A multi-scale study on land use and land cover quality change: The case of the Yellow River Delta in China

This paper presents a case study of the Yellow River Delta in China, to trace land use and land cover changes during the past 20 years, with an emphasis on land quality changes. Three sets of data are used in this case study: remote sensing data derived from satellite images; crop yield data from statistics; and soil data collected by the researchers in the field. Our study reveals that at the regional scale, LUCC has taken place in a positive direction: vegetation cover has been expanding and crop yields per hectare have been on rise. However, while the overall eco-environment has improved, the improvement is uneven across the Delta region. At local levels, some areas show signs of increased salinization and declining organic content. Both natural forces and human activities are responsible for the LUCC, but human activities play a more important role. While some impacts of human activities are positive, the damages are often long-lasting and irreversible. We also conclude that it is necessary to use both macro data (such as remote sensing data) and micro data (data collected in the field) to study land quality change. The former are efficient in examining land quality changes at the regional scale, the latter can serve to verify ground patterns revealed from macro data and help to identify local variations, so as to get a comprehensive understanding of LUCC and promote sustainable land use and land management. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

中国土地利用/覆盖变化的生态环境安全响应与调控

中国从20世纪70年代末实施了前所未有的改革开放政策,巨大的境外投资、有偿转让使用与土地联产承包政策在广大城乡的推行,引致了快速的城市化与经济增长过程,城市化水平增长15%,GDP平均每年增长超过9%,城市化土地面积增长2%。与此相应,严重的生态环境灾害相继发生,1994年淮河特大污染事件;1997年黄河断流227天;1998年发生长江、嫩江流域特大水灾;2000年发生严重影响中国首都北京及韩国、日本的12次沙尘暴;2004年,淮河流域再次发生严重污染事件。综合分析表明,土地利用/覆盖格局的巨大变化、城市化过程的加速、乡镇企业的迅猛发展成为其主因。一些案例研究表明,重建生态环境安全条件下的中国土地利用/覆盖格局,制定与生态环境安全水平友好的国家土地利用政策,不仅有利于改善中国生态环境安全水平,还将促进其可持续发展,并有益于亚洲及世界生态环境的改良。     

巨大灾害后的脆弱性：台湾集集地震后中部地区土地利用与覆盖变迁

自2004年底的南亚大海啸、美国遭受飓风侵袭以来，人类社会如何采取应对措施以降低灾害的冲击成为国际科学界的一个重要议题。台湾在几年前也遭遇巨大的地震灾害，1999年9月21日凌晨，震中发源于台湾中部、芮氏规模7.3级的巨大地震，造成全台湾2 000多人死亡，8 000多人受伤，除了造成直接的经济社会损失外，也造成山区土石松滑、地层松动与山崩，直接改变了地表的覆盖状况。在后续几年台风所带来的强风豪雨下，丰沛的降雨量使原本因地震而松滑的土石大量滑落，造成严重的土石流灾害，河床也因土石泥沙的堆积而被提升，形成严重的洪患。这些自然环境的变化不仅再次改变地表的覆盖，也使重建后的小区面临极大的灾害风险。此次冲击促使当地居民重新思考人地关系之意义，通过重建过程凝聚小区意识，发展有别于过去的土地利用形态。因此为检验当地居民对灾害的暴露程度、敏感性与适应能力，本研究采用近年来在国际环境灾害研究课题备受重视的脆弱性研究途径，并利用野外调查以及遥测与地理信息系统分析呈现地震后的土地覆盖变化。希望通过分析人与环境系统的变化，以及人类社群的社会内部固有特质，归纳出重要机制以发展降低脆弱性的策略。 研究结果显示，灾害是人与环境耦合系统(coupled system)共同形成的结果，非单一的独立事件，也不是不可避免的；且地方的脆弱性具有演化与多元化的特性，同一地方下不同族群与个体对灾害的脆弱性皆不同，因此灾害研究必须更关注于灾害发生的机制，相关的政策与策略也必须建立在更小的社会与空间单元上。     

不同土地利用方式下土壤CO2时空分布特征及其影响因素——以湘西大龙洞地下河流域为例

为了解不同土地利用方式/覆被条件土壤剖面CO2时空分布特征及其影响因素,对湖南湘西大龙洞地下河流域的4种土地利用方式（林地、草地、玉米地、烟叶地）土壤不同深度的CO2浓度进行为期一年的观测。结果显示,不同土地利用方式的土壤CO2表现为草地(7 527 mg/m3)>林地(7 197 mg/m3)>烟叶地（4 562 mg/m3）>玉米地(4 414 mg/m3);随剖面深度加大,草地和玉米地土壤CO2呈先增大后稳定的趋势,林地和烟叶地则表现为先增大后降低的趋势;时间变化上,不同土地利用方式下的土壤CO2月均浓度曲线与气温的变化曲线有很好的对应性,表现为2-8月浓度升高,8-12月降低,12月至次年2月为小幅下降,土壤CO2浓度的最低值和最高值分别出现在2月和8月。相关性分析显示,气温对土壤CO2浓度的影响最显著,此外,不同土地利用方式下有机碳的差异,与气温相耦合的降雨因素等都对土壤CO2浓度变化有重要影响。      

Assessing land use and land cover change in the Wassa West District of Ghana using remote sensing

Vast tracts of forests are lost globally every year especially in the developing countries of the tropics due to various human activities such as lumbering, farming, bush fires, surface mining and urbanization. The rainforest in Ghana has experienced rapid depletion since the 1980s. The impact of deforestation is widespread, affecting the livelihoods of local people and disrupting the tropical ecosystem. There is a serious concern in the study area about climatic change, soil erosion, siltation of rivers and loss in biodiversity which have an adverse impact on traditional medicinal plants of the local people. The study examined the extent of land cover change through image differencing of Landsat TM 1986 and 2002. The image classification indicated that, vegetative cover from 1986 to 2002 has been reducing whiles land use activities have been increasing. Closed canopy, open canopy and plantation have significantly diminished and land use activities especially built ups, farms, mining and openfields are more than doubled. The driving forces for the change in land cover are population growth, lumbering, socio-economic and cultural practices of the people. Lumbering and mining have been some of the major causes of the changing landscape in primary forest. Also the reliance on wood for domestic energy and the need to increase food productivity to feed growing population have also contributed greatly to the rapid depletion of the vegetative cover.