Physical and Temporal Isolation of Mountain Headwater Streams in the Western Mojave Desert,Southern California1

Abstract: Streams draining mountain headwater areas of the western Mojave Desert are commonly physically isolated from downstream hydrologic systems such as springs, playa lakes, wetlands, or larger streams and rivers by stream reaches that are dry much of the time. The physical isolation of surface flow in these streams may be broken for brief periods after rainfall or snowmelt when runoff is sufficient to allow flow along the entire stream reach. Despite the physical isolation of surface flow in these streams, they are an integral part of the hydrologic cycle. Water infiltrated from headwater streams moves through the unsaturated zone to recharge the underlying ground‐water system and eventually discharges to support springs, streamflow, isolated wetlands, or native vegetation. Water movement through thick unsaturated zones may require several hundred years and subsequent movement through the underlying ground‐water systems may require many thousands of years – contributing to the temporal isolation of mountain headwater streams.     

FLOOD HAZARD STUDIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN USING REMOTE SENSING1

ABSTRACT. The Spring 1973 Mississippi River flood was investigated using remotely sensed data from ERTS-1. Both manual and automatic analyses of the data indicate that ERTS-I is extremely useful as a regional tool for flood management. Quantitative estimates of area flooded were made in St. Charles County, Missouri and Arkansas. Flood hazard mapping was conducted in three study areas along the Mississippi River using pre-flood ERTS-1 imagery enlarged to 1:250,000 and 1:100,000 scale. The flood prone areas delineated on these maps correspond to areas that would be inundated by significant flooding (approximately the 100 year flood). The flood prone area boundaries were generally in agreement with flood hazard maps produced by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and U. S. Geological Survey although the latter are somewhat more detailed because of their larger scale. Initial results indicate that ERTS-1 digital mapping of flood prone areas can be performed at 1:62,500 which is comparable to some conventional flood hazard map scales.     

长江下游典型滨海地区农业土壤重金属污染特征

为揭示长江下游滨海地区农业土壤重金属污染状况,以滨江临海的南通市为例,网格化布点,采集表层农业土壤样品共计334个,对其重金属Cu、Pb、Cr、As、Hg含量进行了测定分析.结果表明,研究区域表层农业土壤中各重金属含量均已超过其背景值,且以Pb污染最为严重;区域性差异较大,以滨海的如东、海门、启东污染最为严重,且以海门、启东As含量最高;各重金属间相关性不显著,来源途径不止一种.从而提出南通市农业土壤重金属污染的防治应立足于防重于治的方针,着重滨海地区,以Pb、As污染源为主,并对污染土壤进行修复.     

Integrating economic landscape valuation into Mediterranean territorial planning

Recent and rapid landscape changes have occurred over large areas in Mediterranean Basin. Wildfires and human activities are the most important disturbances at landscape-level due to their ecological and socio-economic impacts. The increasing demand which society places on the forest landscapes has led us to develop a tool to identify the economic landscape value around natural protected areas. Our research focused on the integration of social, ecological and economic components of landscape management based on stated social preferences and contingent valuation method (CVM). Landscape value research has been motivated by the need to assist land use planning and environmental management.Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have provided new opportunities to spatially distributed modeling of landscape quality. Correlations were found between the representativeness of the landscape and its sense of belonging, and the contingent rating. Landscape with intensive agricultural practices and mining areas were the least preferred landscapes. There was a notable variation in the economic landscape value attributed to the study area based on the considered CVM scenario, ranging from 1,253,075.1 Euros to 3,650,827.8 Euros. We added the geospatial allocation of willingness to pay according to five landscape quality categories. Our approach could be used to identify priority areas for conservation based on maximizing landscape value, and would be useful in detecting interesting or conflict areas associated with new management and planning alternatives. In this sense, this approach offers managers to seek territorial management strategies to increase economic efficiency in the allocation of resources.     

Trends in management plans and guides: 25 years of experience from Southern France

This study analysed 14 management plans and guidelines from a 25-year period to understand trends in conservation planning. A Rosetta Stone Analysis was used for the systematic comparison of plans and guidelines. Management plans incorporated management philosophies, management scenarios, opportunities for infrastructure, and plans for data collection by 2000. As of 2010, they incorporated ecosystem services, stakeholders’ objectives and methods for storing and analysing data. The results demonstrate the complex nature of management plans, with an important workload for site managers. Recommendations for future planning include adjustments in planning timeframes and a better identification of conservation targets from initial stages.     

基于卫星遥感的浙北平原气溶胶光学特性长期变化分析

利用MOD04 C051气溶胶产品,以浙江北部平原为主要研究区,开展区域气溶胶光学特性长期(2000年3月—2013年12月)变化分析.长期逐月时间序列显示,区域气溶胶光学特性具有年内周期性变化规律,AOD(Aerosol Optical Depth)峰值多出现在5月或6月;Angstrom Exponent(α指数)峰值多出现在3月或4月.在空间分布上,研究区中部地区气溶胶污染较重且粗粒子成分较高.研究区气溶胶光学特性长期变化特征主要体现在:1气溶胶污染总体减轻但细粒子成分增加,复合污染加重;2008年以来区域AOD年均值总体呈下降趋势;2007—2013年α指数年均值显著高于2000—2006年;区域α指数月均值增长趋势显著,近14年的总倾向率为0.125(p0.05);2AOD和α指数的季节差异呈减小趋势,AOD的季节变化规律由2000年的春夏≈冬秋转变为2013年的春冬秋≥夏;α指数虽仍以夏秋季高于冬春季,但春秋两季α指数相对增大;3以污染较轻的湖州市和污染较重的嘉兴市为例的原因分析显示,AOD变化与SO2排放量具有一定相关性,α指数变化与民用汽车拥有量变化趋势一致,相关性较高.     

Geographic range size and extinction risk assessment in nomadic species

Geographic range size is often conceptualized as a fixed attribute of a species and treated as such for the purposes of quantification of extinction risk; species occupying smaller geographic ranges are assumed to have a higher risk of extinction, all else being equal. However many species are mobile, and their movements range from relatively predictable to‐and‐fro migrations to complex irregular movements shown by nomadic species. These movements can lead to substantial temporary expansion and contraction of geographic ranges, potentially to levels which may pose an extinction risk. By linking occurrence data with environmental conditions at the time of observations of nomadic species, we modeled the dynamic distributions of 43 arid‐zone nomadic bird species across the Australian continent for each month over 11 years and calculated minimum range size and extent of fluctuation in geographic range size from these models. There was enormous variability in predicted spatial distribution over time; 10 species varied in estimated geographic range size by more than an order of magnitude, and 2 species varied by >2 orders of magnitude. During times of poor environmental conditions, several species not currently classified as globally threatened contracted their ranges to very small areas, despite their normally large geographic range size. This finding raises questions about the adequacy of conventional assessments of extinction risk based on static geographic range size (e.g., IUCN Red Listing). Climate change is predicted to affect the pattern of resource fluctuations across much of the southern hemisphere, where nomadism is the dominant form of animal movement, so it is critical we begin to understand the consequences of this for accurate threat assessment of nomadic species. Our approach provides a tool for discovering spatial dynamics in highly mobile species and can be used to unlock valuable information for improved extinction risk assessment and conservation planning.     

Environmental Policy Beliefs of Stakeholders in Protected Area Management

Although the importance of understanding stakeholder beliefs regarding environmental policy has been noted by many authors, research focusing on the heterogeneity of stakeholder views is still very scarce and concentrated on a product-oriented definition of stakeholders. The aim of the present study is to address this gap by examining environmental policy beliefs of stakeholder groups engaged in protected area management. Questionnaires containing 73 five-point Likert scale items were administered to eight different stakeholder groups involved in the management of Greek protected areas. Items referred to core beliefs on environmental policy, namely, the value framework and sustainable development, and secondary beliefs, that is, beliefs on social consensus and ecotourism development. Our study used as a starting point respondent recruitment on the basis of a traditional product-centered approach. We investigated whether environmental policy beliefs can be used to effectively segregate stakeholders in well-defined segments, which override the product-oriented definition of stakeholders. Indeed, K-means clustering revealed an innovation-introduction and an implementation-charged sample segment. The instrument utilized in this research proved quite reliable and valid in measuring stakeholder environmental policy beliefs. Furthermore, the methodology implied that stakeholder groups differ in a significant number of belief-system elements. On the other hand, stakeholder groups were effectively distinguished on a small set of both core and secondary beliefs. Therefore, the instrument used can be an effective tool for determining and monitoring environmental policy beliefs of stakeholders in protected area management. This is of considerable importance in the Greek case, given the recent establishment of 27 administrative bodies of protected areas, all of which are required to incorporate public consultation into management practices.     

山区农村居民点时空格局演变特征及蚁群仿真优化——以重庆澄江镇为例

山地农村居民点系统因受自然因素及人类活动等多重扰动而处于深刻转型中,探索山区农村居民点时空格局特征及其优化策略,对于优化山区国土空间格局、推进山区国土空间综合治理与乡村振兴具有重要意义。基于构建理论框架,集成运用景观格局指数法、栅格权重叠加评价法、改进蚁群算法（ACO）等,以重庆澄江镇为例,探索山区农村居民点时空格局演变特征及优化过程,提出优化调控策略。结果表明：（1）研究区农村居民点空间格局演变特征呈现集中、靠拢的演化发展趋势,总体呈现匀质、线状、向心、院落四种分布形态;同时高程、坡度、水域、城镇、道路、基础设施等自然—经济社会因素均对山区农村居民点时空格局演化产生重要影响。（2）改进蚁群算法优化后,研究区农村居民点斑块面积（CA）减少10.07%,居民点斑块数量（NP）和密度（PD）分别减少83.12%和81.16%,平均斑块面积（MPS）增加了4.3倍,平均最近邻体距离（MENN）增加了42.82%。优化后69.1%的农村居民点斑块都集中在适宜区和较适宜区内,且重点向交通便利、公共设施完善、生产便利和中心村庄集中。优化后的农村居民点空间格局更加紧凑有序,土地集约节约效率更高。（3）基于仿真优化结果,综合考虑村庄振兴“产业—人口—土地”互动耦合机制,提出城郊融合、产业集聚、景村融合、搬迁撤并四类农村居民点格局优化方案,助推山区乡村振兴。（4）优化结果同时表明改进的蚁群算法非常适用于复杂环境条件下的较小尺度要素空间布局优化,能够为山区国土空间规划编制提供技术支撑。     

贫困退出背景下返贫脆弱性评价——融合区域与个体的新视角

精准识别返贫脆弱性,预防和化解返贫风险是“后扶贫时代”的工作重点。基于区域与个体尺度融合的新视角,运用BP神经网络法、熵值法和偏相关分析法对六盘山、秦巴山和大别山三大集中连片特困区进行返贫脆弱性评价与影响因素分析。研究发现：（1）三大集中连片特困区返贫脆弱度大致呈现由西向东递减的空间格局;（2）三个典型县区域和个体返贫脆弱性评价结果均显示古浪县>新县>栾川县;（3）高返贫风险县域中,高生态暴露度特征最为显著,而高返贫风险家庭中,生计动力不足特征最为明显;（4）区域返贫脆弱性主导因子为自然环境禀赋和经济发展水平,个体返贫脆弱性主导因子则为家庭劳动力综合素质、家庭收入、生计来源多样性、家庭成员健康状况和婚姻成本等。