土地承载力研究范式的变迁、分化及其综论

基于Kuhn范式理论,将现有土地承载力研究成果显化、梳理为4种主要研究范式,即基于限制因子的研究范式、基于多因素综合的研究范式、基于参照区的研究范式、基于生态足迹的研究范式。以范式应用的时代背景、空间尺度为着眼点,对各类范式进行综合比较,结果显示：基于限制因子的土地承载力研究范式起源最早、发展最为成熟,基于多因素综合、基于参照区、基于生态足迹的3种研究范式,均是以前者为基础,按照不同的方向分化而成;范式分化的原因在于时空条件的变化所引致的亟需解释、解决的现实问题的变化。范式本身并无优劣之分,但有其独特的适应性：基于限制因子、基于生态足迹的两种研究范式适用于全球及国家等大尺度土地承载力问题,且发展较为成熟,其成果具有较强的理论和实践指导意义;基于多因素综合及基于参照区的两种研究范式适用于市县等中小尺度,但其研究较为薄弱,所得的承载力分值、承载力相对值对区域土地管理实践的指导价值有限。当前,市县等中小尺度土地承载力研究亟需加强,其指导实践的有效性与可操作性亟待大幅度提高。     

基于空间适宜性评价和人口承载力的贵溪市中心城区城市开发边界的划定

城市开发边界的划定能够合理引导城市空间的有序发展,控制其无序蔓延。论文以典型的资源型城市贵溪市为研究区,从空间适宜性评价、人口承载力、城市规模以及城市总体规划和土地利用总体规划（简称“两规”）衔接等方面探索有效的城市开发边界划定方法。空间适宜性评价综合考虑自然、空间可达性和生态条件,运用聚类分析法确定区域内不宜作为开发建设的生态底线区域和适宜建设开发区域的高低等级,以此确定城市开发边界的发展方向。通过灰色预测GM(1,1)模型预测研究区2020年人口总量,并基于土地资源和水资源承载力验证当地所能容纳的最大人口总量,同时确定城市规模和划定城市开发边界。以空间适宜性评价、人口承载力、城市规模预测、两规衔接和空间形态控制等方法倒逼缩减建设用地,从而划定城市发展的刚性和弹性增长边界。     

约束条件下中国循环经济发展中的生态效率——基于优化的超效率SBM-Malmquist-Tobit模型

以中国30个省份、直辖市、自治区的年度面板数据为研究对象,重点将生态资源存量和环境污染造成的经济浪费两项指标纳入新的生态效率评价体系,运用优化的引入非期望产出的超效率SBM模型测算生态效率,再运用Malmquist指数考察全要素生产率（TFP）与生态效率的动态变动关系,最后运用Tobit回归分析探索生态效率主要影响因素的方向、强度和变化趋势,以此度量和展现循环经济发展的整体情况.结果显示：生态效率呈现由东到西、由沿海到内陆逐渐收敛的格局,东部沿海地区和中部、西部内陆地区间,循环经济发展水平存在显著的阶梯式区域失衡;生态效率的集群效应明显,辐射效应不足,不同地区或同一地区的不同省份间,循环经济发展水平同样参差不齐;经济发展引发的生态赤字问题逐步缓解,但在短时间内经济和生态的矛盾依旧存在,西北地区尤为突显;第三产业比重、技术进步、市场开放对生态效率的提升具有积极作用且趋于强化;政府规制、人口密度对生态效率的提升也具有积极作用但趋于减弱;第二产业比重、能源结构对生态效率的改善存在负面影响亦趋于强化.     

大气自净能力指数的气候特征与应用研究

为了定量地评估污染气象条件对空气污染的作用并实现对空气污染潜势的预报,本文在城市大气污染数值预报系统（CAPPS）预报原理的基础上,定义了大气自净能力指数,并分别给出了采用气象站观测资料和通过数值模拟计算大气自净能力指数的方法.基于气象站观测资料的全国大气自净能力指数分析计算表明,全国大气自净能力最差的地区分布在四川盆地和新疆塔里木盆地,大气自净能力最强的地区分布在青藏高原、蒙古高原、云贵高原、以及东北平原和三江平原、山东半岛和海南岛;1961~2017年,京津冀、长三角和珠三角地区的大气自净能力指数呈下降的变化趋势,全年低自净能力日数呈上升的变化趋势.采用大气自净能力指数评估2014年北京APEC会议期间大气污染防控效果,表明在11月8~10日极端不利扩散气象条件发生时,减排措施使北京市空气质量AQI平均降低77%,使京津冀平原地区11个城市的空气质量AQI平均降低37%.基于国家气候中心月动力延伸气候预测模式（DERF2.0）的预报产品和中尺度模式（WRF）,建立了可以预测全国未来40d逐日大气自净能力指数的延伸期-月尺度大气污染潜势预测系统,回报实验表明,在大多数情况下可以提前15d预报出大气重污染过程;月尺度的大气重污染过程预报效果更大程度上取决于月动力延伸气候预测模式（DERF2.0）的预报准确率.     

海州湾表层沉积物磷的吸附容量及潜在释放风险

利用磷吸附指数（PSI）、磷吸附饱和度（DPS）和磷释放风险指数（ERI）研究了2016年10月和2017年5月海州湾表层沉积物的磷吸附容量及潜在释放风险.结果显示,2016年秋季PSI变化范围为99.58~199.39[mgP/（100g）]/[μmol/L],DPS变化范围为23.118%~34.289%;2017年夏季PSI变化范围是130.29~198.57[mgP/（100g）]/[μmol/L],DPS变化范围为25.545%~42.135%,两次调查中PSI和DPS均表现出相反的平面分布趋势.PSI和Al_ox、Fe_ox呈显著正相关,说明Fe_ox和Al_ox是影响海州湾表层沉积物吸附磷的主要因素,且Fe_ox占主导作用;DPS与Al_ox和Fe_ox分别表现出了显著负相关性和极显著负相关性,说明Al_ox和Fe_ox含量的增大会降低表层沉积物的磷吸附饱和度.2016年10月磷释放风险指数（ERI）的变化范围为11.59%~34.18%,2017年5月磷释放风险指数（ERI）的变化范围为12.86%~32.34%,从2次调查结果整体来看,海州湾表层沉积物的磷释放风险为中度风险.     

Economic development and environmental protection: an ecological economics perspective

This paper argues on both theoretical and empirical grounds that, beyond a certain point, there is an unavoidable conflictbetween economic development (generally taken to mean 'materialeconomic growth') and environmental protection. Think for a moment of natural forests, grasslands, marine estuaries, salt marshes, and coral reefs; and of arable soils, aquifers, mineraldeposits, petroleum, and coal. These are all forms of 'natural capital' that represent highly-ordered self-producing ecosystemsor rich accumulations of energy/matter with high use potential (low entropy). Now contemplate despoiled landscapes, eroding farmlands, depleted fisheries, anthropogenic greenhouse gases,acid rain, poisonous mine tailings and toxic synthetic compounds.These all represent disordered systems or degraded forms of energy and matter with little use potential (high entropy). The main thing connecting these two states is human economic activity. Ecological economics interprets the environment-economyrelationship in terms of the second law of thermodynamics. The second law sees economic activity as a dissipative process. Fromthis perspective, the production of economic goods andservices invariably requires the consumption of available energy and matter. To grow and develop, the economynecessarily 'feeds' on sources of high-quality energy/matter first produced by nature. This tends to disorder and homogenizethe ecosphere, The ascendance of humankind has consistently been accompanied by an accelerating rate of ecological degradation, particularly biodiversity loss, the simplificationof natural systems and pollution. In short, contemporary political rhetoric to the contrary, the prevailing growth-oriented global development paradigm is fundamentally incompatible with long-term ecological and social sustainability. Unsustainability is not a technical nor economic problem as usually conceived, but rather a state of systemic incompatibilitybetween a economy that is a fully-contained, growing, dependent sub-system of a non-growing ecosphere. Potential solutions fly inthe face of contemporary development trends and cultural values.     

Water Quality Evaluation and Trend Analysis in Selected Watersheds of the Atlantic Region of Canada

Water quality indices (WQIs) have been developed to assess the suitability of water for a variety of uses. These indices reflect the status of water quality in lakes, streams, rivers, and reservoirs. The concept of WQIs is based on a comparison of the concentration of contaminants with the respective environmental standards. The number, frequency, and magnitude by which the environmental standards for specific variables are not met in a given time period are reflected in WQIs. Further, the water quality trend analysis predicts the behavior of the water quality parameters and overall water quality in the time domain. In this paper, the concept of WQI was applied to three selected watersheds of Atlantic region: the Mersey River, the Point Wolfe River, and the Dunk River sites. To have robust study, two different water quality indices are used: Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI), and British Columbia Water Quality Index (BWQI). The complete study was conducted in two steps. The first step was to organize and process the data into a format compatible with WQI analysis. After processing the input data, the WQI was calculated. The second step outlined in the paper discusses detailed trend analysis using linear and quadratic models for all the three sites. As per the 25 years trend analysis, overall water quality for agriculture use observed an improving trend at all the three sites studied. Water quality for raw water used for drinking (prior to treatment) and aquatic uses has shown improving trend at Point Wolfe River. It is further observed that pH, SO₄, and NO₃ concentrations are improving at Dunk River, Mersey River, and Point Wolfe River sites. To ascertain the reliability and significance of the trend analysis, a detailed error analysis and parametric significance tests were also conducted It was observed that for most of the sites and water uses quadratic trend models were a better fit than the linear models.     

Assessing protected area effectiveness using surrounding (buffer) areas environmentally similar to the target area

Many studies are based on the assumption that an area and its surrounding (buffer) area present similar environmental conditions and can be compared. For example, in order to assess the effectiveness of a protected area, the land use/cover changes are compared inside the park with its surroundings. However, the heterogeneity in spatial variables can bias this assessment: we have shown that most of the protected areas in Mexico present significant environmental differences between their interior and their surroundings. Therefore, a comparison that aims at assessing the effectiveness of conservation strategies, must be cautioned. In this paper, a simple method which allows the generation of a buffer area that presents similar conditions with respect to a set of environmental variables is presented. The method was used in order to assess the effectiveness of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a protected area located in the south-eastern part of Mexico. The annual rate of deforestation inside the protected area, the standard buffer area (based upon distance from the protected area only) and the similar buffer area (taking into account distance along with some environmental variables) were 0.3, 1.3 and 0.6%, respectively. These results showed that the protected area was effective in preventing land clearing, but that the comparison with the standard buffer area gave an over-optimistic vision of its effectiveness.     

Status and Trends of Dissolved Oxygen in Corpus Christi Bay, Texas, U.S.A.

The purpose of this studywas to determine status and long-term trends of dissolved oxygen concentrations (DO) in Corpus Christi Bay, Texas, U.S.A. A 20-year record of randomized stations was used to determine the trend of surface water DO, salinity, and temperature over space and time. A 13-year record of two fixed stations was used to determine the temporal nutrient trends. A 10-year record of fixed stations in the southeastern region of Corpus Christi Bay was used to determine the status of disturbance caused by low DO in bottom waters. From 1982 to 2002, there was a significant decrease in surface water DO at a rate of 0.06 mg L⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and a significant increase in surface water temperature at a rate of 0.07°C yr⁻¹. The southeastern region of Corpus Christi Bay had the lowest average DO, and during July and August, DO are steadily declining at a rate of 0.09 mg L⁻¹ yr⁻¹. It is not likely that eutrophication is causing hypoxia, because freshwater inflow rates have significantly decreased since 1941 and nutrient levels have not changed from 1987 to 2000. Even though long-term trends indicate that average surface DO is decreasing, disturbance by hypoxia appears to be stable, but this may be due to just eight years of data. In fact, if the current trend continues, surface water DO will not meet exceptional aquatic life standards (≤5 mgL⁻¹) in 2032.     

Evaluation of Water Quality in the Chillán River (Central Chile) Using Physicochemical Parameters and a Modified Water Quality Index

The Chillán River in Central Chile plays a fundamental role in local society, as a source of irrigation and drinking water, and as a sink for urban wastewater. In order to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of surface water quality in the watershed, a Water Quality Index (WQI) was calculated from nine physicochemical parameters, periodically measured at 18 sampling sites (January–November 2000). The results indicated a good water quality in the upper and middle parts of the watershed. Downstream of the City of Chillán, water quality conditions were critical during the dry season, mainly due to the effects of the urban wastewater discharge. On the basis of the results from a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), modifications were introduced into the original WQI to reduce the costs associated with its implementation. WQI_DIR2 and WQI_DIR, which are both based on a laboratory analysis (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and three (pH, temperature and conductivity), respectively, four field measurements (pH, temperature, conductivity and Dissolved Oxygen), adequately reproduce the most important spatial and temporal variations observed with the original index. They are proposed as useful tools for monitoring global water quality trends in this and other, similar agricultural watersheds in the Chilean Central Valley. Possibilities and limitations for the application of the used methodology to watersheds in other parts of the world are discussed.