The paper respectively adopted physio-chemical properties of every soil stratum from 2473 soil profiles of the second national soil survey. The corresponding carbon content of soils is estimated by utilizing conversion coefficient 0.58. In the second soil survey, the total amount of soil organic carbon is about 924.18×108t and carbon density is about 10.53 kgC/m2 in China according to the area of 877.63×106 hm2 surveyed throughout the country. The spatial distribution characteristics of soil organic carbon in China is that the carbon storage increases when latitude increases in eastern China and the carbon storage decreases when longitude reduces in northern China. A transitional zone with great variation in carbon storage exists. Moreover, there is an increasing tendency of carbon density with decrease of latitude in western China. Soil circle is of great significance to global change, but with substantial difference in soil spatial distribution throughout the country. Because the structure of soil is inhomogeneous, it could bring some mistakes in estimating soil carbon reservoirs. It is necessary to farther resolve soil respiration and organic matter conversion and other questions by developing uniform and normal methods of measurement and sampling.
It is significant to estimate terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) accurately not only for global change research, but also for natural resources management to achieve sustainable development. Remote sensing data can describe spatial distribution of plant resources better. So, in this paper an NPP model based on remote sensing data and climate data is developed. And 1km resolution AVHRR NDVI data are used to estimate the spatial distribution and seasonal change of NPP in China. The results show that NPP estimated using remote sensing data are more close to truth. Total annual NPP in China is 2.645×109 tC. The spatial distribution of NPP in China is mainly affected by precipitation and has the trend of decreasing from southeast to northwest.
Assessment of coastal vulnerability to future environmental change has been emphasized in coastal nations or regions. The Jiangsu coastal plain, located to the north of the Yangtze River Delta in China, is most vulnerable to sea level rise and exacerbating coastal hazards. This paper develops the method of delimiting vulnerable scope and assessing coastal vulnerability through field observations and sampling and by applying remote sensing and GIS, which are suitable for great river delta and coastal plains with large area, relative complex micro-geomorphology and the protection of seawall. Applying this method, the coastal vulnerability of the Jiangsu coastal plain to relative sea level rise (approximately 50 cm up to the year 2050) and exacerbating storm surges have been assessed. The results show that, up to the year 2050, the Jiangsu coastal plain will probably lose 12.8 % of tidal flats (about 5.8×104 hm2) and 7.9 % of cultivated land (about 7.2×104 hm2). Meanwhile, 2.0 % of population, 3.8 % of original value of fixed assets, 3.2% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 40.3 % of salt industry and 5.8 % of aquiculture respectively will be affected due to coastal environmental change.
The “greatest lake period” means that the lakes are in the stage of their maximum areas. As the paleo lake shorelines are widely distributed in the lake basins on the Tibetan Plateau, the lake areas during the “greatest lake period” may be inferred by the last highest lake shorelines. They are several, even tens times larger than that at present. According to the analyses of tens of lakes on the Plateau, most dating data fell into the range of 40-25 ka BP, some lasted to 20 ka BP. It was corresponded to the stage 3 of marine isotope and interstitial of last glaciation. The occurrence of maximum areas of lakes marked the very humid period on the Plateau and was also related to the stronger summer monsoon during that period.
There were a series of severe floods along the middle to lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Changjiang River) in China during the 1990s. The extensive summer (June, July and August) precipitation is mostly responsible for the flooding. The summer rainfall in the 1980s and the 1990s is much higher than that in the previous 3 decades. The means for 1990-1999 is +87.62 mm above normal, marked the 1990s the wettest decade since the 1950s. Six stations with a time span of 1880-1999 are selected to establish century -long rainfall series. This series also shows that the 1990s is the wettest decade during the last 120 years. In the wettest 12 years, four occurred in the 1990s (1991,1996,1998 and 1999). Both global and China’s temperature show there is a relative lower air temperature during the 1960-1970s, and a rapid warming in the 1980-1990s. Comparisons of rainfall between 1960-1979 and 1980-1999 show there are dramatic changes. In the cold period 1960-1979, the summer rainfall along the Yangtze River is 3.8 % to 4.7 % below the normal, during the warm period 1980-1999, over 8.4 % to 18.2 % of summer rainfall occurs. Over the whole eastern China, the summer rainfall shows opposite spatial patterns from the 1960-1970s to 1980-1990s. The consistent trend toward more rainfall with global warming is also presented by the greenhouse scenario modeling. A millennial Drought/flood Index for the middle to lower reaches of the Yangtze River showed that although the surplus summer rainfall in the 1990s is the severest during the past 150 years, it is not outstanding in the context of past millennium. Power spectra of the Drought/flood Index show significant interdecadal periods at 33.3 and 11.8 years. Thus, both the natural inter-decadal variations and the global warming may play important roles in the frequent floods witnessed during the last two decades.
The Loess Plateau is well known to the world for its intense soil erosion. The root cause for river sedimentation of Yellow River (Huanghe) and its resultant "hanging river" in certain section is soil and water loss on the Loess Plateau. The Loess Plateau has a long cultivation history, hence population growth, vegetation degeneration and plugging constitute the chief reason for serious soil and water loss on Loess Plateau. This paper analyses several successful cases and failures in soil conservation, presents practical soil conservation technique and related benefit analysis, and discusses some effective methods adopted in China in soil erosion control, research directions and future perspectives on Loess Plateau.
From a long-term point of view, the balance between erosion and sediment yield in a drainage system can basically realize, i.e., the delivery ratio can be close to 1. However, substantial variations among individual rainfall events or between annual delivery ratio exist, causing frequent sediment retaining or re-erosion and re-delivery of the retained sediments in a short period of time. Thus the delivery ratio will be < 1 or > 1. The sediment delivery ratio is closely related to the spatial distribution of rainfall and magnitude of rise and fall of peak flood and that of runoff depth in the drainage system. Delivery ratio of single event in a drainage system and changes of delivery capacity of silt-laden runoff in various classes of gullies can be expressed by transformation mechanism of shear force of a single rainstorm event with flood resulting from increase and decrease of peak flood per unit area.
This paper discusses division on tropical/subtropical boundary of middle section in South China. This discussion results in new understanding on eco-geographic regions and their boundaries, especially on gradual changes of natural conditions between eco-geographic regions. It analyzes results of the same area by other researchers, clarifies differences and causes of the differences for the results. Boundaries of eco-geographic regions cannot be drawn as a line as changes from tropical to subtropical are gradual. Therefore, for an eco-geographic region like tropical zone, definite boundaries must be mapped while gradual changes are considered. Temperature, vegetation and soil are the indexes to divide tropical and subtropical. After indexes of tropical zone are confirmed, data of annual average index reflect general state of the tropical zone. Line from such data is called “tropical boundary”. On the other hand, affected by the monsoon climate, some years are hotter and some are cooler. In hotter years, temperature of north area of tropical boundary reaches tropical state whereas in cooler years, such area moves southward. Boundary of the hottest year is called annual tropical line and that of the coolest year true tropical line. Temperatures in areas south to annual tropical line can probably reach tropical in some years. Temperatures in areas south to real tropical line reach tropical every year. The area from true tropical to annual tropical is called tropical fluctuating zone. Therefore, new concepts of tropical, annual tropical, true tropical and tropical fluctuating zone are formed to understand tropical area from a new point of view in the paper. Based on the indexes of climate, vegetation and soil, boundaries of tropical, annual tropical, true tropical and tropical fluctuating zone of the study area are established. The tropical fluctuating zone explains different locating of different researchers. The paper also puts forward a new method to display boundary for eco-geographic regions.
Based on the analyses of water interactions and water balance, this paper discusses the issues on the assessment and regulation of soil water resources, which lays the scientific basis for limited irrigation and water-saving agriculture.
The objectives of this study is to understand the changing law of soil nutrient quality in Taihu Lake basin, Yangtze Delta in last 20 years, and reveal the relationship between soil nutrient changes and human driving forces in regional level over long period of time. Experiment on long-term collecting samples was conducted to study changes of soil organic matter, total N, available N, available P and available K in Dongting town, Wuxi city during the last 20 years. The paper analyses the co-relationship of the fluctuation of soil nutrient and state policy, cultivating practice, agricultural input, and per hectare agricultural net income. The results showed that at first the content of soil organic matter increased, then decreased, and increased again. The content of total N and available N steadily increased. The content of available K and available P steadily decreased. The authors found that the influence of state policy and cultivating practice on soil nutrient quality index (SNQI) is obvious, agricultural input and SNQI are positively correlated, and per hectare agricultural net income and SNQI are negatively correlated.
The case study based on Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province of China, in virtue of the information from TM image, classifies the land types and analyzes their spatial and temporal differential law, and puts forward three structural patterns of land types in mountainous areas, namely, spatial, quantitative and qualitative structures of mountainous land types. Furthermore, it has been noticed that the analysis of structural patterns can disclose the heterogeneity and orderliness of combination of land types, which can lay the theoretic foundation for comprehensively recognizing ecological characteristics and succession law of structure and function of land types. After the all-around comparative analysis, an optimal allocation of land use in Qinling Mountains has been put forward according to the principle of sustainable development and landscape ecology, which can lay the scientific foundation in practice for the structural adjustment and distribution optimization from the macro level to micro level.
The concept of pedodiversity and its measurement methodology proposed and developed by Ibá?ez research term is introduced. An attempt to apply pedodiversity to analyze spatial soil variation and distribution patterns on the global scale is briefly demonstrated. Furthermore, constructive comments and criticisms on pedodiversity and its measurement from the noted pedologists and ecologists are outlined. Finally, potential applications of pedodiversity in soil science and other relevant disciplines are discussed.
Based upon the formation and evolution of oasis and the factors restricting the coordinated development of oasis economy and environment, this paper presents a goal of the development in coordination. It suggests that the sustainable survival and development of oasis could be ensured only if the oasis-desert and water source ecology are managed in a combined way to form a macro system. In light with the above mentioned, the approach to the development of economy and environment of oasis in arid area should depend upon the establishment of an oasis ecological and economic system, which suits the arid environment and promotes the efficiency of resource configuration, stabilizes economic increment and benefits ecological development.
