Indigenous Grass Ecology and Socio-Economic Values in Swaziland

The fast-degrading land resources of Swaziland requires a multi-faceted approach to their management. One resource of utmost importance to all Swazis is grass. Grass research over the years had focused on pasture grass, while other uses have been neglected. The omission is a serious one and could be attributed to the neglect of indigenous grass knowledge and people's socio-economic values of grasses. Grass as a major resource is used for cattle feed, ecological control measures, medicinal plants and crafts. Within the study area, 46 grass species were identified and described by the local people. The neglect of the people's knowledge and utilitarian values of grass is a waste of resources. Thus, for grass research to be relevant to the people and national development objectives, research scientists should rethink their approach; they need to recognize and incorporate the indigenous knowledge about other uses of grasses.     

Urban forest landscape patterns in Ma'anshan City,China

The landscape pattern of Ma'anshan City was analyzed based on theories and methodologies of landscape ecology, remote sensing, global positioning, and a geographic information system (GIS). The study area encompassed the entire built-up area of 63.88 km²; a north–south transect 3-km wide and 13-km long was established along the long axis of the city. Five major landscape elements were assessed: urban land, urban forest, agriculture, water, and grass. Urban land was the dominant land cover type, and occupied 67% of total land area; while patches of urban forest occupied 16%, with a landscape element dominance of 0.42. Urban forest was classified according to land-use category and location into six types: scenic forest, yard forest, recreational forest, roadside forest, shelter forest, and nurseries. There were 2464 urban forest patches, the largest being 185.1 ha, with an average of 0.43 ha. The low nearest neighbor index and high patch density indicated that urban forest patches tend to be aggregated and have a high degree of fragmentation. This study also demonstrated that the spatial pattern of urbanization could be quantified using a combination of landscape metrics and gradient analysis. Urban forest has distinct spatial characters that are dependent on specific landscape metrics along the urbanization gradient.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of alpine ecotones: A spatial explicit model targeting altitudinal vegetation shifts

There is general agreement in literature that Alpine vegetation belt ecotones have shown a trend of upward migration in the last few decades. Despite the potential of such shifts as indicators of global change effects in mountain ecosystems, there are relatively few works focused on their assessment in a systematic and spatially explicit way. In this work our aim is to quantify the altitudinal shifts and analyse the spatial pattern dynamics of mountain ecotones. We developed a novel procedure to delineate the current and former state of three characteristic mountain ecotones, which we formalised as forest, tree and tundra lines. Our approach is based on the recognition of altitudinal extreme outposts identified with ecotone locations at a slope scale. The integration of multi-temporal datasets allows the identification and quantification of altitudinal advances and retreats in the outpost locations for a given period. We tested the method in a section of the Italian Alps for the period 1957-2003. Results show a general trend of an increase in altitude for the three ecotones, despite the occurrence of occasional decreases. We estimate decadal altitude increments of 25 m for forest line, 13 m for treeline and 11 m for tundra line. We also identified changes in ecotone spatial morphology between the two dates, with significant implications in connectivity and colonisation dynamics.     

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.     

Genetically engineered herbicide resistance,part two

Should we continue to support publicly funded research on genetically engineered herbicide resistant crops? In Part One, I discussed the difference between science and ethics, presented a brief history of weed control, and explained three moral principles undergirding my environmentalist perspective. I then argued that unqualified endorsement (E) of the research is unjustified, as is unqualified opposition (O). In Part Two, I argue against qualified endorsement (QE), and for qualified opposition (QO).     

快速城镇化地区生态用地演变及驱动力分析

基于高分辨率遥感影像、GIS和RS技术,利用转移矩阵、景观指数和地图叠加等方法系统分析了辛庄镇域生态用地演变的时空特征,并引入二项Logistic回归模型,选择到农村居民点的距离、到道路的距离、到河流水系的距离、到村镇中心的距离、人均GDP、人均工业总产值、人均农业总产值、人均收入、人口密度为驱动因子,对研究区主要类型生态用地变化的驱动力进行分析。结果表明:1991~2009年,辛庄镇生态用地空间结构和面积变化剧烈,总体上呈加速缩减趋势。其中,水田面积变化尤为明显,18a间累积减少1 806.61hm2;经济效益较高的水产养殖用地和园地规模有所增长,尤其是水产养殖用地,1991~2009年年均增长43.01hm2,长幅为93.26%。生态用地主要转移去向为水产养殖用地、居住用地和工业用地。生态用地总体上破碎化程度加剧,类型水平上,大体上呈现为破碎度加剧、景观形状日趋规则、优势度逐渐降低、聚集度日益增加的态势。各时段生态用地演变的主要驱动因子均为邻域因子,但随着时间的推移,社会经济因子对生态用地变化的解释效力逐渐增强。     

成渝地区《大气污染防治行动计划》实施的成本效益评估

本文基于大气污染导致的疾病负担模型和投入产出模型，利用成渝地区环境统计基表以及《大气污染防治行动计划》（以下简称"大气十条"）自查报告的详细数据，对成渝地区"大气十条"实施的大气污染治理成本、健康效益和社会经济影响进行全面评估，得出如下结论：①成渝地区"大气十条"实施的环境健康效益大于其治理成本，成渝地区"大气十条"实施成本为376.3亿元，环境健康效益为670亿元，环境健康效益比实施成本高78%。②重点工业行业是成渝地区"大气十条"治理的重点，其治理成本为309.3亿元；其次是机动车治理成本，为50.1亿元。③成渝地区"大气十条"实施的环保投资为746亿元，对GDP拉动效应为1004.7亿元，增加就业5.24万人，有一定的社会经济拉动效益。④成渝地区PM_2.5降低1μg/m³需花费8.2亿元，其中，四川省PM_2.5降低1μg/m³成本为10.4亿元，重庆市为6.0亿元。     

1993—2018年中国沿海海平面异常升高的时空格局特征及潜在社会经济风险估计

全球变暖诱发海平面上升是当前陆海作用领域的热点议题。应用卫星高度计观测海平面异常（SLA）数据,结合共享社会经济路径情景（SSP_S）,探讨我国沿海地区1993—2018年海平面异常升高的时空格局特征及潜在社会经济风险。结果显示：（1）过去26年间,我国沿海年均海平面和极端海平面均呈波动上升趋势,变化速率分别达到3.47±0.50 mm/a和4.74±1.39 mm/a。（2）空间上,我国四大海区上升速率由高到低排序为：东海>黄海>渤海>南海;省域尺度上,苏、闽、浙的海平面增速较大,而粤、沪、台的海平面上升速率较慢。（3）MK检验和Sen趋势分析显示,整个海区的年均海平面全部呈显著增加趋势,其中84.16%的区域处于增速中等偏慢水平,2.32%的区域增速快;而极端海平面中显著增加区域占76%,其中59.65%的区域增速慢,2.31%的区域增速快;无显著减少区域。（4）空间波动性上,我国历年海平面变化整体处于较低的波动水平;其中,较低波动区占61.31%,而高波动与较高波动区仅占到3.17%。（5）到2100年,我国海平面上升高度将达到71.71±19.01 cm;在三种共享社会经济发展路径下（SSP₁、SSP₂和SSP₃）,我国沿海地区潜在经济损失将达10万~21万亿元人民币（2005年可比价）,受影响人口数达350万~550万人;其中,广东省水淹面积最大（占到省份陆域总面积的0.7%）,经济和人口风险也最高。因此,减缓和应对海平面上升风险,是21世纪我国沿海地区保持经济社会、资源环境可持续发展的重要命题。     

基于景观生态学的广州城镇建设用地扩张模式分析

在遥感和GIS技术支持下,提取了广州市老八区（以2000年行政区划为准）1978—2005年四个时段的建设用地面积,结合景观指数,从建设用地变化的数量、速度和时空扩张模式几个方面探讨了1978—2005年间三个不同阶段的城市扩张规律。结果表明：（1）广州市建设用地快速扩张,在1978—2005年期间,总面积增加了47158.94,其中1978—1990、1990—2000、2000—2005三个时期的建设用地年扩张速度一直呈上升趋势,分别为：1395.42hm2·a-1、1699.92hm2·a-1、2682.93hm2·a-1。（2）三种扩展类型中,蔓延式扩张是广州市建设用地扩张的主要类型,各时期所占扩展总面积的比例分别为：71.2%、60.5%、47.7%,呈下降的趋势;与此相反的是填充式扩张,随着城市化的发展呈上升趋势,所占比例分别为：9.3%、31.7%、46.4%;跳跃式扩张仅在第一时段较高为19.7%,而后两个时段较低,分别为7.8%和5.9%。通过研究为城市模式研究提供了详细且准确的数据,为寻求优良扩张模式奠定了一定的基础。