A high‐resolution pollen and geochemical analysis of late Holocene human impact and vegetation history in southern Cumbria,England

The historic era, which in Cumbria begins with the Roman invasion of AD 71, is a frequently neglected period in palaeoecological research, but its study can bring benefits in improving knowledge of landscape history and in understanding the significance and limitations of palaeoecological records. Pollen and geochemical data are presented for late Holocene records from Deer Dyke and Hulleter Mosses in southern Cumbria. The records show initially low levels of anthropogenic impact, followed by a phase of forest clearance and mixed agriculture from the 7th to 11th centuries AD. The timing of these clearances suggests that they were initially Anglo‐Saxon in origin, rather than Norse. Further clearances in the 16th century AD are interpreted as a response to monastic dissolution and late Tudor population pressures; the landscapes reached their contemporary form following extensive clearances in the 17th century AD. Silicon and titanium concentrations at Deer Dyke Moss were used to reconstruct past levels of atmospheric dust loading, which is broadly related to soil erosion. Geochemical influx was found to peak during periods of landscape transition rather than from established land use. This relationship with pollen data is thought to reflect the predominantly low levels of anthropogenic impact in the region, which changes as substantial woodland clearances during the 16th century AD and continuous land use pressure since then have greatly increased the supply of airborne dust. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate changing characteristics of Zhangye City in Heihe River basin during 1968–2005

At present, researches on climate change of the Heihe River basin mainly focus on the relationship between basin climate change and regional water resources, regional desertification and dynamic climatic seasons of sandstorm, but less on climate change of oasis region, where there are more intense and frequent human activities. Based on data of precipitation, temperature, strong wind and dust events frequencies obtained from the six meteorological stations of Zhangye region in Heihe River basin, the features of climate change during 1968–2005 were carefully studied. Results show that the regional temperature rise rate exceeded the average level of China. The annual precipitation changed a little, but the precipitation had a slowly increasing trend in spring and winter. Frequencies of strong wind and sandstorm days show obviously descending trends, which had a close correlation with the regional temperature rise and the precipitation increase in spring and winter. Meanwhile, further human economic activities and exploitations to the oasis in the inland valley of arid regions also affected the climate change of this region, which has a sensitive and fragile eco-environment. __________ Translated from Journal of Desert Research, 2007, 27(6): 1048–1054 [译自: 中国沙漠]     

绿色建筑的内涵及其发展的若干思考

随着我国城市化进程的快速推进,大规模的人居环境建设使我国的资源与环境面临巨大的挑战,发展绿色建筑已经成为可持续发展的重大战略问题.文章从可持续发展的角度,指出了绿色建筑的内涵与特征,并归纳了绿色建筑与一般建筑的区别.在此基础上,提出了发展绿色建筑的具体对策.     

科尔沁沙地巴克窑地区近150年的环境演变*

在沉积和花粉分析的基础上,对科尔沁沙地东南部巴克窑地区过去150年的植被和环境演变进行了重建。巴克窑等湖泡的诞生时间是在上个世纪前期,约1837年前后。这个时间也正是科尔沁沙地东南部地区首次大规模人口移入和垦荒年代。突然增加的人类活动导致了沙丘植被的迅速破坏,而植被减少和沙丘活化引起区域水文循环的重新调整,即原来通过植物蒸腾作用输出的水量明显减弱,致使地下潜水位上升,形成一系列湖泡。以后,沙地系统的演化主要是在人类活动、气候和系统内部反馈机制的共同作用下完成的。     

The palaeolimnology of Lake Fidler, a meromictic lake in south-west Tasmania and the significance of recent human impact

Three meromictic lakes in the World Heritage Area of south-west Tasmania possess unusual microbiological communities. Their meromixis is maintained by periodic incursions of brackish water from the nearby Gordon River which, in its lower reaches, is a salt-wedge estuary. In 1977 the construction of a dam in the middle reaches of the river restricted penetration of the salt-wedge and meromixis rapidly declined in all three lakes. A palaeolimnological study was carried out on one of the lakes, Lake Fidler, firstly to determine the history of meromixis and its associated microbiological communities, and secondly to assess whether the recent and rapid decline of meromixis is inconsistent with natural rates of development of the Gordon River meromictic lakes. One part of this study included the analysis of the stratigraphy of fossil diatoms from a 17-metre sediment core dating back 8000 yrs. Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Analog Matching were used to compare diatom species assemblages in core samples with diatom samples from a reference dataset consisting of a selection of lake and river sites in the lower Gordon River valley. Five distinct stratigraphic zones were identified in the core. These zones indicated specific stages in the development of the Gordon River lakes from river backwaters to ectogenically-maintained meromictic lakes which will, finally, become terrestrialised by encroaching rainforest. The onset of a stratified water column was identified by the emergence of a dominant freshwater algal flora which suggested that the lake had developed a mixolimnion and become meromictic ca. 2070 ± 50 ¹⁴C yrs ago. In the context of this long history of meromixis, the rapid demise in meromictic stability following construction of the dam is judged to be inconsistent with natural rates of development. The palaeolimnological studies, of which this paper is one part, prompt recommendations for a management strategy to prevent the further decay of these meromictic lakes in the World Heritage Area.     

陕西省区域环境地球化学分区

为了利用地壳元素分布特征与动植物微量元素含量间的关系,指导生态环境综合治理,借助已有的基础地球化学资料,进行陕西省地球化学分区,确定各分区的环境背景值、污染起始值、缺乏临界值、过剩值临界值,并将陕西省分为陕北、关中、陕南3个地球化学区,圈定了1个元素贫化区和2个元素富集区。提出应该在元素的缺乏和过剩的异常区内进行生物体内微量元素含量的定期检测。做到对地球化学疾病及时发现及时寻找对策,以保证人类生存环境的安全,提高生存质量。     

发展中国家食物安全研究的新进展

本文回顾了七十年代以来食物安全概念的演变历史，特别是介绍了森(Sen)的食物权利理论在这个历史过程中的作用，评价了当前的主要研究热点，展望了将来的几个研究趋势。指出食物安全的概念不能也不应该以单一的观点、方法和尺度来定义，食物安全的研究必须要更紧密地与更广泛的人文安全和环境变化的内容联系在一起，才能更深入地进行下去。     

Changes in the spatial scale of Beijing UHI and urban development

The seasonal and interannual variations of Beijing urban heat island (UHI) are investigated in this paper using the temperature data from 1960 to 2000 at 20 meteorological stations in the Beijing region, and then the relationship between the intensity and spatial scale of UHI and Beijing urbanization indices is analyzed and discussed. Main conclusions are the followings. First, Beijing UHI shows obvious seasonal variations, and it is strongest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer. The seasonal variation of the UHI mainly occurs in the urban area. The UHI intensity at the center of Beijing is more than 0.8℃ in winter, and only 0.5℃ in summer. Second, the intensity of Beijing HUI exhibits a clear interannual warming trend with its mean growth rate (MGR) being 0.3088℃/10 a. The MGR of HUI is largest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer, and the urban temperature increase makes a major contribution to the growth of HUI intensity. Third, since the Reform and Opening, the urbanization indices have grown several ten times or even one hundred times, the intensity of HUI has increased dramatically, and its spatial scale also expanded distinctively along with the expansion of urban architectural complexes. Fourth, the interannual variation of urbanization indices is very similar with that of HUI intensity, and their linear correlation coefficients are significant at a more than 0.001 confidence level.     

清代陕南秦巴山地的人类行为及其与环境的关系

对人类行为空间特征认识的不足,是地理学人地关系理论与实践研究的主要障碍。本文以文化、风俗、政策等影响人类行为的人文因素为切入点,运用时空剖面分析法,考察了清代陕南流民空间行为选择的基本取向。结果表明,人类空间选择行为遵循风俗相近原则,而不是地理环境最优原则。追求单位时间上效果最大化是流民行为选择的普遍趋势。人类空间行为的选择性强化了自然差异的等级和水平,不同区域人类行为结果的外部关联性,指出传统的仅从区域内部或某一种人类行为来寻求简单的"人—地"因果关系的缺陷。从系统或流域的观点来考察人类环境行为的相互影响关系,是认识和把握人地关系实质与机理的重要途径。     

我国典型资源枯竭型城市生态系统健康综合评价

资源枯竭和环境恶化影响着典型资源枯竭型城市的发展。根据"压力-状态-响应"模型,构建了一个度量典型资源枯竭型城市生态系统健康水平的含有4个层次35项具体指标的指标体系,并运用客观的改进的熵值法赋权、模糊综合评价法及划分的等级标准对我国9个典型资源枯竭型城市的生态系统健康水平进行量化分析。结果表明,阜新市的生态系统健康水平属于"较健康"级,伊春、辽源、白银、焦作属于"临界状态"级,盘锦、白山、萍乡属于"较不健康"级,而石嘴山则属于"不健康"级。典型资源枯竭型城市的生态系统健康水平总体上不容乐观。