Quantitative study of landscape patterns in homogenous carbonate rock distributed regions in Guizhou

With the utilization of GIS software, research is conducted on （a） the characteristics of cells, fragmentation, and patch fractal of landscape based on homogenous carbonate rocks in Guizhou; （b） causes of the formation of these characteristics. It has been found that under the influence of lithology, the landscape of the study region as a whole shows consistency, yet embodies distinct diversity inside. The consistency is embodied in the following aspects： （a） the preponderant landscape consists of bushes and small woods; （b） secondary landscape is characteristic of forests and grounds covered with grass; （c） of all the patches making up the study area small patches are in the majority, with positive-skewed distribution of patches-as a result, steep peaks are characteristic of the charts showing the distribution of patches. The factor of scale is not taken into account in the study of patches. The shapes of patches tend to be regular with strong disturbances from human activities, and consequently, the values of fractal dimensions of landscape types tend to get smaller. The fragmentation of patches is more apparent in landscape under influence of human activities than the one without these disturbances. Compared with regions characteristic of homogenous dolomite, the characteristics of homogenous limestone areas are described as follows： （a） low utilization rate of water resource; （b） uneven distribution of diversified landscape; （c） weak resistance against disturbances from human activities; （d） the continuous degradation, ever-increasing fragmentation, intensification of spatial heterogeneity, and the deteriorating stability of landscape.     

山区生态县区域协调发展的机制构建--以粤北始兴县为例

区域协调机制在不同类型地域和一种类型地域的不同的发展阶段是不同的。始兴县作为一个典型的山区生态县,工业进入加速发展时期,在此经济发展阶段的区域协调问题主要表现在:与外部区域经济、社会发展差距拉大,工业化与流域生态环境保护的矛盾已开始凸现,县政府协调区域发展的财政能力较低,区域协调机制不健全等。由此对始兴县的区域协调机制进行建构:建立健全多层次的区域协调机构;加大纵向和横向政府财政转移支付的力度;加强与相邻相关地区的协调;实施区域空间管治协调,保护城乡生态环境;科学合理选择产业,大力发展循环经济;全县推行绿色GDP考核等。     

本溪地质遗迹与地质公园的开发建设

本文比较详细的说明了本溪地区存在的地质遗迹,并进一步论述了本溪地质遗迹的特征及保护现状,提出了开发建设本溪地质公园的设想,这对本溪地区旅游资源的保护及旅游业的发展有着十分重要的意义。     

快速城市化过程中城市土地覆被的时空动态特征

1990~2005年间,是广州市经济快速发展和城市景观变化最大的时期,以同时段TM影像解译得到广州市的土地覆被类型图,从数量结构、空间信息及位置转移和景观等方面,分析了广州市土地覆被的动态特征.数量结构的研究结果显示:在快速城市化过程中广州市的耕地、林地等自然资源的利用程度在加大,自1995年起,这种变化的趋势开始减缓;土地覆被类型之间的信息与位置的转移变化频繁,并且表现出空间位置分异的特征.景观特征指数分析结果表明:广州市城市土地覆被向破碎化方向发展,城市建设用地呈扩展之势.     

Lichen-dominated soil crusts as arthropod habitat in warm deserts

Soil crust lichens can be the dominant vegetation in arid lands, yet their importance as habitat to secondary producers is relatively unknown. This study examines the distribution of arthropod communities in the northern Namib Desert to evaluate whether a lichen-rich area is more or less productive than adjacent habitats in terms of the consumers each supports. Arthropods are diverse and highly endemic in the Namib Desert and lichens dominate this desert's extensive gravel plains. We sampled lichen-rich, dwarf shrub, and unvegetated sites and found distinct arthropod assemblages in the lichen-dominated sites, including species unique to lichen sites. Arthropod assemblages in two of the lichen sites were similar to those found in the dwarf shrub site. In a canonical correspondence analysis, crustose lichens and overall lichen cover were key in driving the variance in arthropod assemblages within the lichen sites. Furthermore, lichen morphotypes, overall lichen cover and species richness, were significantly correlated with the representation of arthropod subgroups and arthropod species richness. These findings provide evidence that lichen-dominated soil crusts in the Namib Desert are important supporters of secondary production, warranting more in-depth studies into the ecology and conservation of this lichen-rich habitat in warm deserts.     

Nurturing Relationships: the gardens of Greek and Vietnamese migrants in Marrickville,Sydney

First- and second-generation migrants represent about 40 per cent of the Australian population. With such a large and also diverse immigrant population, urban landscapes are significantly shaped by the gardens created by migrants. Two groups of Vietnamese and Greek migrants, in the inner suburb of Marrickville South in Sydney, were interviewed to examine the relationship between migration history and garden-making practices. Garden composition was influenced by migrants’ relationship with their homeland, in terms of length of time since migration, previous garden ownership, reason for migration and desire for cultural continuity, and by the size of the garden. Gardens also varied according to country of migration. The actual garden produce and type of environment created by the garden helped to emphasise and maintain cultural relationships, provide a space of nostalgia, and give a sense of ownership and control.     

Integrated Approaches,Multiple Scales: Snag Dynamics in Burned Versus Unburned Landscapes*

By studying landscape form and patterns, we can study processes at multiple scales and determine how collectively those processes inform us about function(s). Integrating landscape ecology from a biogeographical perspective with geographic information science (GIScience) practices offers new ways to study how landscapes change over time and space, including how they can be measured, analyzed, and modeled for management needs. This article presents methodologies and selected results of analyzing spatial patterns from field data across multiple scales by examining standing dead tree (snag) processes across wildfire‐disturbed landscapes in Arizona. Our primary motivation was to illustrate a particular type of work benefiting from the coalescing of landscape ecology and GIScience, functioning at the methodological and practical overlap of these two contributing fields. Our management goals were to (1) describe spatial patterns and characteristics of snags in pairs of burned and unburned ponderosa pine forests of Arizona in four recent (within the past ten years) wildfires, (2) document bird response to wildfires by combining landscape ecology and GIScience methods, and (3) link these patterns to snag monitoring plots and cavity‐nesting bird use to predict the probability of snag use by birds and cavity nesters based on snag characteristics (snag use model). The methods and results demonstrate how integration of landscape ecology with both GIS and GIScience improves the ways to study landscapes and land management issues, in this case offering guidelines for retention of snags that provide habitat for wildlife.     

Kaleidoscoping Landscapes,Shifting Perspectives

Landscapes change in complex ways, creating surface patterns reminiscent of forms seen through a kaleidoscope. On the Earth's surface, those forms are linked to, and caused by, processes that originate with bedrock‐soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere interactions. Human‐caused alterations to landscapes are additionally tied to socioeconomic processes. Evaluation of landscape‐level processes can benefit from examining (1) the influence of disturbance regimes in altering landscape patterns, (2) the importance of considering surficial processes, (3) the subtle and cryptic spatial relations that may be present, (4) the reciprocal relationships among local processes and regional consequences, (5) the increased likelihood of some land cover transitions compared to others, and (6) the special case of landscapes with long histories of human use. These are all examples of potential fruitful arenas for interactions and represent a path for expansion of landscape ecology through accommodation of a broad range of content covered by the international GIScience community.     

HUMBOLDT'S MEXICAN TEXTS AND LANDSCAPES*

ABSTRACT. While in New Spain from 1803 to 1804, Alexander von Humboldt interacted with some of its landscapes and the texts that represented them. Analysis of those interactions regarding the Basin of Mexico and the Gulf lowlands demonstrates what purely text‐based studies of the production of places cannot: The contrasting landscape elements and patterns that had emerged over millennia during precolonial times in those two places, their relative degrees of depopulation during the colonial era, and the relative degrees of rigor Humboldt applied to interacting with the resulting landscapes and the texts that represented them greatly affected his representations of those places in his 1811 Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle‐Espagne. His representations of the precolonial Basin of Mexico as productively developed and of the precolonial Gulf lowlands as pristine have influenced the transformations of those places in the two centuries after New Spain became the Mexican republic through its wars of independence (1810–1821).