Assessment of Economic and Water Quality Impacts of Land Use Change Using a Simple Bioeconomic Model

The objective of this study is to assess the economic and water quality impact of land use change in a small watershed in the Wiregrass region of Alabama. The study compares changes in water quality and revenue from agricultural and timber production due to changes in land use between years 1992 and 2001. The study was completed in two stages. In the first stage, a biophysical model was used to estimate the effect of land use change on nitrogen and phosphorus runoff and sediment deposition in the main channel; in the second stage, farm enterprise budgeting tools were used to estimate the economic returns for the changes in land use condition. Both biophysical and economic results are discussed, and a case for complex optimization to develop a decision support system is presented.     

Managing Abandoned Farmland: The Need to Link Biological and Sociological Aspects

The lack of a particular use associated with abandoned farmland provides real opportunities with respect to the various land-use pressures occurring in productive territories. These environments remain generally poorly known and, because of this, require in-depth studies on the feasibility of management options, on biological as well as social grounds. This study, based on research on the biophysical potential and the perceptions by the owners of abandoned farmlands, analyzes the feasibility of silvicultural management options to improve forestry potential. Using a questionnaire, we surveyed abandoned farmland owners on different aspects of the status of their abandoned farmland in order to determine their willingness toward the management of these private lands. The land owners were also asked to express their interests and their constraints toward various types of interventions, with an emphasis on silvicultural work. The data were analyzed using multivariate methods to establish relationships between the questionnaire data and the characteristics of the land owners (socioeconomic profile and value system toward the environment). The results show that, in general, abandoned farmland is an unwanted space, is generally little used, is poorly known, and has little importance in the plans of its owners. We have found three types of owner profiles; the owners with a farmer’s profile are those who are the most interested in managing their abandoned farmland, whether for agriculture or silviculture. The desire to improve abandoned farmland seems less important to owners with an ecocentric profile (high awareness of the environment) and to older owners. Finally, by associating the type of abandoned farmland owned and the characteristics of the owners, it is possible to propose different management options that reconcile the wishes of the owners as well as the biophysical potential of their abandoned farmland.     

Classifying environmentally significant urban land uses with satellite imagery

We investigated Bayesian networks to classify urban land use from satellite imagery. Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM(+)) images were used for the classification in two study areas: (1) Marina del Rey and its vicinity in the Santa Monica Bay Watershed, CA and (2) drainage basins adjacent to the Sweetwater Reservoir in San Diego, CA. Bayesian networks provided 80-95% classification accuracy for urban land use using four different classification systems. The classifications were robust with small training data sets with normal and reduced radiometric resolution. The networks needed only 5% of the total data (i.e., 1500 pixels) for sample size and only 5- or 6-bit information for accurate classification. The network explicitly showed the relationship among variables from its structure and was also capable of utilizing information from non-spectral data. The classification can be used to provide timely and inexpensive land use information over large areas for environmental purposes such as estimating stormwater pollutant loads.     

Urban sprawl and air quality in large US cities

This study presents the results of a paper of urban spatial structure and exceedances of the 8-h national ambient air quality standard for ozone in 45 large US metropolitan regions. Through the integration of a published index of sprawl with metropolitan level data on annual ozone exceedances, precursor emissions, and regional climate over a 13-year period, the association between the extent of urban decentralization and the average number of ozone exceedances per year, while controlling for precursor emissions and temperature, is measured. The results of this analysis support the hypothesis that large metropolitan regions ranking highly on a quantitative index of sprawl experience a greater number of ozone exceedances than more spatially compact metropolitan regions. Importantly, this relationship was found to hold when controlling for population size, average ozone season temperatures, and regional emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, suggesting that urban spatial structure may have effects on ozone formation that are independent of its effects on precursor emissions from transportation, industry, and power generation facilities.     

Sediment and carbon accumulation in a small tidal basin: Yuehu,Shandong Peninsula,China

A small sedimentary basin (the Yuehu lagoon), located at the eastern tip of Shandong Peninsula, China, was selected to study its filling by sediment and the vertical flux of particulate organic carbon in response to natural/anthropogenic processes. Surficial and short core sediment samples were collected and analyzed to obtain data sets of grain size, organic carbon content, deposition rates and vertical fluxes of sediment and organic carbon. The analytical results show that the lagoon is covered mainly with fine-grained sediments with high deposition rate and particulate organic carbon content being found from the central part of the mud deposit. The sediment balance of the lagoon indicates high denudation rates of the catchment basin, which may be related to soil erosion in response to farming and land use pattern changes. Furthermore, preliminary analysis of the organic carbon fluxes of the Yuehu lagoon and other embayments of the region shows that these coastal systems make an important contribution to the regional shallow sea carbon burial.     

采煤塌陷区复垦技术研究

煤矿和土地是人类赖以生存和发展的重要自然资源。煤矿的开采为我国经济、社会发展做出巨大贡献的同时,也造成了大面积的土地塌陷,使我国可利用土地面积进一步减少,严重影响了矿区的生态环境、农业生产、区域经济发展以及人民生活水平的提高。如不对塌陷区进行复垦对我国经济能源等方面都会造成极大的损失。     

基于LUCC的露天矿区景观格局研究一以黑岱沟露天煤矿为例

露天矿区开发活动主要是在景观层次上进行,其直接导致土地利用／覆被变化（LandUse／Cover Change,LUCC）。本文以黑岱沟大型露天煤矿1987年、1990年、2000年及2010年4期遥感影像的土地利用数据为基础,基于GIS空间分析功能,以破碎度、分离度和优势度景观格局指数和景观类型脆弱度为指标,分析景观格局现状。研究显示：开发初期,耕地和草地虽有所减少,但所占面积保持在80％以上;生态恢复开始后,土地类型向林地和草地转移的面积逐渐增多。景观水平上分析显示,景观上破碎化程度加大,煤矿建设用地斑块面积逐年增大。从景观指数看,耕地、草地、未利用地的破碎度、分离度指数变化呈上升或不稳定状态,建设用地的破碎度和分离度指数有所减小;优势景观类型有所改变,建设用地对于区域景观的控制作用逐渐加强。     

东莞麻涌农用地重金属的化学形态及生物效应

通过对东莞麻涌镇农用地重金属Cd、Cu、Ni、Pb总量及化学形态调查研究。结果显示,以国家土壤二级标准为参考,该目标地土壤Cd含量超标率达79.25%,Cu超标率达51.50%,Ni,Pb未超标。其中Cd离子交换态所占比例较大,达21.83%,Cu、Pb、Ni以残渣态为主。场地作物(菜心、通菜和葱)重金属含量测试结果表明,其含量结果与土壤中Cd、Cu、Ni、Pb各形态、总量之间存在不同程度的联系。     

土地快速渗滤处理啤酒废水的土柱模拟试验

对啤酒废水进行了模拟土地快速渗滤处理的试验研究。模拟土柱经10个淹水期的生化培养期,其CODcr去除率达96％左右,BOD_5可达98％以上,且去除效果主要集中于系统上部约100cm厚的土层内。此外,还研究了影响快速渗滤系统净化效果的主要因素及其水力负荷周期、水力负荷率。     

遥感地学智能图解模型支持下的土地覆盖/土地利用分类

土地覆盖/土地利用(LC/LU)调查已经成为开展土地利用动态变化预测、自然灾害防治及土地利用规划、土地管理和环境保护的一项关键的基础性工作,受到广泛注意和重视。随着遥感技术和各种地学分析模型的发展和深入,利用遥感技术获得的影像数据对区域的LC/LU情况及其动态变化进行定期或不定期的监测,成为一种最为迅速可靠和理想有效的手段。常规的LC/LU遥感分类方法主要包括基于常规数理统计分类方法、基于人工神经网络分类方法、基于知识逻辑推理的分类方法等。论文综合这些方法的特性,提出了遥感地学智能图解模型支持下的LC/LU分类体系,并以香港地区为试验对象,采用多平台遥感数据和辅助地理信息,进行了土地覆盖/土地利用遥感应用研究。