The effects of land use on runoff and soil nutrient losses in a gully catchment of the hilly areas： implications for erosion control

1 Introduction Soiland waterlossisoneofthe worldwide environm entalissuesthreatening sustainable land use in semiarid areas.However,soiland water loss is highly variable in space and time,and its variability resultsfrom m any factorsoperating ata wide ran…     

Multi‐temporal scale changes of streamflow and sediment load in a loess hilly watershed of China

Global climate change and diverse human activities have resulted in distinct temporal–spatial variability of watershed hydrological regimes, especially in water‐limited areas. This study presented a comprehensive investigation of streamflow and sediment load changes on multi‐temporal scales (annual, flood season, monthly and daily scales) during 1952–2011 in the Yanhe watershed, Loess Plateau. The results indicated that the decreasing trend of precipitation and increasing trend of potential evapotranspiration and aridity index were not significant. Significant decreasing trends (p < 0.01) were detected for both the annual and flood season streamflow, sediment load, sediment concentration and sediment coefficient. The runoff coefficient exhibited a significantly negative trend (p < 0.01) on the flood season scale, whereas the decreasing trend on the annual scale was not significant. The streamflow and sediment load during July–August contributed 46.7% and 86.2% to the annual total, respectively. The maximum daily streamflow and sediment load had the median occurrence date of July 31, and they accounted for 9.7% and 29.2% of the annual total, respectively. All of these monthly and daily hydrological characteristics exhibited remarkable decreasing trends (p < 0.01). However, the contribution of the maximum daily streamflow to the annual total progressively decreased (?0.07% year^?1), while that of maximum daily sediment load increased over the last 60 years (0.08% year^?1). The transfer of sloping cropland for afforestation and construction of check‐dams represented the dominant causes of streamflow and sediment load reductions, which also made the sediment grain finer. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

水—粮食—能源—生态系统关联研究进展

传统的水—粮食—能源关联对生态系统的支持与反馈能力考虑不足,增加了协同保障区域水—粮食—能源安全的难度.综述了近年来国际上水—粮食—能源—生态系统关联框架的搭建,发现有必要从生态系统服务的角度统筹水、粮食、能源等资源部门的社会治理过程.基于生态系统类型,可分为农业、河流、森林、草地和城市生态系统的5种常见关联结构,但目前针对森林和草原生态系统的研究相对不足.量化评估中子系统边界的确定,关联预测中多主体对关联的影响,整合优化中结合资源管理和生态修复是难点所在.未来可以从把握区域特征、扩充指标体系、整合模型需求和优化国土空间4个方向入手优化水—粮食—能源—生态系统关联结构,为区域可持续发展提供整体决策依据.     

社会-生态系统适应性治理研究进展与展望

社会—生态系统（SES）由社会子系统、生态子系统及两者的交互作用构成,具有不同于社会系统或生态系统单独具有的结构、功能和复杂特征。社会—生态系统适应性治理旨在通过适应性的社会权利分配与行为决策机制,使社会—生态系统能够在动态条件下可持续地保障人类福祉。适应性治理理论的形成受到“公共池塘资源管理”“韧性”和“治理”3方面理论的影响,并为“转型治理”与“协作治理”提供了建构基础。该理论具有以下3个主要目的：① 理解和应对社会—生态系统多稳态、非线性、不确定性、整体性以及复杂性;② 建立非对抗性的社会结构、权利分配制度以及行为决策体系,匹配社会子系统与自然子系统;③ 通过综合方法管理生态系统,使其可持续提供生态系统服务。因此,面对人类行为主导地表过程的“人类世”,实现适应性治理有助于应对社会—生态系统的复杂性与不确定性。鉴于中国的生态环境正处于迅速变化时期,且中国与世界各国间的相互影响日益复杂,未来研究可重点关注以下3个方面：① 理解耦合系统的多元互动过程,增强适应能力;② 强调社会—生态系统的整体性研究;③ 提高环境变化背景下理解和预测系统动态的能力。     

生态地理学概念界定及其经典案例分析

对生态地理学的概念进行了详细讨论和辨析,并将它与相近学科如生物地理学、生态地理区划、宏生态学等进行了比较分析,界定了生态地理学的概念。研究认为：生态地理学是生态学和地理学的交叉学科,是研究生态系统各组分关系和生态过程的地理空间分布格局或/和时间演变规律及其与地理环境耦合机制的学科。生态地理学的目的是揭示不同环境梯度下或不同时间尺度上生态系统各组分关系和生态过程的普适性规律及其成因。同时,结合国内外野外实验平台介绍,在全球变化等研究领域列举了经典案例进行分析：① 全球不同气候带森林凋落物分解和碳汇功能的研究;② 中国不同陆地生态系统碳通量和碳汇功能研究;③ 中国东北样带和南北样带陆地生态系统的脆弱性与适应性研究;④ 中国北方草地样带尺度的生态系统生态学研究。主要目的是在辨析生态地理学概念的基础上指出未来发展方向,推动生态地理学的发展。     

黄土丘陵沟壑区县域土壤有机质空间分布特征及预测

分析、预测土壤属性空间变异及其动态是区域土地质量评价和可持续土地利用的一个重要组成部分。在陕西省横山县采集了254个耕层(0~20cm)土样,利用数字地形与遥感影像分析技术,提取了相关地形与遥感指数,分析不同土地利用类型、不同地形条件下土壤有机质空间变异及分布特征,并利用相关因子进行回归预测分析。结果表明,县域土壤有机质平均含量很低,变异性较大。不同土地利用类型土壤有机质差异显著,其中以水稻田有机质含量最高,而林地和灌木林地相对较低。不同土地利用类型土壤有机质含量次序为:水稻田>川地>梯田>坝地>荒草地>坡耕地>林地>灌木林地。不同坡度分析表明,“0~3°”这一坡度等级有机质含量显著高于其它坡度等级;不同坡向有机质含量差异不显著,但不同坡向有机质含量存在一个明显的趋势,阴坡有机质含量整体上要比阳坡高。相关分析表明土壤有机质与高程h呈现负相关关系,与坡向的余弦值COSα正相关,与复合地形指数CTI正相关;土壤有机质和修正后的土壤调节植被指数(MSAVI)以及湿度指数(WI)正相关。利用相关环境变量及遥感指数进行多元线性逐步回归分析,预测结果不甚理想,存在一个平滑效应,对于残差解释相对较低,须进一步研究以更好的解释残差。     

Estimation of regional evapotranspiration in alpine area and its response to land use change: A case study in Three-River Headwaters region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Three-River Headwaters(TRH) region involved in this paper refers to the source region of the Changjiang(Yangtze) River,the Huanghe(Yellow) River and the Lancang River in China.Taking the TRH region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as a case,the annual evapotranspiration(ET) model developed by Zhang et al.(2001) was applied to evaluate mean annual ET in the alpine area,and the response of annual ET to land use change was analyzed.The plant-available water coefficient(w) of Zhang’s model was revised by using vegetation-temperature condition index(VTCI) before annual ET was calculated in alpine area.The future land use scenario,an input of ET model,was spatially simulated by using the conversion of land use and its effects at small regional extent(CLUE-S) to study the response of ET to land use change.Results show that the relative errors between the simulated ET and that calculated by using water balance equation were 3.81% and the index of agreement was 0.69.This indicates that Zhang’s ET model based on revised plant-available water coefficient is a scientific and practical tool to estimate the annual ET in the alpine area.The annual ET in 2000 in the study area was 221.2 mm,11.6 mm more than that in 1980.Average annual ET decreased from southeast to northwest,but the change of annual ET between 1980 and 2000 increased from southeast to northwest.As a vast and sparsely populated area,the population in the TRH region was extremely unbalanced and land use change was concentrated in very small regions.Thus,land use change had little effect on total annual ET in the study area but a great impact on its spatial distribution,and the effect of land use change on ET decreased with increasing precipitation.ET was most sensitive to the interconversion between forest and unused land,and was least sensitive to the interconversion between cropland and low-covered grassland.     

Spatial heterogeneous response of land use and landscape functions to ecological restoration: the case of the Chinese loess hilly region

Ecological restorations over time may have profound effects on ecological and socio-economic systems. However, land-use changes and landscape functions that accompany ecological restorations can have spatial differentiations due to varied biophysical and socio-economic contexts. Therefore, these spatial differentiations caused by ecological restoration must be understood for better planning and management of restoration activities. The Baota District, with 576 villages in the center of the Chinese Loess Plateau, was selected as the study area because of its dramatic transition from cropland to grassland and shrubland from 1990 to 2010. Using the ArcGIS software and a k-means clustering analysis, an approach to identify types of land-use change patterns (TLCPs) at the village level was developed, and four TLCPs were delineated. The analysis indicated a general pattern of cropland decline by 21.6 %, but revealed significant spatial variations between villages in different TLCPs. Vegetation cover and soil retention, which are key proxies for landscape functions, increased by 22.70 and 108 %, respectively, from 2000 to 2010 with significant spatial heterogeneity. The Universal Soil Loss Equation was employed for the assessment of soil retention. The analysis of landscape metrics revealed a major trend of fragmentation and regularity on the county and village scale; however, spatial variations remained. Physical attributes were used to characterize different TLCPs, and notable differences were found. The spatial heterogeneous change in land use and landscape functions on the village scale may be useful for land use and ecological restoration management policy makers.