In order to find out the variation process of water-sediment and its effect on the Yellow River Delta, the water discharge and sediment load at Lijin from 1950 to 2007 and the decrease of water discharge and sediment load in the Yellow River Basin caused by human disturbances were analyzed by means of statistics. It was shown that the water discharge and sediment load into the sea were decreasing from 1950 to 2007 with serious fluctuation. The human activities were the main cause for decrease of water discharge and sediment load into the sea. From 1950 to 2005, the average annual reduction of water discharge and sediment load by means of water-soil conservation practices were 2.02×109 m3 and 3.41×108 t respectively, and the average annual volume by water abstraction for industry and agriculture were 2.52×1010 m3 and 2.42×108 t respectively. The average sediment trapped by Sanmenxia Reservoir was 1.45×108 t from 1960 to 2007, and the average sediment retention of Xiaolangdi Reservoir was 2.398×108 t from 1997 to 2007. Compared to the data records at Huanyuankou, the water discharge and sediment load into the sea decreased with siltation in the lower reaches and increased with scouring in the lower reaches. The coastline near river mouth extended and the delta area increased when the ratio of accumulative sediment load and accumulative water discharge into the sea (SSCT) is 25.4–26.0 kg/m3 in different time periods. However, the sharp decrease of water discharge and sediment load into the sea in recent years, especially the Yellow River into the sea at Qing 8, the entire Yellow River Delta has turned into erosion from siltation, and the time for a reversal of the state was about 1997.

This paper explores a new approach towards the distributed e-map service with CORBA. The architecture of a distributed e-map service model is described. This model mainly contains a distributed map database, a database connection layer, an application service layer and a client layer. For the sake of convenient transmission of map data, a combination of CORBA and GML method is introduced. Furthermore, in order to keep the loading balance among distributed servers, object migration is implemented among servers and security is considered.

Along with the advances in computer sciences in recent years, visualization has been developed to embrace new functions. The electronic map in a spatial information visualization system is an electronic tool of human spatial cognition and has more advantages in supporting human spatial cognition than a printed map. Investigations on the ability of human spatial cognition are increasingly drawing attention of cartographers. In this background, map spatial cognition research is attached importance to cartographers again. Cognition-based visualization systems are intelligent systems that serve human spatial cognition efficiently. Developing adaptive multi-perspective visualization systems of spatial information as one kind of these systems is a main goal of our research. This paper discusses the necessity and the characteristics of map spatial cognition research. The cognitive issues involved in spatial information visualization and major contents of cognitive research in the design of adaptive visualization system are presented. Finally, the experimental methods of electronic map visual cognition are introduced.

Change vector analysis (CVA) and principal component analysis in NDVI time-trajectories space are powerful tools to analyze land-cover change. The magnitude of the change vector indicates amplitude of the change, while its direction indicates the nature of the change. CVA is applied to two remotely sensed indicators of land surface conditions, NDVI and spatial structure, in order to improve the capability to detect and categorize land-cover change. The magnitude and type of changes are calculated in China from 1989 to 1999. Through the research, the main conclusions are drawn as follows: 1) The changes of NDVI are quite different between eastern China and western China, and the change range in the east is bigger than that in the west. The trend in NDVI time series is smoothly increasing, the increases happen mostly in Taiwan, Fujian, Sichuan and Henan provinces and the decreases occur in Yunnan and Xinjiang. 2) The spatial structure index can indicate changes in the seasonal ecosystem dynamics for spatially heterogeneous landscapes. Most of spatial structure changes, which occurred in southern China, correlated with vegetation growth processes and strike of mountains.

Hydrologic data derived from digital elevation models (DEM) has been regarded as an effective method in the spatial analysis of geographical information systems (GIS). However, both DEM resolution and terrain complexity has impacts on the accuracy of hydrologic derivatives. In this study, a multi-resolution and multi-relief comparative approach was used as a major methodology to investigate the accuracy of hydrologic data derived from DEMs. The experiment reveals that DEM terrain representation error affects the accuracy of DEM hydrological derivatives (drainage networks and watershed etc.). Coarser DEM resolutions can usually cause worse results. However, uncertain result commonly exists in this calculation. The derivative errors can be found closely related with DEM vertical resolution and terrain roughness. DEM vertical resolution can be found closely related with the accuracy of DEM hydrological derivatives, especially in the smooth plain area. If the mean slope is less than 4 degrees, the derived hydrologic data are usually unreliable. This result may be helpful in estimating the accuracy of the hydrologic derivatives and determining the DEM resolution that is appropriate to the accuracy requirement of a particular user. By applying a threshold value to subset the cells of a higher accumulation flow, a stream network of a specific network density can be extracted. Some very important geomorphologic characteristics, e.g., shallow and deep gullies, can be separately extracted by means of adjusting the threshold value. However, such a flow accumulationbased processing method can not correctly derive those streams that pass through the working area because it is hard to accumulate enough flow direction values to express the stream channels at the stream's entrance area. Consequently, errors will definitely occur at the stream’s entrance area. In addition, erroneous derivatives can also be found in deriving some particular rivers, e.g., perched (hanging up) rivers, anastomosing rivers and braided rivers. Therefore, more work should be done to develop and perfect the algorithms.

The paper deals with 3D cartography. Using the program 3D studio max (Autodesk) a flight over an alpine region (“Watzmann-Massif”) is animated. In addition to a description of the project some thoughts and ideas especially about generalisation degree are discussed.

The sediments of the Dongting Lake come from four channels (one of them was closed in 1959), connected with the Yangtze River, four tributaries (Lishui, Yuanjiang, Zishui and Xiangjiang) and local area, and some of them are transported into the Yangtze River in Chenglingji, which is located at the exit of the Dongting Lake, some of them deposit into drainage system in the lake region and the rest deposit into the lake. The annual mean sediment is 166,555x10⁴ t, of which 80% come from the four channels, 18% from the four tributaries and 2% from local area, whereas 26% of the total sediments are transported into the Yangtze River and 74% deposited into the lake and the lake drainage system. Based on topographic maps of 1974, 1988 and 1998, and the spatial analysis method with geographic information system (GIS), changes in sediment deposition and erosion are studied in this paper. By overlay analysis of 1974 and 1988, 1988 and 1998, erosion and sediments deposition areas are defined. The main conclusions are: (1) sediment rate in the lake is larger than erosion rate from 1974 to 1998. The mean deposition in the lake is 0.43 m; (2) annual sediment deposition is the same between 1974-1988 and 1988-1998, but the annual volume of deposition and erosion of 1988-1998 is bigger than that in 1974-1988; (3) before the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir, there will be 7.82x10⁸ m³ of sediments deposited in the lake, which would make the lake silted up by 0.33 m; (4) in the lake, the deposition area is found in the north of the east Dongting Lake, the south-west of the south Dongting Lake, and the east of the west Dongting Lake; while the eroded area is in the south of the east Dongting Lake, the middle of the south Dongting Lake, the west of the west Dongting Lake, as well as Xiangjiang and Lishui river flood channels.

This paper describes the spatial and temporal relationship between AVHRR/NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and climatological parameters (temperature and precipitation), which, in some sense, is influenced by topographical factors and land-cover types in Colorado. The correlation coefficients and partial correlation coefficients have been computed pixel by pixel over Colorado in order to analyze the relationship. The temporal variation and correlation of AVHRR/NDVI, temperature and precipitation were analyzed with a sampling method. The study reveals that there exists a close correspondence between monthly NDVI and temperature, which has strong impact from temperature on the changes of NDVI in Colorado. The spatial changes of NDVI are not influenced obviously by the precipitation since these two variables are different from each other in time series in Colorado. The study clearly revealed the spatial variation and its distribution patterns of relationship between NDVI and climatic parameters (temperature and precipitation) in Colorado.

Semi-arid and arid areas exhibit great temporal variability in water availability. In some of these regions, a one- or two-day rainfall is followed by intervening dry periods of variable length. In recent decades, many rivers of the semi-arid portion of the Jequitinhonha Basin have been undergoing a progressive discharge reduction, mainly of their base flow, the Araçuaí River is one of them. In order to understand this transformation, a long-term analysis of the annual water balance of the Araçuaí River Basin was performed, the results of which are presented herein. Satellite images, hydrometeorological and river discharge data were analyzed; mean and variance tests were conducted to determine temporal homogeneity. Historical pluviometric data analysis shows no corresponding precipitation reduction and temperature undergoes only a slight increase in the same period. On the other hand, evaporation is extremely high, higher than precipitation during most of the year, leaving almost no water for infiltration (aquifer recharge) and runoff. Furthermore, the Araçuaí headwaters of its tributaries are now occupied by a monoculture, Eucaliptus sp., used for paper production. Because of the decreased fluvial discharges, its lowlands, usually used for agriculture and pasture, are abandoned and partially eroded.

Qualitative modelling of spatial relationships has often been considered as a context-independent task that aims at a reasoning model in generic form. Despite the primary interest in these models, there is still a sufficiently large scope for context-dependent reasoning in space and time. This paper proposes a qualitative spatial reasoning model, oriented to the modelling and simulation of several cars acting in a multi-lane circuit, which can be considered as an illustrative example of a constrained frame of reference. The modelling objects of interest are individual cars whose cardinal relationships to external cars and actions are modelled. This dynamic system is analysed, and a set of interrelationships is identified at different levels of abstraction, together with inference rules that model the displacement of several cars in a circuit. The potential of this model is illustrated and calibrated using an agent-based prototype.

Hebei Province is one of the regions with most densely population, fastest economic growth and most intensive land use in China. The contradiction of land shortage sharpened by high-speed economic development with population growth has become a serious problem, which has restricted regional sustainable development.This paper revealed the basic process, regional differences of change and the gravity center of arable land area according to the long-series statistical data of arable land during the past 50 years. On the basis of the above mentioned, the major driving forces that influence the changes of the arable land are discussed. The research results indicate that there is a trend of obvious fluctuating decrease in arable land area during the last 50 years. The changes of arable land area undergo the process from increase to sharp decrease to gently decrease. The regional disparity of change in arable land area is very notable and the gravity center of arable land area moves to the northeast 49.22 km. Regarding the decrease in arable land, the direct driving forces include adjustments of agricultural structure and reclamation, and indirect driving forces include advance in technology, economic interest and population growth etc.

A SOTER-based automatic procedure for qualitative land evaluation is developed. This procedure was created in the automated land evaluation system (ALES). The objective was to design a procedure that allows for a quick separation of potentially suitable from non-suitable SOTER units for the intended land use, indicating constraints to different kinds of land use. Different kinds of land are unequal1y suited to various uses, land eva1uation is the assessment of the suitability of a tract of land for a specified kind of land use. In practice this implicates the comparison (matching) between the requirements of a specified land use and the properties of the land. Land evaluation concepts and definitions are treated in the paper. The ALES is a computer program that allows land evaluators to build their own knowledge-based system with which they can compute the physical and economical suitability of map units in accordance with FAO framework for land evaluation. The ALES program works with so-called decision trees, being hierarchical multiway keys in which the leaves are results (e.g., severity levels of land qualities), and the interior nodes of the tree are decision criteria (e.g., land characteristic values). These trees are traversed by the program to compute an evaluation using actual land data for each map unit. SOTAL is a SOTER-based qualitative model developed in ALES for physical land evaluation in which presently three land utilization types (LUTs) are distinguished, i.e., cultivated banana, coffee and rubber under different input and technological conditions. These LUTs are characterized by 11 landuse requirements and evaluated by matching the land use requirements with the corresponding land qualities. The paper elaborates on the criteria used in SOTAL for land quality assessment and how a final suitability rating is achieved on the basis of the rated land qualities. Results are visualized through G1S-generated maps as products in response to the specific information and data needs of decision and policy makers.

Natural conditions in Bashang area are characterized by zonal transitions which are liable to be impacted by natural disasters and intensified human activities. The extremely fragile eco-environment is also liable to have desertification formed and developed. In the 18 years from 1978 to 1996, the desertified land area of Bashang within the scope of the map nearly doubled, a total increase of 2199.11 km², averaging an increase of 122.17 km² per year. Moreover, the seriously desertified area increases rapidly. Land desertification in Bashang is the combined result of natural factors and irrational human economic activities. Cultivated land expansion, population growth, and overgrazing aggrevate desertification development.

Based on the synthetic researches of multi-index geologic records of Niya section, which are of high resolution in southern margin of the Tarim Basin, together with other geologic records in southern Xinjiang, this paper has reconstructed the history of paleoclimatic changes in this region since about 4.00 ka BP. During the last 4.00 ka, the region of southern Xinjiang has experienced alternations of relative cold-wet and relative warm-dry periods. Three remarkable cold-wet periods (4.00-3.45 ka BP., 2.50-1.90 ka BP., ca.1.40-1.00 ka BP.) and three warm-dry periods (3.45-2.50 ka BP., 1.90-1.40 ka BP., 1.00 ka BP.-present) are identified. It is shown that human activities have an intimate relation with the evolution of paleoclimate in southern Xinjiang.

Spatially explicit modeling techniques recently emerged as an alternative to monitor land use changes. This study adopted the well-known CLUE-S (Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent) model to analyze the spatio-temporal land use changes in a hot-spot in Northeast China (NEC). In total, 13 driving factors were selected to statistically analyze the spatial relationships between biophysical and socioeconomic factors and individual land use types. These relationships were then used to simulate land use dynamic changes during 1980-2010 at a 1 km spatial resolution, and to capture the overall land use change patterns. The obtained results indicate that increases in cropland area in NEC were mainly distributed in the Sanjiang Plain and the Songnen Plain during 1980-2000, with a small reduction between 2000 and 2010. An opposite pattern was identified for changes in forest areas. Forest decreases were mainly distributed in the Khingan Mountains and the Changbai Mountains between 1980 and 2000, with a slight increase during 2000-2010. The urban areas have expanded to occupy surrounding croplands and grasslands, particularly after the year 2000. More attention is needed on the newly gained croplands, which have largely replaced wetlands in the Sanjiang Plain over the last decade. Land use change patterns identified here should be considered in future policy making so as to strengthen local eco-environmental security.

Since 1979, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) of China has experienced rapid socio- economic development along with a fast expansion of construction area. Affected by both natural and human factors, a complex interdependency is found among the regional changes in construction area, GDP and population. A quantitative analysis of the four phases of the regional land use data extracted from remote sensing images and socioeconomic statistics spanning 1979 to 2009 demonstrates that the proportion of construction area in the PRD increased from 0.5% in 1979 to 10.8% in 2009, accompanied with a rapid loss of agricultural land. An increase of one million residents was associated with an increase of GDP of approximately 32 billion yuan before 2000 and approximately 162 billion yuan after 2000. Because the expansion of construction area has approached the limits of land resource in some cities of the PRD, a power function is found more suitable than a linear one in describing the relationship between GDP and construction area. Consequently, the Logistic model is shown to provide more accurate predictions of population growth than the Malthus model, particularly in some cities where a very large proportion of land resource has been urbanized, such as Shenzhen and Dongguan.

Farmland abandonment is a type of land use change in the mountain region, and this change is under rapid development. Whether farmland transfer can prevent this process and promote the effective allocation of land resources or not is a question worth studying and discussion. With the help of the previous research findings, the objective of this paper was to find out the role of farmland transfer on preventing farmland abandonment, by using the methods of multiple view with two factors, and single factor correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) At village level, a significant negative correlation between farmland transfer and farmland abandonment existed in the study site, with R² = 0.7584. This correlation of farmland with high grade farming conditions presented more outstandingly. The fitted curve for the farmland at Level I had the largest R² at 0.288, while that for the farmland at Level IV had the smallest R² at 0.103. Which indicated that farmland transfer could prevent the abandonment of farmland with high grade farming conditions? (2) At plot level, the abandonment rate of farmland with high grade farming conditions was significantly lower than that of farmland with poor grade farming conditions. It was the lowest at 10.49% for the farmland with Level I farming conditions, whereas the farmland with Level I farming conditions was 26.21%. Abandoned farmland was mainly contributed by farmland with Level IV farming conditions in the study site. (3) At village level, the role of farming conditions on farmland abandonment was insignificant. The univariate correlation analysis revealed that the abandonment ratio was negatively correlated with the proportions of farmland at Levels I and II and their accumulated proportion; however, their R² were small at 0.194, 0.258, and 0.275, respectively. The abandonment of farmland with high farming conditions still existed. The abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were high at 9.96% and 10.60%, respectively. This presented that farmland transfer on behalf of the land rental market was still not developed. (4) However, the village possessed the high rate of farmland transfer, and its rate of farmland abandonment with high grade farming conditions was all lower. When the transfer ratios of farmland were over 20%, the abandonment ratios of farmland at Levels I and II were 6.47% and 6.92%, respectively. Farmland abandonment was still controlled by the improvement of land rental market. And the functions of land rental market optimizing the utilization of farmland resources have been presented to a certain degree. (5) To further improve the marketing degree of land rental, the probability of farmland abandonment could be reduced. Especially, their function to farmland with high grade farming conditions was very obvious, and could avoid the waste of farmland resources with high grade farming conditions.

To understand historical human-induced land use/cover change (LUCC) and its climatic effects, it is essential to reconstruct historical land use/cover changes with explicit spatial information. In this study, based on the historically documented cropland area at county level, we reconstructed the spatially explicit cropland distribution at a cell size of 1 km × 1 km for the Songnen Plain in the late Qing Dynasty (1908 AD). The reconstructions were carried out using two methods. One method (hereafter, referred to as method I) allocated the cropland to cells ordered from a high agricultural suitability index (ASI) to a low ASI, but they were all within the domain of potential cropland area. The potential cropland area was created by excluding natural woodland, swamp, water bodies, and mountains from the study area. The other method (hereafter, method II) allocated the cropland to cells in the order from high ASI to low ASI within the domain of cropland area in 1959. This method was based on the hypothesis that the cropland area domain in 1959 resulted from enlargement of the cropland area domain in 1908. We then compared these two reconstructions. We found that the cropland distributions reconstructed by the two methods exhibit a similar spatial distribution pattern. Both reconstructions show that the cropland was mostly found in the southern and eastern parts of the Songnen Plain. The two reconstructions matched each other for about 68% of the total cropland area. By spatially comparing the unmatched cropland cells of the two reconstructions with the settlements for each county, we found that unmatched cropland cells from method I are closer to settlements than those from method II. This finding suggests that reconstruction using method I may have less bias than reconstruction with method II.

Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration (ET), especially at the regional scale, is an extensively investigated topic in the field of water science. The ability to obtain a continuous time series of highly precise ET values is necessary for improving our knowledge of fundamental hydrological processes and for addressing various problems regarding the use of water. This objective can be achieved by means of ET data assimilation based on hydrological modeling. In this paper, a comprehensive review of ET data assimilation based on hydrological modeling is provided. The difficulties and bottlenecks of using ET, being a non-state variable, to construct data assimilation relationships are elaborated upon, with a discussion and analysis of the feasibility of assimilating ET into various hydrological models. Based on this, a new easy-to-operate ET assimilation scheme that includes a water circulation physical mechanism is proposed. The scheme was developed with an improved data assimilation system that uses a distributed time-variant gain model (DTVGM), and the ET-soil humidity nonlinear time response relationship of this model. Moreover, the ET mechanism in the DTVGM was improved to perfect the ET data assimilation system. The new scheme may provide the best spatial and temporal characteristics for hydrological states, and may be referenced for accurate estimation of regional evapotranspiration.

The ice shelves in the northern Antarctic Peninsula are highly sensitive to variations of temperature and have therefore served as indicators of global warming. In this study, we estimate the velocities of the ice shelves in the northern Antarctic Peninsula using co-registration of optically sensed images and correlation module (COSI-Corr) in the Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI) based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images during 2000-2012, from which we conclude that the ice ?ow directions generally match the peninsulas pattern and the crevasse, ice flows mainly eastward into the Weddell Sea. The spatial pattern of velocity field exhibits an increasing trend from the western grounding line to the maximum at the middle part of the ice shelf front on Larsen C with a velocity of approximately 700 ma^-1, and the velocity field shows relatively higher values in its southerly neighboring ice shelf (e.g. Smith Inlet). Additionally, ice ?ows are relatively quicker in the outer part of the ice shelf than in the inner parts. Temporal changes in surface velocities show a continuous increase from 2000 to 2012. It is worth noting that, the acceleration rate during 2000-2009 is relatively higher than that during 2009-2012, while the ice movement on the southern Larsen C and Smith Inlet shows a deceleration from 2009 to 2012.

Man-land relationship research, as the core of geographical research, runs through each development stage of Geography. Based on extensive literature review, this paper systematically generalizes the connotations, research development and contents of man-land relationship in China. (1) It explores the connotations and evolvement rules of man-land relationship in different social development stages in China, and finds that the core role of man-land relationship in geographical research has been strengthened continuously. Changing with times, its connotations have been considerably enriched by sustainable development and other notions, and so does its theoretical system. (2) It applies the bibliometric method to sketch out the basic research status of man-land relationship in China. Specifically, it quantitatively identifies the funding sources, major research teams and journals for publication. It finds that the funding sources show a diversification trend with national funding being the primary source of research grants. The most competitive research teams are mainly concentrated in the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and normal universities. Journals sponsored by The Geographical Society of China are most influential in publishing man-land relationship research. (3) As resources and environment are the fundamental carriers of man-land relationship, this study focuses further on the research on resource-environmental base of man-land relationship, and finds that the resource-environmental base research in China has gone through an evolution process from single factor perspective research to comprehensive multiple perspective research gradually. Research themes have also experienced similar changes from land, water, energy minerals or other single factor research to comprehensive factor research of resources and environment. Empirical study on national and regional development strategies is the feature of man-land relationship in China. More emphasis should be put on considering and following the changes in features of “man” and “land” and research on the impacts of new factors on man-land relationship in a developing and dynamic manner in the future. Particularly, we should pay more attention to research on the impacts of spatio-temporal changes in resource-environment absolute location on modes of man-land interaction, and to strengthening interdisciplinary research and systematic research on comprehensive techniques so as to advance the development of application of man-land relationship theories and practices.

The karst critical zone is an essential component of the carbon (C) pool, constituting the global C cycle. It is referred to as one of the “residual land sink” that remains largely indeterminate. Karst area (2.2×10⁷ km²) comprises 15% of the world’s land area, and karst area comprises 3.44×10⁶ km² of area in China. Due to the complexity of karst structure and its considerable heterogeneity, C sequestration rate estimations contain large inaccuracies, especially in relation to the different methods used in calculations. Therefore, we reevaluated rock weathering-related C sink estimations in China (approximately 4.74 Tg C yr^-1), which we calibrated from previous studies. Additionally, we stipulated that more comprehensive research on rock-soil-biology-atmosphere continuum C migration is essential to better understand C conversion mechanisms based on uncertainty analyses of C sink estimations. Moreover, we stressed that a collective confirmation of chemical methods and simulated models through a combined research effort could at least partially eliminate such uncertainty. Furthermore, integrated C cycling research need a long-term observation of the carbon flux of multi-interfaces. The enhanced capacity of ecosystem C and soil C pools remains an effective way of increasing C sink. Karst ecosystem health and security is crucial to human social development, accordingly, it is critical that we understand thresholds or potential C sink capacities in karst critical zones now and in the future.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in terrestrial ecosystems vary considerably with land use types. Grassland, forest, and cropland coexist in the agro-pastoral ecotone of Inner Mongolia, China. Using SOC data compiled from literature and field investigations, this study compared SOC stocks and their vertical distributions among three types of ecosystems. The results indicate that grassland had the largest SOC stock, which was 1.5- and 1.8-folds more than stocks in forest and cropland, respectively. Relative to the stock in 0-100 cm depth, grassland held more than 40% of its SOC stock in the upper 20 cm soil layer; forest and cropland both held over 30% of their respective SOC stocks in the upper 20 cm soil layer. SOC stocks in grazed grasslands were remarkably promoted after ≥20 years of grazing exclusion. Conservational cultivation substantially increased the SOC stocks in cropland, especially in the 0-40 cm depth. Stand ages, tree species, and forest types did not have obvious impacts on forest SOC stocks in the study area likely due to the younger stand ages. Our study implies that soil carbon loss should be taken into account during the implementation of ecological projects, such as reclamation and afforestation, in the arid and semi-arid regions of China.

This research examines the distribution features of 4960 caves across Guizhou Province, while probing the relationship between the caves’ spatial patterns and geographic elements. This study is based on hydrogeological and topographic maps of Guizhou. ArcGIS software was used to process the adjacent index, spatial analysis, and coupling analysis of the caves altitude and longitude, as well as the rock properties, lithology, drainage and tectonic division of almost 5000 caves. Based on a point pattern analysis of Guizhou caves, the adjacent index is 0.53, and the coefficient of variation verified by Tyson polygon reached 72.469%. This figure reflects the clustered distribution pattern of the caves. Across the entire province, caves are divided into four concentrated areas and one weakly affected area. The four concentrated areas are Zunyi-Tongren, Bijie, Qianxinan-Liupanshui, and Guiyang-Anshun-Qinan. The one weakly affected zone is Qiandongnan. The most concentrated among them is the Guiyang-Anshun-Qiannan area, which covers 24.67% of the total province area, and accounts for 36.63% of the total province’s caves. Cave distribution in Guizhou is characterized as dense in the western part and sparse in the eastern part. Under this study background, the natural elements of formation, including lithology, structure, climate, hydrology, and altitude, and their effects on the distribution, number, and spatial pattern of cave development is analyzed.

Population geography (PopGeo), although a sub-discipline of human geography, should have been well developed in China in light of its national population size and unique demographic issues, regional socio-economic development, and biophysical differences. Yet it typically lags behind the development of its parent disciplines, especially demography and geography. Specifically, PopGeo in Chinese higher education is still at a low level in terms of the three major aspects of disciplinary development: academic majors for higher education, academic conferences, and journals. The research content of PopGeo in China has focused on the growth, composition, change, distribution, and carrying capacity of population at the meso- and macro-spatial scales. As the most populated country in the world, questions about how and why the population changes, where the population settles and migrates to, its maximum carrying capacity, and how to guide sound development of population matter to society and the economy, are always important topics in the PopGeo studies in China. In contrast, some new population phenomena such as human space-time behaviors (commuting, remittances, and friends’ interaction), popular in the scientific community abroad, are not fully investigated at the micro-level. Presently, PopGeo in China may face both challenges and opportunities because of the adjustment of fertility policies and implementation of national new urbanization plans at the national level. It is this occasion that calls for a state-of-the-art review of the development of PopGeo since the 1980s, the turning point of an increasing number of PopGeo studies in China. We aim to reveal the current status of PopGeo in China to the world, and shed light on its further study.

The future development of new-type urbanization has drawn great attention from both the government and public alike. In this context, the present study had three related research aims. Firstly, it sought to predict the urbanization and population dynamics in China at both national and provincial levels for the period of 2015 to 2030. Secondly, on this basis, it sought to examine the spatial variation of urbanization given the predicted national urbanization rate of 70.12%. Thirdly, it sought to estimate and evaluate the national and provincial demands of investment in the development of new-type urbanization. The main conclusions from this study were as follows: (1) The population size and urbanization rate will reach 1.445 billion and 70.12%, respectively, from 2015 to 2030. (2) The demographic dividend will vanish when the population pressure reaches its maximum. During this period, there will be 70.16 million urban population born. The suburban population that becomes urbanized will be 316.7 million, and thus the net increase in urban population will reach 386 million. (3) Although the urbanization rate of every Chinese province will increase during 2015-2030, it will do so unequally, while differences in urbanization quality among provinces will also be substantial. In some provinces, moreover, the urbanization quality is not compatible with their eco-social development. (4) A total of 4,105,380 billion yuan is required to fund new-type urbanization and the investment demand for each province varies greatly; for example, Guangdong province requires the most funding, amounting to approximately 148 times that required by Tibet, the province in least need of funding. In the final part of this study, policy suggestions concerning the investment of the new-type urbanization are put forward and discussed.

The accumulation of sediment in river channels is a phenomenon that is not only influenced by the channel morphology, but also by the physical and geographical characteristics and the endogenous and exogenous processes taking place in the catchment. This paper presents an analysis of the impact the changes in lithological conditions have on the morphological and morphometric parameters of the Udava River channel and their relation to the channel accumulation forms representative of the river’s longitudinal profile as well as of its planform. Results document when accumulation forms occur and what is their spatial distribution within the longitudinal and cross-sectional river profiles. More resistant structures created sections with a lower degree of sedimentation, while in depression segments the degree of sedimentation was higher. With the increase in longitudinal slope, the impact of channel width on the average channel bar size increased. Also a difference in the accumulation was observed between the left and right bank which could be possibly explained by the impact of Coriolis force.

Comparing the city-size distribution at the urban agglomeration (UA) scale is important for understanding the processes of urban development. However, comparative studies of city-size distribution among China’s three largest UAs, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei agglomeration (BTHA), the Yangtze River Delta agglomeration (YRDA), and the Pearl River Delta agglomeration (PRDA), remain inadequate due to the limitation of data availability. Therefore, using urban data derived from time-series nighttime light data, the common characteristics and distinctive features of city-size distribution among the three UAs from 1992 to 2015 were compared by the Pareto regression and the rank clock method. We identified two common features. First, the city-size distribution became more even. The Pareto exponents increased by 0.17, 0.12, and 0.01 in the YRDA, BTHA, and PRDA, respectively. Second, the average ranks of small cities ascended, being 0.55, 0.08 and 0.04 in the three UAs, respectively. However, the average ranks of large and medium cities in the three UAs experienced different trajectories, which are closely related to the similarities and differences in the driving forces for the development of UAs. Place-based measures are encouraged to promote a coordinated development among cities of differing sizes in the three UAs.

This paper uses HJ-1 satellite multi-spectral and multi-temporal data to extract forest vegetation information in the Funiu Mountain region. The S-G filtering algorithm was employed to reconstruct the MODIS EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) time-series data for the period of 2000-2013, and these data were correlated with air temperature and precipitation data to explore the responses of forest vegetation to hydrothermal conditions. The results showed that: (1) the Funiu Mountain region has relatively high and increasing forest coverage with an average EVI of 0.48 over the study period, and the EVI first shows a decreasing trend with increased elevation below 200 m, then an increasing trend from 200-1700 m, and finally a decreasing trend above 1700 m. However, obvious differences could be identified in the responses of different forest vegetation types to climate change. Broad-leaf deciduous forest, being the dominant forest type in the region, had the most significant EVI increase. (2) Temperature in the region showed an increasing trend over the 14 years of the study with an anomaly increasing rate of 0.27℃/10a; a fluctuating yet increasing trend could be identified for the precipitation anomaly percentage. (3) Among all vegetation types, the evergreen broad-leaf forest has the closest EVI-temperature correlation, whereas the mixed evergreen and deciduous forest has the weakest. Almost all forest types showed a weak negative EVI-precipitation correlation, except the mixed evergreen and deciduous forest with a weak positive correlation. (4) There is a slight delay in forest vegetation responses to air temperature and precipitation, with half a month only for limited areas of the mixed evergreen and deciduous forest.

In this study, historical landscape dynamics were investigated to (i) map the land use/cover types for the years 1972, 1987, 2000 and 2014; (ii) determine the types and processes of landscape dynamics; and (iii) assess the landscape fragmentation and habitat loss over time. Supervised classification of multi-temporal Landsat images was used through a pixel-based approach. Post-classification methods included systematic and random change detection, trajectories analysis and landscape fragmentation assessment. The overall accuracies (and Kappa statistics) were of 68.86% (0.63), 91.32% (0.79), 90.66% (0.88) and 91.88% (0.89) for 1972, 1987, 2000 and 2014, respectively. The spatio-temporal analyses indicated that forests, woodlands and savannahs dominated the landscapes during the four dates, though constant areal decreases were observed. The most important dynamic process was the decline of woodlands with an average annual net loss rate of -2%. Meanwhile, the most important land transformation occurred during the transition 2000-2014, due to anthropogenic pressures. Though the most important loss of vegetation greenness occurred in the unprotected areas, the overall analyses of change indicated a declining trend of land cover quality and an increasing landscape fragmentation. Sustainable conservation strategies should be promoted while focusing restoration attention on degraded lands and fragmented ecosystems in order to support rural livelihood and biodiversity conservation.