陕西人口增长与生态资源关系研究

以个体生活资源基本需求为计算单位,探讨陕西生态总资源承载人口能力,预测陕西人口发展与生态资源的关系。根据本文给出的计算方式,陕西耕地资源与人口数量35年后基本饱和;草场资源严重超载畜牧,人均草场资源远低于实际需求;森林资源已经供不应求;水资源对于人口数量严重紧缺,渭河水质污染严重。面对这一现实,陕西需要坚持执行计划生育政策,加强土地综合管理;提高草原保护意识,加大草原建设力度;依法管理和保护森林资源,扩大用材林营造面积;加强节约用水意识,充分保护和合理开发水资源。     

塔河流域森林生态建设存在的主要问题及其策略

随着时间的推移,塔河流域生态环境恶化的现实已被越来越多的人们所认识。造成塔河中下游森林退化,生态环境恶化的主要原因除自然因素外,主要是人为不合理的社会经济活动的影响。目前塔河流域森林生态建设存在的主要问题有:第一水资源不合理的利用成为沙漠化和次生盐渍化的主要原因;第二传统的生活方式和掠夺式的生产方式使生态环境遭到破坏;第三耕地的增加,满足不了人口发展的需求,大面积的无序开荒,导致生态环境进一步恶化。为塔河中下游林地植被恢复、建设及防止退化的策略有:塔河中下游生态工程治理的原则;塔河中下游生态环境治理的基本思路;塔河流域生态环境治理的主要对策,合理利用水资源,坚持生产、生态建设并重,确保生态用水;要积极调整农村产业结构,正确处理林业和农业、林业和牧业以及林业和工业发展的关系;大力发展农村能源建设,从根本上解决农村薪材和生态保护之间矛盾;大力保护、恢复、发展荒漠林草植被,大力发展绿洲林业,建立荒漠生态环境和绿洲共同支撑的稳定的生态体系;积极实施林业生态工程和林果工程,建立较为完备和发达的生态和产业体系。     

资源环境经济学的国内研究现状综述

在梳理资源环境经济学相关理论的前提下,全方面分析了土地资源、水资源和大气资源对经济发展的影响。为实现可持续发展,可从以下几点进行讨论:严格控制区域内各规模城市用地的扩张问题,因地制宜,合理调控人口城镇化和土地城镇化的关系;水资源是当前制约社会经济发展的主要问题之一,基于绿色化理念评估城市发展的水资源基础,建设生态文明城市;探求产业结构和经济增长方式的转变,是治理资源环境问题的根本措施。     

全球环境变化与土壤水资源研究

当今世界人口、资源、粮食、环境的矛盾日趋尖锐,已危及人类生存。我国人口多,耕地少,土壤退化,资源短缺,环境质量趋于恶化。这些问题已越来越受到人们的广泛关注。在资源环境问题中,水资源对人类生存和粮食生产最为重要。所以研究世界水资源主要是研究陆地水资源的状况、贮量与变化,预测全球水资源对人类生存的影响,改善世界水资源状况,合理利用和调控水资源。它在缓解人口、资源、粮食和环境危机中将起决定性的作用。     

我国城市单元水资源开发战略与水环境保护对策研究

通过对我国北方城市延吉市的剖析,提出我国城市合理开发水资源保护水环境的对策,即实行地表水和地下水资源的联合调度;加强水利建设,多种渠道开发水资源,提高区域供水能力;对地下水资源强化科学管理,限量开采,维持采补平衡;实施节水工程;制定切实可行的水域污染治理方案规划;建设以保护水源为主体的生态保护区,开展区际合作;进行区域生态水文过程的修复与重建等。     

人口流出对安徽省人口—耕地资源耦合关系的影响研究

以人口普查数据、土地利用变化数据为主要数据源,分析了2000—2010年安徽省人口(尤其是流动人口)和耕地资源的空间变化格局,采用空间耦合度模型衡量人口与耕地资源的空间耦合发展,结合安徽省潜山县实地调研情况,揭示人口流动对安徽省人口—耕地资源关系的影响。研究发现,2000—2010年安徽省超过90%的县市流出人口呈增加趋势,流出人口量大且增加快的区域主要分布在耕地资源集中的安徽省北部与中部地区;由于人口的大量流出,安徽省人口—耕地资源耦合关系从以强解耦关系为主转变为以负解耦关系为主,人口—耕地资源的紧张状况得以缓解。但通过潜山县的实地调研发现,农村青壮劳动力的大量流出、土地流转率低致使部分耕地资源被撂荒。研究结果警示,针对粮食主产区的农村人口大量流出问题应加快农村土地政策改革,引导土地经营权的有序流转,加快农业产业结构调整,维持农业可持续发展和保障国家粮食安全。     

论新疆水资源合理开发利用与水环境保护

根据新疆“三水”资源的形成背景与时空分布特征,提出合理开发利用“三水”资源与水环境保护的积极举措,促使水环境质量与生态环境质量的提高;贯彻开发与节约并举;遵循在开发中保护,在保护中开发的总原则。实施开源节流,确保水资源的永续利用。     

大城市耕地资源人口承载力研究——以北京市为例

在全国城市化、工业化快速发展时期,北京等大城市耕地资源和粮食生产规模逐年下降,人口粮食需求对外依赖度提高,城市粮食保障度降低。以实证数据为基础对北京等大城市粮食安全问题进行了分析,结合乡村劳动力安置问题提出了保护大城市耕地资源的政策建议。     

四川省资源环境承载力预警模型构建

四川是长江流域生态安全的重要保障。随着人口的增长,工业化、城镇化和农业现代化进程的日益加快,发展与保护的矛盾日益突出。严重影响和制约四川省经济社会的可持续发展和"长江经济带"地区的生态平衡与稳定。对四川省资源环境承载力状况进行监测预警,是四川省社会经济可持续发展的需要,也是长江经济带生态环境保护的需要。研究认为,资源环境承载力预警可分为现状预警和趋势预警两种类型。基于此假设,针对重点开发区和市辖区、农产品主产区、重点生态功能区、扶贫开发区等四类区域,基于线性变换的数学方法,构建了四川省资源环境承载力现状预警模型。模型以生态、环境、经济多指标相结合,进行资源环境承载力综合预警;以具有强烈资源环境优劣指示性的指标,作为限制性指标,进行单指标预警。最后整合多指标综合预警结果和单指标预警结果,作为资源环境承载力现状预警最终预警结果。     

土地承载力研究的评价

在世界人口、资源和环境矛盾日益尖锐的今天,如何寻求资源开发利用和人口增长之间的合理关系,使人口、资源与环境协调发展,已成为人类面临的紧迫问题.特别是土地资源既是人类的生存基础。也是人类的劳动对象.其到底能承载多少人口,如何制定合理的土地利用和保护政策,协调人口增长与土地资源生产力之间的关系。愈来愈引起人们的重视.1982年联合国粮农组织(FAO)在国际应用系统分析研究所的协助下,对发展中国家的土地潜在人口支持能力进行     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Using Paleo Reconstructions to Improve Streamflow Forecast Lead Time in the Western United States

In water stressed regions, water managers are exploring new horizons that would help in long‐range streamflow forecasts. Oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations have been shown to influence streamflow variability. In this study, long‐lead time streamflow forecasts are made using a multiclass kernel‐based data‐driven support vector machine (SVM) model. The extended streamflow records based on tree ring reconstructions were used to provide a longer time series data. Reconstructed data were used from 1658 to 1952 and the instrumental record was used from 1953 to 2007. Reconstructions for oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations included the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation. Streamflow forecasts using all four oscillations were made with one‐year to five‐year lead times for 21 gages in the western United States. This is the first study that uses both instrumental and reconstructed data of oscillations in SVM model to improve streamflow forecast lead time. SVM model was able to provide “satisfactory” to “very good” forecasts with one‐ to five‐year lead time for the selected gages. The use of all the oscillation indices helped in achieving better predictability compared to using individual oscillations. The SVM modeling results are better when compared with multiple linear regression model forecasts. The findings are statistical in nature and are expected to be useful for long‐term water resources planning and management.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

MANGANESE CYCLE IN IMPOUNDMENT WATER

Manganese entering impounded water will undergo a cyclic transformation. Oxidation precipitates manganese from top waters. At the bottom of the lake, biological activity will render manganese soluble by both intracellular as well as extracellular activity. The study was made to demonstrate that biological reduction and transformation, organometallic complexation, together with the presence of carbon dioxide and the lowering of pH all have some effect on the solubility of manganese. Dissolved manganese may be brought back to top waters during the lake overturn and therefore deteriorates the water quality.     

AN APPLICATION RUNOFF MODEL STRATEGY FOR UNGAGED WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: Mathematical models for predicting watershed surface flow responses are available, most of which are elaborate nonlinear numerical surface and channel flow models linked with infiltration models. Such models may be used to make predictions for ungaged areas, assuming an acceptable fitting of the model to the topography and roughness of the real system. For some application purposes, these models are impractical because of their complexity and expensive computer solutions. A procedure is developed that uses a complex model of an ungaged area to derive a simpler parametric nonlinear system model for repetitious simulation with input sequences. The predicted flow outputs are obtained with the simpler model at significant savings of money and time. The procedures for constructing a complex kinematic model of a 40 acre (161,880 m²) reference watershed and deriving the simpler system model are outlined. The results of predictions from both models are compared with a selected set of measured events, all having essentially the same initial conditions. Peak discharges ranged from 3 to 118 ft³/sec (0.085 to 3.34 m³/sec), which includes the largest event of record. The inherent limitations of lumped systems models are demonstrated, including the bias caused by their inability to model infiltration losses after rainfall ceases. Computer costs and times for the models were compared. The derived simple model has a cost advantage when repeated use of a model is required. Such an applications hydrologic model has an engineering tradeoff of reduced accuracy, and lumping bias, but is more economical for certain design purposes.     

Surface applied water treatment residuals affect bioavailable phosphorus losses in Florida sands

Water treatment residuals (WTR) can reduce runoff P loss and surface co-application of P-sources and WTR is a practical way of land applying the residuals. In a rainfall simulation study, we evaluated the effects of surface co-applied P-sources and an Al-WTR on runoff and leacheate bioavailable P (BAP) losses from a Florida sand. Four P-sources, namely poultry manure, Boca Raton biosolids (high water-soluble P), Pompano biosolids (moderate water-soluble P), and triple super phosphate (TSP) were surface applied at 56 and 224kgPha(-1) (by weight) to represent low and high soil P loads typical of P- and N-based amendments rates. The treatments further received surface applied WTR at 0 or 10gWTRkg(-1) soil. BAP loss masses were greater in leachate (16.4-536mg) than in runoff (0.91-46mg), but were reduced in runoff and leachate by surface applied WTR. Masses of total BAP lost in the presence of surface applied WTR were less than approximately 75% of BAP losses in the absence of WTR. Total BAP losses from each of the organic sources applied at N-based rates were not greater than P loss from TSP applied at a P-based rate. The BAP loss at the N-based rate of moderate water-soluble P-source (Pompano biosolids) was not greater than BAP losses at the P-based rates of other organic sources tested. The hazards of excess P from applying organic P-sources at N-based rates are not greater than observed at P-based rates of mineral fertilizer. Results suggest that management of the environmental P hazards associated with N-based rates of organic materials in Florida sands is possible by either applying P-sources with WTR or using a moderate water-soluble P-source.     

Sources and Transport of Phosphorus to Rivers in California and Adjacent States,U.S., as Determined by SPARROW Modeling

The SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression on Watershed attributes) model was used to simulate annual phosphorus loads and concentrations in unmonitored stream reaches in California, U.S., and portions of Nevada and Oregon. The model was calibrated using de‐trended streamflow and phosphorus concentration data at 80 locations. The model explained 91% of the variability in loads and 51% of the variability in yields for a base year of 2002. Point sources, geological background, and cultivated land were significant sources. Variables used to explain delivery of phosphorus from land to water were precipitation and soil clay content. Aquatic loss of phosphorus was significant in streams of all sizes, with the greatest decay predicted in small‐ and intermediate‐sized streams. Geological sources, including volcanic rocks and shales, were the principal control on concentrations and loads in many regions. Some localized formations such as the Monterey shale of southern California are important sources of phosphorus and may contribute to elevated stream concentrations. Many of the larger point source facilities were located in downstream areas, near the ocean, and do not affect inland streams except for a few locations. Large areas of cultivated land result in phosphorus load increases, but do not necessarily increase the loads above those of geological background in some cases because of local hydrology, which limits the potential of phosphorus transport from land to streams.     

Animal Consciousness and Ethics in Asia and the Pacific

The interactions between humans, animals and the environment have shaped human values and ethics, not only the genes that we are made of. The animal rights movement challenges human beings to reconsider interactions between humans and other animals, and maybe connected to the environmental movement that begs us to recognize the fact that there are symbiotic relationships between humans and all other organisms. The first part of this paper looks at types of bioethics, the implications of autonomy and the value of being alive. Then the level of consciousness of these relationships are explored in survey results from Asia and the Pacific, especially in the 1993 International Bioethics Survey conducted in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore and Thailand. Very few mentioned animal consciousness in the survey, but there were more biocentric comments in Australia and Japan; and more comments with the idea of harmony including humans in Thailand. Comparisons between questions and surveys will also be made, in an attempt to describe what people imagine animal consciousness to be, and whether this relates to human ethics of the relationships. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.