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%.

Vegetation greenness is a key indicator of terrestrial vegetation activity. To understand the variation in vegetation activity in spring across eastern China (EC), we analysed the variation in the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from April to May during 1982-2006. The regional mean NDVI across EC increased at the rate of 0.02/10yr (r²=0.28; p=0.024) prior to 1998; the increase ceased, and the NDVI dropped to a low level thereafter. However, the processes of variation in the NDVI were different from one region to another. In the North China Plain, a cultivated area, the NDVI increased (0.03/10yr; r²=0.52; p<0.001) from 1982 to 2006. In contrast, the NDVI decreased (-0.02/10yr; r²=0.24; p=0.014) consecutively from 1982 to 2006 in the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas, two regions of rapid urbanisation. In the eastern region of the Inner Mongolian Plateau and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in East China, the NDVI increased prior to 1998 and decreased thereafter. In the Hulun Buir area and the southern part of the Yangtze River Basin, the NDVI increased prior to 1998 and remained static thereafter. The NDVI in the grasslands and croplands in the semi-humid and semi-arid areas showed a significant positive correlation with precipitation, while the NDVI in the woodlands in the humid to semi-humid areas showed a significant positive correlation with temperature. As much as 60% of the variation in the NDVI was explained by either precipitation or temperature.

Rice planted in southern China accounts for 94% of the total in sown acreage and 88% of the total in production, which matters a lot to Chinese food security. However, due to the prolonged conflict between water availability and rice growth in spatial/temporal distribution, rice production suffers from seasonal drought at acreage of 16%-22%, which compromises food production capacity and food security. Focusing on the spatial distribution of seasonal drought with rice and the practices to adapt to it, and based on an analysis of balanced water supply for and demand by rice at a growing season scale during 1981-2030, this paper assesses the changing seasonal drought in the process of rice production under the changing climate in the future, and identifies general rice re-cultivation options for climate change adaptation. Some conclusions can be drawn as follows. (1) Rice suggests a decline in seasonal drought, with early season rice (early rice hereafter) by 12,500 km², middle season rice (middle rice) by 80,000 km², and in particular late season rice (late rice) by 25,000 km², which accounts for almost 20% of its cultivated acreage. It is indicated that due to climate change, seasonal drought in major rice producing areas tends to alleviate in general, late season rice in particular. (2) Future climate change brings about a significant impact on the spatial/temporal distribution of water resources in rice producing areas in China. Based on 'pre-designed' adaptation actions for rice-re-cultivation, the rice cultivation pattern undergoes a significant alteration between 1981-2000 and 2001-2030. In eastern Guizhou and western Hunan, the pattern of single early plus single dry farming is changed into double cropping. In eastern Hunan, the pattern of dry cropping is changed into single early plus single dry farming. In northern Anhui, the pattern of dry farming cropping is changed into middle rice. All this is aimed at a potential adequate availability of water for rice production in the future. (3) Rice re-cultivation patterns developed in this paper help re-balance water demand and supply for rice growth using the spatial analysis tool to adapt rice growth to the changing water availability from spatial perspective, and come up with rice producer-friendly re-cultivation options in response to climate change.

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.

Studying the response to warming of hydrological systems in China’s temperate glacier region is essential in order to provide information required for sustainable development. The results indicated the warming climate has had an impact on the hydrological cycle. As the glacier area subject to melting has increased and the ablation season has become longer, the contribution of meltwater to annual river discharge has increased. The earlier onset of ablation at higher elevation glaciers has resulted in the period of minimum discharge occurring earlier in the year. Seasonal runoff variations are dominated by snow and glacier melt, and an increase of meltwater has resulted in changes of the annual water cycle in the Lijiang Basin and Hailuogou Basin. The increase amplitude of runoff in the downstream region of the glacial area is much stronger than that of precipitation, resulting from the prominent increase of meltwater from glacier region in two basins. Continued observations in the glacierized basins should be undertaken in order to monitor changes, to reveal the relationships between climate, glaciers, hydrology and water supplies, and to assist in maintaining sustainable regional development.

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 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.

The vegetation coverage dynamics and its relationship with climate factors on different spatial and temporal scales in Inner Mongolia during 2001–2010 were analyzed based on MODIS-NDVI data and climate data.The results indicated that vegetation coverage in Inner Mongolia showed obvious longitudinal zonality,increasing from west to east across the region with a change rate of 0.2/10°N.During 2001–2010,the mean vegetation coverage was 0.57,0.4 and 0.16 in forest,grassland and desert biome,respectively,exhibiting evident spatial heterogeneities.Totally,vegetation coverage had a slight increasing trend during the study period.Across Inner Mongolia,the area of which the vegetation coverage showed extremely significant and significant increase accounted for 11.25%and 29.13%of the area of whole region,respectively,while the area of which the vegetation coverage showed extremely significant and significant decrease accounted for 7.65%and 26.61%,respectively. On inter-annual time scale,precipitation was the dominant driving force of vegetation coverage for the whole region.On inter-monthly scale,the change of vegetation coverage was consistent with both the change of temperature and precipitation,implying that the vegetation growth within a year is more sensitive to the combined effects of water and heat rather than either single climate factor.The vegetation coverage in forest biome was mainly driven by temperature on both inter-annual and inter-monthly scales,while that in desert biome was mainly influenced by precipitation on both the two temporal scales.In grassland biome,the yearly vegetation coverage had a better correlation with precipitation,while the monthly vegetation coverage was influenced by both temperature and precipitation.In grassland biome,the impacts of precipitation on monthly vegetation coverage showed time-delay effects.

Knowledge of vegetation distribution patterns is very important.Their relationships with topography and climate were explored through a geographically weighted regression (GWR)framework in a subtropical mountainous and hilly region,Minjiang River Basin of Fujian in China.The HJ-1 satellite image acquired on December 9,2010 was utilized and NDVI index was calculated representing the range of vegetation greenness.Proper analysis units were achieved through segregation based on small sub-basins and altitudinal bands.Results indicated that the GWR model was more powerful than ordinary linear least square(OLS) regression in interpreting vegetation-environmental relationship,indicated by higher adjusted R² and lower Akaike information criterion values.On one side,the OLS analysis revealed dominant positive influence from parameters of elevation and slope on vegetation distribution. On the other side,GWR analysis indicated that spatially,the parameters of topography had a very complex relationship with the vegetation distribution,as results of the various combinations of environmental factors,vegetation composition and also anthropogenic impact.The influences of elevation and slope generally decreased,from strongly positive to nearly zero, with increasing altitude and slope.Specially,most rapid changes of coefficients between NDVI and elevation or slope were observed in relatively flat and low-lying areas.This paper confirmed that the non-stationary analysis through the framework of GWR could lead to a better understanding of vegetation distribution in subtropical mountainous and hilly region.It was hoped that the proposed scale selection method combined with GWR framework would provide some guidelines on dealing with both spatial(horizontal)and altitudinal(vertical) non-stationarity in the dataset,and it could easily be applied in characterizing vegetation distribution patterns in other mountainous and hilly river basins and related research.

For preventing ecosystem degradation,protecting natural habitats and conserving biodiversity within the habitats,2588 nature reserves have been established in China at the end of 2010.The total area is up to 149.44 million ha and covers over 15%of Chinese terrestrial surface.Land-cover change,as the primary driver of biodiversity change,directly impacts ecosystem structures and functions.In this paper,180 National Nature Reserves(NNRs)are selected and their total area is 44.71 million ha,accounting for 29.9%of all NNRs in China.In terms of the ecosystem characteristics and their major protected object,all selected NNRs are classified into 7 types.A Positive and Negative Change Index of Land-cover(PNCIL)was developed to analyze the land-cover change of each NNRs type from the late 1980s to 2005. The results show that the land-cover of all selected NNRs types have degradated to a certain degree except the forest ecosystem reserves with a decreasing rate,but the rate of degradation alleviated gradually.The mean positive and negative change rates of land-cover in all core zones decreased by 0.69%and 0.16%respectively.The landscape pattern of land-cover in the core zones was more stable than that in the buffer zones and the experimental zones. Furthermore,the ecological diversity and patch connectivity of land-cover in selected NNRs increased generally.In short,the land-cover of 180 selected NNRs in China had a beneficial change trend after NNRs established,especially between 1995 and 2005.

Historical database of National Soil Survey Center containing 1424 geo-referenced soil profiles was used in this study for estimating the organic carbon(SOC)for the soils of Ohio,USA.Specific objective of the study was to estimate the spatial distribution of SOC density(C stock per unit area)to 1.0-m depth for soils of Ohio using geographically weighted regression(GWR),and compare the results with that obtained from multiple linear regression (MLR).About 80%of the analytical data were used for calibration and 20%for validation.A total of 20 variables including terrain attributes,climate data,bedrock geology,and land use data were used for mapping the SOC density.Results showed that the GWR provided better estimations with the lowest(3.81 kg m^-2)root mean square error(RMSE)than MLR approach. Total estimated SOC pool for soils in Ohio ranged from 727 to 742 Tg.This study demonstrates that,the local spatial statistical technique,the GWR can perform better in capturing the spatial distribution of SOC across the study region as compared to other global spatial statistical techniques such as MLR.Thus,GWR enhances the accuracy for mapping SOC density.

The wide application of information and communication technologies(ICTs)has been argued to be critical to spatial transformation of firms.Recent advances in the studies along this line have challenged traditional location theory.The existing literature,however, focuses mainly on the impacts of ICTs on locational conditions and industrial spatial distribution.The dynamics behind such changes have not yet been given sufficient attention by ge- ographers.Given this background,this paper investigates the impact of new ICTs on traditional location theory and the dynamics of industrial re-location that are enabled by new ICTs, based on data collected from an investigation of 178 firms.The paper argues that the application of new ICTs has been a key location factor in the information age,and that the time-cost is becoming critical to the spatial organization of firms,particularly as a result of a shorter product life and mass customization,among other dynamics.

Environments in arid and semiarid regions are extremely sensitive to climate changes.High wind activity in these regions has resulted in an extensively developed arid geomorphology,but past environmental changes are poorly understood because of the absence of relatively high-resolution proxies.The accumulation characteristics of nebkhas, which have developed extensively in these regions,can be used as a method of reconstructing environmental changes.Here we summarized recent advances in research on the formation,development,and sediment characteristics of nebkhas and their significance to environmental changes in arid and semiarid regions.Based on the studies of our colleagues, we suggested that research on nebkha formation can provide distinct clues about environmental changes in arid and semiarid regions;however,continued studies are needed.

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.

As geographic literacy training is an essential content for Chinese citizens' literacy education,national geographical education is one of the indispensable key aspects of that training.Because of China's vast land area and the significance of the regional differences,it is difficult for students to receive a solid education regarding China's geography.In 1902,the government established the geography curriculum and began to incorporate the concept of geographical regionalization to facilitate the teaching of China's geography by publishing the first syllabi,which was modified later and put into use in 1904.Since 1904,numerous geography textbooks have attempted to find an appropriate way to present China's geographical regionalization,as it is important for secondary students to have a clear understanding and appreciation for the different regional characteristics.Accordingly,the geographical regionalization content is divided into four main phases:1902 to 1927;1928 to 1948;1949 to 1986; and 1986 to the present.During these phases,the content related to China's geographical regionalization in secondary middle school geography textbooks has been gradually simplified and has adopted a more scientific foundation,thus leading to the present time where there are now four geographical regional areas.From this historical study,we find that while China's geographical regionalization has gradually matured,there are still some problems. For example,dividing the study into four regions to describe the panorama of China is too simplified,and the learning therefore becomes too scattered and haphazard,particularly given the new curriculum reform.

With the classification data covering American land-use/land-cover (LUCC) with 30 m resolution from the project of National Land Cover Data (NLCD), we normalized them and made their resolution changed into 1 km ×1 km, created the data of American land-use grade and analyzed the spatial distribution and features of American LUCC as well as the influence of population and altitude on the land-use grade in light of methods of sampling analysis and correlation study. Based on the analysis, we concluded that forestry and grassland, accounting for 71.24% of the whole country, has taken the main part of American land cover, and besides, construction and arable land has occupied 19.22% of the total land, the rest of land cover types, including water area, wetland and underdeveloped land, is 9.54% of the country's total. The developing potential of American land resources is enormous with less destroyed and disturbed ecological environment. Although, in some sense, the population and altitude influence the spatial variation of American land-use grade respectively, the influence of spatial variation of altitude and population density on that of land-use grade is not significanct.

The “Grain for Green Project” initiated by the governments since 1999 were the dominant contributors to the vegetation restoration in the agro-pastoral transitional zone of northern China. Climate change and human activities are responsible for the improvement and degradation to a certain degree. In order to monitor the vegetation variations and clarify the causes of rehabilitation in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Region, this paper, based on the MODIS-NDVI and climate data during the period of 2000-2009, analyzes the main characteristics, spatial-temporal distribution and reasons of vegetation restoration, using methods of linear regression, the Hurst Exponent, standard deviation and other methods. Results are shown as follows. (1) From 2000 to 2009, the NDVI of the study area was improved progressively, with a linear tendency being 0.032/10a, faster than the growth of the Three-North Shelter Forest Program (0.007/10a) from 1982 to 2006. (2) The vegetation restoration is characterized by two fast-growing periods, with an “S-shaped” increasing curve. (3) The largest proportion of the contribution to vegetation restoration was observed in the slightly improved area, followed by the moderate and the significantly improved area; the degraded area is distributed sporadically over southern part of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as well as eastern Dingbian of Shaanxi province, Huanxian and Zhengyuan of Gansu province. (4) Climate change and human activities are two driving forces in vegetation restoration; moreover anthropogenic factors such as “Grain for Green Project” were the main causes leading to an increasing trend of NDVI on local scale. However, its influencing mechanism remains to be further investigated. (5) The Hurst Exponent of NDVI time series shows that the vegetation restoration was sustainable. It is expected that improvement in vegetation cover will expand to the most parts of the region.

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.

Paleoenvironmental history in the monsoonal margin in the northeast Tibetan Plateau provides important clue to the regional climate. Previous researches have been limited by either poor chronology or low resolution. Here we present a high-resolution pollen record from a 40.92-m-long sediment core (DLH) taken from Dalianhai, a terminal lake situated in the Gonghe Basin, the northeast Tibetan Plateau for reconstructing the vegetation and climate history since the last deglacial on the basis of a chronology controlled by 10 AMS ¹⁴C dates on plant remains preserved in the core sediments. The pollen assemblages in DLH core can be partitioned into 6 pollen zones and each zone is mainly characterized by the growth and decline of tree or herb pollen percentage. During the periods of 14.8-12.9 ka and 9.4-3.9 ka, the subalpine arboreal and local herbaceous pollen increased, indicating the subalpine forest developed in the surrounding mountains and a desert steppe or typical steppe developed in Gonghe Basin under a relatively moister climate. During the periods of 15.8-14.8 ka, 12.9-9.4 ka and 3.9-1.4 ka, the forest shrank or disappeared according to different degrees of aridity, and the desert steppe degraded to a more arid steppe desert in the basin, indicating a dry climate. After 1.4 ka, vegetation type around Dalianhai was mainly dominated by steppe suggested by increased Artemisia. Our results suggested the climate history in this region was dry from 15.8-14.8 ka, humid from 14.8-12.9 ka and dry from 12.9-9.4 ka, after which the climate was humid during 9.4-3.9 ka, followed by dry conditions during 3.9-1.4 ka and humid conditions in the last 1.4 ka. The change of pollen percentage and the evolution of palaeovegetation in Dalianhai since the last deglacial were similar to those recorded in Qinghai Lake. The forest expanded in the mountains around Dalianhai during the B?lling-Aller?d period, shrank during the Younger Dryas and the early Holocene, then it developed and reached its maximum in the mid-Holocene. During the late Holocene, the vegetation began to shrink till disappearance. However, the timing of forest expansion in the Holocene lagged behind that of Qinghai Lake, and this spatial heterogeneity was probably caused by the different forest species between these two places. The maximum of forest development in the mid-Holocene was inconsistent with the period of stronger summer monsoon in the early Holocene indicated by stalagmite records, the reason might be related to the complexity of vegetation response to a large-scale climatic change.

On the basis of Landsat TM data of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) Economic Zone in 1991, 2001 and 2008, this article, taking 90 counties in this region as study units, built spatial data transformation models, ecosystem service value (ESV) and coordination degree of eco-economic system (CDES) models. With the aid of ArcGIS9.3, mass grid and vector data has been processed for spatial analyses. ESV and CDES indexes have demonstrated the relationship between economic development and eco-environment system and its evolution characteristics in the researched areas. Furthermore, the indexes have also been used for functional zoning and pattern recognition. Some results can be shown as follows. Firstly, since 1991, land use in the YRD has greatly changed: urban land area has increased primarily from original paddy land, dry land, grassland, garden plot and other land. Secondly, the ESV model has proved the deterioration trend of the YRD ecological system from 1991 to 2001 and slower degradation trend during 2001-2008. Also, it is illustrated that land-use conversion from water area and paddy field to urban area and dry land could cause great damage to ecosystem stabilization. Thirdly, GDP in the central and southern parts of the YRD is higher than that in the northern part since 1991. GDP growth rate in the central part is higher than that in the northern part during 1991-2001. This growth rate in the central part is also higher than that in the southern and northern parts of the YRD from 2001 to 2008. Fourthly, the YRD could be categorized into 12 types of subregions in terms of CDES index. According to its spatial characteristic of CDES index value in the study area, eco-economic conflict area with low CDES value which is located in the central part is surrounded by eco-coordinated areas with high CDES values. This illustrates a core-periphery spatial structure exists in the YRD. During 1991-2001, the CDES value implied the convergent deterioration trend of eco-economic system in the study area; while it gradually stepped into coexistence of divergent deterioration and coordination during 2001-2008. Finally, this paper analyzed five subregions in the YRD, including initially degrading zone, initially coordinative zone, continuously degrading zone, coordination-declined zone and coordination-promoted zone, based on eco-economic coordination and evolution patterns. And these subregions can be recognized and categorized by spatial transformation model.

The spatial organization of the Chinese petrochemical industry was optimized according to the status of development of the industry employing linear programming and ArcGIS spatial analysis tools. We first identified the indexes of the spatial organization of the petrochemical industry and established a comprehensive evaluation index system that includes four major categories and 11 indicators. The weight of each index was then determined by the analytical hierarchy process. Afterward, taking the 337 Chinese prefecture-level administrations as basic units and scientifically evaluating the potential comprehensive layout coefficients of the cities, 151 prefecture-level administrative units were selected as the basis for the choice of optimization sites with a linear programming model. Secondly, using the 151 prefecture-level administrative units and the maximum-coverage model, the optimal number and spatial distribution of refineries were identified for service radii of 100, 200 and 300 km. Thirdly, considering the actual distribution of China’s refineries, general rules for the number of refinery layout points and objective values were summarized, and 52 refinery layout points were selected for China. Finally, with ArcGIS spatial analysis tools, the spatial effect of the 52 optimal refinery layout points was simulated for the service scope and socioeconomic factors respectively, and the GDP and population data for each refinery layout point were then extracted within the service scope. On this basis and with estimation of the intensity of crude-oil consumption, final results were obtained for the optimal spatial organization of the Chinese refining capacity and ethylene production capacity.

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.

Poverty has been a focus of Chinese government for a long time. It is therefore of great significance to investigate both the mechanisms and spatial patterns of regional impoverishment in order to adequately target Chinese anti-poverty goals. Based on the human-environment relationship and multidimensional poverty theory, this study initially develops a three-dimensional model encompassing human, society, and environmental factors to investigate the mechanisms of rural impoverishment as well as to construct an indicator system to evaluate the comprehensive poverty level (CPL) in rural areas. A back propagation neural network model was then applied to measure CPL, and standard deviation classification was used to identify counties that still require national policy-support (CRNPSs) subsequent to 2020. The results of this study suggest that CPL values conform to a decreasing trend from the southeast coast towards the inland northwest of China. Data also show that 716 CRNPSs will be present after 2020, mainly distributed in high-arid areas of the Tibetan Plateau, the transitional zones of the three-gradient terrain, as well as karst areas of southwest China. Furthermore, CRNPSs can be divided into four types, that is, key aiding counties restricted by multidimensional factors, aiding counties restricted by human development ability, aiding counties restricted by both natural resource endowment and socioeconomic development level, and aiding counties restricted by both human development ability and socioeconomic development level. We therefore propose that China should develop and adopt scientific and targeted strategies to relieve the relative poverty that still exist subsequent to 2020.

The logistics clusters are the result of concentration, scale and specialization of logistics activities, and their quantitative measurement and development evaluation provide an important foundation for improving the land use efficiency and achieving economies of scale. Taking 289 cities at prefecture-level and above as research objects, this paper collected macro-statistical data of transport, postal and warehousing industry during 2000-2014, business registration data of more than 290 thousand logistics enterprises, and 170 thousand logistics points of interest (POI). With the integration of multi-index and multi-source data, the evolution process and spatial pattern of logistics clusters in China were explored with the methods of Location Quotient (LQ), Horizontal Cluster Location Quotient (HCLQ), Logistics Employment Density (LED) and modified Logistics Establishments’ Participation (LEP). The development levels, types and modes of different logistics clusters were quantified. Several important findings are derived from the study. (1) The logistics clusters are mainly located on the east side of the Hu Huanyong Line, and the accumulative pattern evolves from group to block structure, featuring wide coverage and high concentration. The evolution of logistics clusters has two stages of rapid convergence and stable change, resulting in gradual increase in the development level and efficiency of logistics clusters and in emergence of spillover effect. (2) 21 mature logistics clusters are distributed in the core and sub-cities of the main metropolitan areas of 16 provincial-level administrative divisions, conforming to the government logistics and transport planning. 43 emerging logistics clusters are distributed in 21 provincial administrative divisions, and different types of cities have huge disparities which highlight the differentiation of the market behaviors and government planning among them. (3) The logistics clusters present differentiated development modes with the change of scales. In urban agglomerations scale, the nested “center-periphery” structures with “main nucleus-secondary cores-general nodes” are clarified. The polar nuclear development, networked and balanced development, single core and multipoint, multi-core multipoint hub-spoke development patterns are formed in different provincial administrative divisions.

The interprovincial terrestrial physical geographical entities are the key areas of regional integrated management. In this paper, we analyzed the spatial patterns of the interprovincial terrestrial physical geographical names (ITPGN) from three aspects: numerical features, spatial variance and spatial agglomeration. The influencing factors of the distribution of ITPGN and the implications for the regional management were further discussed. GIS technology was used to visualize the distribution of ITPGN, analyze the spatial agglomeration and the influencing factors of ITPGN. A total of 11,325 ITPGN, including 4243 water ITPGN and 7082 terrain ITPGN, were extracted from the database of “China’s Second National Survey of Geographical Names (2014-2018)”, and the mountain geographical names were the largest type in ITPGN. Hunan Province had the largest number of the names in China, and Shanghai had the smallest number of the names. The spatial variance of the terrain ITPGN was larger than that of the water ITPGN, and the ITPGN showed a significant agglomeration phenomenon in the southern part of China. In addition, the relative elevation and the population had an impact on the distribution of the ITPGN. The largest number of the geographical names occurred in the regions where the relative elevation was between 1000-2000 meters, and where the population was between 40-50 million. Based on the analysis, it was suggested that the government should take the ITPGN as management units, optimize management strategies based on the characteristics of different types of ITPGN, strengthen the naming of unnamed interprovincial terrestrial physical geographical entities and balance the interests in the controversial ITPGN. This study demonstrated that GIS and spatial analysis techniques were useful for the research of ITPGN and the results could provide targeted management suggestions to realize coordinated development in the interprovincial regions.

As two rising great powers, China and India have undergone similar development processes, but they also exhibit significant differences in development paths and patterns. The significant differences in political systems, economic systems, and developmental environment between the two countries have attracted great attention from scholars. This research focuses on the regional differences and spatial evolution processes in urbanization and urban systems between the two countries from a geographical perspective. Based on the demographic censuses of both countries and the urban population data from the United Nations, this paper systematically compared and analyzed the spatial characteristics of urbanization and urban systems in China and India using various methods including spatial analysis, parameter estimation, and nonparametric estimation. The results indicate that: (1) Since the 1990s, the regional differences in urbanization in China have transformed from south-north differences to coastal-inland differences, whereas the north-south differences in India have been stable. (2) In recent years, the correlation between population density and urbanization rate kept increasing in China, while such correlation has been decreasing in India. (3) The economic reform posed significantly different effects on the spatial evolution of the urban systems in the two countries. The economic reform changed the major driving force for urban development in China from geographical and historical factors to the spatial structure of the economic system. However, in India, the driving forces for urban development have always been geographical and historical factors, and the economic reform even decreased the effect of the spatial structure of the economic system on urban development.

Knowledge on urban land-use change and its driving forces has vital significance in the practice of urban planning and management. However, the characteristics of historical, long-term changes and their quantitative relationships with the urban environment are still poorly understood. Based on multi-source data, including remote sensing imageries, large-scale topographic maps, historical maps, multi-temporal city maps, and other urban thematic maps, high-quality spatial information on urban land use in the built-up area of Changchun has been extracted for 1898, 1932, 1954, 1976, 1990, 2002, and 2012 by means of geographic information systems and remote sensing. We found that the land-use structure and spatial configuration has undergone tremendous alterations according to urban function in the 100-year history of Changchun city. The built-up area of Changchun expanded from 2.26 km² in 1898 to 328.12 km² in 2012, increasing about 144 times over the past century. Historically, the development of Changchun can be categorized into three stages: the initial forming stage, the old industrial development stage, and the modern metropolis development stage. Commercial and industrial land expanded rapidly following the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, with an increase from 1.74 km² in 1954 to 15.91 km² in 2012, and from 16.45 km² in 1954 to 107.05 km² in 2012, respectively. Although there was substantial growth in residential land use (from 1.81 km² in 1898 to 113.95 km² in 2012), the area percentage of residential land decreased continuously (from 80.09% in 1898 to 34.73% in 2012). Moreover, it was noted that the spatial configuration and structural percentage for commercial, industrial, and residential lands and others had tremendous divergences at different stages. These divergences of land-use structure occurred between the stages and were associated with social regimes and the functional orientation of urban society across the 100 years of historical development. Socio-economics, population growth, and planning policies from specific stages, especially after 1949, had strong effects on the divergence of urban structure.

Land consolidation engineering is one of the very important ways to improve the quality of farmland and the level of agricultural productivity. Studies of land consolidation and crop cultivation still mainly focus on single land functional optimization or crop breeding and yields. However, whether the improved crop varieties were sown on healthy and fertile soils is still a question. This paper introduces new ideas and engineering measures for sandy land rehabilitation and modern agricultural development in the Mu Us Sandy Land, Shaanxi Province, Western China. The important roles of particles and aggregates in soil reconstruction were confirmed following three innovative microscopic theories, including micro-structure, micro-morphology and micro-mechanism. New soil was constructed based on the physical complementarity of sandy, clay and loess particles in the Yulin area, northern Shaanxi Province. Field experiments were carried out to study the appropriate mixture ratio of different soils and their suitability for different crops. The improved crop varieties were sown on healthy and fertile soils, which were chosen by coupling according to its soil ecological suitability and crop physiological adaptability. The fertility improvement practices in the new constructed soils with different crops integrated water and fertilizer management measures, which were also provided in the experiment. Overall, an integrated land optimization configuration with improved and optimized crop variety selection was suggested for engineering sandy land-oriented consolidation from the soil particles to the agricultural system.

Model simulation and scenario change analysis are the core contents of the future land-use change (LUC) study. In this paper, land use status data of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR) in 1990 was used as base data. The relationship between driving factors and land-use change was analyzed by using binary logistic stepwise regression analysis, based on which land use in 2010 was simulated by CLUE-S model. After the inspection and determination of main parameters impacting on driving factors of land use in the TGRR, land use of this region in 2030 was simulated based on four scenarios, including natural growth, food security, migration-related construction and ecological conservation. The results were shown as follows: (1) The areas under ROC curves of land-use types (LUTs) were both greater than 0.8 under the analysis and inspection of binary logistic model. These LUTs include paddy field, dryland, woodland, grassland, construction land and water area. Therefore, it has a strong interpretation ability of driving factors on land use, which can be used in the estimation of land use probability distribution. (2) The Kappa coefficients, verified from the result of land-use simulation in 2010, were shown of paddy field 0.9, dryland 0.95, woodland 0.97, grassland 0.84, construction land 0.85 and water area 0.77. So the results of simulation could meet the needs of future simulation and prediction. (3) The results of multi-scenario simulation showed a spatial competitive relationship between different LUTs, and an influence on food security, migration-related construction and ecological conservation in the TGRR, including some land use actions such as the large-scale conversion from paddy field to dryland, the occupation on cultivated land, woodland and grassland for rapid expansion of construction land, the reclamation of woodland and grassland into cultivated land, returning steep sloping farmland back into woodland and grassland. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the needs of various aspects in land use optimization, to achieve the coordination between socio-economy and ecological environment.