近50年来江汉湖群水域演化定量研究

根据江汉平原湖区发育背景、资源环境结构和社会经济功能等方面因素,将研究区界定为湖北省境内以江汉平原为依托、海拔50 m等高线以内的所有地区。其范围在东经 111°36′38.76″~116°7′52.14″、北纬29°25′59.25″~31°27′14.45″之间，按自然界线计算面积4.664万km2，按行政区统计面积为6.475万km2。运用RS/GIS技术，分析得知：近50年来，江汉湖群湖泊总数量和总面积均表现出总体下降、中间年份有波动的趋势，20世纪50年代、60年代、70年代、80年代、90年代和21世纪初(2000年)，0.1 km2以上的湖泊总数量分别是1 309、611、612、838、768、771个，0.1 km2以上的湖泊总面积分别是8 503.7、5 462.5、2 933.8、2 977.3、3 451.4、3 188.1 km2。围湖垦殖是近50多年来江汉湖群演化的主要原因和主导因子。     

漫湾库区生产恢复障碍及其原因

在对漫湾库区调查的基础上，总结了库区生产恢复现状，认为农业生产相应条件恢复不到位，影响土地的持续利用：土地生产力降低，单一的种植业结构和产业结构，经济林与畜牧养殖业因土地被淹没带来萎缩，渔业、旅游业等缺乏规划和移民的参与，表现出库区移民生活水平相对于远迁移民、全县(省)平均下降了。分析了漫湾库区生产恢复的障碍及其原因，并就生产恢复提出一些建议：(1)提升澜沧江梯级开发水电工程中对移民问题的重视，将漫湾电站纳人中央直属电站范畴，统筹安排移民遗留问题，给予资金支持；(2)重新整体规划漫湾库区的移民安置，控制库区土地人口压力；(3)调整产业结构，促成传统种植业人口向林、牧业，向第二、三产业转移；(4)理顺和明确移民方面的责、权、利关系，将生产恢复问题与安置区地方经济发展问题结合起来考虑；(5)建立公众积极参与的决策体制与决策执行机制。     

沿海地区人地关系演化及优化分析

人地关系是人类社会同周围环境之间的相互关系，在不同时期，随着人类社会的发展表现特征不同。本文以沿海地区“人”与“地”之间矛盾的产生、发展以及追求协调的历史过程为线索，将人地关系的发展变化历程划分为混沌阶段、原始和谐阶段、矛盾发展阶段、矛盾激化调整四个阶段。影响人地关系的因素较多，自然因素主要是地形、气候、地理位置、自然资源等，人为因素主要包括人口的急剧增长以及人类各种不合理的破坏性活动。从人地关系演化的历史过程，可知人地关系的发展是一个动态的过程，针对沿海地区的实际情况，沿海地区应突出以下几个方面以优化人地关系：①利用中国加入世贸组织为契机，深化对外开放；②通过生态工作建设、产业结构调整、城市化等实现社会经济、资源与环境的协调发展；③大力发展海洋经济，以缓解陆上资源与环境的压力。     

Differences in urban and rural accident characteristics and medical service utilization for traffic fatalities in less-motorized societies

Introduction

Fatalities from traffic accidents in less-motorized societies are an important global issue. We aimed to characterize the geographic differences of fatalities in such societies to facilitate the development of targeted interventions.

Method

This study linked police reports, hospital data, and vital registration data from Taiwan with special reference to accident factors in pre-hospital deaths and medical care in hospital deaths.

Results

A higher percentage of pre-hospital deaths were observed following rural as compared to urban traffic accidents. The deaths due to rural accidents can be attributed to lower use of restraints (i.e., helmets or seat belts), lower percentage of motorcyclists, and more highway accidents. A higher percentage of victims in rural accidents were transported to distant medical centers rather than to local hospitals.

Conclusion

Specific interventions, such as intelligent emergency medical systems, campaigns for helmets and seat belt usage, enforcement of helmets and seat belt use, and speed control measures should be targeted to rural areas.

Impact on industry

Cooperation between the vehicle industry and emergency medical providers in rural traffic accident rescue teams may decrease the numbers of deaths in these regions.     

Eco-health evaluation for the Shanghai metropolitan area during the recent industrial transformation (1990-2003)

Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city and one of the most important economic centers in China, but is saddled with serious environmental problems resulting from a recent industrial transformation. This paper examines the interactive relationships between economic growth, eco-efficiency of urban metabolism, and environmental performance of the Shanghai metropolitan area since the 1990s using 15 indicators. This study has revealed an enhanced eco-efficiency of water and energy use as well as an improved overall environmental quality in the central urban districts of Shanghai. Both TGDP (total GDP) and GDP per capita increased rapidly at the annual rate of 16.28% and 15.91%, respectively. In contrast, energy consumed per 10000RMB YUAN GDP (ECG), water consumed per 10000RMB YUAN GDP (WCG), wastewater discharged per 10000RMB YUAN GDP (WWDG), and waste gases emitted per 10000RMB YUAN GDP (WGEG) decreased at the annual rate of 9.34%, 10.69%, 14.57%, and 8.52%, respectively. The rapid decline in ECG, WCG, WWDG, and WGEG indicates an enhanced eco-efficiency of urban metabolism. However, uncontrolled emission of wastes from domestic instead of industrial sources adversely affected the overall environmental quality. In addition, suburban areas have undergone rapid economic growth at the cost of human health deterioration, as measured by mortalities and relative mortality ratios of three major diseases (tumor, respiratory disease, and trauma/toxicosis). With Shanghai serving as the "locomotive" driving the economy of the Yangtze River Basin, effective pollution control policies and a network of regional coordination are urgently needed in the globalization and ecological security of the entire area.     

Comparison of community composition and species diversity of understorey and overstorey tree species in a dry tropical forest of northern India

The study focuses on understorey-overstorey plant community dynamics in a dry tropical forest to facilitate appropriate management decisions. We compare community composition and species diversity of the understorey vegetation among five dry tropical forest sites in northern India. A total of 1500 quadrats distributed over 15 one-ha permanent plots in five sites differing in the degree of disturbance, were used to enumerate the understorey tree species and the results were compared with overstorey tree layer. The non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination revealed that human disturbance intensity, as well as the overall disturbance regimes, and soil water holding capacity controlled the organisation of dry tropical forest understorey composition through effects on soil organic matter. The alpha-diversity and its components decreased with increasing human disturbance intensity, reflecting utilisation pressure and decreased soil fertility, as also revealed by the analysis of overstorey tree layer. There was a significant positive relationship between overstorey and understorey diversity. Results suggest that in the future, the existing understorey tree communities may replace the current dry tropical forest communities under prevailing environmental conditions. The study also asserts that the rate of species accumulation will be greater in more disturbed sites as well as at small spatial scale within each disturbance level.     

A heuristic optimization approach for Air Quality Monitoring Network design with the simultaneous consideration of multiple pollutants

An interactive optimization methodology for allocating the number and configuration of an Air Quality Monitoring Network (AQMN) in a vast area to identify the impact of multiple pollutants is described. A mathematical model based on the multiple cell approach (MCA) was used to create monthly spatial distributions for the concentrations of the pollutants emitted from different emission sources. These spatial temporal patterns were subject to a heuristic optimization algorithm to identify the optimal configuration of a monitoring network. The objective of the optimization is to provide maximum information about multi-pollutants (i.e., CO, NO(x) and SO(2)) emitted from each source within a given area. The model was applied to a network of existing refinery stacks and the results indicate that three stations can provide a total coverage of more than 70%. In addition, the effect of the spatial correlation coefficient (R(C)) on total area coverage was analyzed. The modeling results show that as the cutoff correlation coefficient R(C) is increased from 0.75 to 0.95, the number of monitoring stations required for total coverage is increased. A high R(C) based network may not necessarily cover the entire region, but the covered region will be well represented. A low R(C) based network, on the other hand, would offer more coverage of the region, but the covered region may not be satisfactorily represented.     

Channel and Perennial Flow Initiation in Headwater Streams: Management Implications of Variability in Source-Area Size

Despite increasing attention to management of headwater streams as sources of water, sediment, and wood to downstream rivers, the extent of headwater channels and perennial flow remain poorly known and inaccurately depicted on topographic maps and in digital hydrographic data. This study reports field mapping of channel head and perennial flow initiation locations in forested landscapes underlain by sandstone and basalt lithologies in Washington State, USA. Contributing source areas were delineated for each feature using a digital elevation model (DEM) as well as a Global Positioning System device in the field. Systematic source area–slope relationships described in other landscapes were not evident for channel heads in either lithology. In addition, substantial variability in DEM-derived source area sizes relative to field-delineated source areas indicates that in this area, identification of an area–slope relationship, should one even exist, would be difficult. However, channel heads and stream heads, here defined as the start of perennial flow, appear to be co-located within both of the lithologies, which together with lateral expansion and contraction of surface water around channel heads on a seasonal cycle in the basalt lithology, suggest a controlling influence of bedrock springs for that location. While management strategies for determining locations of channel heads and perennial flow initiation in comparable areas could assign standard source area sizes based on limited field data collection within that landscape, field-mapped source areas that support perennial flow are much smaller than recognized by current Washington State regulations.     

Visitor Perceptions and the Shifting Social Carrying Capacity of South Sinai’s Coral Reefs

To investigate how the perceptions and behaviour of visitors to coral reefs are influenced by their prior experience and knowledge of marine life, a questionnaire-based study was undertaken at sites in the Ras Mohammed National Park and at Sharm El Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt. It was evident that over the 10–20 years during which these reefs have deteriorated (mainly due to reef-flat trampling), there have been interrelated shifts in the nature of visitors making use of them. First, there has been a shift from experienced divers and snorkellers to inexperienced snorkellers and non-snorkellers with a poorer knowledge of reef biology. Second, there has been a shift in the predominant nationalities of visitors, from German and British, through Italian, to Russian. More recent user groups both stated and showed that they had less experience of snorkelling; they also showed less knowledge of marine life and less interest in learning about it. Visitor perceptions of both the state of the marine life on the reefs and the acceptability of current visitor numbers also varied between groups. More recent visitor groups and visitors with less knowledge were more satisfied with reef health. In general, however, visitor perceptions of reef health did not correlate well with actual reef conditions, probably because more experienced visitors preferred less impacted sites with which they were nevertheless less satisfied than inexperienced visitors at heavily impacted sites. More recent visitor groups were also less bothered by crowding on the shore or in the water. Consequently, the apparent “social carrying capacity” of sites seems to be increasing to a level well above the likely “ecological carrying capacity”.     

Traffic mortality and the role of minor roads

Roads have large impacts on wildlife, as they form one of the principal causes of mortality, and disturbance and fragmentation of habitat. These impacts are mainly studied and mitigated on major roads. It is, however, a widespread misconception that most animals are killed on major roads. In this paper, we argue that minor roads have a larger impact on wildlife with respect to habitat destruction, noise load and traffic mortality. We use data on traffic related deaths in badgers (Meles meles) in The Netherlands to illustrate that traffic mortality is higher on minor roads. We ask for a more extensive investigation of the environmental impacts of minor roads. Moreover, we argue that the success of mitigation on roads drastically increases when both major and minor roads are integrated in the planning of traffic flows. Therefore, we propose a strategy based on the concept of a "traffic-calmed area". Traffic-calmed areas create opportunities for wildlife by decreasing limitations for animal movement. We ask for further studies to estimate what size traffic-calmed areas should be to maintain minimum viable animal populations.