黑龙江省土地利用与生态环境协调度评价

土地利用与生态环境协调度评价是衡量区域可持续发展的重要内容.在构建土地利用与生态环境协调发展评价指标体系的基础上,运用协调度模型,对黑龙江省1999-2008年土地利用与生态环境协调度进行评价.结果表明:黑龙江省土地利用与生态环境协调度和协调发展度均呈现出逐渐上升的态势,但整体发展水平不高,土地生态环境建设压力仍然很大.在此基础上,提出构建生态环境友好型土地利用模式,提高科技投入水平,大力发展生态农业,有效防治工业污染,提高土地生态环境治理投入等对策与建议.     

城市土地地质经济评价的理论与方法

城市土地地质经济评价是根据城市建设中存在着土地利用与地质环境不协调的矛盾，以及制定土地价格时忽略地质环境因素而提出的新概念。文章论述了该评价的基本思路、类型、指标体系、模型和方法．并以厦门海沧开发区土地利用适宜性地质经济评价为例，简述了该评价理论和方法的重大实践意义。     

重庆市都市区城市土地集约利用评价

从土地投入强度、土地利用效益、土地利用强度和土地利用可持续性方面构建了城市土地集约利用宏观评价指标体系.采用多因素综合评价法对重庆市都市区建设用地集约利用水平进行了评价,并根据土地利用集约度差异对其进行了聚类分析,指出土地利用投入强度、产出效益水平仍需进一步提高,揭示了城市土地集约利用程度与经济发展之间存在明显的相关性,针对性地提出了相关对策.     

山东省城市土地集约利用区域差异分析

以山东省为例,从土地利用的经济效益、可持续水平、利用强度、投入水平4个方面构建城市土地集约利用评价体系,利用SPSS软件对山东省17地市土地集约利用进行综合评价,并运用Arcgis自然断裂点将17地市划分为4个等级。研究结果表明:青岛、威海为高度集约化;济南、德州、淄博、烟台为中度集约化;滨州、东营、潍坊、菏泽、济宁、临沂为低度集约化;聊城、泰安、莱芜、日照、枣庄为粗放集约化。并就土地利用过程中存在的问题提出山东省土地集约化利用优化策略。     

基于BP神经网络模型的城市土地集约利用中观评价研究

中观层次的城市土地集约利用评价是以城市功能区为研究对象,通过建立各功能区的评价单元,对城市土地的投入产出效益进行定量分析研究的过程。从土地利用、土地投入、土地产出三个方面构建评价指标体系,借助BP神经网络模型从中观层次对淮安市清河区城市土地进行集约利用评价。结果显示,清河区土地集约利用水平总体较高,仍需加强土地的投入产出效益。研究表明,BP神经网络模型是一种较客观的评价方法,中观评价则能更详细地了解城市内部各个区域的土地利用情况,为政府决策提供更好的依据。     

东北地区资源型城市土地集约利用空间分异及成因分析

基于资源型城市土地集约利用内涵,从土地使用强度、土地利用效益、土地利用程度和土地利用可持续性4个方面构建城市土地集约利用评价指标体系,建立评价模型,并对我国东北地区15个地级资源型城市土地集约利用水平及空间分异特征进行分析.结果表明:我国东北地区资源型城市土地集约利用总体水平不高;省际间空间格局呈现出“南高北低”的特征,东中西地区呈现由东向西依次递增的趋势;单个城市间集约利用水平差异显著;不同类型资源型城市土地集约利用水平具有石油城市＞冶金城市＞煤炭城市＞森工城市的特征.资源型城市土地集约利用水平与城市规模、产业结构高级化程度和经济发展水平等呈正相关,针对如何提高资源型城市土地集约利用水平提出建议.     

基于经济效益的成都市土地集约利用评价研究

在立足供需角度分析影响城市土地集约利用因素的基础上,使用因子分析和聚类分析法对成都近年分区县城市土地集约利用的经济效益进行评价.结果表明,人口规模、经济水平和产业结构成为影响到成都城市土地集约利用的关键因素;成都市区县土地利用集约化程度逐年改善,距离中心城区的空间距离大小直接影响到成都市土地集约利用程度,人口密度是促使土地集约利用的最重要驱力.     

土地可持续利用的动态度量

完善土地持续利用的定量评价指标体系和评价方法乃是今后土地持续利用的重要课题,度量土地利用的可持续性应该遵循动态延续、面向区域、显示过程和突出目标的原则,据此建立一个动态地度量土地利用可持续性的指标体系,包括生产性、结构性、效率性、公平性、稳定性、协调性、恢复性和可控性8个准则层,每一个准则层选择一个综合指标.     

基于信息熵的武汉城市土地利用空间结构变动分析

借助城市土地利用空间结构的信息熵和均衡度概念,揭示了武汉城市在20世纪90年代土地利用结构的空间变化规律,得出土地利用职能类型收缩、城市用地趋向不均衡发展态势的结论.利用主成分与灰色关联相结合的方法找出影响武汉城市土地利用空间结构变动的主要动力因子,它们分别是城市福利和城市社会结构变化推动因子、城市产业结构变化拉动因子和城市建设与改造压力因子,其中后两个因子是驱动城市土地利用空间发生变化的最显著性因子.     

衡阳市城市土地集约利用研究

随着衡阳市工业化、城市化和现代化的迅速发展,土地问题已成为制约衡阳市经济发展的关键因素.对城市土地集约利用进行了研究,不断提高城市土地利用效率,有利于城市土地资源的优化配置和合理利用.在介绍衡阳市土地概况的基础上,采用层次分析法,从影响城市土地利用的因素出发,选择土地投入水平、土地利用程度、土地经济产出、社会生态效益四个准则层建立了适合衡阳市城市土地集约利用的评价指标体系.对衡阳市2000-2006年的土地集约利用分值进行了计算,结果表明衡阳市处于基本集约利用的状态,集约利用水平呈曲线上升趋势,并在分析评价结果的基础上提出了实现衡阳市城市土地集约利用的建议.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.