐like headwater hollows that frequently represent upper Quaternary gullies (paleogullies), which demonstrate the recurrence of channel erosion. So, gullies occur in areas of thicker saprolites (domain 2), in places with a natural concentration of surface and underground water (hollows). Saprolites of the preserved, non‐eroded hollows are usually pressurized (confined aquifer) due to a thick seal of Quaternary clay layer, in a similar configuration to the ones found in hollows of mass movement (mudflow) sites in southeastern Brazil. Therefore, the erosion of the resistant soils by human activities, such as road cuts and trenches (‘valos’), or their mobilization by mudflow movements, seem to be likely mechanisms of gullying initiation. Afterwards, gullies evolve by a combination of surface and underground processes, such as wash and tunnel erosion and falls and slumps of gully walls. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in the spatial scale of Beijing UHI and urban development

The seasonal and interannual variations of Beijing urban heat island (UHI) are investigated in this paper using the temperature data from 1960 to 2000 at 20 meteorological stations in the Beijing region, and then the relationship between the intensity and spatial scale of UHI and Beijing urbanization indices is analyzed and discussed. Main conclusions are the followings. First, Beijing UHI shows obvious seasonal variations, and it is strongest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer. The seasonal variation of the UHI mainly occurs in the urban area. The UHI intensity at the center of Beijing is more than 0.8℃ in winter, and only 0.5℃ in summer. Second, the intensity of Beijing HUI exhibits a clear interannual warming trend with its mean growth rate (MGR) being 0.3088℃/10 a. The MGR of HUI is largest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer, and the urban temperature increase makes a major contribution to the growth of HUI intensity. Third, since the Reform and Opening, the urbanization indices have grown several ten times or even one hundred times, the intensity of HUI has increased dramatically, and its spatial scale also expanded distinctively along with the expansion of urban architectural complexes. Fourth, the interannual variation of urbanization indices is very similar with that of HUI intensity, and their linear correlation coefficients are significant at a more than 0.001 confidence level.     

生态城市的内涵及建设策略

生态城市是通过倡导生态理念，采用生态技术，建立生态化产业体系，从而达到社会、经济、环境的可持续发展，实现自然生态平衡、人文生态和谐的城乡统一体。从可持续发展的角度出发，利用生态学和社会学的观点，论述生态城市的内涵，提出科学的城市规划、合理的城市评价指标体系、完善的城市管理制度是实现生态城市的前提，强调只有自然生态、人文生态两手抓才能真正实现经济、社会、环境全面发展。     

人口生态生产:人地作用机制下"三江并流"世界遗产保护的新视角

基于不同人口需要而进行的人类活动对“三江并流”区的地理环境产生了巨大影响,形成了独具特色的人地作用机制。这一作用机制一方面对“三江并流”世界遗产的保护构成了威胁,但另一方面,通过人口生态生产,实现人口数量、质量、结构和分布的生态化,改进人类活动,也可优化“三江并流”区的地理环境,保护“三江并流”世界遗产,实现该地区的可持续发展。     

黄土区人类活动影响下的 产汇流模拟研究

日益频繁的人类活动改变了流域下垫面条件,对流域产汇流产生很大的影响。本文以黄河中游典型支流岔巴沟为研究区域,提出利用基于DEM的分布式水文模拟技术,探讨流域人类活动过程中的产汇流模拟,避免了经验公式的概化和由此引起的局限。模拟的结果证实了该方法的可行性。采用网格滞蓄的方法可以在子网格上体现人类活动引起的下垫面的变化及其对产汇流的影响,反映各个时期的产汇流条件,对降雨做出合理响应。     

The role of climate change and human interventions in affecting watershed runoff responses

Identifying the role of the two main driving factors—climate change and human interventions—in influencing runoff processes is essential for sustainable water resources management. For this purpose, runoff regime change detection methods were used to divide the available hydroclimatic variables into a baseline and a disturbed period. We applied hydrological modelling and the climate elasticity of runoff method to determine the contribution of climate change and human interventions to changes in runoff. The hydrological model, SWAT, was calibrated during the baseline period and used to simulate the naturalized runoff pattern for the disturbed period. Significant changes in runoff in the study watershed were detected from 1982, suggesting that human interventions play a dominant role in influencing runoff. The combined effects of climate change and human interventions resulted in a 41.3 mm (23.9%) decrease in runoff during the disturbed period, contributing about 40% and 60% to the total runoff change, respectively. Furthermore, analysis of changes in land cover dynamics in the watershed over the past four decades supported these changes in runoff. Contrary to other decades, the discrepancy between naturalized and observed runoff was small in the 2010s, likely due to increased baseflow as a result of storage and/or release of excess water during the dry season. This study contributes to our understanding of how climate change and human interventions affect hydrological responses of watersheds, which is important for future sustainable water management and drought adaptation.     

The Relationship between Narratives,Wildlife Value Orientations,Attitudes, and Policy Preferences

Overabundance of white-tailed deer is a pervasive problem across the United States. Deer are blamed for increased risk of auto accidents, tick-borne diseases, and overbrowsing of native species. Lethal management techniques, cited as cost-effective and humane, are commonly employed for herd management. However, the approach frequently sparks outrage among various stakeholders who feel killing of animals is unjustified and prefer nonlethal measures. Wildlife managers then face the challenge of communicating with the public to build policy support for lethal management. The Narrative Policy Framework was used to test the effects of differing narratives on public opinion for lethal deer management. Results indicated narratives were influential in shifting attitudes toward and support for a proposed sharpshooting policy even in some cases where respondents were already familiar with the issue and held a previous opinion. This study also supported the utility of the Narrative Policy Framework for examining human dimensions of wildlife issues.     

2001-2015年中国植被覆盖人为影响的时空格局

基于MODIS-NDVI和气温、降水数据,使用基于变异系数的人为影响模型定量计算了2001-2015年中国植被覆盖人为影响,辅以趋势分析、Hurst指数等方法探讨了中国植被覆盖人为影响的时空变化特征及未来演变趋势。研究发现：① 2001-2015年,中国植被覆盖人为影响由南向北空间分异愈发明显,年均值为-0.0102,植被覆盖在人类活动影响下轻微减少,负影响面积占51.59%,略大于正影响面积。② 中国植被覆盖人为影响年际变化特征明显,整体呈负影响波动减少趋势,降速为0.5%/10a,其中正影响、负影响均呈增大趋势,正影响增速（0.3%/10a）远大于负影响（0.02%/10a）。③ 2001-2015年间,中国植被覆盖人为正影响重心向东北方向移动,负影响重心向西南方向移动,东北部植被覆盖在人为影响下不断改善,西南部人类活动对植被破坏程度不断增大。④ 中国植被覆盖人为影响主要呈负影响减少和正影响增大趋势,面积占比分别为28.14%和25.21%,生态环境趋于改善。⑤ Hurst指数分析表明,中国植被覆盖人为影响未来演变趋势的反向特征强于正向特征,主要呈人为负影响先减少后增大趋势,面积占比15.59%。