Land use change in California,USA: Nonpoint source water quality impacts

California’s population increased 25% between 1980 and 1990, resulting in rapid and extensive urbanization. Of a total 123,000 ha urbanized in 42 of the state’s 58 counties between 1984 and 1990, an estimated 13% occurred on irrigated prime farmland, and 48% on wildlands or fallow marginal farmlands. Sixty-six percent of all new irrigated farmland put into production between 1984 and 1990 was of lesser quality than the prime farmland taken out of production by urbanization. Factors dictating the agricultural development of marginal farmlands include the availability and price of water and land, agricultural commodity prices, and technical innovations such as drip irrigation systems that impact the feasibility and costs of production. The increasing amount of marginal farmland being put into production could have significant water quality consequences because marginal lands are generally steeper, have more erodible soils, poorer drainage, and require more fertilizer than prime farmlands. Although no data exist to test our hypothesis, and numerous variables preclude definitive predictions, the evidence suggests that new irrigated marginal lands can increase nonpoint source (NPS) pollution for a given size area by an order of magnitude in some cases.     

The Politics of Participation in Watershed Modeling

While researchers and decision-makers increasingly recognize the importance of public participation in environmental decision-making, there is less agreement about how to involve the public. One of the most controversial issues is how to involve citizens in producing scientific information. Although this question is relevant to many areas of environmental policy, it has come to the fore in watershed management. Increasingly, the public is becoming involved in the sophisticated computer modeling efforts that have been developed to inform watershed management decisions. These models typically have been treated as technical inputs to the policy process. However, model-building itself involves numerous assumptions, judgments, and decisions that are relevant to the public. This paper examines the politics of public involvement in watershed modeling efforts and proposes five guidelines for good practice for such efforts. Using these guidelines, I analyze four cases in which different approaches to public involvement in the modeling process have been attempted and make recommendations for future efforts to involve communities in watershed modeling.     

Examining Landscape Dynamics at a Watershed Scale Using Landsat TM Imagery for Detection of Wintering Hooded Crane Decline in Yashiro,Japan

It is usually inappropriate to define rectangular land areas or administrative units as the extent for quantifying landscapes that possess hierarchical structure. As a functional unit established by geophysical relationships, the watershed is one of many natural scales in the hierarchical landscape. We examined the dynamics of the Yashiro watershed of Japan at the landscape level using pattern metrics based on Landsat thematic mapper (TM) imagery from 1985 to 1998. This watershed provides important habitats for the hooded crane (Grus monachus), a vulnerable species. While its world population has remained stable, the number wintering at Yashiro has declined in recent years. Changes in landscape metrics reveal that the spatial pattern within the watershed underwent homogenization due to depopulation of local people and shifts in local energy requirements and forest management policy at Yashiro. Specific changes include: a decrease in bare land area from 6.2% to 1.0% of the landscape, increased forest cover from 69.2% to 76.1%, reduction in patch number from 1194 to 616 and enlarged mean patch size, and a decrease in total edge from 223,740 m to 158,040 m. The rate of change in landscape metrics indicates a rapid change towards homogeneity in the landscape since 1990. The temporal changes in hooded crane populations corresponded to the changes in landscape. An alternative explanation has been proposed that decline of the species is influenced by landscape dynamics affecting both habitat selection and food resources. Conservation at the watershed scale is suggested to be complementary to the current conservation measures of the species.     

Local Cultural Knowledge and Water Resource Management: The Wind River Indian Reservation

Ecology and culture comprise interacting components of landscapes. Understanding the integrative nature of the landscape is essential to establish methods for sustainable management. This research takes as a unifying theme the idea that ecological and cultural issues can be incorporated through management. As a first step in developing integrative management strategies, information must be collected that compares and contrasts ecological and cultural issues to identify their areas of intersection. Specifically how can local cultural knowledge enable water resource management that reflects cultural and ecological values? This research examines Native American cultural knowledge for setting water resource management priorities in the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming. A cross-cultural approach is adopted to assess the relationship between indigenous cultural knowledge and Euro-American perspectives through a comparative examination of the Wind River Water Code and Wyoming Water Law. This research indicates that cultural perspectives provide a rich arena in which to examine management issues. Understanding and identifying cultural practices may be an important first step in collaborative resource management between different cultural groups to prevent conflict and lengthy resolution in court.     

Nonpoint Source Pollution Assessment of Wujiang RiverWatershed in Guizhou Province,SW China

The amount of pollution from nonpoint sources flowing in the streams of the Wujiang River watershed in Guizhou Province, SW China, is estimated by a geographic information system (GIS)-based method using rainfall, surface runoff and land use data. A grid of cells of 100 m in size is laid over the landscape. For each cell, mean annual surface runoff is estimated from rainfall and percent land use, and expected pollutant concentration is estimated from land use. The product of surface runoff and concentration gives expected pollutant loading from that cell. These loadings are accumulated going downstream to give the expected annual pollutant loadings in streams and rivers. By dividing these accumulated loadings by the similarly accumulated mean annual surface runoff, the expected pollutant concentration from nonpoint sources is determined for each location in a stream or river. Observed pollutant concentrations in the watershed are averaged at each sample point and compared to the expected concentrations at the same locations determined from the grid cell model. In general, annual nonpoint source nutrient loadings in the Wujiang River watershed are seen to be predominantly from the agricultural and meadow areas. The total annual loadings through the outlet of the watershed are 40,309 and 2,607 tons for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), respectively.     

A Critical Analysis of Illinois’ Fish Mercury Monitoring Program, 1974–1998

Mercury contamination in fish is a serious public health concern that contrasts with other health benefits of eating fish. Like most US states, Illinois has monitored fish mercury contamination for decades to warn the public of mercury exposure risks by consuming fish. Has this monitoring program been effective in detecting public mercury exposure risks? I analyzed fish mercury contamination data from Illinois inland lakes (1974–1998; >?2,300 samples, 18 fish species, 149 lakes) and found that: (a) sampling and analyses have been severely limited since 1985; (b) sampling effort varied widely among lakes and species, and (c) trends and spatial patterns were confused by this variability. As a result of a severely limited and nonstrategic monitoring program, public mercury exposure risks via Illinois fish consumption remain unclear, despite much effort over many years. Illinois monitors fewer fish per angler than many US states, but is not alone in this regard. Illinois should resurrect and redesign its fish contaminant monitoring program to one that strategically and systematically assesses human mercury exposure risk. Other US states and nations may also benefit from similar retrospective examinations of monitoring programs intended to protect public health.     

土地利用和生态系统服务功能变化研究 ——以三峡库区大宁河流域为例

将土地利用类型分类为耕地、有林地（森林地）、灌木林地、草地、迹地、水体、建设用地和未利用地8类。以遥感数据为数据源，通过自动分类和人工解译相结合的方法获取了以上土地利用类型，并对三峡库区大宁河流域的土地利用变化过程和驱动力做了分析。以Costanza等人的全球生态系统服务价值的估测结果为基础，对各种地类生态服务功能价值重新赋值，进而估算近30年大宁河流域的生态服务价值，分析了其变化过程。结果表明：近30年，大宁河流域土地利用总的变化趋势是林、灌、草地经历了不断破坏和缓慢恢复的过程，耕地面积经历了先增后减，建设用地不断扩展。经济发展、人口增长和国家政策是土地利用变化的主要原因。生态系统服务功能经历了一个先损害后恢复的过程，表现为生态服务价值从1973年到1995年不断减少，而1995年到2002年连续增加。     

我国东部河流水文水质对气候变化响应的研究

基于A2和B2气候变化情景,采用统计降尺度模型SDSM,将由3个国际上流行的大气环流模式GCMs(Had CM3、CSIRO-Mk2和CGCM2)模拟的未来我国东部长乐江流域的气温和降水,与水土评价模型SWAT相耦合,分析了该流域水文水质对气候变化的响应,并比较了3个大气环流模式模拟结果的异同.结果表明,所有气候情景下,TN浓度有明显的升高趋势;TP浓度有增有减,总体上仍呈微弱增加趋势.河川径流呈微弱减少趋势,而营养物负荷量呈微弱增加趋势,说明该流域水文水质状况受气温升高的影响大于降水微弱增加的影响.另外,在不同的气候变化情景下,年内径流和营养物负荷变化情况存在较大差异.研究结果可为理解河流水环境对气候变化的响应及其应对管理提供理论依据.     

环境因素对密云水库上游流域土壤有机碳和全氮含量影响的通径分析

土壤是全球重要的碳库和氮库,在全球碳氮循环中具有重要地位。密云水库是华北地区最大的水库和北京市最重要的地表水水源地,其上游流域山地广布,地形复杂,气候变化明显,土壤类型和植被类型多样,影响土壤碳氮库的环境因素具有较强的变异性。为揭示环境因素对密云水库上游流域土壤有机碳（soil organic carbon,SOC）和全氮（total nitrogen,TN）含量的作用效应,采用野外采样、实验室分析与逐步回归分析和通径分析相结合的方法,研究了气候（温度和降水）、地形（海拔和坡度）、土壤理化性质（土壤容重、含水量、pH值和粘粒含量）等环境因素对流域SOC和TN含量的影响。结果表明：温度、土壤容重、含水量、pH值和粘粒含量对SOC含量的影响显著（P＆lt;0.001）,其中各因子的直接通径系数依次为：土壤含水量（0.439）＞土壤容重（-0.324）＞pH值（-0.238）＞温度（-0.209）＞土壤粘粒含量（0.092）,间接通径系数依次为：土壤容重（-0.425）＞土壤粘粒含量（0.305）＞土壤含水量（0.287）＞pH值（-0.179）＞温度（-0.043）,因此,土壤含水量、pH值和温度主要通过直接作用影响SOC含量,而土壤容重和粘粒含量则主要通过其它因子的作用间接影响SOC含量。海拔、土壤容重、含水量、pH 值和粘粒含量对 TN 含量的影响显著（P＆lt;0.001）,其中各因子的直接通径系数依次为：土壤含水量（0.456）＞海拔（0.234）＞土壤容重（-0.228）＞pH 值（-0.190）＞土壤粘粒含量（0.094）,间接通径系数依次为：土壤容重（-0.484）＞土壤粘粒含量（0.301）＞海拔（0.247）＞土壤含水量（0.257）＞pH 值（-0.202）,因此,土壤含水量主要通过直接作用影响TN含量,而土壤容重和粘粒含量主要通过土壤含水量的作用间接影响TN含量,海拔和土壤pH值的直接作用与间接作用     

流域累积效应及其评估中存在问题的探讨

阐述了累积效应、流域累积效应和累积效应评估的概念，并从技术、哲学和社会价值体系3方面着重论述了螺积效应评估存在的问题。通过对流域累积效应评估的研究及未来展望，提出了更加完善合理的流域生态管理思路。