To determine the dividing index between warm temperate and subtropical zones based on the spectra of altitudinal belts, this paper collected 33 spectra of altitudinal belts in the Qinling-Daba Mountains from published literatures and then analyzed the structures and the spatial patterns from south to north, from west to east and based on exposure directions. The results show that: 1) From south to north, the basal belt gradually changes from subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest to warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest; the spectra of altitudinal belts change from complex to simple; the dominant belt changes from montane broadleaf-conifer mixed forest and evergreen-deciduous broadleaf mixed forest to deciduous broadleaf forest. 2) From west to east, the structures of the altitudinal belt spectra show complexity in the east and west but simplicity in the middle section; the upper limits of both the evergreen-deciduous broadleaf mixed forest belt and montane deciduous broadleaf forest belt present a quadratic curve distribution pattern in the longitudinal direction. However, the upper limit of the montane broadleaf-conifer mixed forest belt exhibits a nearly linear decrease in the west-east direction. 3) Both the north and south slopes in the Qinling Mountains have the similar basal belt, whereas it varies greatly between the north and south slopes in the Daba Mountains. Comparably, dominant belts are very similar in the Qinling Mountains and the north slope of the Daba Mountains, but the south slope of the Daba Mountains has its own unique dominant belt: evergreen-deciduous broadleaf mixed forest. This implies that the Daba Mountains are more appropriate than the Qinling Mountains to act as the boundary between subtropical and warm-temperate zones in central China.

Based on air temperature observation data from 32 meteorological stations, temperature changes in the middle Qinling Mountains from 1959 to 2016 were analysed with respect to the north-south, seasonal and altitude differences. Our research mainly showed the following results. The annual temperature (TA) rose approximately 0.26℃/10a within the past 58 years. This warming trend was stronger on the northern slope than on the southern slope, and a warming trend reversal occurred in 1994 on the northern slope, which was three years earlier than on the southern slope. The temperature changes for the four seasons were not synchronized, and the trend in spring contributed the most to the TA trend, followed by winter, autumn, and summer. The temperature difference between summer and winter (TDSW) decreased significantly over the past 58 years. The temperature change in the middle Qinling Mountains was clearly dependent on altitude. With increases in altitude, the TA increased gradually and became stronger while the TDSW decreased gradually and became weaker. Differences in temperature change between the north and south were mainly observed in low-altitude areas. With increase in altitude, the differences gradually tended to disappear.

In 2007, China surpassed the USA to become the largest carbon emitter in the world. China has promised a 60%-65% reduction in carbon emissions per unit GDP by 2030, compared to the baseline of 2005. Therefore, it is important to obtain accurate dynamic information on the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon emissions and carbon footprints to support formulating effective national carbon emission reduction policies. This study attempts to build a carbon emission panel data model that simulates carbon emissions in China from 2000-2013 using nighttime lighting data and carbon emission statistics data. By applying the Exploratory Spatial-Temporal Data Analysis (ESTDA) framework, this study conducted an analysis on the spatial patterns and dynamic spatial-temporal interactions of carbon footprints from 2001-2013. The improved Tapio decoupling model was adopted to investigate the levels of coupling or decoupling between the carbon emission load and economic growth in 336 prefecture-level units. The results show that, firstly, high accuracy was achieved by the model in simulating carbon emissions. Secondly, the total carbon footprints and carbon deficits across China increased with average annual growth rates of 4.82% and 5.72%, respectively. The overall carbon footprints and carbon deficits were larger in the North than that in the South. There were extremely significant spatial autocorrelation features in the carbon footprints of prefecture-level units. Thirdly, the relative lengths of the Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) time paths were longer in the North than that in the South, and they increased from the coastal to the central and western regions. Lastly, the overall decoupling index was mainly a weak decoupling type, but the number of cities with this weak decoupling continued to decrease. The unsustainable development trend of China’s economic growth and carbon emission load will continue for some time.

The Qinling-Daba Mountains are the main body of China’s North-South Transitional Zone. Analysis of the north-south gradual variation of vegetation components is significant for understanding the structural diversity and complexity of this transitional zone. In this study, based on survey data of plant communities, the eastern Qinling-Daba Mountains is divided into four geographic units: the north flank of eastern Qinling Mts., south flank of eastern Qinling Mts., north flank of eastern Daba Mts. and south flank of eastern Daba Mts. We also explore division of regional climate according to areal differentiation of plant-species, community structure and species-richness, respectively. The results show that, (1) at plant-species level, there are mainly northern plants in north flank of eastern Qinling Mts. with evergreen species and fewer northern plants in south flank of eastern Qinling Mts.; there are mainly southern plants in eastern Daba Mts. (2) At community structure level, there are 4 formations (3 northern formations and 1 widespread formation) in north flank of eastern Qinling, 6 formations (3 northern formations, 1 southern formation, and 2 widespread formations) in south flank of eastern Qinling, 4 formations (2 southern formations and 2 widespread formations) in north flank of eastern Daba Mts., and 3 formations (3 southern formations) in south flank of eastern Daba Mts. In terms of the numbers and properties of formations, there is a mixture of northern and southern formations only in the south flank of eastern Qinling Mts. (3) At species-richness level, the diversity of families, genera and species decreased with increasing latitude, but the mixing of northern plants and the southern plants began to occur in south flank of eastern Qinling Mts. This means that the south flank of the eastern Qinling Mts. serves more suitably as the dividing line between China’s warm temperate and subtropical zones.

This paper presents a detailed account of the effect of shipping activity on the increasing trends of air temperatures in the Canadian Arctic region for the period of 1980-2018. Increasing trend of temperature has gained significant attention with respect to shipping activities and sea ice area in the Canadian Arctic. Temperature, sea ice area and shipping traffic datasets were investigated, and simple linear regression analyses were conducted to predict the rate of change (per decade) of the average temperature, considering winter (January) and summer (July) seasons. The results indicate that temperature generally increased over the studied region. Significant warming trend was observed during July, with an increase of up to 1°C, for the Canadian Arctic region. Such increasing trend of temperature was observed during July from the lower to higher latitudes. The increase in temperature during July is speculated to increase the melting of ice. Results also show a decline in sea ice area has a significant positive effect on the shipping traffic, and the numbers of marine vessel continue to increase in the region. The increase in temperature causes the breaking of sea ice due to shipping activities over northern Arctic Canada.

The surface air temperature lapse rate (SATLR) plays a key role in the hydrological, glacial and ecological modeling, the regional downscaling, and the reconstruction of high-resolution surface air temperature. However, how to accurately estimate the SATLR in the regions with complex terrain and climatic condition has been a great challenge for researchers. The geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was applied in this paper to estimate the SATLR in China’s mainland, and then the assessment and validation for the GWR model were made. The spatial pattern of regression residuals which was identified by Moran’s Index indicated that the GWR model was broadly reasonable for the estimation of SATLR. The small mean absolute error (MAE) in all months indicated that the GWR model had a strong predictive ability for the surface air temperature. The comparison with previous studies for the seasonal mean SATLR further evidenced the accuracy of the estimation. Therefore, the GWR method has potential application for estimating the SATLR in a large region with complex terrain and climatic condition.

In this paper, we review the research progress in development geography since the 20th century, focusing on its connotation and theory, fields, methods, and development trends. Specifically, we systematically review the research and applications of development geography, comprising fields such as the convergence of underdeveloped countries and regions, and the convergence of the process of improving the quality of life in developed countries and regions. Then, based on an analysis of research progress in development geography in foreign countries, we examine the development conditions and disciplinary advantages of development geography in China. Further, we highlight that future development geography research in China should focus on the latest international academic research and China’s national macro-strategic needs. Future research in development geography should be guided by the theory of sustainable development, the core of which is to improve sustainable livelihood capacity and regional green development levels in underdeveloped regions. This core includes the construction of industrial policy and development geography theory, as well as an interdisciplinary integrated research system. The focus must be placed on researching the spatial patterns, diffusion characteristics, and the convergence mechanism of regional development. Such a focus will facilitate exploration of the regulatory policies and scientific paths that serve regional economic construction and industrial development.

Digital terrain analysis (DTA) is one of the most important contents in the research of geographical information science (GIS). However, on the basis of the digital elevation model (DEM), many problems exist in the current research of DTA in geomorphological studies. For instance, the current DTA research appears to be focused more on morphology, phenomenon, and modern surface rather than mechanism, process, and underlying terrain. The current DTA research needs to be urgently transformed from the study of landform morphology to one focusing on landform process and mechanism. On this basis, this study summarizes the current research status of geomorphology-oriented DTA and systematically reviews and analyzes the research about the knowledge of geomorphological ontology, terrain modeling, terrain derivative calculation, and terrain analytical methods. With the help of DEM data, DTA research has the advantage of carrying out geomorphological studies from the perspective of surface morphology. However, the study of DTA has inherent defects in terms of data expression and analytic patterns. Thus, breakthroughs in basic theories and key technologies are necessary. Moreover, scholars need to realize that DTA research must be transformed from phenomenon to mechanism, from morphology to process, and from terrain to landform. At present, the research development of earth science has reached the critical stage in which the DTA research should focus more on geomorphological ontology. Consequently, this study proposes several prospects of geomorphology-oriented DTA from the aspects of value-added DEM data model, terrain derivatives and their spatial relations, and macro-terrain analysis. The study of DTA based on DEM is at a critical period along with the issue on whether the current GIS technology can truly support the development of geography. The research idea of geomorphology-oriented DTA is expected to be an important exploration and practice in the field of GIS.

It is important to quantitatively analyze the effects of protection of important ecological spaces in China to ensure national ecological security. By considering changes in the ecological land, this study examines the effects of protecting three types of important natural ecological spaces in China from 1980 to 2018. Moreover, considering important ecological spaces and their surroundings yields differences in the effects of protection between internal and external spaces, where this can provide a scientific basis for the categorization and zoning of China’s land. The results show the following: (1) In 2018, the ratio of ecological land to important natural ecological spaces accounted for 92.64%. This land had a good ecological background that reflects the developmental orientation of important ecological spaces. (2) From 1980 to 2018, the area of ecological land in important ecological spaces shrank but the rate of reduction was lower than the national average, which shows the positive effect of regulating construction in natural ecological spaces. The restorative effects of ecological projects to convert farmland into forests and grasslands have been prominent. The expanded ecological land is mainly distributed in areas where such projects have been implemented, and the reduced area is concentrated in grain-producing areas of the Northeast China Plain and agricultural oases of Xinjiang. In the future, the government should focus on strengthening the management and control of these areas. (3) The area ratio of ecological land was the highest in national nature reserves. The rate of reduction in its area was the lowest and the trend of reduction was the smallest in national nature reserves, which reflects differences in the status of ecological protection among different spaces. (4) The ratio of ecological land to important ecological spaces was higher than that in the surrounding external space, and the rate of reduction in it was lower. Thus, the effects of internal and external protection had clear differences in terms of gradient.

Climate change (CC) and human activities (HA) are the main reasons for the restoration/degradation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) grassland. Many related studies have been conducted thus far, but the impact mechanism of CC coupled with HA on QTP remains unclear. We summarized the two main coupling factors in recent years (specifically, in the past five years) and obtained the following conclusions. (1) CC and HA have positive and negative effects on the QTP grassland ecosystem. CC primarily affects grassland ecology through temperature, humidification, and extreme climate, and HA mainly affects ecosystems through primary, secondary, and tertiary industries and restoration measures. (2) CC coupled with HA affects soil, plants, animals, and fungi/microbes. CC makes the snow line rise by increasing the temperature, which expands the zone for HA. CC also restricts HA through hydrological changes, extreme climate, and outbreak of pikas and pests. Simultaneously, measures are implemented through HA to control and adapt to CC. Hence, the grassland ecosystem is comprehensively influenced by CC and HA. (3) The grassland ecosystem dynamically adapts to the disturbance caused by CC and HA by changing its physiological characteristics, distribution range, diet structure, community structure, and physical state. Simultaneously, it responds to environmental changes through desertification, poisonous weeds, rodent outbreak, release of harmful gases, and other means. This work can be used as a reference for the sustainable development of the QTP grassland.

Global large-scale urbanization and climate change have become indisputable scientific facts yet are unresolved issues, and are a common concern for mankind. The relationship between these two topics is unclear and it is not known how to deal appropriately at the scientific level with climate change in the process of urbanization. Further exploration of the science, management and practice, are needed to achieve global and regional sustainable development. This paper first considers the basic facts concerning mass urbanization and climate change and summarizes the interactions and possible mechanisms of urbanization and climate change. Urbanization leads to the heat island effect, an uneven distribution of precipitation and extreme weather, together with a local-regional-global multi-scale superposition effect, which aggravates the consequences of global climate change. The impact of climate change on urbanization is mainly manifested in aspects such as changes of energy consumption, mortality, and the spread of infectious diseases, sea level rise, extreme weather damage to infrastructure, and water shortages. This paper also briefly reviews relevant international research programs and action coalitions and puts forward an analysis framework of multi-dimensional sustainable urbanization which can adapt to and mitigate climate change, from the perspective of the four key dimensions—population, land use, economy, and society. It is imperative that we strengthen the interdisciplinary activities involving the natural and social sciences, take urbanization and other human activities into consideration of the land - atmosphere system, and explore the human-land-atmosphere coupling process. The adaptation and mitigation from the perspective of human activities, as represented by urbanization, might be the most critical and realistic way to deal with climate change.

Rural spatial governance has become an important part of the spatial governance system under the unified management of urban and rural spaces. In-depth theoretical and practical research on rural spatial governance in terms of promoting national spatial planning can help improve the planning and regulation system of rural space. Beginning with a description of rural spatial governance, this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework of rural spatial governance based on the comprehensive perspective of spatial governance. The study also discusses the internal processes and feasible paths of rural spatial governance in territorial spatial planning and outlines the theoretical and practical research for enhancing rural spatial governance. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Rural spatial governance starts with the coordination theory of human-land relationships in the rural regional system. Through planning and negotiation, governance has effective regulation of rural space and allocates spatial rights in an orderly manner. Rural spatial governance highlights the comprehensive governance processes that combine “top-down” and “bottom-up” participation by multiple subjects. (2) Through the “action-efficiency-target” system, the comprehensive governance analysis framework of “matter-organization-ownership” in rural space provides an effective scheme for constructing rural spatial governance. Rural spatial governance is characterized by both rigidity and flexibility, the interaction between physical space and spatial relationships, and the superposition of spatial ownership and spatial organization. (3) The rural spatial governance features of interconnecting various scales (regional-village-plot) are conducive to improving the rural spatial governance system. (4) The governance means, participation modes, and value-sharing mechanisms of rural spatial governance help enrich the territorial spatial planning system, promote the integration of multiple regulations, refine the regulation of land use, and ensure good rural governance and ecological governance.

Water resources in the arid land of Northwest China mainly derive from snow and glacier melt water in mountainous areas. So the study on onset, cessation, length, temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period is of great significance for allocating limited water resources reasonably and taking scientific water resources management measures. Using daily mean temperature and precipitation from 8 mountainous weather stations over the period 1960?2010 in the arid land of Northwest China, this paper analyzes climate change of snowmelt period and its spatial variations and explores the sensitivity of runoff to length, temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period. The results show that mean onset of snowmelt period has shifted 15.33 days earlier while mean ending date has moved 9.19 days later. Onset of snowmelt period in southern Tianshan Mountains moved 20.01 days earlier while that in northern Qilian Mountains moved only 10.16 days earlier. Mean precipitation and air temperature increased by 47.3 mm and 0.857℃ in the mountainous areas of Northwest China, respectively. The precipitation of snowmelt period increased the fastest, which is observed in southern Tianshan Mountains, up to 65 mm, and the precipitation and temperature in northern Kunlun Mountains increased the slowest, an increase of 25 mm and 0.617℃, respectively, while the temperature in northern Qilian Mountains increased the fastest, increasing by 1.05℃. The annual runoff is also sensitive to the variations of precipitation and temperature of snowmelt period, because variation of precipitation induces annual runoff change by 7.69% while change of snowmelt period temperature results in annual runoff change by 14.15%.

This study is focused on indexes for the rice chilling injury in Heilongjiang Province during 1960-2009. Firstly, we compared a new derived climate data weighted by rice planting density with the traditional method, and found that the new one is more reasonable to assess the impact of climate change on crop yields. Considering the frequency and intensity of rice chilling in the province, secondly, chilling indexes defined by meteorological, national and international levels were assessed. The result showed that the meteorological standards were suitable for the delayed-type injury, while the international one, so-called sum of Growing Degree Day below threshold (GDD_n-), characterized best the sterile-type chilling injury for rice. The explanation ability of the rice yield time series model including both injury types as two independent variables reached approximately 92% (p < 0.05). Finally, we concluded that the contribution rates of human and weather factors to rice yields are about 87.2% and 12.8% respectively, and as light increasing trend for sterile-type chilling injury was found during heading to flowing period in recent years, indicating a high chilling risk for rice planting in Heilongjiang Province in the future global warming.

Recently,important land use changes have occurred in the Black Sea coastal regions of Ístanbul due to urban growth and population increases.The objective of this study was to determine changes in land use in the Black Sea coastal regions of?stanbul between 1987 and 2007.Landsat 30 m satellite images from 1987 and 2007 are used in the study.The study area is 1000 m in width from the coastline to the land and the study has been carried out using the controlled classification method to classify areas into residential,agricultural, forest,bare land,brush/grassland,and lake/pond land classes.Land use changes between 1987 and 2007 were analysed in detail.Residential areas of the Black Sea coastal regions of Ístanbul increased by 122%over the two decades.Also an increase of 55%in agriculture areas was observed,while there were decreases of 26%in forest areas and 15%in free land. A 21%increase in the area of brush and grassland took place.Furthermore 79%of the study area was covered by residential areas in 2007.It is probable that pressure on the Ístanbul coastal regions will continue due to migraton and rapid urbanization.Therefore,Istanbul's Black Sea coastal regions should be maintained using a sustainable coastal management plan.

Runoff at the three time scales (non-flooding season, flooding season and annual period) was simulated and tested from 1958 to 2005 at Tangnaihai (Yellow River Source Region: YeSR), Zhimenda (Yangtze River Source Region: YaSR) and Changdu (Lancang River Source Region: LcSR) by hydrological modeling, trend detection and comparative analysis. Also, future runoff variations from 2010 to 2039 at the three outlets were analyzed in A1B and B1 scenarios of CSIRO and NCAR climate model and the impact of climate change was tested. The results showed that the annual and non-flooding season runoff decreased significantly in YeSR, which decreased the water discharge to the midstream and downstream of the Yellow River, and intensified the water shortage in the Yellow River Basin, but the other two regions were not statistically significant in the last 48 years. Compared with the runoff in baseline (1990s), the runoff in YeSR would decrease in the following 30 years (2010-2039), especially in the non-flooding season. Thus the water shortage in the midstream and downstream of the Yellow River Basin would be serious continuously. The runoff in YaSR would increase, especially in the flooding season, thus the flood control situation would be severe. The runoff in LcSR would also be greater than the current runoff, and the annual and flooding season runoff would not change significantly, while the runoff variation in the non-flooding season is uncertain. It would increase significantly in the B1 scenario of CSIRO model but decrease significantly in B1 scenario of NCAR model. Furthermore, the most sensitive region to climate change is YaSR, followed by YeSR and LcSR.

The expansion of agriculture is posited as one of the main dynamics of forest landscape change globally, and the robust modeling of these processes is important for policy as well as academic concern. This paper concerns a relatively small area of Yiluo River catchment where considerable attention has been paid to slow down the process of the expansion of agriculture into the remaining natural forests. In the present study, we reconstructed the former forest landscape structure and elucidated the landscape change during a period of about 15 years. Three sets (1987, 1996 and 2002) of maps derived from Landsat-5 images were used for analyses. The result showed that there was a decrease in the area of the forest landscape from 995.60 km² in 1987 to 650.50 km² in 2002. Then we examined the degree to which forest landscape conversion could be attributed to a set of factors identified as significant at broader scales, namely topography, distribution of the village clusters (centroids), distance from villages (centroids), and distance from forest edge (1987). By using “spatial analysis” in Arc/gis 8.3, the correlation between forest landscape change and driving factors was constructed. This study found that forest landscape conversion in this region was largely explained by elevation, slope and proximity to village.

The mouth bar in the Yangtze estuarine waterways has a significant influence on navigational transport within the estuary,flood discharge and construction of the Shanghai Port.In this paper the morphological evolution and mechanisms of mouth bar formation of the Yangtze estuarine waterways are studied by analyzing hundreds of years of historical data and the latest profile maps of some or the main mouth bar channels in the Yangtze Estuary. The results are shown as follows:The mouth bars in the North Branch have moved gradually from outside the mouth to the inside and formed a huge sand bar.In the North Channel,the head of the mouth bar has migrated about 30 kilometers downstream,and a channel bar has been developing since 2001.Two mouth bar tops,which always existed in the North Passage, disappeared in 2010.The head of the mouth bar in the South Passage has migrated downstream about 14 km and the number of tops increased at first but is reduced to only one now. According to the results,we can conclude that the evolution of the mouth bars differs depending on their location.In the North Branch it is directly related to large-scale reclamation in Chongming Island,but in the North Passage it has a close relationship with regulation of the Yangtze Estuary Deepwater Channel.However,the evolution of mouth bars in the North Channel and South Passage is not only connected with the Yangtze Estuary Deepwater Channel Regulation Project,but also with the reclamation in the East Hengsha Shoal and the closure of the Qingcaosha Reservoir.

As important mechanisms of regional strategy and policy,prefecture-level regions have played an increasingly significant role in the development of China's economy.However, little research has grasped the essence of the economic development stage and the spatio-temporal evolution process at the prefecture level;this may lead to biased policies and their ineffective implementations.Based on Chenery's economic development theory,this paper identifies China's economic development stages at both national and prefectural levels. Both the Global Moran I index and the Getis–Ord Gi*index are employed to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of China's economic development from 1990 to 2010.Major conclusions can be drawn as follows.(1)China's economic development is generally in the state of agglomeration.It entered the Primary Production Stage in 1990,and the Middle Industrialized Stage in 2010,with a‘balanced–unbalanced–gradually rebalanced' pattern in the process.(2)China's rapid economic growth experienced a spatial shift from the coastal areas to the the inland areas.Most advanced cities in mid-western China can be roughly categorized into regional hub cities and resource-dependent cities.(3)Hot spots in China's economy moved northward and westward.The interactions between cities and prefectures became weaker in Eastern China,while cities and prefectures in Central and Western China were still at the stage of individual development,with limited effect on the surrounding cities.(4)While the overall growth rate of China's economy has gradually slowed down during the past two decades,the growth rate of cities and prefectures in Central and Western China was much faster than those in coastal areas.(5)Areas rich in resources,such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia,have become the new hot spots of economic growth in recent years.For these regions,however,more attention needs to be paid to their unbalanced industrial structures and the lagging social development against the backdrop of the rapid economic growth, driven predominantly by the exploitation of resources.

Actual evapotranspiration is a key process of hydrological cycle and a sole term that links land surface water balance and land surface energy balance.Evapotranspiration plays a key role in simulating hydrological effect of climate change,and a review of evapotranspiration estimation methods in hydrological models is of vital importance.This paper firstly summarizes the evapotranspiration estimation methods applied in hydrological models and then classifies them into the integrated converting methods and the classification gathering methods by their mechanism.Integrated converting methods are usually used in hydrological models and two differences exist among them:one is in the potential evaporation estimation methods,while the other in the function for defining relationship between potential evaporation and actual evapotranspiration.Due to the higher information requirements of the Penman-Monteith method and the existing data uncertainty,simplified empirical methods for calculating potential and actual evapotranspiration are widely used in hydrological models. Different evapotranspiration calculation methods are used depending on the complexity of the hydrological model,and importance and difficulty in the selection of the most suitable evapotranspiration methods is discussed.Finally,this paper points out the prospective development trends of the evapotranspiration estimating methods in hydrological modeling.

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the Geographical Society of China(GSC)was held on October 12-14 in Henan University,Kaifeng,Henan Province.The meeting was co-sponsored by the GSC and Henan Association of Science and Technology,and co-hosted by Henan University with a history of 100 years and Henan University of Economics and Law.A total of around 1300 geographers throughout China participated in this meeting and more than 800 papers including 560 oral presentations were submitted and discussed.During the meeting,20 young scholars were prized for their excellent papers presented to this annual meeting.

Qinghai Lake and Zhuye Lake, ~400 km apart, are located in the northwest margin of the Asian summer monsoon. Water of these two lakes mostly comes from the middle and eastern parts of the Qilian Mountains. Previous studies show that the Holocene climate changes of the two lakes implied from lake records are different. Whether lake evaporation plays a role in asynchronous Holocene climate changes is important to understand the lake records. In this paper, we used modern observations beside Qinghai Lake and Zhuye Lake to test the impact factors for lake evaporation. Pan evaporation near the two lakes is mainly related to relative humidity, temperature, vapor pressure and sunshine duration. But temperature has different impacts to lake evaporation of the two lakes, which can affect Holocene millennial-scale lake level changes. In addition, differences in relative humidity on the millennial-scale would be more significant, which also can contribute to asynchronous lake records.

The damage of dwelling houses constitutes the primary cause of casualties and asset loss in seismic disasters that occurred in Chinese rural areas. The structure of houses is crucial for assessing the vulnerability of rural houses. However, at present, available data on rural housing structure are incomplete and their spatial scales are inconsistent. This paper estimated the amount and ratio of rural houses in five structures, namely ‘wood’, ‘brick’, ‘mixed’, ‘reinforced concrete’, and ‘other’, for 2380 counties across China. With the percentage sampling census data in 2005, four accuracy levels were specified. Then, a set of down-scaling models were established, where the impact of climate, economic development level and ethnic minority cultural factors on rural housing structure, as well as the spatial autocorrelation of neighboring spatial units were considered. Based on the estimation results, a database of county-level rural housing structure was established, based on which the vulnerability of rural houses in different areas was clarified.

From 1981 to 2010,the effects of climate change on evapotranspiration of the alpine ecosystem and the regional difference of effects in the Tibetan Plateau(TP)were studied based on the Lund-Potsdam-Jena dynamic vegetation model and data from 80 meteorological stations.Changes in actual evapotranspiration(AET)and water balance in TP were analyzed.Over the last 30 years,climate change in TP was characterized by sig- nificantly increased temperature,slightly increased precipitation,and decreased potential evapotranspiration(PET),which was significant before 2000.AET exhibited increasing trends in most parts of TP.The difference between precipitation and AET decreased in the south- eastern plateau and increased in the northwestern plateau.A decrease in atmospheric water demand will lead to a decreased trend in AET.However,AET in most regions increased be- cause of increased precipitation.Increased precipitation was observed in 86%of the areas with increased AET,whereas decreased precipitation was observed in 73%of the areas with decreased AET.

Land use change is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. In the last 20 years, China’s land use pattern has undergone profound changes. This study constructs an Ecosystem Comprehensive Anthropogenic Disturbance Index (ECADI) to assess disturbance impacts of land use change between 1990 and 2010 on biodiversity conservation priority areas at national and regional scales. Four levels of biodiversity conservation areas were categorized: generally important areas, moderately important areas, important areas, and very important areas. The results indicated a higher ECADI value in 2010 in Central and Eastern China than in Western China, and the values of the moderately important, important and very important regions were lower than the average value of the whole country at all levels. Notably, in recent 20 years, the change extent of ECADI values in Central and Eastern China were much greater compared with that in Western China, and ECADI values in the moderately important, important and very important biodiversity conservation areas all showed increasing trends, with the increasing extent lower than that of whole China at all levels. Due to human activities such as urbanization in Eastern China and cropland reclamation in Northeast China and Xinjiang, ECADI values showed a medium increase trend (the change rate was about 1%-5% in 10 years), which indicated the need for more conservation efforts in those regions. However, ECADI values in the Loess Plateau presented a low decline trend (the change rate was about -1% to -0.1% in 10 years) after 2000 because of the obvious effectiveness of Green for Grain Project. Furthermore, the variation was negligible in the Tibetan Plateau.

As one of the key issues in China’s sustainable development, rapid urbanization and continuous economic growth are accompanied by a steady increase of water consumption and a severe urban water crisis. A better understanding of the relationship among urbanization, economic growth and water use change is necessary for Chinese decision makers at various levels to address the positive and negative effects of urbanization. Thus, we established a complete decomposition model to quantify the driving effects of urbanization on economic growth and water use change for China and its 31 provincial administrative regions during the period of 1997-2011. The results show that, (1) China’s urbanization only contributed about 30% of the economic growth. Therefore, such idea as urbanization is the major driving force of economic growth may be weakened. (2) China’s urbanization increased 2352×10⁸ m³ of water use by increasing the economic aggregate. However, it decreased 4530×10⁸ m³ of water use by optimizing the industrial structure and improving the water use efficiency. Therefore, such idea as urbanization is the major driving force of water demand growth may be reacquainted. (3) Urbanization usually made greater contribution to economic and water use growth in the provincial administrative regions in east and central China, which had larger population and economic aggregate and stepped into the accelerating period of urbanization. However, it also made greater contribution to industrial structure optimization and water use efficiency improvement, and then largely decreased total water use. In total, urbanization had negative effects on water use growth in most provincial administrative regions in China, and the spatiotemporal differences among them were lessened on the whole. (4) Though urbanization helps to decrease water use for China and most provincial administrative regions, it may cause water crisis in urban built-up areas or urban agglomerations. Therefore, China should construct the water transfer and compensation mechanisms between urban and rural areas, or low and high density urban areas as soon as possible.

Land urbanization plays an important supporting and restriction role in the rapid and sustainable development of urbanization in China, and it shows distinctive spatial heterogeneity. Applying urban area as the basic research unit and urban construction land area as the core indicator, this paper establishes the conceptual framework and calculation method for the quantity and rate of land urbanization process. The study evaluates the spatial differentiation pattern of absolute and relative process of land urbanization in 658 cities in China from 2000 to 2010. The spatial distribution of cities with rapid land urbanization process is discussed, and the contribution rate and its spatial heterogeneity of major land use types are examined with the aid of GIS. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Land urbanization in China shows a clear spatial difference. The greater the city scale, the faster its land urbanization. The cities with rapid land urbanization show a significant pattern of central distribution in coastal regions and a scattered distribution in the inland regions. (2) Over the last 10 years, the average quantity of land urbanization in the 656 cities was 3.82 km², the quantity of land urbanization is differentiated by administrative grade. The average rate of land urbanization was 6.89%, obviously faster than the speed of population urbanization. The rate of land urbanization reveals a pattern of differentiation between coastal and other cities. (3) In the past 10 years, the two primary land use types associated with land urbanization in China are residential and industrial, with a combined contribution rate of 52.49%. The greater the scale of the city, the more significant the driving effect of industrial land. In small- and medium-scale cities of the western and central regions, the growth of residential land is the primary driver of land urbanization, while in coastal urban agglomerations and cities on important communication axes, the growth of industrial land is the main driver. (4) Overall, urban population agglomeration, industrial growth and investment are the three drivers of land urbanization in China, but cities of different scales have different drivers.

Based on multiple remote-sensing image interpretation and classification, and economic and social data, this study focused on rural settlement and land use change amidst rapid urbanization. Rural settlements, spatial and temporal patterns of land use and influencing factors in the Bohai Rim were explored within 5×5 km grid cells, as per GIS spatial analysis and geostatistical analysis. Results show that the spatial distribution of rural settlements in the Bohai Rim is remarkably varied. The number of rural settlement sites in a 5×5 km grid cell exceeding 5.0 are distributed in a six-area pattern in the Bohai Rim; rural settlement dispersion is particularly high in agricultural regions in south Hebei and southwest Shandong, suggesting rural settlement density keeps increasing from northeast to southwest, characterized by high density and dispersed spatial distribution in traditional agricultural regions. Furthermore, rural settlements show dramatic spatial differences in terms of distribution and dynamic change degrees in the Bohai Rim. In terms of spatial distribution, rural residential land is always extensive in plains, with a high density of rural settlements, on the North China Plain in particular, and rural residential land in the south of Shandong province is also extensive, with most rural settlement land use areas in the 5×5 km grid cells exceeding 3 km². However, traditional agricultural regions have underdeveloped economies, industrialization and tertiary industries, characterized by low urbanization rates, with farmers not feeling assimilated in rural or urban areas. In terms of the temporal sequence, urban expansion rapidly promotes the transformation of rural residential lands in rural-urban transitional belts of provincial capital or prefecture-level city into urban lands, and in traditional rural areas, residential lands are growing. The natural environment, transportation conditions, economic development and farmers’ incomes all have effects on type of land use change and pattern of rural settlements. It is a core objective for future rural development to reconstruct a rational spatial pattern of villages or towns and well-organized village-town systems, build central villages, key towns or central towns, optimize or reconstruct production, living and eco-space of rural areas. It is of significance for rural geographical research to further interpret and explore spatial reconstruction theory.

Water demand increases continuously with an increasing population and economic development. As a result, the difference between water supply and demand becomes a significant issue, especially in arid regions. To figure out the utilization of water resources in the arid region of northwestern China (ARNWC), and also to provide methodologies to predict the water use in future, three models were established in this study to calculate agricultural irrigation, industrial and domestic water use in the ARNWC from the late 1980s to 2010. Based on river discharges in the region, the supply and demand of water resources at the river basin level were analyzed. The results indicated that agricultural irrigation demand occupies more than 90% of the total water use in the ARNWC. Total water demand increased from 31.97 km³ in the late 1980s to 48.19 km³ in 2010. Most river basins in this arid region were under medium and high water stress. Severe-risk river basins, such as the Shiyang river basin and the eastern part of the northern piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains, were found in this region. It was revealed that the water supply became critical from April to May, which was the season of the lowest water supply as determined by comparing monthly water consumption.

It is necessary to reconstruct past changes in land use and land cover to understand the historical effects of humans on climate and the local environment. We collected information from historical documents on the cropland area at the county level for Heilongjiang Province, northeast China during 1900-1910. The original records from different historical documents were calibrated with each other. We then defined an agricultural suitability index quantified by the distance from settlements, the slope and complexity of the topography, and the distance from rivers. Following the order of the agricultural suitability index from high to low values, the documented areas of cropland at the county level were then allocated into 1 km × 1 km cells. The area of cropland in 2009 was then retrieved from Landsat ETM+ images and compared with the areas of cropland during 1900-1910 to determine the human-induced changes in land use and land cover. In this period, the total area of cropland was about 25,397 km² and this mainly occurred in the mid-southern part of Heilongjiang, in particular the six counties of Hailun, Bayan, Wuchang, Hulan, Shuangcheng and Wangkui. In 2009, the total area of cropland had increased to about 163,808 km² and had spread over the southwestern part to the central and northeastern parts of Heilongjiang. The area of cropland had therefore increased by about 138,411 km² during the 20th century. The proportion of land used as cropland increased from about 5.6% during 1900-1910 to about 36.2% in 2009, indicating that about 30.6% of the natural land surface in Heilongjiang was replaced by cropland. A total of about 44% (60,962 km²) of the cropland was converted from forest, mainly on the western edge and in the northeastern part of the present-day agricultural area. These areas of cropland reconstructed from historical records for the period 1900-1910 could be used as a basic data set to study the effects of agricultural development on climate and the local environment.