Spatial patterns and storage composition of woody debris in a natural secondary forest dominated by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus tabulaeformis</Emphasis> on Loess Plateau,China

Woody debris (WD) is an important part of natural Pinus tabulaeformis mixed stands, and it affects the forest ecosystem stability and development. The WD spatial patterns are especially important structural characteristics that can provide insights into forest dynamics. In this paper, the WD storage, WD spatial patterns and WD associations among the main species were examined in the natural secondary forest on Loess Plateau in northwest China. Data were collected in a 1 ha (100 m × 100 m) permanent plot, and all the trees with a diameter at breast height of more than 3 cm were measured and stem-mapped. Ripley’s K functions from the spatial-point-pattern-analysis method were used to analyze the spatial distribution and associations. The results showed that: (1) The total storage of WD was 10.73 t/ha, fallen wood was the main source of WD, and the majority diameters were greater than 20 cm, and in intermediate levels of decay; (2) The overall spatial pattern was closely related to the spatial scale, which exhibited an aggregated pattern on a small scale, and a random pattern on a large scale. The spatial patterns of coarse woody debris also gradually transitioned from an aggregated pattern in fine scales to a random pattern in broader spatial scales, which matched the overall spatial pattern. The spatial intensity was gradually decreased with the increasing diameters, and increased with the decomposition classes; (3) The WD of Pinus tabulaeformis species was negatively associated with Betula platyphylla and Populus davidiana on a small scale but positively associated with these species on a large scale. The spatial pattern and interspecies relations were the results of long-term interactions between the natural secondary forest community and the surrounding natural environment. These findings would provide a scientific basis for the sustainable management and protection of natural secondary forest ecosystems on Loess Plateau.     

A back-propagation neural-network-based displacement back analysis for the identification of the geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide in China

Xigeda formation is a type of hundred-meter-thick lacustrine sediments of being prone to triggering landslides along the trunk channel and tributaries of the upper Yangtze River in China. The Yonglang landslide located near Yonglang Town of Dechang County in Sichuan Province of China, which was a typical Xigeda formation landslide, was stabilized by anti-slide piles. Loading tests on a loading-test pile were conducted to measure the displacements and moments. The uncertainty of the tested geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide over certain ranges would be problematic during the evaluation of the landslide. Thus, uniform design was introduced in the experimental design, and by which, numerical analyses of the loading-test pile were performed using Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC^3D) to acquire a database of the geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide and the corresponding displacements of the loading-test pile. A three-layer back-propagation neural network was established and trained with the database, and then tested and verified for its accuracy and reliability in numerical simulations. Displacement back analysis was conducted by substituting the displacements of the loading-test pile to the well-trained three-layer back-propagation neural network so as to identify the geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide. The neural-network-based displacement back analysis method with the proposed methodology is verified to be accurate and reliable for the identification of the uncertain geomechanical parameters of landslides.     

A modified Hoek-Brown failure criterion considering the damage to reservoir bank slope rocks under water saturation-dehydration circulation

After water is impounded in a reservoir, rock mass in the hydro-fluctuation belt of the reservoir bank slope is subject to water saturationdehydration circulation (WSDC). To quantify the rate of change of rock mechanical properties, samples from the Longtan dam area were measured with uniaxial compression tests after different numbers (1, 5, 10, 15, and 20) of simulated WSDC cycles. Based on the curves derived from these tests, a modified Hoek- Brown failure criterion was proposed, in which a new parameter was introduced to model the cumulative damage to rocks after WSDC. A case of an engineering application was analyzed, and the results showed that the modified Hoek-Brown failure criterion is useful. Under similar WSDC-influenced engineering and geological conditions, rock mass strength parameters required for analysis and evaluation of rock slope stability can be estimated according to this modified Hoek-Brown failure criterion.     

New methods for calculating bare soil land surface temperature over mountainous terrain

Land surface temperature(LST) causes the phase change of water, links to the partitioning of surface water and energy budget, and becomes an important parameter to hydrology, meteorology, ecohydrology, and other researches in the high mountain cold regions. Unlike air temperature, which has common altitudinal lapse rates in the mountainous regions, the influence of terrain leads to complicated estimation for soil LST. This study presents two methods that use air temperature and solar position,to estimate bare LST with high temporal resolution over horizontal sites and mountainous terrain with a random slope azimuth. The data from three horizontal meteorological stations and fourteen LST observation fields with different aspects and slopes were used to test the proposed LST methods. The calculated and measured LST were compared in a range of statistical analysis, and the analysis showed that the average RMSE(root mean square error),MAD(mean absolute deviation), and R~2(correlation coefficient) for three horizontal sites were 5.09℃,3.66℃, 0.92, and 5.03℃, 3.52℃, 0.85 for the fourteen complex terrain sites. The proposed methods showed acceptable accuracy, provide a simple way to estimate LST, and will be helpful for simulating the water and energy cycles in alpine mountainous terrain.     

Tracing environmental lead sources on the Ao mountain of China using lead isotopic composition and biomonitoring

Atmospheric lead(Pb) and other trace metals can transport over long distance and deposit on remote alpine ecosystems. In this work, the soil profiles, litter and dominant mosses along a large altitude were collected on Ao Mountain, Central China, to obtain the spatial distributions of Pb in these materials, decipher the possible factors controlling the distribution, and quantitatively distinguish the natural versus anthropogenic sources of Pb through the Pb isotopic tracing and biomonitoring. The results show that soil Pb concentrations(mg/kg) decreased significantly with depth, and they were markedly higher in the O(42.6± 2.7) and A(36.4 ± 2.2) horizons than in the litter(7.20 ± 1.9) and mosses(28.0 ± 3.9). The Pb enrichment in the surface soils(O and A horizons),litter and mosses existed in the relatively high altitudes, which was attributed to the influences from atmospheric wet deposition, plants, soil physicochemical properties and human activity. ThePb isotopic ratios identified the Pb sources as originating mainly from Chinese coal combustion,mining and smelting. Atmospheric Pb from southeastern, southwestern and northwestern regions could be deposited in the alpine ecosystem by long distance atmospheric transport. The anthropogenic Pb reached over 50% in the O and A horizons, and over 70% in the litter and mosses, which corresponded to the concentrations of 26.9, 17.7, 5.92 and 21.2 mg/kg, respectively. The results indicate that the mutual effects of climate and regional human activity could increase the Pb accumulation in remote alpine ecosystems.     

Geomorphologic map of the 1<Superscript>st</Superscript> Mutnaya River,Southeastern Kamchatka,Russia

The Kamchatka Peninsula–situated in the Pacific “Ring of Fire”–has 29 active and over 400 extinct volcanoes. Since it is situated in the northeastern extremity of Russia, in subarctic climate, the volcanic landforms are overprinted by the 446 glaciers. This research focuses on the 1^stMutnaya catchment which drains the southern slopes of two active volcanoes: Avachinsky and Koryaksky. Those volcanoes are a permanent threat for the cities of Petropavlovsk and Elizovo, which are the 2 of 3 cities of the peninsula. Hence, most of the studies carried out in the area dealt with the natural hazards and only few focus on landscape evolution. Thus, the purpose of this study was to elaborate a cartographic approach which integrates classic geomorphology with state of the art GIS and remote sensing techniques. As result, different landforms and related processes have been analysed and included in the first general geomorphologic map of the 1^stMutnaya catchment.     

Limit equilibrium method (LEM) of slope stability and calculation of comprehensive factor of safety with double strength-reduction technique

When the slope is in critical limit equilibrium(LE) state, the strength parameters have different contribution to each other on maintaining slope stability. That is to say that the strength parameters are not simultaneously reduced. Hence, the LE stress method is established to analyze the slope stability by employing the double strengthreduction(DSR) technique in this work. For calculation model of slope stability under the DSR technique, the general nonlinear Mohr–Coulomb(M–C) criterion is used to describe the shear failure of slope. Meanwhile, the average and polar diameter methods via the DSR technique are both adopted to calculate the comprehensive factor of safety(FOS) of slope. To extend the application of the polar diameter method, the original method is improved in the proposed method. After comparison and analysis on some slope examples, the proposed method's feasibility is verified. Thereafter, the stability charts of slope suitable for engineering application are drawn. Moreover, the studies show that:(1) the average method yields similar results as that of the polardiameter method;(2) compared with the traditional uniform strength-reduction(USR) technique, the slope stability obtained using the DSR techniquetends to be more unsafe; and(3) for a slope in the critical LE state, the strength parameter φ, i.e., internal friction angle, has greater contribution on the slope stability than the strength parameters c, i.e., cohesion.     

An evolutionary economic geography perspective on types of operation development in West Lake,China

The types of operation play a key role in facilitating tourism consumption and economic development in a tourism destination. By adopting evolutionary economic geography theory, the paper analyzes the types of operation in West Lake Scenic Area from 1978 to 2013. First, an evolution process consisting of four stages is underpinned, and they are: the new establishment stage, the preliminary development stage, the speedup development stage, and the stabilized maturity stage. Specifically, the distinct characteristics associated with operation types are compared and evaluated at different stages throughout the process. The evolution trees are introduced to scrutinize types of operation development. The results of evolution trees demonstrate the substantial increase in both numbers and types. Second, by applying GIS spatial analysis, the paper also analyzes the spatial evolution characteristics on the types of operation, and the results unveil the co-existence of centripetal and centrifugal forces: the processes of spatial agglomeration and spatial dispersion. More specifically, we recognize the spatial process includes the emergence of node and concentration(1978–1995), the sparse distribution and intensity reduction(1996–2002), the patchy distribution and spatial agglomeration intensification(2003–2008), the dispersed distribution and core area agglomeration(2009–2013). Lastly, path dependence on resource endowment, government and market innovation, knowledge learning and spillover can reasonably explain the types of operation evolution. In conclusion, the evolutionary economic geography theories provide new theoretical and empirical perspectives for tourism policy analysis. At the same time, our comprehensive evidences impart more comprehensive insights and offer useful managerial and policy implications.     

Change of annual extreme water levels and correlation with river discharges in the middle-lower Yangtze River: Characteristics and possible affecting factors

As one of the fastest developing regions in China, the middle-lower Yangtze River(MLYR) is vulnerable to floods and droughts. With obtained time series of annual highest water level(HWL), annual lowest water level(LWL) and the corresponding river discharges from three gauging stations in MLYR that covering the period 1987–2011, the current study evaluated the change characteristics of annual extreme water levels and the correlation with river discharges by using the methods of trend test, Mann-Whitney-Pettitt(MWP) test and double mass analysis. Major result indicated a decreasing/increasing trend for annual HWL/LWL of all stations in MLYR during the study period. A change point in 1999 was identified for annual HWL at the Hankou and Datong stations. The year 2006 was found to be the critical year that the relationship between annual extreme water levels and river discharges changed in the MLYR. With contrast to annual LWL in MLYR, further investigation revealed that the change characteristics of annual HWL were highly consistent with regional precipitation in the Yangtze River Basin, while the linkage with Three Gorges Dam(TGD) operation is not strong. Our observation also pointed out that the effect of serious down cutting of the riverbed and the enlargement of the cross-section area during the initial period of TGD operation caused the downward trend of the relationship between annual LWL and river discharge. Whereas, the relatively raised river water level before the flood season due to TGD regulation since 2006 explained for the changing upward trend of the relationship between annual HWL and river discharge.     

Effects of RapidEye imagery’s red-edge band and vegetation indices on land cover classification in an arid region

Land cover classification (LCC) in arid regions is of great significance to the assessment, prediction, and management of land desertification. Some studies have shown that the red-edge band of RapidEye images was effective for vegetation identification and could improve LCC accuracy. However, there has been no investigation of the effects of RapidEye images’ red-edge band and vegetation indices on LCC in arid regions where there are spectrally similar land covers mixed with very high or low vegetation coverage information and bare land. This study focused on a typical inland arid desert region located in Dunhuang Basin of northwestern China. First, five feature sets including or excluding the red-edge band and vegetation indices were constructed. Then, a land cover classification system involving plant communities was developed. Finally, random forest algorithm-based models with different feature sets were utilized for LCC. The conclusions drawn were as follows: 1) the red-edge band showed slight contribution to LCC accuracy; 2) vegetation indices had a significant positive effect on LCC; 3) simultaneous addition of the red-edge band and vegetation indices achieved a significant overall accuracy improvement (3.46% from 86.67%). In general, vegetation indices had larger effect than the red-edge band, and simultaneous addition of them significantly increased the accuracy of LCC in arid regions.