Past desertification processes of Minqin Oasis in arid China

Irrigated farming has affected most natural oases in western China since the Han Dynasty employed advanced agricultural techniques in dryland areas. To date, little is documented about the process through which these oases were modified by human systems. In this study, a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating analysis of historical documents, archaeological field surveys, satellite imagery, and GIS data was used to understand desertification processes in the Minqin Basin in Gansu Province, China, over the historical period. Results suggest that initial reclamation efforts around the Minqin Oasis were launched in the Han Dynasty (121 BC–220 AD) and culminated in the Wei and Jin Dynasty (220–420). During the following 800 years from the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–581) to the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), farmland disappeared and became desert when the region was taken over by nomadic people. The second period of intense development occurred in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and was followed by another more aggressive development in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), which resulted in the largest reclaimed area in history. Oases were constantly reclaimed and subsequently abandoned and desertified over the whole historical period. The causes were complex, but the major cause was related to dynastic transition that often resulted in changes in national policies.     

Oasis land-use change and its effects on the oasis eco-environment in Keriya Oasis,China

Land-use change in oases of arid zones play a significant role in the sustainable development and stability of oases. This paper presents a typical case of successful efforts to mitigate land-use change, its drivers and effects on the oasis eco-environment at Keriya Oasis in the western arid zone of China using remotely-sensed data, official statistics, and data collected by field investigation. Mathematical models were developed to quantify important elements related to land-use change, including net change and total change. The results indicate that: (1) approximately 17% of land-use types of Keriya Oasis changed between 1991 and 2002; (2) socioeconomic development, climate change, and economic polices contributed to land-use change in the oasis; (3) inappropriate human activities were the main cause of land-use change and eco-environmental degradation in the oasis; and (4) the stability of the oasis is threatened by land-use change and unexpected eco-environmental changes in the oasis and oasis–desert ecotone. The study suggests irrational human activity in arid zones, and that caution should be exercised to maintain stability and sustainable development of oases.     

再生水灌溉对冬小麦生长和产量的影响

随着我国污水处理技术的发展,再生水生产能力得到了明显地提高,实现再生水农业安全利用,将开辟农业用水新途径。以冬小麦（Triticum aestivum）为对象,通过盆栽试验,研究了不同程度处理的再生水（二级再生水、三级再生水）对冬小麦生长和产量的影响。结果表明：再生水灌溉能显著提高冬小麦的株高、叶面积、叶绿素含量,但开花前对光合作用的改善不显著。再生水灌溉处理的冬小麦超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）活性整体提高,尤其是越冬阶段,叶片SOD活性较对照处理提高了15%,抽穗后作用减弱,各处理间的过氧化物酶（POD）活性差异不明显。以再生水灌溉的盆栽小麦产量和对照相比没有明显差异,再生水灌溉可以实现正常的产量水平。     

A review on historical trajectories and spatially explicit scenarios of land-use and land-cover changes in China

ABSTRACT

Land use in China has changed remarkably over the past centuries with manifold implications for sustainable development. Investigation and projection of the land-use and land-cover changes (LUCC) have therefore become critical to promote the understanding of the LUCC process and the interactions with human societies. Scientists had devoted great efforts to create, process, and interpret comprehensive historical land-use/cover datasets, and to simulate future land-use systems under different scenarios. We synthesize the literature on the historical trajectories of LUCC in China, and summarize existing efforts of scenario developments for the projection of spatially explicit LUCC. Our review therefore provides salient suggestions for future land-use change analysis.     

A warning from an ancient oasis: intensive human activities are leading to potential ecological and social catastrophe

The Shiyang River Basin is an inland river basin in the Hexi Corridor, Gansu Province, northwest China. Shiyang is the largest basin in terms of human population density and has the highest exploitation of water resources in the northwest. Serious water shortages constrain social and economic development, and the area has some of the worst ecological and environmental deterioration in China. From historical data and recent observations, we have analysed changes in water systems in the Minqin oasis, at the end of the river basin, and assessed impacts and consequences of a changing climate and intensive human activity. Historically, climate change has been the main cause of changes in the oasis. In the last 50 years, however, a major influence has been intense human activity in the basin. With increasing population (159% in 50 years), the amount of cultivated land has been greatly expanded (by 51%). Many reservoirs have been built by damming rivers and large-scale irrigation has been introduced in the middle reaches of the basin. The introduction of leakage-free canals and more extensive exploitation of underground water have further expanded the irrigated area. Water use by humans has exceeded the carrying capacity of the water resources of the basin, which has led to a dramatic shift in water allocation between the upper and lower reaches and a rapid drop in the water table in the Minqin oasis (by as much as 14 m). The oasis is shrinking, natural vegetation that relies on underground water is disappearing, and desertification is accelerating. An ancient oasis that can be traced back 2000 years is disappearing and this must be a warning sign for future generations.     

Evidences of different salinization sources in the roman coastal aquifer (Central Italy)

The coastal aquifer of Rome is hosted in the Tiber River Delta depositional sequence, in a densely populated area, which was reclaimed at the end of the 19th century. Moderate salinization processes characterize this aquifer. Hydrogeological and hydrochemical surveys were carried out in October 2012 and February 2013 in the southern sector of the Delta. Hydrogeological surveys updated knowledge of groundwater morphology and a detailed conceptual hydrogeological model of the coastal aquifer was realized. Hydrochemical analyses helped to identify the salinization spatial distribution and to specify the main groundwater types. The most salinized water was not detected close to the coastline, where seawater intrusion processes would be expected, but in the inner areas. Moreover, the salinization processes resulted to be slightly marked. Results so far suggest that the source of salinization may be related more to a combination of land use and historical development of the Tiber River Delta, rather than to seawater.     

Variation in vegetation cover and livestock mobility needs in Sahelian West Africa

A new approach was developed to evaluate the implications of the spatiotemporal variability of green vegetation for the dispersion of livestock that is required to access quality forage in semi-arid Africa. Maximum NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) at 1 km² resolution was determined for concentric rings (0–31 km radii) around 227 individual sample locations within the study area for 14 dates (between 1 April to 1 November) annually over the 2000–2010 period. A sigmoidal curve was fitted to points within the maximum NDVI × distance radii space to determine the asymptote distance (AD) – the radius at which further dispersion from the sample location does not lead to significant gains in access to green forage. AD was found to: increase with latitude (or increasing aridity); decline as the rainy season proceeds; and show no trend over the 2000–2010 period. These results introduce much-needed empirical data to current debates surrounding the scales of governance to support livestock mobility.     

Occurrence and fate of antibiotics in advanced wastewater treatment facilities and receiving rivers in Beijing,China

The occurrence and removal of 13 antibiotics were investigated in five wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs） with advanced wastewater treatment processes in Beijing, China. Most of the target antibiotics were detected in the secondary and tertiary effluents, with the concentrations of 4.8-1106.0 and 0.3-505.0ng·L^-1. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics showed relatively high concentrations in all samples （782-1814ng·L^-1）. Different tertiary treatment processes showed discrepant antibiotics removal performances. Ozonation process was found more effective in removing target antibiotics compared to the coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation process and sand filtration process. Investigation of the target antibiotics in three typical urban rivers in Beijing was carried out to understand antibiotics occurrence in surface water environment. Eight antibiotics were detected in the studied rivers, with highest concentration of antibiotics in the fiver which was mainly replenished by reclaimed water. This study showed the necessity of employing more effective advanced treatment facilities to further reduce the discharge amount of antibiotics.     

中国城市建成区绿化覆盖率变化特征及影响因素分析

城市建成区绿地建设有利于改善城市环境,提高人居适宜度,优化城市生态系统服务功能。基于2002—2018年建成区绿化覆盖率及影响因子数据分析了中国城市建成区绿化覆盖率变化特征及其主要影响因素,结果表明,(1)中国建成区绿化覆盖率在2018年达到了41.11%,相比2002年增加了11.36%,2018年绿化覆盖率达到了35.0%以上的城市占全国城市的93.55%。(2)中国建成区绿化覆盖率存在明显的区域差异。按照华北、东北、华东、中南、西南和西北六个地区划分中国城市区域,华东地区的城市建成区绿化覆盖率最高,中南地区次之,其余四个地区为华北地区>东北地区>西北地区>西南地区;各地区建成区绿化覆盖率随时间发生显著变化(P<0.05),华北地区绿化覆盖率发生显著变化的城市占比最高达94.60%,中南地区最低为65.88%。(3)建成区绿化覆盖率与城市化指标(地区生产总值GDP、地区人均生产总值PGDP、绿化投入LP、建成区面积BUA、城区面积百分比UAP、建成区面积百分比BUAP、总人口TP、城市人口密度UPD、城区人口UP、建成区人口BUP、城区人口百分比UPP、建成区人口百分比BUPP)和气候因子(年平均温度YT、年平均湿度YH和年降雨量YW)均呈极显著正相关关系(P<0.01),其中PGDP、LI、BUAP、UAP、UPD、BUPP和YT、YW、YH是影响建成区绿化覆盖率的最主要因子。本研究结果可为中国未来城市绿地建设均衡发展提供重要的理论参考依据。     

Genotoxic potential of organic extracts from municipal reclaimed water in Tianjin,China

Despite increasing pressure to make more efficient use of water resources, the widespread use of reclaimed water still remains a contentious issue, primarily because of risks to human health arising from water pollution by organic compounds. Therefore, safety evaluation of reclaimed water is an urgent need. The aim of this study was to determine the genotoxic potential of reclaimed water during low and high water periods. Reverse phase C-18 solid-phase extraction (RP-C18SPE) was used for the extraction of organic compounds from water samples. The tests, namely, Ames, micronucleus and chromosome aberrations were used to determine the damage caused by water samples on genetic material. Ames tests showed that both influent and effluent reclaimed water, except influent after metabolism by S9 in high water period, induced mutation of TA98 and TA100 strains of Salmonella typhimurium in a concentration-response manner. There were no significant differences in micronucleus and chromosome aberration tests. Even after treatment, reclaimed water in Tianjin still showed mutational effects and new strategies for reduction of genotoxins need to be considered.     

Use of historical and contemporary distribution of mammals in China to inform conservation

A systematic understanding of dynamic animal extinction trajectories for different regions in a nation like China is critically important to developing practical conservation strategies. We explored historical and contemporary changes in terrestrial mammalian diversity to determine how diversity in each of the 5 regions in China has changed over time and to examine the conservation potential of these regions. We used records from databases on Pleistocene mammalian fossils and historical distribution records (1175–2020) for Primates (as a case study) to reconstruct evolutionary and historical distribution trajectories of the 11 orders of terrestrial mammals and to predict their prospective survival based on the national conservation strategy applied. The results indicated that since the Pleistocene, 4–5 mammalian orders have been lost in the northeast, 3 in central China, 2 along the coast, and 1 in the northwest. In the southwest, all 11 orders were maintained. Contemporarily, the coast and southwest had the highest and second-highest species densities. The southwest region and southeastern sections of the northwest region were the most historically and contemporarily diverse areas, which suggests that they should be the first priority for protected area (PA) designation. The central and coastal areas should be secondarily prioritized. In these 2 regions, conservation should focus on human coexistence with nature. Less attention should be paid to the PA in the northeast and western northwest because in these areas ecosystems are depauperate and the climate is harsh. Conservation in these areas should focus principally on avoiding further human encroachment on natural areas. Article impact statement: Historical and contemporary patterns of extinction can be a basis for mammalian conservation strategies.     

Effects of land use on water quality of two high-altitude lakes and catchments in Yunnan Province,China

SUMMARY

Reclaiming farmland from lakes in China in the 1950s damaged the water quality of many lakes. Tremendous efforts have been made since the late 1990s to restore vegetation around the damaged lakes. This paper examines water quality of Fuxian and Qilu Lakes and land-use characteristics within the two catchments in the high-altitude area of Yunnan Province, China. Landsat TM data acquired in 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2005 were used to extract land use and land cover (LULC) information. Measurements of five water quality indices (WQIs), BOD, COD, pH, TN and TP, for the same period of time were examined. The results showed that the area of residential and forest/shrub increased, whereas that of cropland and barren land decreased from 1989 to 2005 in both catchments. Qilu Lake was much more polluted than Fuxian Lake, and pollution worsened over time for both lakes. The differences in water quality between the two lakes were caused by differences in LULC composition and continued degradation in water quality was caused by intensive farming and urban sprawl. Unless the landscape is converted back to its pre-1950 composition and structure, water quality in both lakes cannot be significantly improved and will continue to threaten sustainable development in the region.     

Aerosol exposure assessment during reclaimed water utilization in China and risk evaluation in case of Legionella

• The Chinese population exposure habits were surveyed. • The risks of three scenarios of reclaimed water utilization were evaluated by QMRA. • The risks were markedly higher than the threshold (10⁻⁴ pppy) recommended by WHO. • The risks were age-, educational background-, region- and gender-specific. Reclaimed water utilization provides an effective way to alleviate water shortage. However, the residual pathogens in the recycled water like Legionella, could be spread into the air as aerosols through water-to-air transmission process. Inhaling the aerosols by the people nearby increases their susceptibility to diseases. For estimating the health risks associated with the potential exposure of airborne Legionella emitted from the urban use of reclaimed water in China, nationwide questionnaire was designed to investigate the exposure habits of Chinese population in different scenarios. Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) served as the suitable explanatory tool to estimate the risk. The results indicated that annual infection probability of populations exposed to Legionella for three scenarios, 0.0764 (95% CI: 0.0032–0.6880) for road cleaning, 1.0000 (95% CI: 0.1883–1.0000) for greenfield irrigation, 0.9981 (95% CI: 0.0784–1.0000) for landscape fountain, were markedly higher than the threshold recommended by WHO (10⁻⁴ per person per year (pppy)) according to the concentration distribution of Legionella in the reclaimed water. An age-, educational background-, region- and gender-specific data in annual infection probability also showed different tendencies for some subpopulations. This study provides some detailed information on the health risks from the water reuse in China and will be useful to promote the safe application of reclaimed water in water-deficient areas.     

城市回用水中多环芳烃致癌风险评价

为评价人群暴露于城市回用水中16种多环芳烃(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,PAHs)对于人体健康的潜在风险,采用气相色谱-质谱(GC-MS)联用的分析化学方法对不同季节回用水中16种PAHs进行定量分析;在此基础上采用美国国家科学院和国家研究委员会提出的环境健康风险评价方法,分析不同回用条件下具有中国水体基质特色的城市回用水中PAHs健康风险.结果显示,回用水样中16种PAHs的总浓度为1 422.85 ng·L-1,污水处理厂二级出水水样16种PAHs的总浓度为1 791.77 ng ·L-1,经过处理后回用水中PAHs含量有所降低.风险评价分析结果显示,回用水在城市绿化、农业灌溉和景观娱乐3种不同回用途径下多环芳烃的致癌风险分别为788×10-8、2.77×10-6、3.04×10-6,总致癌风险为5.89×10-6.以上结果可以得出,回用水在城市绿化、农田灌溉和景观娱乐接触过程中多环芳烃所增加的致癌风险很低,回用水中多环芳烃的健康风险处于可接受水平.     

六叉河小流域多水塘沉积物中镉含量历史变化趋势分析

采集六叉河流域多水塘沉积物,利用沉积物年代学方法,建立未受扰动水塘沉积物年代序列,研究流域Cd累积的历史过程及其环境效应.结果表明,江淮地区近30 a来农业集约化的迅速发展、磷肥的大量施用导致Cd在水塘沉积物中大量累积.利用水塘沉积物反演的Cd时空分布特征可以将Cd输入历史分为2个阶段:第1阶段是20世纪80年代以前,流域没有或者只有轻度Cd污染;第2个阶段是20世纪80年代以后,农业活动的迅速集约化过程导致了水塘沉积物中Cd的快速累积,人为活动输入的Cd含量呈增加趋势.对沉积物中Cd的风险评价表明,Cd总量中有10%～30%为可交换态和碳酸盐结合态,多水塘沉积物存在中等程度的Cd暴露风险.     

珠江口滩涂围垦对大型底栖动物群落的影响

为了解海岸滩涂围垦对沿海生态系统的影响,采用大型底栖动物群落来进行影响评价.对珠江口伶仃洋西海岸的6个自然滩涂和5个围垦滩涂的大型底栖动物进行比较研究,采用4种生物指数、聚类分析(CLA)及非度量多维测度排序(NMS)对其进行群落特征分析.结果显示:自然滩涂底栖动物种类数平均7.5种,栖息密度386.63 ind m-2,生物量15.593 6 g m-2,均普遍高于围垦滩涂.滩涂围垦可造成滩涂生境改变,从而导致底栖动物群落结构简单,生物组成单一,群落相似性较低.因此必须科学制定围垦方式并进行围垦后生态保护,在满足用地需求和生境保护之间取得平衡.图5表3参24     

Under the shadow of Asian Brown Clouds: Unbalanced regional productivities in China and environmental concerns

China has seen rapid economic growth over the past two decades, but severe environmental problems have accompanied this, such as the looming danger of Asian Brown Clouds. This paper analyzes the regional development of China by examining economic performance and environmental factors. Technical efficiency and productivity changes in 31 regions of China are computed for the period 1997–2001. In the case of regional GDP, the fast-developing eastern (coastal) regions experience higher technical efficiency and productivity growth than the inland central and western regions. When environmental factors are incorporated, the eastern regions still perform better than inland regions, both from static and dynamic analysis. This phenomenon is termed the 'double deterioration' of the inland areas in China. Double deterioration is attributed to the lack of economic resources to replace highly-polluting production equipment and technology in those less developed regions.     

Decomposition of aqueous chlorinated contaminants by UV irradiation with H2O2

In the present study, the decomposition rates of carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in water by the ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation alone and H₂O₂/UV were experimentally investigated. The detailed experimental studies have been conducted for examining treatment capacities of the two different ultraviolet light sources (low and medium pressure Hg arc) in H₂O₂/UV processes. The low or medium UV lamp alone resulted in a 60%–90% decomposition of 2,4-DCP while a slight addition of H₂O₂ resulted in a drastic enhancement of the 2,4-DCP decomposition rate. The decomposition rate of 2,4-DCP with the medium pressure UV lamp alone was about 3–6 times greater than the low pressure UV lamp alone. In the direct photolysis of aqueous CCl₄, the medium pressure UV lamp had advantage over the low pressure UV lamp because the molar extinction coefficient of CCl₄ at shorter wavelength (210–220 nm) is about 20 to 50 times higher than that at 254 nm. However, adding H₂O₂ to the medium pressure UV lamp system rendered a negative oxidation rate because H₂O₂ acted as a UV absorber being competitive with CCl₄ due to negligible reaction between CCl₄ and OH radicals. The results from the present study indicated significant influence of the photochemical properties of the target contaminants on the photochemical treatment characteristics for designing cost-effective UV-based degradation of toxic contaminants.     

A century-long trend of metal pollution in the Sheyang River,on the coast of Jiangsu (China), reconstructed from sedimentary record

In order to reveal the historical context of metal element accumulation under the economic boom during the last decades in eastern China, concentrations of nine metal elements, radionuclides (²¹⁰Pb), Pb isotope ratios (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb) and sedimentary characteristics were investigated in two sediment cores collected from the Sheyang River. The sediments have recorded the heavy metal deposition and thus allow establishing a connection between the temporal evolution of the heavy metal pollution and historical changes in industrial and urban discharges. Enrichment factors (EFs) were calculated to estimate the level of contamination in these sediments. A significant anthropogenic enrichment of Cu, Ni, Pb, Cr and Zn was highlighted, which were identified from anthropogenic discharges from cities and industrial sources, according to a cluster analysis. According to the annual variation in GDP growth rate, industrial growth rate, ratio of ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and EFs, it was obvious that sedimentary accumulation of metals has a close relationship with anthropogenic activities. In the pre-industrial period, natural inputs prevailed with lower EF and constant ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios around 0.82. However, during 1980–1995, the rapid industrial development caused a gradual increase in EFs and ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb (>0.83). Our results disinterred the evolution of anthropogenic metal inputs in the last century into the Sheyang River.     

Influence of temperature on the heavy metals accumulation of five vegetable species in semiarid area of northwest China

The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible effects of temperature on cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) accumulation in five vegetable species collected at different sites (Shuichuan, Beiwan, Dongwan and Wufe) in northwest China. The meteorological data of air and soil temperatures were recorded daily during the period from sowing to harvest for the five vegetables. The air and soil temperatures affected the capacity of pumpkin, cabbage, brassica napus and Chinese cabbage to accumulate Zn, Cd, Cu and Pb. Principal component analysis showed that temperature, photosynthetic and physiological factors all contributed to the soil–plant transfer properties of DTPA-extractable heavy metals. Temperature played a more important role in Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn accumulation in four vegetables in this semiarid area. However, the enormous surface area of spinach was likely to elevate heavy metal loads owing to atmospheric deposits. For most vegetables studied, there was a striking dissimilarity in the uptake and translocation ability of Cd, Zn and Cu in soil, but similar accumulation to translocation for Pb in soil.