Topography-Controlled Soil Water Content and the Coexistence of Forest and Steppe in Northern China

The semi-arid forest-steppe ecotone in China is characterized by a patchy pattern of forest and steppe, with forest patches restricted to shady slopes. To address the effect of topography on forest distribution through regulation of available water, we calculated evaporation as a function of slope aspect and inclination. Field vegetation records from randomly selected sites with minimum slope inclination were used to test the simulated forest distribution. Seasonal and diurnal changes of surface soil temperature and moisture of shady and sunny slopes were recorded. Soil water content was measured during two growing seasons on both sunny and shady slopes with the same forest type at three sites located along the mean annual precipitation (MAP) gradient. Evaporation decreases with slope inclination on shady slopes, but increases with inclination on sunny slopes. The shady slope received 35% of the annual direct solar radiation received by the sunny slope when the slope inclination was 25°, and the contrast in annual direct solar radiation between the shady and sunny slopes further widens as slope inclination increases. Steeper shady slopes can support forests in dryer climates, with log-linear regression revealing a minimum slope inclination for forest distribution along the MAP gradient. The simulated minimum slope inclination for forest growth was larger than the observed minimum inclination, and the difference was greater in wetter conditions. A larger forest area fraction was considered to lead to a reduction in soil temperature and evaporation, as verified by soil temperature and moisture records and soil water content measurements. The slope-specific forest distribution in the semi-arid region of China can be explained by a topography-controlled soil water supply. Lower evaporation, resulting from lower direct solar radiation on shady slopes, allows shady slopes to retain a water supply sufficient for sustaining forests, and the existence of forests on shady slopes further reduces evaporation. Different tree species coexist at the xeric timberline due to regulation by slope inclination and aspect.     

陕北长城沿线地区土地退化态势分析

以陕北长城沿线农牧交错区为例，运用遥感与GIS技术，定性与定量相结合的方法，对研究区1985－1998年土地利用类型转换及土地退化时空规律，趋势和机制等进行了评价与分析。研究表明：该区土地退化的主导类型及土地沙漠化。从成因分析，土地沙漠化主要是长期以来的人口超载，不合理的土地利用方式和高强度的土地开发行为激发了地表自然过程伯退化性演替，致使潜在的自然环境脆弱怀转化为现实的破坏。过去13年土地退化程度部体上在不断剧，而且退化类型正向多样化发展。最后，依据评价与分析结果，进一步对该区土地退化防治和沙漠化土地生态恢复的措施与对策进行了讨论。     

近50 a来民勤绿洲-荒漠过渡带气候变化及沙尘天气特征

 根据近50 a民勤绿洲-荒漠过渡带气象和风沙观测资料,对过渡带温度、降水、蒸发量、相对湿度、风沙活动等气候要素进行了系统的分析。结果表明,近50 a过渡带平均增温率为0.009 ℃·a-1,20世纪80年代后增温显著,增温率高达0.025 ℃·a-1,增温主要发生于冬、春两季; 降水呈波动上升趋势且年际稳定性增强,近8 a与60年代相比,增加幅度达27.45%,增加主要发生于春、秋两季; 蒸发量减少,相对湿度线性增加; 受气候变化,沙尘暴在近50 a持续减少,而扬沙和浮尘天气与人为干扰关系密切,存在波动和反弹; 气候变化对过渡带退化植被的恢复与重建以及沙漠化的逆转将起到正面作用。     

Pollen-inferred vegetation and environmental changes in the central Tibetan Plateau since 8200 yr BP

The ecotone between alpine steppe and meadow in the central Tibetan Plateau is sensitive to climate changes. Here we used the pollen records from three lakes in this region to reconstruct the evolution of local vegetation and climate since 8200 cal. yr BP. The history of temperature and precipitation was reconstructed quantitatively with multi-bioclimatic indexes and a transfer function from pollen records. Results show that the steppe/meadow dominated during the period of 8200–6500 cal. yr BP, especially 8200–7200 cal. yr BP, indicating the central Tibetan Plateau was controlled by strong monsoon. The steppe dominated during the periods of 6000–4900, 4400–3900, and 2800–2400 cal. yr BP. The steppe decreased gradually and the meadow expanded during the period of 4900–4400 cal. yr BP. Three century-scale drought events occurred during 5800–4900, 4400–3900 and 2800 cal. yr BP, respectively. The first time when the regional climate shifted to the present level was at 6500 cal. yr BP in the central Plateau. Since 3000 cal. yr BP, the temperature and precipitation have decreased gradually to the present level. However, the cold climate between 700–300 cal. yr BP likely corresponds to the Little Ice Age. Supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences 100 Talents Project (Grant No. 29082762), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40671196, 40372085, 49371068, 49871078), and U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. ATM-9410491, ATM-008194)     

Landscape Frontiers,Geography Frontiers: Lessons to Be Learned

Advancing ecotones, such as treelines and frontiers of human settlement, may share some characteristic dynamics because both include feedbacks between spatial pattern and process. Both might be examined as complex, self‐organizing systems in terms of complexity theory and thus be usefully compared. A cellular automaton of advancing alpine treeline in Montana shows attractors in power‐law frequency distributions of spatial and temporal pattern. Frontiers of study areas in the Amazonian region of Ecuador, analyzed using change detection of Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery, have power‐law distributions of advancing deforestation. Alternative approaches in self‐organized complexity, including self‐organized percolation, and the inverse cascade model, and an approach to complexity involving optimization, highly optimized tolerance, are considered. Some combination of these, based on their common ancestry in percolation theory (with its ties to geocomputation), might provide insights into population‐environment interactions at settlement frontiers and ecotones together, given comparisons drawn between the spatial feedbacks at alpine treeline and in Ecuador. GIScience and landscape ecology can develop synergies by building on this area of geocomputation and complexity theory, as in analysis of attractors in state spaces of spatial metrics from spatially explicit simulations and representing their uncertainty.     

新疆于田绿洲-荒漠交错带土地利用/覆盖变化的社会驱动力研究

以新疆于田绿洲为例，在遥感手段对图形分析的基础上，根据景观特征为于田绿洲土地利用／覆盖变化（LUCC）的具体表现提供空间分析功能。结合统计资料和调查数据，从经济发展、人口增长、政治经济政策3个方面分析影响研究区LUCC的主要社会影响因子。结果表明：20世纪90年代以来，于田县人口数量增长是研究区LUCC2最主要影响因素，其次是牲畜头数的增长以及采樵量的变化。开荒和撂荒面积对区域的土地利用变化影响也很大。     

Invertebrate and microbial responses to inundation in an ephemeral river reach in New Zealand: effects of preceding dry periods

Inundation marks the shift from a terrestrial ecosystem to an aquatic ecosystem in ephemeral rivers. The forms and rates of responses by aquatic invertebrates and sediment microbes to inundation depend on desiccation resistance during preceding dry periods. We assessed invertebrate and microbial responses to inundation over a range of preceding dry periods in an ephemeral reach of the Selwyn River, New Zealand. Microbial response variables were dissolved oxygen consumption and non-specific esterase activity. Sampling sites along the reach had been continuously dry for 1–592 d prior to sample collection. The onset of flow simulated by an experimental inundation led to the appearance of aquatic invertebrates in all samples, but the assemblages varied with the length of the preceding dry period. Taxon richness decreased linearly with dry period length while density decreased exponentially. These patterns indicate that a large number of individuals from desiccation-sensitive taxa were eliminated soon after flow ceased, and a low-density assemblage composed of a small number of desiccation-resistant taxa persisted during prolonged dry periods. As with invertebrate density, sediment respiration and nonspecific esterase activity decreased with length of dry period, and were characterized by exponential decay functions. The results of the inundation experiments suggest that a temporal ecotone exists for about one week after the disappearance of flowing water, and before the terrestrial system stabilizes.     

绿洲—荒漠交错带地下水位分布的遥感模型研究

以利用卫星遥感数据评价干旱区绿洲－荒漠交错带地下水位的分布作为主要研究目的，使用波段Landsat-7ETM 图像，用遥感－数学－模型学融合的研究方法，在实地考察地下水位，土壤水分和其他辅助资料的基础上，建立土壤水分和地下水位的实验方程，提出了评价地下水位分布的遥感模型－GLDRS模型。利用GLDRS模型对新疆策勒绿洲－荒漠交错带进行了实地验证，结果表明，研究结果符合实际，GLDRS多波段模型优越单波段模型，理论地下水位和实测地下水位之间的相关系数为0．901。     

Landscape Analysis of the Forest-Tundra Ecotone in Rocky Mountain National Park,Colorado*

Landscapes in the ecotone between forest and tundra contain a mosaic of patches of trees, meadows, lakes, disturbed areas, and other features. The structure of this mosaic affects species habitat and potential ecotone response to global change. However, the alpine forest-tundra ecotone may be insensitive to climatic change if it is a climatic relict or is frequently disturbed. We used GIS and multivariate statistics to (1) analyze landscape structure in transects across the ecotone in Rocky Mountain National Park, (2) identify the major variants of forest-tundra ecotone, and (3) identify the influence of the environment and natural disturbances on variation in the landscape structure of the ecotone. There are six major types of ecotone varying in the amount of natural disturbances, permanent features (e.g., lakes), closed forest, patch forest, and krummholz. Variation is primarily related to slope, elevation, aspect, and geology associated with the morphology of the mountains and the disturbances they produce. The ecotone is not strongly structured by natural disturbances; thus, it may be more strongly controlled by and sensitive to climatic change than in areas where disturbance is more prevalent. Monitoring of potential ecotone response to global change is feasible, if tailored to the types of ecotone and their expected response.     

Water regime in soils and plants along an aridity gradient in central Baja California, Mexico

The Central Desert of Baja California has pronounced climatic gradients. Water storage in the upper metre of soil and leaf water potentials in Larrea tridentata, Simmondsia chinensis and Fouquieria columnaris were monitored during 28 months at six sites. Estimated annual evapotranspiration was 75-150 mm in sandy loams, and 45-60 mm in sandy soils. Cumulative recharge accounted for 80% of precipitation in loams, but only 50% in sands. During the study period, increased aridity was expressed as longer periods of drought, but there was no less recharge. Weak to moderate relationships were found between soil water content and predawn leaf water potential.