In-between regional disparities and spatial heterogeneity: a multivariate analysis of territorial divides in Italy

Processes such as economic polarization, social disparities and the asymmetric distribution of natural capital are becoming progressively more interlinked in developed countries and may reflect the uneven decline of the ‘centre-periphery’ model. The assessment of regional disparities and spatial heterogeneity in socioeconomic phenomena is a key issue in regional studies and takes advantage of the use of multi-domain frameworks and decision support systems. We performed an exploratory analysis of 133 indicators assessing seven thematic domains (demography/settlements, labour market, economic structure, quality of life, agriculture/rural development, landscape/water, environment/soil resources) with the aim of investigating regional disparities in Italy in the light of territorial changes driven by urbanization, industrial decentralization, agricultural intensification and land abandonment. The results of our study indicate that latitude, elevation and urban gradients have determined a complex spatial pattern in both socioeconomic and environmental variables in Italy. The proposed approach provides an overall assessment of the intensity of territorial disparities on a regional scale for each thematic domain, and of intra-region spatial heterogeneity for each indicator, representing a decision-making tool for policies targeting a sustainable and spatially balanced development.     

不同主体功能区农户家庭耕地利用功能对土地流转行为的影响

城乡经济转型及农村人口快速城市化促使农户家庭耕地利用功能较传统利用方式发生转变,农户家庭耕地生存依赖度弱化促进土地流转市场发育。以湖北省重点开发区、农产品主产区和生态功能区的1 146户农户调查数据为实证,运用Biprobit模型分析不同主体功能区农户家庭耕地利用功能对土地流转行为的影响。研究表明:(1)调研区域41.10%的农户家庭参与土地流转,土地流入转出租金分别为2 751.12元/hm~2、4 391.33元/hm~2,土地流转发生率较高但租金水平整体偏低,且在区域间存在显著差异。重点开发区土地流转市场发育较好,流转参与率及租金水平较高;农产品主产区流转参与率较高,但租金水平较低;生态功能区土地流转参与率及租金水平较低,流转市场发育迟缓。(2)区域间功能定位、经济发展水平的差异导致农户家庭耕地利用功能空间差异明显。其中,生态功能区农户耕地资源利用的食物生产功能弱化明显,而重点开发区和农产品主产区则明显弱化耕地资源的养老就业功能。(3)整体而言,农户家庭耕地利用功能对土地流转行为影响显著。其中,家庭耕地利用在经济贡献、养老就业及食物生产等方面承担的功能越强,其家庭做出土地转出决策的可能性愈小;而选择土地流入的可能性也越大,而家庭耕地利用所表征的选择馈赠功能越强,其家庭越倾向于留存土地,且区域差异明显。重点开发区的相关系数及显著程度较高,作用方向与整体基本一致;生态功能区的相关系数及显著程度最低,且作用方向偏离整体幅度较大。表明经济发展程度越快的地区,土地流转发育受耕地利用功能的影响越明显。     

Effect of Small‐Scale Heterogeneity of Prey and Hunter Distributions on the Sustainability of Bushmeat Hunting

Abstract: Bushmeat is the main source of protein and the most important source of income for rural people in the Congo Basin, but intensive hunting of bushmeat species is also a major concern for conservationists. Although spatial heterogeneity in hunting effort and in prey populations at the landscape level plays a key role in the sustainability of hunted populations, the role of small‐scale heterogeneity within a village hunting territory in the sustainability of hunting has remained understudied. We built a spatially explicit multiagent model to capture the dynamics of a system in which hunters and preys interact within a village hunting territory. We examined the case of hunting of bay duikers (Cephalophus dorsalis) in the village of Ntsiété, northeastern Gabon. The impact of hunting on prey populations depended on the spatial heterogeneity of hunting and prey distribution at small scales within a hunting area. Within a village territory, the existence of areas hunted throughout the year, areas hunted only during certain seasons, and unhunted areas contributed to the sustainability of the system. Prey abundance and offtake per hunter were particularly sensitive to the frequency and length of hunting sessions and to the number of hunters sharing an area. Some biological parameters of the prey species, such as dispersal rate and territory size, determined their spatial distribution in a hunting area, which in turn influenced the sustainability of hunting. Detailed knowledge of species ecology and behavior, and of hunting practices are crucial to understanding the distribution of potential sinks and sources in space and time. Given the recognized failure of simple biological models to assess maximum sustainable yields, multiagent models provide an innovative path toward new approaches for the assessment of hunting sustainability, provided further research is conducted to increase knowledge of prey species’ and hunter behavior.     

喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率空间分布变化特征研究

为查明高异质性背景条件下喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率空间分布变化特征,在6类典型人为活动方式石灰岩坡地针对4类主要生境类型(土面、土石面、石沟、石缝)开展生境空间分布调查和土壤理化性质分析,并利用Guelph入渗仪进行稳渗率实验。通过对比分析各生境土壤性质和土壤稳渗率关系,结合人为作用方式探讨各生境土壤性质和稳渗率空间变化特征及其演化规律。结果表明:1)喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率普遍高于非喀斯特地区,喀斯特坡地土壤稳渗率受土壤孔隙和岩石裂隙耦合作用影响。2)各生境条件下土壤稳渗率具有高度的空间异质性,呈现"斑块状"空间分布特征。3)坡地人为作用方式变化将改变原有生境的土壤性质,进而导致各生境土壤稳渗率随人为活动进程发生相应变化。人为踩踏作用影响较小的原生林、次生林和乔灌林坡地土面和土石面生境土壤稳渗率普遍高于石沟和石缝生境,但转变为人为踩踏作用强烈的放牧灌草地或火烧人为干扰地后,土面和土石面生境土壤退化严重,土壤容重和粘粒含量增大,稳渗率显著降低。而石沟和石缝生境土壤性质和稳渗率受影响程度明显小于土面和土石面生境,土壤稳渗率仍可维持较高水平。     

Upscaling heterogeneity in aquifer reactivity via exposure-time concept: forward model

Reactive properties of aquifer solid phase materials play an important role in solute fate and transport in the natural subsurface on time scales ranging from years in contaminant remediation to millennia in dynamics of aqueous geochemistry. Quantitative tools for dealing with the impact of natural heterogeneity in solid phase reactivity on solute fate and transport are limited. Here we describe the use of a structural variable to keep track of solute flux exposure to reactive surfaces. With this approach, we develop a non-reactive tracer model that is useful for determining the signature of multi-scale reactive solid heterogeneity in terms of solute flux distributions at the field scale, given realizations of three-dimensional reactive site density fields. First, a governing Eulerian equation for the non-reactive tracer model is determined by an upscaling technique in which it is found that the exposure time of solution to reactive surface areas evolves via both a macroscopic velocity and a macroscopic dispersion in the artificial dimension of exposure time. Second, we focus on the Lagrangian approach in the context of a streamtube ensemble and demonstrate the use of the distribution of solute flux over the exposure time dimension in modeling two-dimensional transport of a solute undergoing simplified linear reversible reactions, in hypothetical conditions following prior laboratory experiments. The distribution of solute flux over exposure time in a given case is a signature of the impact of heterogeneous aquifer reactivity coupled with a particular physical heterogeneity, boundary conditions, and hydraulic gradient. Rigorous application of this approach in a simulation sense is limited here to linear kinetically controlled reactions.     

Measuring Protected‐Area Isolation and Correlations of Isolation with Land‐Use Intensity and Protection Status

Abstract: Protected areas cover over 12% of the terrestrial surface of Earth, and yet many fail to protect species and ecological processes as originally envisioned. Results of recent studies suggest that a critical reason for this failure is an increasing contrast between the protected lands and the surrounding matrix of often highly altered land cover. We measured the isolation of 114 protected areas distributed worldwide by comparing vegetation‐cover heterogeneity inside protected areas with heterogeneity outside the protected areas. We quantified heterogeneity as the contagion of greenness on the basis of NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) values, for which a higher value of contagion indicates less heterogeneous land cover. We then measured isolation as the difference between mean contagion inside the protected area and mean contagion in 3 buffer areas of increasing distance from the protected‐area border. The isolation of protected areas was significantly positive in 110 of the 114 areas, indicating that vegetation cover was consistently more heterogeneous 10–20 km outside protected areas than inside their borders. Unlike previous researchers, we found that protected areas in which low levels of human activity are allowed were more isolated than areas in which high levels are allowed. Our method is a novel way to assess the isolation of protected areas in different environmental contexts and regions.     

Investigating household preferences for kerbside recycling services in London: a choice experiment approach

Recent developments in national and European Union waste management policy have prompted considerable interest in alternative waste management programs, such as recycling, which could divert a portion of the municipal solid waste stream from landfills. This paper examines household preferences for kerbside recycling services and uses a stated preference choice experiment method to estimate households' valuation of such services. Using a sample of 188 households in the London area, the empirical analysis yields estimates of the willingness to pay for the number of 'dry' materials collected, the collection of compost, textile collection and the frequency of collection.     

地震复杂性成因的数值模拟

以最简单的弹簧滑块模型为理论基础,由完全确定性的动力学公式出发,采用细胞自动机技术,研究模拟地震序列时、空、强复杂性的成因。当模型中仅有非线性动力学因素时,模拟序列的时空强特征十分复杂,当引入弹性结构的不均匀性,模拟大事件的空间和强度特征明显受控于断层的不均匀性。由模拟结果推测认为地震的复杂性是由于地球的不均匀性和断层破裂的非线性动力学相互作用而引起的。     

AN EVALUATION OF PHYSICAL STREAM HABITAT ATTRIBUTES USED TO MONITOR STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: The last few decades have seen an increased reliance on the use of stream attributes to monitor stream conditions. The use of stream attributes has been criticized because of variation in how observers evaluate them, inconsistent protocol application, lack of consistent training, and the difficulty in using them to detect change caused by management activity. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of environmental heterogeneity and observer variation on the use of physical stream attributes as monitoring tools. For most stream habitat attributes evaluated, difference among streams accounted for greater than 80 percent of the total survey variation. To minimize the effect that variation among streams has on evaluating stream conditions, it may be necessary to design survey protocols and analysis that include stratification, permanent sites, and/or analysis of covariance. Although total variation was primarily due to differences among streams, observers also differed in their evaluation of stream attributes. This study suggests that if trained observers conducting a study that is designed to account for environmental heterogeneity can objectively evaluate defined stream attributes, results should prove valuable in monitoring differences in reach scale stream conditions. The failure to address any of these factors will likely lead to the failure of stream attributes as effective monitoring tools.     

北京市河流水生态健康时空异质性及改善路径研究

河流生态系统是人类社会得以生存与发展的基本条件,河流水生态健康对保障区域水安全,避免水灾害具有重要意义。随着城市化的不断推进,河流生态系统面临着巨大挑战,水生态风险及灾害呈现广发、频发和深发态势。通过汇总北京市五大流域河流水生态健康状况评估相关研究,识别区域水生态系统主要问题,诊断水生态健康问题产生的原因。结果表明,北京市河流水生态系统健康状况具有较强的时空异质性。空间上,各流域河流水生态健康状况为潮白河>永定河>蓟运河>清水河>北运河。上游河段水生态健康状况好于中下游,山区段河流好于平原段。水资源短缺引起的河流生态基流不足、水污染物超量排放造成的水质不达标、粗放式河流水利工程建设、河流水土资源的不合理开发以及河流植被缓冲带的不足等是造成河流水生态健康问题主要原因。并针对病因提出河流水生态健康目标导向的改善路径,以期为北京市及其他北方缺水性城市河流水生态健康改善及水安全保障提供参考。