On arable land changes in Shandong Province and their driving forces

IntroductionAlmost all the provinces and autonomous regions in China have experienced decrease of arable land in the processes of economic development, population growth and urbanization. The situation is more serious in Shandong Province because of the big population and being an agricultural province. From 1949 to 1999, the arable land was decreased by more than 2 million ha in this province accompanied by rapid population growth. The total population in the province in 1999 was twice of t…     

Process and mechanism of arable land change in Hebei Province during the past 50 years

1 Introduction Arable land is the core of land resources and its dynamic change seriously affects regional sustainable development. Hebei Province, with a large population, is an agricultural province. With the highspeed economic development, population growth and urbanization, a great amount of arable land has been lost and the land shortage has become more serious. Therefore, arable land change and its driving forces should be studied in order to realize the sustainable agricultural develo…     

From Land Cover to Land Use: A Methodology for Efficient Land Use Mapping over Large Areas

Land use information over large areas is increasingly important for many studies related to environment in general and global change in particular. Yet there is a dearth of methodological knowledge in this area, especially regarding the practical task of producing land use maps. In this article, a systematic land use mapping approach is developed, based on land cover maps that in turn are produced through remote sensing. The concept is based on the recognition of varying strengths of land cover (LC) – land use (LU) relationships, from the thematic and spatial points of view. Several categories of relationships are identified, ranging from direct (case 1) to multiple/complex (case 4), and appropriate mapping strategies are discussed for these cases. Using a mapping study in Lebanon, it is shown that the principles embodied in this approach correspond to issues and conditions in real mapping situations. Finally, the concepts are translated into a series of steps through which the method can be applied to large areas, taking into consideration the specific requirements and constraints of each case. The final land use map represents an acceptable compromise between accuracy, level of detail, and cost.     

Book Reviews

Pauline von Bornsdorff and Arto Haapala, eds. Aesthetics in the Human Environment James D. Proctor and David M. Smith, eds. Geography and Ethics: Journeys in a Moral Terrain G. Malcolm Lewis, ed. Cartographic Encounters: Perspectives on Native American Mapmaking and Map Use Richard Symanski, Blackhearts: Ecology in Outback Australia Donald W. Meinig, The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History Peter J. Taylor, Modernities: A Geohistorical Interpretation Keith Harries, Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice Leland T. Saito, Race and Politics: Asian Americans, Latinos, and Whites in a Los Angeles Suburb Frank McDonald, The Construction of Dublin Lisa M. Benton, The Presidio: From Army Post to National Park Bob R. O'Brien, Our National Parks and the Search for Sustainability Eric Damian Kelly and Barbara Becker Community Planning: An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan Avinoam Meir As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin of the Negev David Pinder, ed. The New Europe: Economy, Society, and Environment R. P. Misra and Kamlesh Misra Million Cities of India: Growth Dynamics, Internal Structure, Quality of Life, and Planning Perspectives. Vol 1     

Building Temporal Topology in a GIS Database to Study the Land‐Use Changes in a Rural‐Urban Environment

This article addresses the issue of linking temporal and spatial information into a GIS database structure to investigate the land‐use changes in a rural‐urban region over a thirty‐five‐year period. More specifically, it describes the application of a programming package developed to build temporal topology in an historical land‐use GIS database to efficiently perform spatiotemporal queries. The program was created within the MapInfo environment using MapBasic language. Different types of information, such as the rate of change, the relationship between the change of land use and zoning regulations, and land‐use succession were extracted from the database. A user‐friendly interface was also developed to easily address spatiotemporal queries to the database. This approach represents a flexible and performing tool for scientists and planners who need to efficiently capture essential spatiotemporal information required for geographical inquiry and decision‐making.     

Manuscript Reviewers for Volume 53

Books reviewed: Bassin, Mark, Imperial Visions: Nationalist Imagination and Geographical Expansion in the Russian Far East, 1840 – 1865 Shortridge, James R., Our Town on the Plains: J. J. Pennell's Photographs of Junction City, Kansas, 1893 – 1922 Jakle, John A. and Sculle, Keith A., Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age Boeschenstein, Walter, Historic American Towns along the Atlantic Coast McKee, Jesse O., Ethnicity in Contemporary America: A Geographical Appraisal Luciuk, Lubomyr Y., Searching for Place: Ukrainian Displaced Persons, Ottawa, and the Migration of Memory Hausladen, Gary, Places for Dead Bodies Phillips, Richard, Watt, Diane and Shuttleton, David, De‐Centering Sexualities: Politics and Representations beyond the Metropolis Goldin, Liliana R., Identities on the Move, Transnational Processes in North America and the Caribbean Basin McDonald, David A., On Borders: Perspectives on International Migration in Southern Africa Fox, Roddy and Rowntree, Kate, The Geography of South Africa in a Changing World Takeuchi, Keiichi, Modern Japanese Geography: An Intellectual History Amery, Hussein A., and Wolf, Aaron T., Water in the Middle East: A Geography of Peace Karl, Thomas R., Nicholls, Neville and Ghazi, Anver, Weather and Climate Extremes: Changes, Variations, and a Perspective from the Insurance Industry Pittman, Blair, Texas Caves     

绿洲演化与自然和人为因素的关系初探——以克里雅河下游地区为例

以位于塔里木盆地的克里雅河下游地区绿洲为例 ,论述了自然环境要素演变及人类活动对绿洲发育的重要作用。克里雅河下游地区的现代绿洲包括沿河岸分布的带状绿色走廊和河流终端干三角洲上的扇形牧业绿洲。依据对河流沉积物及古河道分析得出的结论是 ,在末次冰期晚期时 ,由于来自昆仑山的大量消融水的出现 ,克里雅河的绿色走廊横穿塔克拉玛干沙漠。类似的情况在距今约2 0 0 0年和小冰期时都出现过。这种大的变化是自然环境演变的结果。但是 ,近百年来特别是近 5 0年克里雅河下游牧业绿洲的严重退化是中游地区集中发展农业绿洲而增加引水量及下游地区过度砍伐所造成的。     

新一轮二滩电站库区遥感调查

新一轮二滩电站库区遥感调查是在我国前20年滑坡、泥石流遥感调查技术方法基础上的一次革新。本文介绍了革新方法的数据源、工作平台、技术流程、及人机交互与自动分类相结合的遥感解译方法，并对获得的工作区滑坡、泥石流的数量、分布、特性及它们的环境背景作简要分析。     

岷江上游土地资源适宜性评价研究

岷江上游地区的可持续发展直接影响着四川省社会经济的发展，以岷江上游土地资源适宜性评价为研究对象，利用地理信息系统（GIS）技术，建立了该地区的土地资源基础信息库；利用面向对象编程技术，应用模糊集合综合评价法及对各土地适宜性监介指标确定和适宜性等级的划分进行了岷江上游土地资源适宜性评价，并提出了土地利用规划及今后改造利用的方向。     

云南澜沧江以西的白垩系

云南白垩系分布在滇中、滇西和澜沧江以西三个地域，彼此之间被深断裂所，它们的地质历程、构造特征各不相同。不能将澜沧江以西勐海、潞西地区的白垩系解体归属不同地层区。澜沧江以西的白垩系，分布于冈瓦纳古陆和古特提斯造带的小型山间盆地，地层层序齐全，岩性、厚度稳定，今古生物化石。有两套岩石序列，三个沉积旋回。