我国耕地生态安全评价及障碍因子诊断

耕地生态安全评价及障碍因子诊断是改善耕地生态系统状况、促进耕地可持续利用的重要基础。在界定耕地生态安全内涵的基础上,构建了基于PSR模型的评价指标体系,采用熵值法和障碍度模型,对我国耕地生态安全进行了评价。研究表明：（1）1996~2010年我国耕地生态安全水平总体不断提高,综合指数从0484 4增加到0626 9,安全等级经历了“临界安全-较安全”的演变历程;（2）压力指数总体上呈现下降趋势,状态指数和响应指数总体上呈现上升趋势;（3）长远来看,系统压力是影响耕地生态安全的首要因素,1996~2010年系统压力和系统状态的障碍度分别以年均533%和052%的速度增加,而系统响应的障碍度以年均802%的速度下降;（4）影响耕地生态安全的主要障碍因子包括单位耕地面积农药负荷、单位耕地面积化肥负荷、人均耕地面积、土地垦殖率、水土流失程度等。为了促进耕地生态安全水平不断提高,需要进一步转变经济发展方式,加强土地利用监督管理,降低经济增长对土地资源的过度消耗;大力发展绿色农业,合理施用农药、化肥;积极开展农村土地整治,加强高标准基本农田建设;加大环境治理力度,有效控制水土流失程度     

湖北省土地利用减碳增效系统仿真及结构优化研究

土地利用变化是引起碳排放的重要原因之一,土地经济效益是利用土地的目标之一,如何通过优化土地利用结构实现土地利用减碳增效是值得研究的重要问题。基于系统结构与功能相互作用的视角,梳理复杂系统内变量间的反馈关系,运用系统动力学(SD)进行建模,将约束条件纳入到多目标规划(MOP)中,实现MOP与SD模型整合,进行系统仿真并得出优化后2020年湖北省土地利用结构。结果显示,利用SD-MOP模型能够实现减碳增效目标下土地利用结构优化,与2008年真实值相比,耕地、林地、牧草地及建设用地分别增加了0.33×10~4、30.17×10~4、0.08×10~4和16.37×10~4 hm~2,其他农用地及未利用地分别减少7.23×10~4、33.15×10~4 hm~2;与无约束SD单模型仿真相比,土地利用碳排放量减少了58×10~4 t,经济效益年增长率维持在3.58%,优化方案具有可行性。SD-MOP模型优化的土地利用结构符合区域可持续发展要求,兼顾了土地利用碳减排和经济效益增长的双重目标,能为区域土地资源优化配置提供参考。     

Implementing the European flood risk management plan

In response to the extreme flood events of recent decades, the European Union has released the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC), which requires the creation of flood risk management plans. These plans do not yet exist in practice, as water management agencies have until 2015 to put them into action. This contribution will discuss two questions regarding the European flood risk management plan: First, how is the new instrument integrated into the various member states, particularly with respect to the scenario approach? Second, how prepared are the institutions for the collaborative planning paradigm of the flood risk management plan, particularly with respect to the river basin districts approach? Citing examples from France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain, this paper offers both a pessimistic and an optimistic perspective on the implementation of the new flood risk management instrument.     

Assessing local planning capacity to promote environmentally sustainable residential development

Smart growth and sustainability planning have, in recent years, become central issues in planning discourse. Scholars have argued that planning capacity at the local government level is critical for smart growth planning, and that planners have a fundamental role to play in advancing local and regional sustainability. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which local planning capacity enables communities to promote more sustainable, smart growth residential development. Based on a 2013 survey of 38 county and 53 municipal governments in the state of Wisconsin, USA, this study finds that the majority of the sample communities have permitted residential developments characterized as transit-oriented, New Urbanist, mixed use, infill developments, or conservation subdivisions as alternatives to low-density, automobile-dependent conventional developments. The study also finds that jurisdictions with higher planning capacities are more likely to overcome significant barriers to more sustainable residential development.     

Recent Changes in Stream Flashiness and Flooding,and Effects of Flood Management in North Carolina and Virginia

The southeastern United States has undergone anthropogenic changes in landscape structure, with the potential to increase (e.g., urbanization) and decrease (e.g., reservoir construction) stream flashiness and flooding. Assessment of the outcome of such change can provide insight into the efficacy of current strategies and policies to manage water resources. We (1) examined trends in precipitation, floods, and stream flashiness and (2) assessed the relative influence of land cover and flow‐regulating features (e.g., best management practices and artificial water bodies) on stream flashiness from 1991 to 2013. We found mean annual precipitation decreased, which coincided with decreasing trends in floods. In contrast, stream flashiness, overall, showed an increasing trend during the period of study. However, upon closer examination, 20 watersheds showed stable stream flashiness, whereas 5 increased and 6 decreased in flashiness. Urban watersheds were among those that increased or decreased in flashiness. Watersheds that increased in stream flashiness gained more urban cover, lost more forested cover and had fewer best management practices installed than urban watersheds that decreased in stream flashiness. We found best management practices are more effective than artificial water bodies in regulating flashy floods. Flashiness index is a valuable and straightforward metric to characterize changes in streamflow and help to assess the efficacy of management interventions.     

Linking Nitrogen Export to Landscape Heterogeneity: The Role of Infrastructure and Storm Flows in a Mediterranean Urban System

Urban ecosystems are often sources of nonpoint source (NPS) nitrogen (N) pollution to aquatic ecosystems. However, N export from urban watersheds is highly variable. Examples of densely urbanized watersheds are not well studied, and these may have comparatively low export rates. Commonly used metrics of landscape heterogeneity may obscure our ability to discern relationships among landscape characteristics that can explain these lower export rates. We expected that differences not often captured by these metrics in the relative cover of vegetation, structures, and impervious surfaces would better explain observed variation in N export. We examined these relationships during storms in residential watersheds. Contrary to expectations, land cover did not directly predict variation in N or water export. Instead, N export was strongly linked to drainage infrastructure density. Our research highlights the role of fine‐scaled landscape attributes, mainly infrastructure, in explaining patterns of N export from densely urbanized watersheds. Changes to hydrologic flow paths by infrastructure explained more variation in N export than land cover. Our findings support further development of landscape ecological models of urban N export that focus on hydrologic modification by infrastructure rather than traditional landscape measures such as land use, as indicators for evaluating patterns of NPS nitrogen pollution in densely urbanized watersheds.     

Coupling of the Water Cycle with Patterns of Urban Growth in the Baltimore Metropolitan Region,United States

Regional municipal water plans typically do not recognize complex coupling patterns or that increased withdrawals in one location can result in changes in water availability in others. We investigated the interaction between urban growth and water availability in the Baltimore metropolitan region where urban growth has occurred beyond the reaches of municipal water systems into areas that rely on wells in low‐productivity Piedmont aquifers. We used the urban growth model SLEUTH and the hydrologic model ParFlow.CLM to evaluate this interaction with urban growth scenarios in 2007 and 2030. We found decreasing groundwater availability outside of the municipal water service area. Within the municipal service area we found zones of increasing storage resulting from increased urban growth, where reduced vegetation cover dominated the effect of urbanization on the hydrologic cycle. We also found areas of decreasing storage, where expanding impervious surfaces played a larger role. Although the magnitude of urban growth and change in water availability for the simulation period were generally small, there was considerable spatial heterogeneity of changes in subsurface storage. This suggests that there are locally concentrated areas of groundwater sensitivity to urban growth where water shortages could occur or where drying up of headwater streams would be more likely. The simulation approach presented here could be used to identify early warning indicators of future risk.     

Mitigating urban sprawl effects: a collaborative tree and shade intervention in Phoenix,Arizona, USA

Communities in Phoenix are confronted with numerous challenges that adversely affect human health and safety, with disproportionate impacts on low-income communities. While some challenges are being addressed at the city level, new alliances at the neighbourhood level are initiating community development programmes and projects. This article reports on an intervention study carried out in collaboration with community representatives, city staff, and non-profit organisations to mitigate adverse effects of urban sprawl in the Sky Harbour Neighbourhood in Phoenix. Participatory research was conducted to design and test a tree and shade intervention. Challenges associated with navigating community desires and broader principles of sustainable development are discussed. The study offers a replicable and adaptable intervention research design aimed at empowering communities to meet urban challenges.     

Toward an Alignment of Stormwater Flow and Urban Space

Urban stormwater practices are individually diverse, but they are components of an overall urban watershed system. This study proposes a conceptual model of that system, including its component spatial areas, their arrangement along the flow route, and their associations with urban land uses and values. The model defines three spatial areas along the flow route which have evolved over time into their present forms: (1) the source area, which is arranged and furnished primarily or entirely for human use, accommodation, and comfort; (2) the perimeter area, where specialized stormwater facilities carry away source‐area runoff or buffer downstream areas from its impacts; and (3) the downstream area, which receives the discharges from the perimeter or directly from the source area. Each area presents a specific combination of stormwater features and human interactions, and excludes others. Considering stormwater flows and functions in the context of physical urban spaces brings into view the spaces’ urban structures and interacting agendas. This model allows practitioners to navigate conceptually through the system, and to focus appropriate objectives and structures on each project site.     

The Relative Importance of Landscape Amenity and Health Impacts in the Wind Farm Debate in Australia

In recent years, Australia has experienced public debate around the growth in wind farms as part of government and community strategies to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Many of the arguments put forward by opponents and supporters are similar to those that have been evident in North America and Western Europe, including possible environmental impacts on wildlife, noise levels and, perhaps most prominently adverse changes in ‘landscape amenity’. A concern of increasing prominence is that of adverse human health impacts from proximity to operating turbines. Using analysis of submissions to public inquiries and a small number of detailed interviews, we consider the increased focus in Australia on the health impacts of wind farms. We note that health impacts, as elsewhere in the world, are often part of a suite of objections to wind farm developments but conclude that for some people near such developments, these are the main concern and not a cover or proxy for other concerns, such as changes in landscape amenity and aesthetics.