Life-cycle phosphorus use efficiency of the farming system in Anhui Province,Central China

The rapid increase of phosphorus (P) use in farming has raised concerns regarding its conservation and environmental impact. Increasing the P use efficiency (PUE) is an approach to mitigating these adverse impacts. In this study, we applied substance flow analysis (SFA) to establish a life-cycle P use efficiency model to determine the life-cycle PUE of the farming system used in Anhui Province in 2011, which is typical of the agriculture practiced in central China. Based on this model, the P flows and PUEs of five subsystems were identified and quantified: crop farming, crop processing, livestock breeding, rural living, and urban living. The three largest P flows were found in the crop farming and livestock breeding subsystems; it can therefore be concluded that these subsystems have substantial impacts on the entire farming system. In contrast, the PUEs of crop farming, rural consumption, and livestock breeding subsystems presented the three lowest PUEs (58.79%, 71.75%, and 76.65%, respectively). These results were also consistent with the finding that the greatest P losses occurred in crop farming and livestock breeding. Consequently, the study proposes that great potential exists for increasing PUEs in the farming system of Anhui, and several of the most promising measures could be combined for improving PUEs. Finally, the study assesses data quality and presents a sensitivity analysis for use in interpreting the results. The study also shows that improving PUE and decreasing P losses in farming systems through improved nutrient management must be considered an important issue, and this study represents valuable experience in resource conservation and agricultural development in China.     

The relationship between sustainable development and resource use from a geographic perspective

Geography provides the basic building blocks for the study of resource use and sustainable development, inasmuch as it categorizes the human environment. Within the environment are resources that are needed for the survival of society. As resources are largely limited and finite, humans as agents of change must employ techniques that allow an efficient and lasting use of the available resources in their environment. This paper discusses the nexus between geography, resource exploitation, use, and sustainable development. It also discusses the characteristics, types, and classification of resources, development and sustainable development as well as the challenges and strategies for attaining sustainable development, particularly in developing countries.     

秸秆还田下氮肥用量对玉米产量及土壤无机氮的影响

研究连续2年秸秆还田下氮肥用量对玉米产量、氮肥利用率及土壤硝态氮的影响,结果表明,玉米产量随着施氮量的增加逐渐增加,施氮量达到216 kg·hm^-2时,产量最高,施氮量超过216 kg·hm^-2时产量有降低的趋势。相同施氮处理玉米产量年际变化明显,2010年较2009年产量提高0.69％~4.75％。氮肥利用率、氮肥农学利用率和氮收获指数随着秸秆还田年限的增加,均有不同程度的增加。2年0~100 cm土层土壤硝态氮含量均以施氮240 kg·hm^-2最高,且有向土壤深层迁移的趋势,对浅层地下水构成潜在的威胁。与施氮240 kg·hm^-2相比,施氮168、192 kg·hm^-2和216 kg·hm^-2处理0~100 cm土壤无机氮残留量2年平均减少39.87％、35.84％和29.38％。相同施氮处理,0~100 cm土壤无机氮累积量2010年较2009年略有降低。综合考虑玉米产量、氮肥利用率与生态环境效益,该地区最适施氮量200 kg·hm^-2左右。     

低碳经济视角下的城市圈土地节约集约利用评价研究——基于遗传算法的投影寻踪模型

从低碳经济视角出发,运用基于遗传算法的投影寻踪模型对武汉城市圈低碳土地节约基于利用水平进行了评价研究.结果显示,各市低碳土地节约集约利用水平差异较大,发展极不协调,难以有效地实现城市圈协同发展.武汉城市圈应以整体效益最大化为目标,注重保护环境与经济增长相结合,大力发展低碳经济,以协同发展促进低碳土地利用.     

Scientists as Stakeholders in Conservation of Hydrothermal Vents

Abstract: Hydrothermal vents are deep‐sea ecosystems that are almost exclusively known and explored by scientists rather than the general public. Continuing scientific discoveries arising from study of hydrothermal vents are concommitant with the increased number of scientific cruises visiting and sampling vent ecosystems. Through a bibliometric analysis, we assessed the scientific value of hydrothermal vents relative to two of the most well‐studied marine ecosystems, coral reefs and seagrass beds. Scientific literature on hydrothermal vents is abundant, of high impact, international, and interdisciplinary and is comparable in these regards with literature on coral reefs and seagrass beds. Scientists may affect hydrothermal vents because their activities are intense and spatially and temporally concentrated in these small systems. The potential for undesirable effects from scientific enterprise motivated the creation of a code of conduct for environmentally and scientifically benign use of hydrothermal vents for research. We surveyed scientists worldwide engaged in deep‐sea research and found that scientists were aware of the code of conduct and thought it was relevant to conservation, but they did not feel informed or confident about the respect other researchers have for the code. Although this code may serve as a reminder of scientists’ environmental responsibilities, conservation of particular vents (e.g., closures to human activity, specific human management) may effectively ensure sustainable use of vent ecosystems for all stakeholders.     

Effect of Widespread Agricultural Chemical Use on Butterfly Diversity across Turkish Provinces

Although agricultural intensification is thought to pose a significant threat to species, little is known about its role in driving biodiversity loss at regional scales. I assessed the effects of a major component of agricultural intensification, agricultural chemical use, and land‐cover and climatic variables on butterfly diversity across 81 provinces in Turkey, where agriculture is practiced extensively but with varying degrees of intensity. I determined butterfly species presence in each province from data on known butterfly distributions and calculated agricultural chemical use as the proportion of agricultural households that use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. I used constrained correspondence analyses and regression‐based multimodel inference to determine the effect of environmental variables on species composition and richness, respectively. The variation in butterfly species composition across the provinces was largely explained (78%) by the combination of agricultural chemical use, particularly pesticides, and climatic and land‐cover variables. Although overall butterfly richness was primarily explained by climatic and land‐cover variables, such as the area of natural vegetation cover, threatened butterfly richness and the relative number of threatened butterfly species decreased substantially as the proportion of agricultural households using pesticides increased. These findings suggest that widespread use of agricultural chemicals, or other components of agricultural intensification that may be collinear with pesticide use, pose an imminent threat to the biodiversity of Turkey. Accordingly, policies that mitigate agricultural intensification and promote low‐input farming practices are crucial for protecting threatened species from extinction in rapidly industrializing nations such as Turkey. Efectos del Uso Extensivo de Agroquímicos sobre la Diversidad de Mariposas en Provincias Turcas     

A feasibility and cost comparison of perchloroethylene dry cleaning to professional wet cleaning: case study of Silver Hanger Cleaners, Bellingham, Massachusetts

The Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) has been working with the dry cleaning sector for over 10 years - focusing on the ultimate goal of eliminating the use of perchloroethylene in this sector due to the availability of less toxic, feasible alternatives. Professional wet cleaning has been identified as one of these alternatives and has been a focus of the Institute in recent years. In 2008, the Institute provided a matching grant to Silver Hanger Cleaners in Bellingham, Massachusetts to convert their operations from perchloroethylene-based to water-based processes. Two years of data have been collected from the facility, reflecting one year of solvent use and one year of dedicated professional wet cleaning. The analysis of that data is presented here, including capital costs, performance data and associated costs, operational costs, and resource use and associated costs.     

Analysis and Modeling on the Spatial Structure of Urban Land Use: A Case of Jinan, China

Based on the data of urban land use obtained by remote sensing interpretation from aero images in 1986 and 2004, the spatial structure of Jinan is studied in this paper with the method of Geographic Information System (GIS). According to the proportion of land for residence, industry and commerce, the urban district can be distinguished into three rings. Compared with the traditional theory of the ring structure in Western coun- tries, they have many distinctive characteristics. The main func- tions of the inner ring include residence, business and banking, but the proportion of residential land (more than 50%) is considerably higher than that of the cities in Western countries. The land proportion for residence and industry in the intermediate ring is equal on the whole. The main land of the outside ring is for industrial use. From 1986 to 2004, great changes have taken place on the land proportion of different types of use. In the inner ring, the land for residential and industrial use has shrunk much while the land for commercial use has increased. In the intermediate ring, the changes of the three types of land use were not very much and the temporal variation was relatively stable. On the contrary, the structure in the outside ring varies acutely. Though most of it is also for industrial use, the proportion of residential land has in- creased much. The three rings can also be divided into several sectors respectively, according to the function of land use clusters. New trends and mechanisms of the changes of land use impacting the urban structure were proposed in the end of the paper.     

MINIMIZING THE IMPACT OF URBANIZATION ON LONG TERM RUNOFF1

Increasing concern about the problems caused by urban sprawl has encouraged development and implementation of smart growth approaches to land use management. One of the goals of smart growth is water resources protection, in particular minimizing the runoff impact of urbanization. To investigate the magnitude of the potential benefits of land use planning for water resources protection, possible runoff impacts of historical and projected urbanization were estimated for two watersheds in Indiana and Michigan using a long term hydrological impact analysis model. An optimization component allowed selection of land use change placements that minimize runoff increase. Optimizing land use change placement would have reduced runoff increase by as much as 4.9 percent from 1973 to 1997 in the Indiana study watershed. For nonsprawl and sprawl scenarios in the Michigan watershed for 1978 to 2040, optimizing land use change placement would have reduced runoff increase by 12.3 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively. The work presented here illustrates both an approach to assessing the magnitude of the impact of smart growth and the significant potential scale of smart growth in moderating runoff changes that result from urbanization. The results of this study have significant implications for urban planning.     

上海市郊区农业土地流转类型与土地利用变化响应差异性研究

在对农业用地流转机制进行深入分析的基础上，将农业土地流转市场划分为三种类型：政府引导型、集体推动型和农户主导型。进而结合农户调查数据，通过建立农业土地非耕地化流转的驱动力模型。分析不同类型的农业土地流转市场对于耕地利用变化的影响。模型运行结果表明：政府引导的农业土地流转导致耕地面积大幅减少，集体推动的流转有利于提高耕地利用效率。农户主导的农业土地流转促使了粮食作物种植面积的减少。最后以模型运行结果为依据，从保护农民土地权益、维持耕地总量平衡的角度提出相关建议。