Tools for Groundwater Protection Planning: An Example from McHenry County, Illinois, USA

/ This paper presents an approach for producing aquifer sensitivity maps from three-dimensional geologic maps, called stack-unit maps. Stack-unit maps depict the succession of geologic materials to a given depth, and aquifer sensitivity maps interpret the successions according totheir ability to transmit potential contaminants. Using McHenry County, Illinois, as a case study, stack-unit maps and an aquifer sensitivity assessment were made to help land-use planners, public health officials, consultants, developers, and the public make informed decisions regarding land use. A map of aquifer sensitivity is important for planning because the county is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, and highly vulnerable sand and gravel aquifers occur within 6 m of ground surface over 75% of its area. The aquifer sensitivity map can provide guidance to regulators seeking optimal protection of groundwater resources where these resources are particularly vulnerable. In addition, the map can be used to help officials direct waste-disposal and industrial facilities and other sensitive land-use practices to areas where the least damage is likely to occur, thereby reducing potential future liabilities. KEY WORDS: Geologic mapping; Groundwater; Aquifers; Aquifer sensitivity; Land-use planning     

Suitability Analysis for Greenway Planning in China: An Example of Chongming Island

Suitability analysis for greenway planning was developed in the Western culture. When applying a suitability analysis to a very different sociocultural context such as China, it is necessary to identify what hinders or promotes it. Through an example of Chongming Island, this article demonstrates how to apply a suitability analysis for greenway planning in China. Furthermore, it argues that obstacles including a lack of data, peculiarity of capability scores within land use and a neglect of scientific group involvement are encountered in the process of applying suitability methods in Chongming or China. Early and sustained attention to such impediments could improve the success of suitability assessment in China. These research results are helpful for the planning and implementation of Chongming greenways.     

干旱区荒漠植被的特点及恢复问题的研究--以塔里木河流域胡杨林生态系统为例

干旱区除存在唯一的真正森林-胡杨(Populuseuphratica)林外,植被普遍极其稀疏,以降水稀少,蒸发显著为特点的干旱区,荒漠植被的存在对于生态环境的保护和良性发展起到极大的作用,干旱区的荒漠植被表现出特有的生理特征,本文研究塔里木河流域胡杨林的特征及对生态环境的适应规律,进一步提出了扩展荒漠植被的可能性及其措施。     

干旱区绿洲生态环境建设之途径--以新疆阿克苏绿洲为例

本文以干旱区绿洲的特定地域条件和干旱区绿洲的表现特征为对象，介绍了处于塔克拉玛干沙漠北缘的阿克苏绿洲的状况，对干旱区绿洲的共性及存在的主要环境问题做了分析阐述。认为在实施西部大开发战略中，扩大绿洲面积、加快生态环境建设力度；建立生态环境补偿机制，动用政策、经济、技术的手段；合理调配绿洲种植结构，全面推广节水农业；提高水土资源合理开发利用与有效保护。这些途径将有助于绿洲生态环境的改善。     

Ecological Conservation Through Aesthetic Landscape Planning: A Case Study of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway

A consequence of expanding residential development into rural areas is the potential alteration of ecological communities. Certain novel land-use policies seek practical solutions by accommodating social needs for housing while conserving biodiversity. This study investigates whether regulations designed to protect the aesthetic characteristics of a river corridor simultaneously mitigate negative effects of development on avian biodiversity, despite the absence of explicit conservation objectives. Using housing data from the US Census (1990 and 2000) and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (1987–2000), we examined changes in housing density, avian communities, and the relationship between these two variables in a location that has adopted aesthetic landscape planning, the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. We found that overall species diversity increased in the Riverway, but remained constant in reference areas, although the relative increase in housing density in the two areas did not differ. We also found that omnivore populations decreased in the Riverway and increased in reference sites. On the whole, our study provides preliminary evidence that aesthetic landscape planning, such as employed in the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, might constitute a politically viable approach to conserve ecological resources.     

A Quantitative Method for Delineating Regions: An Example for the Western Corn Belt Plains Ecoregion of the USA

/ A method was developed to systematically delineate boundaries forecological classification of regions. The process entailed the use ofsmall-scale digital data to quantify spatial concordance among environmentalattribute data sets. The data sets were grouped into spatially related themesusing cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. Selected data sets werethen used either individually or collectively to divide the study area intosubregions that exhibited different environmental attributes. The method wasapplied to a previously defined ecological unit, the western Corn Belt of thecentral United States. The results showed that the portion of the study areawith intensive corn and soybean production was identifiable using each of thethree input data sets selected for partitioning (soil associations; AVHRRremote-sensing imagery; and a combined data set of landform, forest, andsoils data). The classification of other portions of the study area washighly dependent on the type and scale of the input data. The systematicmethodology used here offers advantages over other methods for identifyingecological regions in that the results from the systematic approach can bereproduced, the boundaries between ecological units can be revised based onnew or more accurate data, important ecological processes are explicitlychosen to delineate boundaries, and transition zones between regions can bequantified.KEY WORDS: Ecoregions; Spatial analysis; Corn Belt; Iowa; GIS;Regionalization     

城市景观生态规划:内涵分析与研究展望

从城市景观生态规划的概念和内容出发,论述了规划应遵循的主要原则,分析了目前我国城市景观生态规划存在的诸多问题,简要指出了今后研究的重点方向。展望了城市景观生态规划的未来走向,提出加强景观预测预报功能,发展定量模拟,适应低碳经济模式的城市景观格局研究将成为未来城市景观生态规划的主要趋势。     

An Ecoregional Context for Forest Management on National Wildlife Refuges of the Upper Midwest,USA

To facilitate forest planning and management on National Wildlife Refuges, we synthesized multiple data sources to describe land ownership patterns, land cover, landscape pattern, and changes in forest composition for four ecoregions and their associated refuges of the Upper Midwest. We related observed patterns to ecological processes important for forest conservation and restoration, with specific attention to refuge patterns of importance for forest landbirds of conservation priority. The large amount of public land within the ecoregions (31–80%) suggests that opportunities exist for coarse and meso-scale approaches to conserving and restoring ecological processes affecting the refuges, particularly historical fire regimes. Forests dominate both ecoregions and refuges, but refuge forest patches are generally larger and more aggregated than in associated ecoregions. Broadleaf taxa have increased in dominance in the ecoregions and displaced fire-dependent taxa such as pine (Pinus spp.) and other coniferous species; these changes in forest composition have likely also affected refuge forests. Despite compositional changes, larger forest patches on refuges suggests that they may provide better habitat for area-sensitive forest landbirds of mature, compositionally diverse forests than surrounding lands if management continues to promote increased patch size. We reason that although fine-scale research and monitoring for species of conservation priority is important, broad scale (ecoregional) assessments provide crucial context for effective forest and wildlife management in protected areas.     

An Assessment of Land Conservation Patterns in Maine Based on Spatial Analysis of Ecological and Socioeconomic Indicators

Given the nature of modern conservation acquisitions, which often result from gifts and opportunistic purchases of full or partial property rights, there is a risk that the resulting mosaic of conserved resources may not represent a coherent set of public values and benefits. With different public and private entities engaged in land conservation, one would further expect that each organization would apply separate goals and criteria to the selection and acquisition of its conservation portfolio. This set of circumstances raises an important question: what is the aggregate outcome of this land conservation process? Retrospective assessments provide a means of reviewing cumulative historical decisions and elucidating lessons for improving future conservation strategies. This study used GIS-based spatial analysis to examine the relationships of private and public conservation lands in Maine to a variety of landscape metrics in order to determine the degree to which these lands represent core ecological and socioeconomic values that are meaningful to a wide cross-section of citizens. Results revealed that the gains of past conservation efforts in Maine are counter-balanced to some extent by apparent gaps in the existing fabric of conservation holdings. Conservation lands capture a representative sample of diverse habitat, provide a large measure of protection for multiple conservation values and indicators, and offer an unusual mix of outdoor recreational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Yet, the majority of parcels are relatively small and isolated, and thus do not provide contiguous habitat blocks that offset ongoing processes of landscape fragmentation. Furthermore, the majority of area associated with many of the ecological metrics examined in this report is located outside the boundaries of current conservation holdings. The under-represented metrics identified in this investigation can be viewed as potential targets for new strategic conservation initiatives.     

Identifying Opportunities for Decision Support Systems in Support of Regional Resource Use Planning: An Approach Through Soft Systems Methodology

/ Regional resource use planning relies on key regional stakeholder groups using and having equitable access to appropriate social, economic, and environmental information and assessment tools. Decision support systems (DSS) can improve stakeholder access to such information and analysis tools. Regional resource use planning, however, is a complex process involving multiple issues, multiple assessment criteria, multiple stakeholders, and multiple values. There is a need for an approach to DSS development that can assist in understanding and modeling complex problem situations in regional resource use so that areas where DSSs could provide effective support can be identified, and the user requirements can be well established. This paper presents an approach based on the soft systems methodology for identifying DSS opportunities for regional resource use planning, taking the Central Highlands Region of Queensland, Australia, as a case study.     

An Analysis of Spatial Clustering and Implications for Wildlife Management: A Burrowing Owl Example

Analysis tools that combine large spatial and temporal scales are necessary for efficient management of wildlife species, such as the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia). We assessed the ability of Ripley’s K-function analysis integrated into a geographic information system (GIS) to determine changes in burrowing owl nest clustering over two years at NASA Ames Research Center. Specifically, we used these tools to detect changes in spatial and temporal nest clustering before, during, and after conducting management by mowing to maintain low vegetation height at nest burrows. We found that the scale and timing of owl nest clustering matched the scale and timing of our conservation management actions over a short time frame. While this study could not determine a causal link between mowing and nest clustering, we did find that Ripley’s K and GIS were effective in detecting owl nest clustering and show promise for future conservation uses.     

实现水土保持产业化的途径——以黑龙江省东宁县为例

水土保持既是一项基础设施,又是一项基础产业。在市场经济条件下,水土保持如何实现产业化,如何把流域治理与农民致富奔小康紧密结合起来,这是水土保持事业能否发展的一个关键性问题。本文以黑龙江省东宁县为例,就实现水土保持产业化的途径进行了探讨     

Implications of Spatial Data Variations for Protected Areas Management: An Example from East Africa

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have become an important tool for visualizing conservation management and developing solutions to problems associated with conservation. When multiple organizations separately develop spatial data representations of protected areas, implicit error arises due to variation between data sets. We used boundary data produced by three conservation organizations (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Resource Institute, and Uganda Wildlife Authority), for seven Ugandan parks, to study variation in the size represented and the location of boundaries. We found variation in the extent of overlapping total area encompassed by the three data sources, ranging from miniscule (0.4 %) differences to quite large ones (9.0 %). To underscore how protected area boundary discrepancies may have implications to protected area management, we used a landcover classification, defining crop, shrub, forest, savanna, and grassland. The total area in the different landcover classes varied most in smaller protected areas (those less than 329 km²), with forest and cropland area estimates varying up to 65 %. The discrepancies introduced by boundary errors could, in this hypothetical case, generate erroneous findings and could have a significant impact on conservation, such as local-scale management for encroachment and larger-scale assessments of deforestation.     

Planning for Nature Conservation: The Role and Performance of English District Local Authorities in the 1990s

This paper investigates the performance of district local authorities in their delivery of nature conservation in the 1990s, both through the land use planning system and in their wider operational functions. Studies conducted in the 1980s revealed a large gap in performance between the best and the worst performers.The last decade, however, has witnessed far reaching changes within local government as well as external influences which are likely to have affected the ability of local authorities to promote the conservation of nature. The research shows that performance has significantly improved in a number of the roles which local authorities exercise in relation to conservation. There still remains, however, a marked variation between the best performers and the remainder.     

城市景观生态规划:生态基础设施建设与人文生态设计--以常州市为例

城市景观生态规划是景观生态学研完的领域之一,随着城市环境问题的出现,以及人们需求的提高,用景观生态设计理念来解决城市资源、环境和发展问题已成为当今社会的一个重要课题。本文以常州市为例,探讨以“生态基础设施建设”与“人文生态设计”为重要控制点的城市景观生态规划之路。     

Policies for the Planning and Reclamation of Coal-mined Landscapes: An International Comparison

Governments differ significantly in their attempts to mitigate the effects of mining disturbance. The approaches of Australia, Canada and the United States are reviewed here, relative to coal-mining reclamation. State and provincial examples (Queensland, Alberta and Montana) are used to illustrate legislation and planning below the national level. This paper explores three main issues that contribute to coal-mining reclamation: governmental level of legislation and planning; legislative scope; and inter-governmental co-ordination. The legislative histories vary, but are young and evolving. All require the submission of a reclamation plan before granting mining permits, enforce reclamation standards by security deposits and contain provisions for non-compliance. Australia and Canada are only beginning to address reclamation planning at the national level, whereas the United States has done so since 1977. The relationship to the environmental impact assessment process is uneven across the three nations. The United States and Canada have a larger percentage of their mined landscapes in a reclamation process, due partly to more stringent regulation. Reclamation effectiveness seems to centre less on centralization versus decentralization, and more on comprehensive scope, preventive approaches and multi-level governmental co-ordination.