MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING COPPER RUNOFF IN URBAN WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: A modeling framework was developed for managing copper runoff in urban watersheds that incorporates water quality characterization, watershed land use areas, hydrologic data, a statistical simulator, a biotic ligand binding model to characterize acute toxicity, and a statistical method for setting a watershed specific copper loading. The modeling framework is driven by export coefficients derived from water quality parameters and hydrologic inputs measured in an urban watershed's storm water system. This framework was applied to a watershed containing a copper roof built in 1992. A series of simulations was run to predict the change in receiving stream water chemistry caused by roof aging and to determine the maximum copper loading (at the 99 percent confidence level) a watershed could accept without causing acute toxicity in the receiving stream. Forecasting the amount of copper flux responsible for exceeding the assimilation capacity of a watershed can be directly related to maximum copper loadings responsible for causing toxicity in the receiving streams. The framework developed in this study can be used to evaluate copper utilization in urban watersheds.     

陆海统筹视域下海洋与陆地环境民事公益诉讼协同研究

海洋环境民事公益诉讼与环境民事公益诉讼系特殊与一般的关系,海洋环境问题较强的涉外属性决定了海洋环境民事公益诉讼在适格主体、管辖法院等方面存在特殊的规定,此种特殊规定不宜废除。但海洋环境民事公益诉讼与环境民事公益诉讼双轨并行的关系造成了海陆交叉污染案件存在适格主体、管辖等争议,且存在两诉协同上的挑战。导致这一问题的根本原因在于,海洋环境民事公益诉讼的受案范围限制在地理概念上的海域,这割裂了同一污染行为下陆地与海洋的联系。陆海统筹理念要求打通陆地与海洋之间的联系,以陆海一体化保护海洋生态环境。在这一理念的指导下,可对海洋环境民事公益诉讼受案范围进行陆海一体化调整,以克服陆地与海洋环境民事公益诉讼双轨并行造成的协同问题。具体而言,在海陆交叉污染案件中可以损害发生地为判断标准,当损害发生地在海洋时,则以海统陆,属海洋环境民事公益诉讼受案范围;当损害发生地在陆地时,则以陆统海,属环境民事公益诉讼受案范围。     

基于国家粮食安全的长江三角洲地区耕地保护探讨

从经济增长规律与发展阶段来看,作为中国经济发展的核心区域之一,长江三角洲地区耕地的减少趋势还将持续一定时期。分析了长江三角洲地区粮食及耕地现状,通过相关性分析得到耕地预测模型,并预测了未来耕地变化态势,揭示出耕地损失率高峰值将在“十一五”期间出现。通过国家粮食安全的态势判断以及长江三角洲地区耕地减少与国家粮食安全之间的关系分析,得出长江三角洲地区耕地面积的减少所导致的粮食减产对国家粮食安全的影响较小,而国家粮食安全水平的变化会影响长江三角洲地区的粮食有效供给的结论。从而提出耕地保护的思路：“十一五”期间,长江三角洲地区应采取积极的保护政策;进入“十二五”之后,耕地保护政策应转为严格控制。为此,还提出了重在保护质量、保护其生态景观功能、加大后备资源开发、减少非农占用、加强政策管理等对策建议。     

不同类型农户对宅基地退出的响应

利用重庆市梁平县农户的调查数据,运用Logistic模型,探讨了户籍制度改革下不同类型农户宅基地退出意愿及其影响因素。结果表明：(1)在现有退地补偿政策下农户意愿普遍偏低,不同类型农户退地意愿存在一定的差异性;(2)影响纯农户宅基地退出的因素有户主年龄、家庭拥有的房屋数量、对政策的支持度和退地收益;影响Ⅰ兼业户宅基地退出的因素有家庭宅基地面积大小、对政策的支持度和退地收益;影响Ⅱ兼业户宅基地退出的因素有家庭小孩数、对政策的支持度和退地收益;影响非农户宅基地退出的因素有户主年龄、户主文化程度、家庭人口数、宅基地面积和退地收益;其中,退地收益是影响各类农户退地决策最显著的因素,对政策的支持度是农户退地决策影响力最大的因素。研究认为,影响各类农户退地决策的因素存在差异,其核心问题还在于退地政策。政府应根据不同类型农户的特征完善目前的农村宅基地退出政策,这有助于提高农户的参与意愿,顺利推进户籍制度和农村土地制度的改革     

Influence of farm resource endowment on possibilities for sustainable development: a case study for vegetable farms in South Uruguay

In different parts of the world, there is an urgent need for redesigning and innovating farming systems. Such a process may be supported by model-based explorations that enable ex-ante evaluation of a broad range of alternatives. Since a variety of viable patterns of farm development exists related to farm resource endowment and farmer's strategy, model-based explorations should be able to capture the existing variation in resource endowment and strategies in order to have impact on strategic farm management. In this paper, we present an overview of the model-based explorative method based on the MILP model Farm Images, applied to explore options for sustainable development of vegetable farms in Canelón Grande, Uruguay. The method is used to gain insight into the impact of current farm resource endowment on the possibilities for sustainable development and on the resource use efficiency at farm scale. We maximized farm income for 128 different farm types in an environment-oriented scenario and in an income-oriented scenario. Farm types were defined by combining 4 farm sizes, 2 labor endowments, 4 irrigation endowments, 2 soil quality combinations and 2 mechanization levels. The results demonstrate a strong impact of farm resource endowment on possibilities for sustainable development, as well as synergy between labor, land and irrigated area on resource-use efficiency at farm scale. Farms with 10ha of land or less, representing 47% of the farms in the Canelón Grande region, could only achieve a family income higher than the average income of Uruguayan families when the irrigated area was ca. 40% of the farm area. The achievement of environmental targets was less costly in terms of income on farms with a low rather than high labor availability per unit area and on farms with irrigation facilities.     

节约土地资源的沉沙淤泥新型墙体材料的研制

引黄济青工程创造了惊人的经济效益和社会效益,但大量的黄河淤泥沉积,却危害了当地生态环境,造成土地资源浪费.通过分析黄河淤泥的化学成分、颗粒组成、塑性指数,对沉淀池堆场的淤泥和黄河河床的淤泥进行比较和筛选,最后进行了成型和煅烧,试验结果表明:2号堆场的黄河淤泥完全可以替代粘土作原料生产新型墙体材料,其技术指标完全符合国家产品质量要求,每年可节约土地约13.3公顷.     

Urban Air Pollution Patterns, Land Use, and Thermal Landscape: An Examination of the Linkage Using GIS

This article investigates the relationship of local air pollution pattern with urban land use and with urban thermal landscape using a GIS approach. Ambient air quality measurements for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, total suspended particles, and dust level were obtained for Guangzhou City in South China between 1981 and 2000. Landsat TM images and aerial photo derived maps were used to examine city's land use and land cover at different times and changes. Landsat thermal infrared data were employed to compute land surface temperatures and to assess urban thermal patterns. Relationships among the spatial patterns of air pollution, land use, and thermal landscape were sought through GIS and correlation analyses. Results show that the spatial patterns of air pollutants probed were positively correlated with urban built-up density, and with satellite derived land surface temperature values, particularly with measurements taken during the summer. It is suggested that further studies investigate the mechanisms of this linkage, and that remote sensing of air pollution delves into how the energy interacts with the atmosphere and the environment and how sensors see pollutants. Thermal infrared imagery could play a unique role in monitoring and modeling atmospheric pollution.     

The Stream and Its Altered Valley: Integrating Landscape Ecology into Environmental Assessments of Agro-Ecosystems

Little is known about the importance of landscape and land cover to the implementation and performance of agricultural conservation projects designed to improve stream quality. In our study, we addressed the potential importance of landscape and land cover to conservation projects by measuring variation across 191 μ-basins (100–2400 ha) and integrating the observed variation into a study design aimed at determining the effectiveness of conservation projects. Our findings indicate that there are strong gradients across which landscape and land cover attributes vary. Land cover varied along a gradient of agricultural intensity, basin morphometry across gradients of stream closure and basin size, basin substrate was described by variation in drumlin formation, glacial landform type, and soil drainage, while agricultural conservation projects varied according to the level of project implementation. Correlation of these gradients found several associations between landscape and land cover, indicating that agricultural intensity was being constrained predominantly by drumlin formation and glacial landform type. Landscape and land cover did not appear to be determining factors in the implementation of conservation projects by land owners. Based on these findings we chose 32 μ-basins which represented the variability along each of the defined gradients for further study. We conclude that landscape scale variables demonstrate important variation and covariation that can and should be integrated into study designs for the assessment of streams and human activities affecting streams.     

Use of Maryland Biological Stream Survey Data to Determine Effects of Agricultural Riparian Buffers on Measures of Biological Stream Health

This study was undertaken to determine the importance of riparian buffers to stream ecology in agricultural areas. The original Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS) data set was partitioned to represent agricultural sites in Maryland's Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions. ANOVA, multiple linear regression (MLR), and CART regression tree models were developed using riparian and site catchment landscape characteristics. MBSS data were both stratified by physiographic region and analyzed as a combined data set. All models indicated that land management at the site was not the controlling factor for fish IBIs (FIBI) at that site and, hence, using FIBI to evaluate site-scale factors would not be a prudent procedure. Measures of instream habitat and location in the stream network were the dominant explanatory factors for FIBI models. Both CART and MLR models indicated that forest buffers were influential on benthic IBIs (BIBI). Explanatory variables reflected instream conditions, adjacent landscape influence, and chemistry in the Coastal Plains sites, all of which are relatively site specific. However, for Piedmont sites, hydrologic factors were important, in addition to adjacent landscape influence, and chemistry. Both Coastal Plain and Piedmont CART models identified several hydrologic factors, emphasizing the dominant control of hydrology on the physical habitat index (PHI). Riparian buffers were a secondary influence on PHI in the Coastal Plain, but not in the Piedmont. Between 40% and 70% of the variation in FIBI, BIBI, and PHI was explained by the “easily obtainable” variables available from the MBSS data set. While these are empirical results specific to Maryland, the general findings are of use to other locations where the establishment of forest buffers is considered as an aquatic ecosystem restoration measure.     

Land-cover changes in an urban lake watershed in a mega-city, Central China

Urbanization can exert a profound influence on land covers and landscape characteristics. In this study, we characterize the impact of urbanization on land cover and lacustrine landscape and their consequences in a large urban lake watershed, Donghu Lake watershed (the largest urban lake in China), Central China, by using Landsat TM satellite images of three periods of 1987, 1993 and 1999 and ground-based information. We grouped the land covers into six categories: water body, vegetable land, forested land, shrub-grass land, open area and urban land, and calculated patch-related landscape indices to analyze the effects of urbanization on landscape features. We overlaid the land cover maps of the three periods to track the land cover change processes. The results indicated that urban land continuously expanded from 9.1% of the total watershed area in 1987, to 19.4% in 1993, and to 29.6% in 1999. The vegetable land increased from 7.0% in 1987, 11.9% in 1993, to 13.9% in 1999 to sustain the demands of vegetable for increased urban population. Concurrently, continuous reduction of other land cover types occurred between 1987 and 1999: water body decreased from 30.4% to 23.8%, and forested land from 33.6% to 24.3%. We found that the expansion of urban land has at least in part caused a decrease in relatively wild habitats, such as urban forest and lake water area. These alterations had resulted in significant negative environmental consequences, including decline of lakes, deterioration of water and air quality, and loss of biodiversity.