Landscape ecology and landscape pattern analysis are important components of national-scale programs to identify trends in land cover change because: 1) Statistics on changes in land cover proportions are not spatial. A change matrix derived from GIS provides useful information, but it does not show the spatial form of change in the landscape. Landscape pattern metrics reveal spatial pattern. 2) A growing body of literature has shown that a change in landscape pattern might indicate important changes in ecological functions: forest connectivity and species movements, number and size of farm patches, effects on water quality. Spatial pattern is important in structuring ecological communities and in maintaining existence of competitors. Spatial pattern may be determined by disturbance and may in turn, determine how disturbances propagate through the system. 3) Sometimes landscape pattern may not significantly change, even though land cover proportions do change. Or, vice-versa, sometimes landscape pattern can significantly change, even though land cover proportions don't significantly change. 4) Landscape pattern is an inherent and important part of describing landscapes: based on the literature, one of the most important descriptive characteristics of a landscape is its texture. The objectives of this paper are to: 1) Explain the importance of the role of landscape ecology and landscape pattern analysis in land cover change studies; 2) Review the literature that specifically incorporates landscape ecology into land cover change studies; and 3) List the theoretical and technical issues involved and suggest solutions for them.
Based on more than 300 forest sample plots surveying data and forestry statistical data, remote sensing information from the NOAA AVHRR database and the daily meteorological data of 300 stations, we selected vigor, organization and resilience as the indicators to assess large-scale forest ecosystem health in China and analyzed the spatial pattern of forest ecosystem health and influencing factors. The results of assessment indicated that the spatial pattern of forest ecosystem health showed a decreasing trend along latitude gradients and longitude gradients. The healthy forests are mainly distributed in natural forests, tropical rainforests and seasonal rainforests; secondarily orderly in northeast national forest zone, subtropical forest zonation and southwest forest zonation; while the unhealthy forests were mainly located in warm temperate zone and Xinjiang-Mongolia forest zone. The coefficient of correction between Forest Ecosystem Health Index (FEHI) and annual average precipitation was 0.58 (p<0.01), while the coefficient of correlation between FEHI and annual mean temperatures was 0.49 (p<0.01), which identified that the precipitation and temperatures affect the pattern of FEHI, and the precipitation's effect was stronger than the temperature's. We also measured the correlation coefficient between FEHI and NPP, biodiversity and resistance, which were 0.64, 0.76 and 0.81 (p<0.01) respectively. The order of effect on forest ecosystem health was vigor, organization and resistance.
The present study aims the evaluation of bio-physical characteristics towards soil-water-vegetation stress and a rule is envisaged to assess the degree of temporal changes. The digital rule for assessment is initialized through the index of land Instability (ILI) where the variance indicates the temporal instability of the pixel i.e., smallest land unit. It is assumed that the biophysical characteristic of land is in command of land-dynamics where there is no change in Land Use/Land Cover (LU&LC). The intensity map on tendency of albedo (IALB) assesses the intensity of soil erosion and water stress whereas intensity map on tendency of NDVI (INDVI) appraises the stress on vegetation. The carry-out study covers a part of semiarid Western India. Primarily remote sensing technique, which carries the digital information of land temporally and spatially, is adopted in this paper. A part of the study area is represented using two sets of IRS 1A/1B LISS-I data of March with a decadal time domain (1989-1998) as a test area. It is assumed that the soil-water-vegetation stress is maximum during summer(March-April-May) in any tropical belt and decadal data will stretch the possibility of climate as well as man-made activity over the land.
According to calculation results of ocean chlorophyll concentration based on SeaWiFS data by SeaBAM model and synchronous ship-measured data, this research set up an improved model for CaseⅠand CaseⅡwater bodies respectively. The monthly chlorophyll distribution in the East China Sea in 1998 was obtained from this improved model on calculation results of SeaBAM. The euphotic depth distribution in 1998 in the East China Sea is calculated by using remote sensing data of K490 from SeaWiFS according to the relation between the euphotic depth and the oceanic diffuse attenuation coefficient. With data of ocean chlorophyll concentration, euphotic depth, ocean surface photosynthetic available radiation (PAR), daily photoperiod and optimal rate of daily carbon fixation within a water column, the monthly and annual primary productivity spatio-temporal distributions in the East China Sea in 1998 were obtained based on VGPM model. Based on analysis of those distributions, the conclusion can be drawn that there is a clear bimodality character of primary productivity in the monthly distribution in the East China Sea. In detail, the monthly distribution of primary productivity stays the lowest level in winter and rises rapidly to the peak in spring. It gets down a little in summer, and gets up a little in autumn. The daily average of primary productivity in the whole East China Sea is 560.03 mg/m2/d, which is far higher than the average of subtropical ocean areas. The annual average of primary productivity is 236.95 g/m2/a. The research on the seasonal variety mechanism of primary productivity shows that several factors that affect the spatio-temporal distribution may include the chlorophyll concentration distribution, temperature condition, the Yangtze River diluted water variety, the euphotic depth, ocean current variety, etc. But the main influencing factors may be different in each local sea area.
Based on Universal Soil Loss Equation and methods of mathematics model and GIS analysis, this study classified influence of precipitation, soil, topography and vegetation upon sensitivity of soil erosion into five different degrees which are extreme sensitivity, quite sensitivity, sensitivity, less sensitivity and no sensitivity. Assessment map of each factor was generated separately. Integrated assessment map of sensitivity of soil erosion has also been drawn by overlapping function with Arcinfo. Furthermore, the study analyzed distribution characteristics and spatial difference of sensitivity of soil erosion under special plateau environment of Tibet. According to sensitivity degree, some important controlling regions was confirmed so that departments of water conservancy, traffic management and agriculture could make scientific and reasonable decisions for their respective subject planning.
Landscape is a dynamic phenomenon that almost continuously changes. The overall change of a landscape is the result of complex and interacting natural and spontaneous processes and planned actions by man. However, numerous activities by a large number of individuals are not concerted and contribute to the autonomous evolution of the landscape in a similar way as natural processes do. There is a well-established need to detect land use and ecological change so that appropriate policies for the regional sustainable development can be developed. Landscape change detection is considered to be effectively repeated surveillance and needs especially strict protocols to identify landscape change. This paper developed a series of technical frameworks on landscape detection based on Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) Data. Through human-machine interactive interpretation, the interpretation precision was 92.00% in 1986 and 89.73% in 2000. Based on the interpretation results of TM images and taking Yulin prefecture as a case study area, the area of main landscape types was summarized respectively in 1986 and 2000. The landscape pattern changes in Yulin could be divided into ten types.
The quantity and quality changes of cropland in Jilin province are analyzed by combining the statistics from 1949 to 1999 and land-use maps interpreted from TM images in 1986 and in 2000. In general, the decreasing trend of the cropland in Jilin province was derived from the statistic data in 1949-1999. While since 1983, the cropland area has increased slightly, because of the conversion from other land-use types to cropland. It is showed that the net increase of cropland was about 43.40×104 ha. While the quality change of the cropland can be seen from that mainly caused by the conversion from forestland, grassland to cropland and the change mainly took place in the west, where it is ecologically fragile. According to the spatial distribution model, the centroids' move of the cropland and the grain production are calculated, whose directions are not consistent. The impact of the dynamic change of the cropland on food security is further analyzed.
Based on the developed distributed model for calculating astronomical solar radiation (ASR), monthly ASR with a resolution of 1 km×1 km for the rugged terrains of Yellow River Basin was calculated, with DEM data as the general characterization of terrain. This model gives an all-sided consideration on factors that influence the ASR. Results suggest that (1) Annual ASR has a progressive decrease trend from south to north; (2) the magnitude order of seasonal ASR is: summer>spring>autumn>winter; (3) topographical factors have robust effect on the spatial distribution of ASR, particularly in winter when a lower sun elevation angle exists; (4) the ASR of slopes with a sunny exposure is generally 2 or 3 times that of slopes with a shading exposure and the extreme difference of ASR for different terrains is over 10 times in January; (5) the spatial differences of ASR are relatively small in summer when a higher sun elevation angle exists and the extreme difference of ASR for different terrains is only 16% in July; and (6) the sequence of topographical influence strength is: winter>autumn>spring>summer.
Wide collection on the historic records of the climatic changes and flood events is performed in the Yangtze Delta. Man-Kendall (MK) method is applied to explore the changing trends of the time series of the flood discharge and the maximum high summer temperature. The research results indicate that the flood magnitudes increased during the transition from the medieval warm interval into the early Little Ice Age. Fluctuating climate changes of the Little Ice Age characterized by arid climate events followed by the humid and cold climate conditions give rise to the frequent flood hazards. Low-lying terrain made the study region prone to the flood hazards, storm tide and typhoon. MK analysis reveals that the jumping point of the time series of the flood discharge changes occurred in the mid-1960s, that of the maximum summer temperature changes in the mid-1990s, and the exact jump point in 1993. The flood discharge changes are on negative trend before the 1990s, they are on positive tendency after the 1990s; the maximum high summer temperature changes are on negative trend before the 1990s and on positive tendency after the 1990s. These results indicate that the trend of flood discharge matches that of the maximum high summer temperature in the Yangtze Delta. The occurrence probability of the maximum high summer temperature will be increasing under the climatic warming scenario and which will in turn increase the occurrence probability of the flood events. More active solar action epochs and the higher sea surface temperature index (SST index) of the south Pacific Ocean area lying between 4oN-4oS and 150oW-90oW correspond to increased annual precipitation, flood discharge and occurrence frequency of floods in the Yangtze Delta. This is partly because the intensified solar activities and the higher SST index give rise to accelerated hydrological circulation from ocean surface to the continent, resulting in increased precipitation on the continent.
Based on 1961-2000 NCEP/NCAR monthly mean reanalysis datasets, vapor transfer and hydrological budget over the Tibetan Plateau are investigated. The Plateau is a vapor sink all the year round. In summer, vapor is convergent in lower levels (from surface to 500 hPa) and divergent in upper levels (from 400 to 300 hPa), with 450 hPa referred to as level of non-divergence. Two levels have different hydrologic budget signatures: the budget is negative at the upper levels from February to November, i.e., vapor transfers from the upper levels over the plateau; as to the lower, the negative (positive) budget occurs during the winter (summer) half year. Evidence also indicates that Tibetan Plateau is a "vapor transition belt", vapor from the south and the west is transferred from lower to upper levels there in summer, which will affect surrounding regions, including eastern China, especially, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze. Vapor transfer exerts significant influence on precipitation in summertime months. Vapor transferred from the upper layers helps humidify eastern China, with coefficient -0.3 of the upper budget to the precipitation over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze (MLRY); also, vapor transferred from east side (27.5o-32.5oN) of the upper level has remarkable relationship with precipitation, the coefficient being 0.41. The convergence of the lower level vapor has great effects on the local precipitation over the plateau, with coefficient reaching 0.44, and the vapor passage affects the advance and retreat of the rainbelt. In general, atmospheric hydrologic budget and vapor transfer over the plateau have noticeable effects on precipitation of the target region as well as the ambient areas.
Energy consumption has an inevitable connection with economic level and climate. Based on selected data covering annual total energy consumption and its composition and that of all kinds of energy in 1953-1999, the annual residential energy consumption and the coal and electricity consumption in 1980-1999 in China, the acreage of crops under cultivation suffered from drought and flood annually and gross domestic product (GDP) in 1953-1999 in the whole country, and mean daily temperature data from 29 provincial meteorological stations in the whole country from 1970 to 1999, this paper divides energy consumption into socio-economic energy consumption and climatic energy consumption in the way of multinomial. It also goes further into the relations and their changes between the climate energy consumption and climate factor and between the socio-economic energy consumption and the economic level in China with the method of statistical analysis. At present, there are obvious transitions in the changing relationships of the energy consumption to economy and climate, which comprises the transition of economic system from resource-intensive industry to technology-intensive industry and the transition of climatic driving factors of the energy consumption from driven by the disasters of drought and flood to driven by temperature.
Sources of uncertainty or error that arise in attempting to scale up the results of laboratory-scale sediment transport studies for predictive modeling of geomorphic systems include: (i) model imperfection, (ii) omission of important processes, (iii) lack of knowledge of initial conditions, (iv) sensitivity to initial conditions, (v) unresolved heterogeneity, (vi) occurrence of external forcing, and (vii) inapplicability of the factor of safety concept. Sources of uncertainty that are unimportant or that can be controlled at small scales and over short time scales become important in large-scale applications and over long time scales. Control and repeatability, hallmarks of laboratory-scale experiments, are usually lacking at the large scales characteristic of geomorphology. Heterogeneity is an important concomitant of size, and tends to make large systems unique. Uniqueness implies that prediction cannot be based upon first-principles quantitative modeling alone, but must be a function of system history as well. Periodic data collection, feedback, and model updating are essential where site-specific prediction is required.
The Yangtze Delta is one of the economically most developed areas in China. It is located in the eastern China monsoon region. Archaeological excavations and environment-archaeology studies over many years in this region provide exceptional information about climate changes, development of human civilization and also human-environment interactions. Archaeological excavations made in the study region reveal that the development of Neolithic cultures is not continuous, which may be a result of extreme climatic events. The analysis of 14C-dated buried paleotrees, peat and shell ridges show the rise and fall of human civilization in the study area. The research results presented in this paper confirm that human civilization collapsed six times in the Yangtze Delta, matching six high sea level epoches, peat accumulation and buried paleotrees formation periods respectively. This indicates that human activities in the Yangtze Delta are controlled by local climate changes and changing hydrological conditions. The collapse of the Liangzhu culture (5000 aBP-3800 aBP) in about 4000 aBP, after a tremendous flooding event, followed by a relatively backward Maqiao culture (3800 aBP-3200 aBP) confused researchers and aroused their great interest. The research results in this paper show that the collapse of the Liangzhu culture is a result of several factors, for example war and food shortage, but the flooding event occurred in the late Liangzhu culture epoch is the main factor therein.
By means of SEDEX, ASPILA and XRF, depth-dependent changes of different phosphorus forms in sediment cores from specific areas of the offshore Changjiang Estuary (Yangtze Estuary) in 1998 were analyzed. Results show that contents of total phosphorus (TP), organic-phosphorus (OP) and iron-phosphorus (Fe-P) decreased down-core, while those of absorbed-phosphorus (Ad-P) and calcium-phosphorus (Ca-P) increased. The distribution tendency of detritus-phosphorus (De-P) is not obvious. Results also show that TP, Fe-P and OP contents at Meso station of the Changjiang Estuary and Hangzhou Bay are higher than that of the other stations. This suggests that the pollutants carried by the Changjiang and the Qiantang rivers from inland have affected the natural environment in offshore area. TP, Fe-P and OP contents of each station become higher from bottom to top, indicating the amount of the terrestrial pollutants carried by the two rivers has been enhanced since the last 30-50 years. Ad-P, Ca-P, Fe-P and OP are all active phosphorus in sediments, and their re-cycling in sediment is closely related to each other.
In order to research the changing process of the pollution from the formation of Nansihu Lake, this study determined the isotope age and depositional rate and analyzed the organic geo-chemical quotas and heavy metal quotas of two sedimentary profiles of Weishan and Dushan lakes. Research results showed that from the formation of Nansihu Lake, the change of the pollution could be divided into four phrases. At the early phrase of the formation, the organic matters of the lake mainly derived from the exotic matters and had a close relation to the effect on the water and sands from the Huanghe (Yellow) River. At the middle and late phrases of the development, the endogenous matters of the lake became the main and stable source of the organic matters. The overflow of the Huanghe River, the excavation of the Grand Canal and the cut of trees caused the changes of the historic pollution. In recent 20 years, the modern industrial pollution from the organic matters and heavy metals has an increasingly heavy tendency.
