BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Boundary Control and Legal Priniciples . Curtis M. Brown , Walter G. Robillard and Donald A. Wilson . Lost Initiatives: Canada's Forest Industries, Forest Policy, and Forest Conservation . R. Peter Gillis and Thomas R. Roach . The Navajo Atlas: Resources, People, and History of the Dine Bikeyah . James M. Goodman . The City and the Sign . M. Gottdiener AND Alexandros Ph . Lagopoulos , EDS. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture 1890–1930 . Alan Gowans . Arabic-Islamic Cities. Building and Planning Principles . Besim Salim Hakim . Contemporary Climatology . Ann Henderson -Sellers and Peter J. Robinson . A Trace of Desert Waters . Samuel G. Houghton . Geography, Resources and Environment. Vol. 1: Selected Writings of Gilbert F. White. Vol. 2: Themes from the Work of Gilbert F. White . Robert W. Kates AND Ian Burton , ED. Spatial Dimensions of Unemployment and Underemployment (A Case Study of Rural Punjab) . Gopal Krishan . Maps of the Holy Land: Cartobibliography of Printed Maps, 1475–1900 . Compiled by Eran Laor , assisted by Shoshana Klein . The Geography of Third World Cities . Stella Lowder . A Perspective on U.S. Farm Problems and Agricultural Policy . Lance Mc Kinzie , Timothy G. Baker AND Wallace E. Tyner . Soil Erosion and Its Control. R.P.C . Morgan , ED Geopolitics . Patrick O'Sullivan . Landscape, Meanings and Values . Edmund C. Penning -Rowsell AND David Lowenthal , EDS.     

Relationships between Genetic Diversity of Vascular Plant Species and Climate Factors

Genetic diversity is crucial for plants to respond to global climate change, and exploring relationships between genetic diversity and climatic factors may help predict how global climate change will shape the genetic diversity of plants in the future. So far, however, the extent and magnitude of the impact of climatic factors on the genetic diversity of plants has not been clarified. We collected data from 68 published papers on two widely used measures of genetic diversity of populations (average expected heterozygosity (He) and average observed heterozygosity (Ho)) and on localities of populations of 79 vascular plants, and extracted data on 19 climatic factors from WorldClim. We then explored the relationships between measures of genetic diversity and climatic factors using linear regressions. He of plant populations was significantly correlated with climatic factors in 58.7% (44) of the 75 species that used He as a measure of genetic diversity, and Ho was correlated with climatic factors in 65.1% (41) of the 63 species that used this genetic diversity measure. In general, Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter, Precipitation Seasonality, Precipitation of Driest Quarter and Temperature Seasonality played a vital role in shaping He, and Ho was mostly correlated with Precipitation of Warmest Quarter, Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter, Precipitation of Driest Quarter and Precipitation of Driest Month. Also, the proportion of the significant correlations between genetic diversity of populations and climatic factors was higher for woody than for herbaceous species, and different climatic factors played different roles in shaping genetic diversity of these two growth forms. Our results suggest that climate may play an important role in shaping genetic diversity of plant populations, that climatic change in the future may alter genetic diversity of plants, and that genetic diversity of different plant forms may respond to climatic change differently.     

潮河流域降水-径流关系变化及驱动因子识别

基于1973-2010年长系列日降水、径流数据,利用降水径流双累积曲线、M-K统计检验和降水集中度等方法,结合HIMS模型模拟结果,分析了潮河流域降水-径流关系的变化及其原因。得到的主要结论如下：（1）近38年来,潮河流域降水变化较小,但径流下降趋势显著,降水-径流关系发生了两次突变,即在1973-1983年、1984-1998年和1999-2010年三个阶段降水-径流关系存在明显差异;（2）大雨日降水总和（P_≥20）与径流深关系较为密切,其变化是导致降水-径流关系在1983年发生突变的主要驱动因子;（3）HIMS模型模拟结果显示,1999-2010年潮河流域下垫面条件较前两阶段变化明显,人类活动引起的减水效应由第二阶段的14.93%增加至第三阶段的25.78%,人类活动是导致降水-径流关系在1998年发生突变的主要驱动因子。     

过去2000年中国气候变化研究的新进展

回顾过去2000年中国气候变化的研究历史,总结了本领域在最近10年的新成果,并对未来研究动向进行了展望。主要内容包括：代用证据采集、过去2000年温度序列重建与冷暖期辨识、降水及干湿序列重建与变化特征分析、过去千年气候变化模拟与机制诊断、历史气候变化影响分析等。主要进展体现在：加密了中国气候变化代用资料的空间覆盖度,提升了2000年气候变化序列重建、资料分析和影响辨识等研究的定量化程度,深化了对中国过去2000年气候在年代—百年尺度的变化特征及其形成机制与影响的认识。为进一步揭示地球系统的变化规律,特别是更深入认识中国气候的时空变化规律提供了更好的基础。     

民勤绿洲-荒漠过渡带典型固沙植物生殖物候对气候变化的响应

通过对民勤绿洲-荒漠过渡带典型固沙植物多枝柽柳(Tamarix ramosissima)、梭梭(Haloxylon ammodendron)、白刺(Nitraria tangutorum)1974-2009年开花及结实物候的观测,结合同步观测的气象资料,分析了3种植物生殖物候特征对气候变化的响应规律。结果表明:(1)研究区年平均气温、年平均空气相对湿度呈增加趋势; 年降雨量波动,变幅不大; 20世纪90年代以来蒸发量呈显著下降趋势。(2)3种植物始花期提前,花期延长; 3种植物结实始期先延迟后缩短,结实期延长; (3)3种植物生殖物候与年降雨量、气温、空气相对湿度及前期累计降雨量、累计平均气温、累计空气相对湿度之间的相关性不一致; (4)3种植物始花期与前期累计降雨量、累计平均气温、累计空气相对湿度的相关性总体上表现为大于年降雨量、年均气温、年均空气相对湿度的相关性; 除空气平均相对湿度对结实始期影响大于前期累计降雨量、累计平均气温和累计空气相对湿度外,其他与开花物候相似,表明植物开花物候和结实物候与前期气象因子有着密切的关系,尤其是物候发生前期累计气象指标。     

中国近46年来冬半年日降水变化特征分析

中国总体冬半年降水总量、日降水强度以及强降水日数都有不同程度的增加趋势。西北地区的变化相对显著,其平均降水量、降水日数及日降水强度都呈增加趋势,特别是20世纪80年代后期发生跃变。华北和中部地区降水总量趋于减少。南方3区多为增加趋势,其中东南和华南与冬季风及欧亚遥相关型有显著的负相关关系,而西南地区日降水参数则与温度和北极涛动指数显著相关。东北地区降水指标没有明显的一致趋势。     

贵州省兴仁县近50年气候特征及其变迁分析

局地气候资料的整理分析,是对更大范围内某一地区的气候研究提供参考的依据之一。贵州省兴仁是国家基准气候站,观测资料较长,对贵州西南片区有较好的代表性。通过对兴仁50年完整的气象资料整理分析,得出该地温度、降水、风、相对湿度、云量、雾日、光照等气象要素的基本特征,并以此特征作出该地的气候类型评定;同时根据该地近50年冷暖趋势、干湿趋势的变化,分析总结出其近代的气候变迁。     

How to increase technology transfers to developing countries: a synthesis of the evidence

The existing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has failed to deliver the rate of low-carbon technology transfer (TT) required to curb GHG emissions in developing countries. This failure has exposed the limitations of universalism and renewed interest in bilateral approaches to TT. Gaps are identified in the UNFCCC approach to climate change TT: missing links between international institutions and the national enabling environments that encourage private investment; a non-differentiated approach for (developing) country and technology characteristics; and a lack of clear measurements of the volume and effectiveness of TTs. Evidence from econometric literature and business experience on climate change TT is reviewed, so as to address the identified pitfalls of the UNFCCC process. Strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches are highlighted. International policy recommendations are offered aimed at improving the level of emission reductions achieved through TT.     

STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF REDUCING SYSTEMATIC ERRORS ON MONTHLY REGIONAL CLIMATE DYNAMICAL FORECAST

A nested-model system is constructed by embedding the regional climate model RegCM3 into a general circulation model for monthly-scale regional climate forecast over East China. The systematic errors are formulated for the region on the basis of 10-yr (1991-2000) results of the nested-model system, and of the datasets of the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) and the temperature analysis of the National Meteorological Center (NMC), U.S.A., which are then used for correcting the original forecast by the system for the period 2001-2005. After the assessment of the original and corrected forecasts for monthly precipitation and surface air temperature, it is found that the corrected forecast is apparently better than the original, suggesting that the approach can be applied for improving monthly-scale regional climate dynamical forecast.     

Grassland productivity in an alpine environment in response to climate change

Situated in a climatically stressful environment, alpine grassland is sensitive to subtle climate changes in its productivity. We remedy the current deficiency in studying grassland productivity by taking the integrated effect of all relevant factors into consideration. The relative importance of temperature, rainfall and evaporation to the alpine grassland productivity in western China was determined through analysis of their relationship with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) between 1981 and 2000. Climate warming stimulated grassland productivity in the 1980s, but hampered it in the 1990s. Temperature is more important than rainfall to grassland productivity early in the growing season. However, their relative importance is reversed late in the growing season. Monthly summer month rainfall modified by maximum monthly temperature is a good predictor of alpine grassland productivity at 62.0 per cent. However, the best predictor is water deficiency, which is able to improve the estimation accuracy to 78.3 per cent. Hence, the impact of temperature on grassland productivity is better studied indirectly through evaporation.