Urbanization,urban land expansion and environmental change in China

China’s economic reforms and unprecedented growth have generated many fascinating issues for scholarly research. An understanding of urbanization and land use change in China is required for appropriate strategies and policies to facilitate future sustainable development. This paper reviews the literature on urbanization, land use and sustainable development in China with a focus on land use change. We argue that land use and environmental research are embedded in the complex economic-geographical processes and multiple trajectories of development and urbanization in China. This paper highlights the important role of space–time modeling in a multi-disciplinary setting in the study of urbanization, land use and sustainable development. It also points out potential areas for future research.     

用去趋势涨落分析研究北京气候的长程变化特征

无标度性广泛存在于自然界系统包括气候系统中,其特征之一是可观测量存在幂函数关系,它揭示了气候系统的复杂性.为探索气候可预测性的客观基础,运用去趋势涨落分析(DFA)方法对北京1870～2003 年平均气温和1725～2003年降水序列进行了分析.结果表明,北京年平均气温和降水量均可划分为多个标度不变区域.在特定的标度域内,它们都表现出正长程相关的性质,为制作年际与年代际气候预测提供了理论基础.     

植被电磁散射的半空间模型研究

本文给出了地面植被电磁散射的半空间模型研究方法.在以往的相关文献中,均采用自由空间格林函数求解单个叶片散射体的散射场,本文利用半空间并矢格林函数求出了单个散射体的散射场,然后运用Monte Carlo方法模拟生成地面植被层,得到了在半空间下植被层的电磁散射特性,计算出了单、双站雷达散射截面,并与自由空间下的散射场做了相互对比.结果表明,在半空间格林函数下得到的散射场更为适用于描述地面植被的电磁散射特性.     

Stochastic evolution of hydraulic geometry relations in the lower Yellow River of China under environmental uncertainties

Hydraulic geometry relations comprise a classic way to understand characteristics of a river. However, environmental changes pose large uncertainties for the reliability of such relations. In the current study, on the basis of the ordinary differential equations (ODEs) formed through linear treatment of the deterministic power-law hydraulic geometry relations, a set of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) driven by Fractional white noise and Poisson noise are developed to simulate the historical dynamic probability distributions of typical hydraulic geometry variables such as slope, width, depth, and velocity with bankfull discharge variation over time in the lower Yellow River of China. One group of possible stochastic average behaviors within the next 50 years are calculated under three different design incoming water-sediment conditions (including 300, 600, and 800 million t of annual average sediment discharge). In each part of the lower reaches, after estimation of the SDE parameters using a nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method, the model is carefully examined using Monte Carlo simulation as compared with the deterministic control models. The results of this comparison reveal the potential responses of hydraulic geometry characteristics to environmental disturbances, and the average trends mainly agree with the measurements. Comparisons among the three different prediction results reveal the stochastic average solution generally is greater than the deterministic solution. The results also confirm the severe negative impacts that result from the condition of 300 million t of incoming sediment, thus, pointing out the need to raise the level of river evolution alert for the lower Yellow River of China in the future. Moreover, with the help of the stochastic computation, the stream power and hydraulic width/depth ratio could be representative of an effective systematic measure for river dynamics. The proposed stochastic approach is not only important to development in the field of fluvial relations, but also beneficial to the practical design and monitoring of a river system according to specified accuracy requirements.     

Assessment of occupational risks from human health and environmental perspectives: a new integrated approach and its application using fuzzy BWM and fuzzy MAIRCA

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment - Occupational safety issues encountered in the worksite environment are the issues that companies should consider in improving their...     

丹江口水库浮游轮虫群落季节变动特征及其与环境因子的关系

为了解丹江口水库轮虫群落的季节变化及其与环境因子的关系,于2007年7月至2008年5月对丹江口水库轮虫群落及理化因子进行了周年调查.共检测到轮虫62种,隶属于12科23属,其中丹江库区30种,汉江库区54种.广布多肢轮虫(Polyarthra vulgaris)、螺形龟甲轮虫(Keratella cochlearis)、长圆疣毛轮虫(Synchaeta oblonga)、等刺异尾轮虫(Tri-chocerca similes)、冠饰异尾轮虫(Trichocerca lophoessa)、裂痕龟纹轮虫(Anuraeopsis fissa)为主要优势种类.丹江口水库轮虫年平均密度和生物量季节变化特征为:冬季春季夏季秋季;区域变化特征为:丹江库区取水口汉江库区五青入库区.相关分析表明,水体透明度、叶绿素a、总磷、溶解性氮和溶解氧浓度与轮虫密度和生物量呈显著的相关关系.夏季对优势轮虫密度变化有显著贡献的环境因子为SiO2-Si和溶解氧含量,秋季为溶解氧和pH,冬季为叶绿素a、溶解氧和DIN,春季为DIN.     

Strategy for management of lake-catchment system integrated with natural and anthropogenic factors in China

Lake eutrophication that has caused severe damages to aquatic ecosystems is a hot issue in the field of water pollution control, so analyzing its process and driving mechanism is of great significance. In this study, we detected its major driving factors based on an observed dataset and assessed the impacts of these factors. Firstly, empirical econometric models were used to ascertain the Per capita GDP and the percentage of impervious surface, which are significantly related with the eutrophication level. Eutrophication is slightly affected by anthropogenic disturbance, but is negatively related to the supply coefficient. Secondly, all driving factors are divided into two categories, including the stresses caused by human activities and the comprehensive health status, which are expressed as the two coordinate axes of an indicator-matrix. Thirdly, lake classification, which is a decision-making tool for management and control of eutrophication, suggests a breakdown in communication between researchers and water managers. Finally, corresponding management strategies are recommended, and the classification system can be used to simplify management by grouping lakes that may be managed by similar strategies. The classification management may enlighten and guide the appropriate policy implementation for lake eutrophication management.     

南京玄武湖浮游细菌群落结构的季节变化及其与环境因子的关系

应用16S rRNA基因末端限制性片段长度多态性技术和多元统计方法,探究了南京玄武湖浮游细菌群落结构的季节性变化,并找出了浮游细菌群落组成分布的主要影响因子.结果表明,玄武湖4个季节中夏季Invsimpson指数、Shannon-Wiener指数和Pielou指数最高,而春季最低.非度量多维尺度分析结果显示浮游细菌群落结构存在着明显的季节性变化.Mantel检验、典范对应分析、变量分割分析表明影响玄武湖细菌群落结构最显著的环境因子为温度,其次为pH.营养盐浓度对玄武湖细菌群落结构的影响不显著.总的来说,本研究将有助于更好地理解富营养化水体中的浮游细菌群落组成的季节变化规律.     

Magnetic characteristics of dustfall in urban area of north China and its environmental significance

Urban particulate pollutants not only affect urban air quality but also directly threaten public health. Lanzhou has been one of the most seriously polluted cities in the world due to its special geophysical location and weather conditions, which makes it an ideal place for urban particulate pollution study. In this study a set of environmental magnetic parameters (χlf, χfd%, χARM, SIRM, HIRM, SOFT and back field IRM) were measured and analyzed for the dustfall samples collected monthly during 1997.4―2000.5 and 2004.11―2005.10 at Lanzhou University campus (KLD and CCS) and at a clear site of Gaolanxian (GLX). Results demonstrate that the main magnetic minerals in the dustfall are magnetite, with some maghaemite and haematite. Cross plots of Mrs/Ms vs. Bcr/Bc and χfd% vs. χARM/SIRM indicate that the main magnetic grain sizes are pseudo-single-domain (PSD). The high concentration of magnetic min-erals in the dustfall indicates that Lanzhou is seriously polluted. The main pollution sources are an-thropogenic activities and nature dust, with the former posing a great threat during the whole year, which is different from the general view that the natural dust is the main contributor in summer. With great efforts of the government and local authority in the past decades, the air quality in Lanzhou has been improved in winter, but it is not so obvious in summer. This study also reveals that as a simple, rapid and accurate technology, environmental magnetism could be a valuable tool for urban pollution study.     

Mapping long-term terrace change in the Chinese Loess Plateau: A new approach by decision tree model with digital elevation model (DEM) and land use

Human-created terraces are distributed extensively in the Chinese Loess Plateau, which play key roles in soil conservation, agricultural production and sustainable development. However, large-scale and long-term terrace mapping remains a big challenge due to the complexity of topography, land cover and the deficiency of high-quality historical spatial data. Facing this task, our study aims to develop a new approach for capturing 30 years (from 1990 to 2020) of terrace patterns at macroscales (the whole Loess Plateau, with an area of 6.4 × 10⁵ km²). The decision tree model (DTM) was integrated with digital elevation model (DEM) and land use data to detect terrace change, and terraced samples were extracted from existing findings for spatial validation. Our study confirmed that this new approach can work successfully on identifying cultivated and grassy terraces, as evidenced by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under curve (AUC) values. More notably, a decreasing trend was detected in cultivated terraces with continued uneven distribution from 1990 to 2020, while the areas of grassy terraces increased markedly with more-concentrated larger patches. This finding indicated that huge areas of terrace abandonment may have already occurred in this region. More attention thus should be paid to the rising risks of cropland utilization and food security. Since it is the first time to get long-term reliable terrace maps on the Loess Plateau, our efforts can help to better take stock of terrace resources for wiser land use managements and agricultural policy adjustments, finally benefiting socio-ecological sustainability.     

Discrimination between anthropogenic (pollution) and lithogenic magnetic fraction in urban soils (Delhi,India) using environmental magnetism

In this paper magnetic property of the Delhi topsoil has been used to characterize the potentially polluted areas in terms of magnetic minerals and grain (Magnetic Domain) concentration as a factor of toxic metals and other mutagenic pollutant concentration. The Saturation magnetisation (Ms) and Saturation remanence (Mrs) has been taken as proxy for ferrimagnetic mineral concentration. However, delineation of anthropogenic magnetic fraction from lithogenic (geogenic) magnetic fraction has been done by the paramagnetic/diamagnetic contribution of soil with the fact that the fresh soil contains higher paramagnetic and diamagnetic minerals than polluted. Predominantly, the topsoils of Delhi are dominated with ferrimagnetic minerals (Magnetite and Maghemite phase). Significantly the industrial areas contain highest concentration of the ferrimagnetic minerals with negligible paramagnetic/diamagnetic fraction which leads to anthropogenic contribution. Heavy traffic and densely populated areas of the Delhi exhibit moderate to low soil pollution while green areas show lowest with higher paramagnetic/diamagnetic contribution. The soils in Delhi are dominated with Pseudo-Single Domain (PSD) magnetic grain, though the industrial areas in Delhi show coarser Multidomain (MD) grains in comparison to Stable Single Domain (SSD) in forest areas. Our study reveals that the fine grain particle does not show significant link with higher concentration of ferrimagnetic minerals at least in soils. The presence of the lithogenic magnetite crystal in the forest soil and anthropogenically produced spherules in industrial areas and higher concentration of the heavy metal in Delhi soil strengthen our findings.     

巢湖水华蓝藻原位生长率的时空变化及其环境影响因子

原位生长率是研究藻类生长、衰亡、种群演变、生产力估算,以及藻类对环境变化响应的重要指标,针对水华蓝藻原位生长率的测定,目前还缺乏成熟可靠的手段.本研究利用改进的原位培养法,根据培养前后藻蓝素浓度的变化,对巢湖东、中、西3个湖区水华蓝藻的原位生长率进行周年调查.结果 表明,巢湖水华蓝藻的原位生长率变化范围在-1.16～0...     

The role of urban growth,climate change,and their interplay in altering runoff extremes

Changes in climate and urban growth are the most influential factors affecting hydrological characteristics in urban and extra‐urban contexts. The assessment of the impacts of these changes on the extreme rainfall–runoff events may have important implications on urban and extra‐urban management policies against severe events, such as floods, and on the design of hydraulic infrastructures. Understanding the effects of the interaction between climate change and urban growth on the generation of runoff extremes is the main aim of this paper. We carried out a synthetic experiment on a river catchment of 64 km² to generate hourly runoff time series under different hypothetical scenarios. We imposed a growth of the percentage of urban coverage within the basin (from 1.5% to 25%), a rise in mean temperature of 2.6 °C, and an alternatively increase/decrease in mean annual precipitation of 25%; changes in mean annual precipitation were imposed following different schemes, either changing rainstorm frequency or rainstorm intensity. The modelling framework consists of a physically based distributed hydrological model, which simulates fast and slow mechanisms of runoff generation directly connected with the impervious areas, a land‐use change model, and a weather generator. The results indicate that the peaks over threshold and the hourly annual peaks, used as hydrological indicators, are very sensitive to the rainstorm intensity. Moreover, the effects of climate changes dominate on those of urban growth determining an exacerbation of the fast runoff component in extreme events and a reduction of the slow and deep runoff component, thus limiting changes in the overall runoff.     

抚仙湖水质变化(1980-2011年)趋势与驱动力分析

水质恶化是湖泊系统生态健康的主要制约因素之一,科学地判别水质变化趋势是正确认识和解决水环境问题的首要步骤.基于抚仙湖1980-2011共32年湖体水质监测数据,采用Mann-Kendall和Daniel趋势检验法分析了高锰酸盐指数(COD_Mn)、总氮(TN)、总磷(TP)、透明度(SD)、叶绿素a(Chl.a)和浮游植物丰度等6项指标的年际变化趋势;从人类活动和自然环境变化2个角度,筛选出9项水质变化的驱动指标,建立了水质指标与驱动指标之间的灰色关联模型.研究结果表明:①统计的6项指标年际波动较大,其中TP、TN和浮游植物丰度的变异系数最大,达到0.6以上;②在α=0.05显著性水平上,COD_Mn、TN、SD、Chl.a和浮游植物丰度等5项指标均有恶化趋势,Mann-Kendall和Daniel趋势检验2种方法的检验结果一致;③驱动因子与水质指标之间有较强的相关水平,其中,人口数量和水温是主要驱动因子,与主要水质指标的灰色关联系数达到0.7以上的强相关水平.     

Variability of urban fractional vegetation cover and its driving factors in 328 cities in China

Urban green space promotes the health of urban residents, enhances urban ecosystem biodiversity, mitigates environmental pollution, and attenuates urban heat island effect. However, urban vegetation cover is highly heterogeneous and difficult to quantify. In this study, the variation of urban fractional vegetation cover(FVC) in 328 cities in China from 1990 to2022 was quantified based on Landsat satellite data at a 30-m resolution. It was found that from 1990 to 2005, due to increases in buildin...     

Occurrence of the toxic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata in relation with environmental factors in Monaco (NW Mediterranean)

To study environment characteristics favoring the toxic benthic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata, a survey was conducted in Monaco (NW Mediterranean Sea), in summers 2007 and 2008. Epiphytic and planktonic blooms occurred almost simultaneously and a high variation of abundances at low spatial scales was observed. An early and very marked bloom occurred in 2007, compared to a later and less abundant development in 2008. These distinct patterns in bloom timing corresponded with very different hydroclimatic scenarios in 2007 (hot spring and relatively cold summer) and 2008 (standard year compared to the median year profile estimated with data from 1995 to 2008). No clear impacts of summer seawater temperature, rainfall or nutrient concentrations were evident. Strong wind may favor the dispersal of benthic and planktonic cells. Our study suggests that further investigations are needed to examine the potential role of Ostreopsis nutritional mode (i.e. autotrophy vs. mixotrophy).     

城市河流沉积物中氮素与好氧甲烷氧化菌群落特征响应关系

由于人类活动的影响大量未经处理的废污水汇入城市河流,高浓度的污染物影响了河流中微生物对生物地球化学物质迁移和转化的介导作用.本文选取典型的城市河流——北运河作为研究区域,分析了北运河沉积物中氮素形态以及含量的空间和季节差异性,并结合克隆文库分子生物学的方法,探讨了氮素形态和含量的差异对好氧甲烷氧化菌(aerobic methane-oxidizing microorganisms,MOB)群落特征的影响.结果表明:北运河沉积物中铵态氮(NH_4~+-N)为氮素的主要存在形态,存在显著的空间差异,其含量在下游显著高于上游,但季节差异不显著.NH_4~+-N含量的空间差异对MOB的群落结构和群落分布有显著影响,对群落多样性影响不显著.NH_4~+-N含量的空间分布特征与MOB的群落聚类特征一致,NH_4~+-N对MOB群落分布的影响显著高于其他形态的氮素,其含量越高,则与MOB群落分布的响应关系越紧密.北运河中NH_4~+-N的来源影响了沉积物中MOB的主要来源,MOB高同源性菌群的来源与NH_4~+-N等主要污染物的来源一致.沉积物中MOB物种之间联系的紧密程度依赖于氮素的主要存在形态及其含量水平.NH_4~+-N含量较高的下游沉积物中微生物彼此之间关系及集聚程度更强,受外界环境变化的干扰程度更强,受人类活动引起环境变化的敏感程度更高.城市河流中氮素的形态和含量差异对甲烷的氧化过程有显著影响.探究城市河流沉积物中高含量的NH_4~+-N对甲烷产生及消耗的影响过程是控制河流温室气体排放的关键.     

Predicting physical equations of soil detachment by simulated concentrated flow in Ultisols (subtropical China)

Soil detachment in concentrated flow is due to the dislodging of soil particles from the soil matrix by surface runoff. Both aggregate stability and shear strength of the topsoil reflect the erosion resistance of soil to concentrated runoff, and are important input parameters in predicting soil detachment models. This study was conducted to develop a formula to predict soil detachment rate in concentrated flow by using the aggregate stability index (As), root density (R_d) and saturated soil strength (σ_s) in the subtropical Ultisols region of China. The detachment rates of undisturbed topsoil samples collected from eight cultivated soil plots were measured in a 3.8 m long, 0.2 m wide hydraulic flume under five different flow shear stresses (τ = 4.54, 9.38, 15.01, 17.49 and 22.54 Pa). The results indicated that the stability index (As) was well related with soil detachment rate, particularly for results obtained with high flow shear stress (22.54 Pa), and the stability index (As) has a good linear relationship with concentrated flow erodibility factors (K_c). There was a positive linear relationship between saturated soil strength (σ_s) and critical flow shear stress (τ_c) for different soils. A significant negative exponential relationship between erodibility factors (K_c) and root density (R_d) was detected. This study yielded two prediction equations that allowed comparison of their efficiency in assessing soil detachment rate in concentrated flow. The equation including the root density (R_d) may have a better correlation coefficient (R² = 0.95). It was concluded that the formula based on the stability index (As), saturated soil strength (σ_s) and root density (R_d) has the potential to improve methodology for assessing soil detachment rate in concentrated flow for the subtropical Chinese Ultisols. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vadose zone modeling of dispersed waste sites in the framework of an integrated stochastic environmental transport and impacts assessment code for the Hanford Site

The system assessment capability (SAC) is the first total-system stochastic simulator to address inventory distribution, environmental release and transport, and impacts to human health and ecological, economic, and cultural resources from hundreds of radiological and chemical waste disposal sites for the entire Hanford Site in southeast Washington State. Flow and contaminant transport modeling in the vadose zone at 720 individual sites has been integrated into the SAC stochastic software framework using the STOMP code, providing the means to define release to the regional aquifer to support the SAC groundwater transport model. Important features, events, and processes including remedial actions, time-variant natural infiltration rates, and high volume aqueous-phase discharges were addressed in the software and data. A separate data extraction program, VZGRAB, was developed to enable analysts to aggregate vadose zone release data across the hundreds of waste sites in various ways following a SAC simulation to develop an improved understanding of the system performance and uncertainty aspects.     

亚热带大型河流型水库—富春江水库浮游植物群落及其与环境因子的关系

为了掌握富春江水库浮游植物群落特征,探寻其与环境因子的关系,于2006年1月至2007年12月,对其进行了20次采样调查.鉴定结果表明富春江水库共有浮游植物107种,浮游植物密度范围在0.21×10~5-3.01×10~7cells/L之间.浮游植物组成随季节变化有所不同,春季绿藻、隐藻、硅藻占优势,夏季蓝藻和硅藻占优势,秋冬季硅藻、隐藻占优势.浮游植物群落结构受水文条件的影响较大,浮游植物密度与水体温度呈显著正相关,与透明度在不同范围内表现出不同的相关关系;与TN、TP在不同范围内表现出不同的相关关系,与TN/TP及可溶性硅呈显著正相关.库区总氮和总磷浓度均很高,足够满足藻类生长需要;TN/TP较低,基本在8-30之间,说明氮磷含量不是富春江库区藻类生长的限制因子.水文季节性变化会明显地影响浮游植物群落结构和密度的季节性变化,特别是降雨、水温及水力滞留时间等因子是影响水库浮游植物群落结构及密度变化的主要因子.