Based on the cost-benefit data (1980–2002) of farm products and China Agriculture Yearbooks, this paper studies the regional disparity in the changes of the agricultural land use in China during the period 1980–2002 from three aspects such as the degree of intensity, the sown area and the abandoned farmland. The results show that: (1) The degree of intensity of land use in the western region during 1980–2000 has a strong uptrend, but in the eastern and central regions the degree of intensity descends obviously and has shown a continuous downtrend since 1997. (2) The total sown area shrinks notably in the eastern region, while it enlarges constantly in the western region. (3) The sown area in the eastern, central and western regions has gone through a similar cyclic process: down (1980–1985)–up (1985–1991)–down (1991–1994)–up (1994–1999)–down (1999–2002). However, there are obvious differences in amplitude variation and tendency among them. The sown area has shrunk in the eastern region and expanded in the central and western regions especially before 1999. (4) The most cases of abandoned farmland are reported in the central region, the second in the eastern region and the least in the western region. The abandonment phenomena chiefly occurred during 1992–1995 in the eastern region, and during 1998–2002 in the central region.

Taking the typical karst agricultural region, Xiaojiang watershed in Luxi of Yunnan Province as a research unit, utilizing the groundwater quality data in 1982 and 2004, the aerial photos in 1982 and TM images in 2004, supported by the GIS, we probe into the law and the reason of its space-time change of the groundwater quality over the past 22 years in the paper. The results show: (1) There were obvious temporal and spatial changes of groundwater quality during the past 22 years. (2) Concentrations of,SO₄^2-,NO₃^-,NO₂^-,Cl^-,and the pH value, total hardness, total alkalinity increased significantly, in which NH₄⁺,NO₃^-, and NO₂^- of groundwater exceeded the drinking water standards as a result of non-point pollution caused by the expansion of cultivated land and mass use of the fertilizer and pesticide. (3) Oppositely, Ca²⁺ and HCO₃^- showed an obvious decline trend due to forest reduction and degradation and stony desertification. Meantime, there was a dynamic relation between the groundwater quality change and the land use change.

The Danxia landform of Qiyun Mountain is mainly developed on the red granule conglomerates named Xiaoyan Group (K₂x¹) of middle Cretaceous series, which is controlled mainly by three faulted zones, namely, Jingdezhen-Qimen faulted zone, Jiangwan-Jiekou compressional faulted zone and Kaihua-Chun’an folding faulted zone. During the Cretaceous period, this area firstly experienced massif subsidence to become a continental faulted basin, then having thick Cretaceous red sediments accumulated on it. In the supervened neotectonism, this area experienced an uplifting process, which made the thick Cretaceous sediments into a mountain with an altitude of 500-600 m. After undergoing the processes of vertical joint development, weathering, denudation and transportation, as well as evidently differential weathering and denudation influenced by lithology and structure between sandstone and conglomerate, the grand Danxia landscape consisting of peak forests, steep cliffs, caves, mesas, castellated peaks, natural bridges and so on formed. The three nick points located respectively at 585 m, 400 m and 150 m generally reflect the three dominated uplifting processes during the neotectonism.

The area that the railway will cross is a region with the main physiognomies of desert and Gobi, with a most fragile ecological environment. It is also a region that is highly susceptible to man-made disturbance. The construction of railway will intensify soil erosion along the railway line to a certain degree. The map of soil erosion conditions in the section from Liugou to Dunhuang City in the range of 10 km each side along the line was compiled by using the techniques of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS). Based on analysis of the status of desertification and the influence of the railway construction projects, the changes of the types, intensities and the total amount of the soil erosion caused by the construction were predicted.

1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China; 2. College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China; 3. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing 100085, China)

Based on multi-temporal remotely sensed materials of both 1985 and 2000, we analyzed the effects of land-use types and their conversions on desertification in Mu Us Sandy Land in the agro-pastoral transitional zone of north central China. In this study, the desertified land was classified into five degrees: potential, light, medium, severe and extreme. The results indicate that the extent of desertification expands slightly, while desertification degree is enhanced significantly. About 22.35% of the total land area in the study area is in the desertification course, and the expanded area of both severely and extremely desertified land accounts for 3.67% of the total area of Mu Us Sandy Land. About 9053 km² of area witnessed changes in land-use types between 1985 and 2000, which accounted for 10.75% of the total. More importantly, the area of conversions among cultivated land, forestland and rangeland added up to 971.6 km². This research reveals that both improper land-use types and conversions could accelerate the desertification process. Both cultivated land and forestland have more effects on the desertification development than rangeland. Some land-use type conversions, such as rangeland to cultivated land, rangeland to forestland and forestland to cultivated land, are attributed to the acceleration of the desertification development while the opposite can control the desertification development.

Rapid land landscape change has taken place in many arid and semi-arid regions such as the vulnerable ecological area over the last decade. In this paper, we quantified land landscape change of Yulin in this area between 1985 and 2000 using remote sensing and GIS. It was found that fallow landscape decreased by 125,148 hm² while grassland and woodland increased by 107,975 hm² and 17,157 hm², respectively. The major factors responsible for these changes are identified as the change in the government policy on preserving the environment, continued growth in mining, and urbanization. The efforts in restoring the deteriorated ecosystem have reaped certain benefits in reducing the spatial extent of sandy land through replacement by non-irrigated farmland, woodland and grassland. On the other hand, continued expansion of mining industry and urbanization has exerted adverse impacts on the land landscape. At present regional economic development conflicts directly with the protection of the natural environment. Such a conflict has caused the destruction to the land resources and fragmentation of the landscape accompanied by land desertification, the case is even serious in some localities.

The Huaihe River basin of Anhui is not only a transitional zone of physical geography, but also a convergent area of many cultures in China. It is one of the sensitive ecotones to global changes and the birthplace of Chinese civilization. Using the field archaeological data and the sporo-pollens and the age data of the drilling cores, we analysed Neolithic cultural development and environmental evolution in the Huaihe River basin of Anhui. According to the combination of some research results in archaeology with environmental evolution research, this paper discusses the relationship between culture and environment in the Huaihe River basin of Anhui. The Neolithic cultural development was strongly impacted by the environmental change. The primitive culture (Shishanzi) was developed in the beginning of the Holocene Megathermal Period with distinct regional feature of the culture. From 6.5 kaBP to 5.5 kaBP, the climate changed warmer and wetter. The frequent occurrence of flood and waterlog due to such a climate regime and high sea level caused the earth’s surface environment deteriorated in the Huaihe River basin of Anhui and the interruption of the Neolithic cultural development, hence a lack of archaeological sites. From 5.5 kaBP to 4.0 kaBP, the climate changed from wet to dry, the natural environment was propitious to human survival. Dawenkou Culture and Longshan Culture flourished in this period. The Neolithic cultural development, the number of the sites and their distribution characteristics of the sites in the study area differed apparently from those in Central China and Shandong Province.

Arid and semi-arid ecosystems exhibit a spatially complex biogeophysical structure. According to arid western special climate-vegetation characters, the fractional cover of photosynthetic vegetation (PV), non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV), bare soil and water are unmixed, using the remote sensing spectral mixture analysis. We try the method to unmix the canopy funation structure of arid land cover in order to avoid the differentiation of regional vegetation system and the disturbance of environmental background. We developed a modified production efficiency model NPP-PEM appropriate for the arid area at regional scale based on the concept of radiation use efficiency. This model refer to the GLO-PEM and CASA model was driven with remotely sensed observations, and calculates not just the conversion efficiency of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation but also the carbon fluxes that determine net primary productivity (NPP). We apply and validate the model in the Kaxger and Yarkant river basins in arid western China. The NPP of the study area in 1992 and 1998 was estimated based on the NPP-PEM model. The results show that the improved PEM model, considering the photosynthetical activation of heterogeneous functional vegetation, is in good agreement with field measurements and the existing literature. An accurate agreement (R² = 0.85, P<0.001) between the estimates and the ground-based measurement was obtained. The spatial distribution of mountain-oasis-desert ecosystem shows an obvious heterogeneous carbon uptake. The results are applicable to arid ecosystem studies ranging from characterizing carbon cycle, carbon flux over arid areas to monitoring change in mountain-oasis-desert productivity, stress and management.

Pollen analysis of 23 surface samples in the east of Qaidam Basin reveals the characteristics of pollen assemblages and their relationships with vegetation and climate. In pollen assemblages, Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia are preponderant types in all the samples, and Ephedra, Gramineae and Compositae are common types. The results of DCA (Detrended Correspondance Analysis) and Correlation Analysis show different pollen assemblages indicate different vegetations, coincided with respective vegetation types. A/C (Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae) in the desert can indicate the aridity. Depending on the aridity, the vegetation communities are divided into four groups: severe drought group, moderate drought group, slight drought group and tropophilous group. A/C value is less 0.2 in the severe drought group, 0.2–0.5 in the moderate drought group, 1.63 in the slight drought group and 5.72 slight-wetness group.

Using NDVI data of NOAA-AVHRR in recent 20 years and the temperature and precipitation data of West China, the vegetation activity is discussed by adopting the EOF and REOF decomposed functions. Results show that the overall increasing trend of vegetation activity in different seasons reflects an advanced and prolonged growth period of vegetation under the circumstance of climate warming, but the vegetation evolvement has much inconsistency between different regions and seasons. There are four notable regions, eight sub-areas for vegetation evolvement in spring and summer, and nine sub-areas in autumn. The vegetation activity in most sub-areas is increasing. The most notable region is represented by Lhaze station on the Tibetan Plateau. Two other marked stations are represented by Altay station in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Pengshui station in Sichuan Province. But the time series analysis of NDVI makes clear that the trends of the other two sub-areas, Turpan station in Xinjiang and Huashan station in Shaanxi Province, are descending. It is an important reason for vegetation evolvement that temperature ascends in most of the regions and descends in the east region in some seasons. But another important reason for vegetation evolvement is that precipitation is ascending in the west and descending in the east of the region.

A study was conducted in the Taihu Lake with the aim of deriving a model for the retrieval of suspended sediment (SS) concentrations from Landsat TM images and in situ sampled data. The correlation between suspended sediment concentrations of lake and the reflectance obtained from the TM images is significant. By TM images and in situ sampled data in summer and winter, we obtained a comparative uniform model for the retrieval of suspended sediment concentrations in the Taihu Lake, that is lnSS = a*(R3/R1) + b, where lnSS is the natural logarithm of the suspended sediment concentration, R1 and R3 are the reflectance coincident with the 1st band and the 3rd band in TM images, a and b are the regression coefficients. Furthermore, we analysed the errors particularly to make sure the model is valid. The model is accurate to within 0.33(RMSE), suggesting that this model may be applicable to predict suspended sediment in the Taihu Lake from TM image throughout the year.

The spatial and temporal variability of primary productivity in the China seas from 2003 to 2005 was estimated using a size-fractionated primary productivity model. Primary productivity estimated from satellite-derived data showed spatial and temporal variability. Annual averaged primary productivity levels were 564.39, 363.08, 536.47, 413.88, 195.77, and 100.09 gCm^-2a^-1 in the Bohai Sea, northern Yellow Sea (YS), southern YS, northern East China Sea (ECS), southern ECS, and South China Sea (SCS), respectively. Peaks of primary productivity appeared in spring (April–June) and fall (October and November) in the northern YS, southern YS, and southern ECS, while a single peak (June) appeared in the Bohai Sea and northern ECS. The SCS had two peaks in primary productivity, but these peaks occurred in winter (January) and summer (August), with the winter peak far higher than the summer peak. Monthly averaged primary productivity values from 2003 to 2005 in the Bohai Sea and southern YS were higher than those in the other four seas during most months, while those in the southern ECS and SCS were the lowest. Primary productivity in spring (March–June in the southern ECS and April–July in the other five areas) contributed approximately 41% on average to the annual primary productivity in all the study seas except the SCS. The largest interannual variability also occurred in spring (average standard deviation = 6.68), according to the satellite-derived estimates. The contribution during fall (October–January in the southern ECS and August–November in the other five areas) was approximately 33% on average; the primary productivity during this period also showed interannual variability. However, in the SCS, the winter (December–March) contribution was the highest (about 42%), while the spring (April–July) contribution was the lowest (28%). The SCS did share a feature with the other five areas: the larger the contribution, the larger the interannual variability. Spatial and temporal variability of satellite-derived ocean primary productivity may be influenced by physicochemical environmental conditions, such as the chlorophyll-a concentration, sea surface temperature, photosynthetically available radiation, the seasonally reversed monsoon, river discharge, upwelling, and the Kuroshio and coastal currents.

Water is a key restricting factor of the economic development and eco-environmental protection in arid inland river basins of Northwest China. Although water supplies are short, the water utilization structure and the corresponding industrial structure are unbalanced. We constructed a System Dynamic Model for mutual optimization based on the mechanism of their interaction. This model is applied to the Heihe River Basin where the share of limited water resources among ecosystem, production and human living is optimized. Results show that, by mutual optimization, the water utilization structure and the industrial structures fit in with each other. And the relationships between the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Heihe River Basin can be harmonized. Mutual benefits of ecology, society and economy can be reached, and a sustainable ecology-production-living system can be obtained. This study gives a new insight and method for the sustainable utilization of water resources in arid inland river basins.

The analysis results of oxygen isotopes, carbon isotopes, geochemistry and the growth belt of reef coral etc. for some profiles of coral reef show that the basic pattern of climatic fluctuation during the Quaternary period can be reflected by coral reef. The trend of climate change was from cooling to warming during the Early Pleistocene with at least four cycles, and from warming to cooling with at least seven cycles during the Middle Pleistocene. The late Pleistocene is a period of the Quaternary which shows the most frequent variation of climate but generally two main cycles of warming–cooling can be seen. During the Holocene the climate went through a process of warming-rise in temperature-drop in temperature. During the historical period there were four cycles of cooling-warming at 1700 a BP. During the last 200 years climate change is characterized by two stages; a positive deviation in the former 100 years, and a negative deviation in the latter 100 years with general warming trend.

As the “Third Pole” of the world, the Tibetan Plateau has important effects on climate of its surrounding areas and even the whole world. Many results have been achieved on climate change since the last inter-glacial period in recent decades from ice core, tree-ring and lake sediment records over the Tibetan Plateau. In this paper, we review these achievements, especially those in the special periods. During the last inter-glacial period, temperature went down rapidly and went up slowly. The temperature record of the last glacial period is consistent with Greenland ice core records, also having own features over the Tibetan Plateau. Younger Dryas event agrees with the records from Europe and Greenland. Generally speaking, it is warm in the Holocene, and temperature has been rising gradually in the last 2000 years and gone up rapidly in recent decades. Climate changes on different time scales on the Tibetan Plateau occurred earlier and the change amplitude is larger than those in other parts of China.

The monitored soil samples were collected from Heihui irrigated area, Jiaokou irrigated area, Qianhe river valley and Jinghe river valley (hereafter Heihui, Jiaokou, Qianhe and Jinghe for short respectively) of Guanzhong District. According to the Environment Quality Standard for Soil (GB15618-1995II), we evaluated the pollution status of heavy metals (Cd, As, Cr and Pb) that could seriously endanger soil environment and human health by using single-factor index and synthetic pollution index methods. The results indicate that the synthetic pollution indices P of soil heavy metals are less than 0.7 in Heihui, Jiaokou, Qianhe and Jinghe of Guanzhong, the single-factor indices Pi of soil heavy metals of most soil samples are less than 0.7, so the soil environmental quality is in a good condition in Guanzhong on the whole; the enrichment degree of soil heavy metals is in the order of Heihui, Jinghe, Qianhe and Jiaokou; the contaminated degree of soil heavy metals has the feature of Cd > As > Cr > Pb; heavy metals contents in the cultivated horizon soil are generally higher than those in its underlayer soil, heavy metals contents of soil have the characteristic of enriching towards the cultivated horizon; Cd exceeds standard in the soil samples HS07a, b and HS08a, b at the Yangtao orchard in Heihui and in the soil sample QHS01a at the suburban vegetable plot in Qianhe, which was mainly caused by the long-term irrational use of chemical fertilizer and pesticide.

Henan province, located between 110°21’E—116°39’E and 31°23’N—36°22’N, stretches from warm-temperate to subtropical transitional zone. Its special position and resultant varied physical conditions, in its long geologic history, give rise to not only a rich but also complex and prominently transitional flora. Therefore, in-depth study of the floristic areal differentiation is of importance to Chinese florilization and in accurately drawing the boundary of warm-temperate and subtropic zones in China. Based on the recent floristic data, this paper conducts comparison and analysis of the floristic difference and resemblance among the Dabie, Tongbai, Funiu and Taihang Mts. in Henan province. The result shows that the Dabie and the Tongbai Mts. have the similar flora components, the northern and the southern slopes of the Funiu Mts. have identical flora, but the Taihang Mts. stand alone in their floristic character. Therefore these mountainous areas should be grouped into three floral regions in China: the Dabie and the Tongbai Mts. belong to East China Floral Region, the Taihang Mts. to North China Floral Region, and the two slopes of the Funiu Mts. to Central China region.

The agricultural climate risk in the geographical transitional zones is very sensitive to climate change. Based on previous researches, this article established the cotton climate suitability model and the risk index to analyze the cotton climate risk degree in Henan Province. The result shows that, in the last 40 years, the cotton climate risk degree has a gradual increasing trend in which the precipitation plays a very important role, and the climate suitability and its deviation have different performances in the influence on the risk change in different phases; the increase rate of risk degree has significant regional and transitional characteristics, for example, from the eastern plain to the western mountains, the risk change rate becomes slower and slower, so the contrast between the central-southern Huang-Huai plain and the Funiu mountains is the most remarkable; and in the north-south direction, the contrast between the fast increase belt from the central-southern Huang-Huai plain to the middle Yellow River and the slow increase belt near the Yellow River is particularly remarkable, which is possibly the results of topographic and climatic transitional belt; and the risk change process also has obvious regional difference. For instance, abrupt change is an important characteristic in eastern Henan where this sudden change type has notable latitudinal difference, while in the western mountainous area it is very rare. Although the temperature change over the 40 years is still increasing in this area, the trend has reduced gradually since the end of the 1980s.

A 6-m ice core was recovered in 2004 from the Naimona’Nyi Glacier, the middle Himalayas. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis on the major ion reveals that EOF1 represents the variations of majority of ions which may be originated from crustal aerosols. Comparing the calcium concentrations from the Naimona’Nyi with these from Dasuopu, East Rongbuk and Guliya ice cores, it is observed that calcium, a good indicator of the input of crustal aerosol in snow, concentrates mostly in the Guliya ice core located on the northern Tibetan Plateau, and gradually decreases from west to east in the Himalayas.

Mega-urban agglomerations are strategic core areas for national economic development and the main regions of new urbanization. They also have important roles in shifting the global economic center of gravity to China. However, the development of mega-urban agglomerations has triggered the interactive coercion between resources and the eco-environment. The interactive coupled effects between urbanization and the eco-environment in mega-urban agglomerations represent frontier and high-priority research topics in the field of Earth system science over the next decade. In this paper, we carried out systematic theoretical analysis of the interactive coupling mechanisms and coercing effects between urbanization and the eco-environment in mega-urban agglomerations. In detail, we analyzed the nonlinear-coupled relationships and the coupling characteristics between natural and human elements in mega-urban agglomerations. We also investigated the interactive coercion intensities between internal and external elements, and the mechanisms and patterns of local couplings and telecouplings in mega-urban agglomeration systems, which are affected by key internal and external control elements. In addition, we proposed the interactive coupling theory on urbanization and the eco-environment in mega-urban agglomerations. Furthermore, we established a spatiotemporal dynamic coupling model with multi-element, multi-scale, multi-scenario, multi-module and multi-agent integrations, which can be used to develop an intelligent decision support system for sustainable development of mega-urban agglomerations. In general, our research may provide theoretical guidance and method support to solve problems related to mega-urban agglomerations and maintain their sustainable development.

Due to the limitation of total amount of water resources, it is necessary to enhance water consumption efficiency to meet the increasing water demand of urbanizing China. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China in 1997-2013, we analyze the influencing factors of water consumption efficiency by spatial econometric models. Results show that, 1) Due to the notable spatial autocorrelation characteristics of water consumption efficiency among different provinces in China, general panel data regression model which previous studies often used may be improper to reveal its influencing factors. However, spatial Durbin model may best estimate their relationship. 2) Water consumption efficiency of a certain province may be influenced not only by its socio-economic and eco-environmental indicators, but also by water consumption efficiency in its neighboring provinces. Moreover, it may be influenced by the neighboring provinces’ socio-economic and eco-environmental indicators. 3) For the macro average case of the 31 provinces in China, if water consumption efficiency in neighboring provinces increased 1%, water consumption efficiency of the local province would increase 0.34%. 4) Among the ten specific indicators we selected, per capita GDP and urbanization level of itself and its neighboring provinces have the most prominent positive effects on water consumption efficiency, and the indirect effects of neighboring provinces are much larger. Therefore, the spatial spillover effects of the economic development level and urbanization level are the primary influencing factors for improving China’s water consumption efficiency. 5) Policy implications indicate that, to improve water consumption efficiency, each province should properly consider potential influences caused by its neighboring provinces, especially needs to enhance the economic cooperation and urbanization interaction with neighboring provinces.

Border areas are both important territorial security barriers and portals to the outside world. Considering the complicated geopolitical environment of China’s inland borders, analysis of the current status and mechanisms of influence of geo-economy in border areas is of great significance. Namely, this analysis is important towards leveraging traditional advantages to accelerate China’s development in border and minority areas. Based on a comprehensive analysis, our study constructed a framework to analyze the geo-economy in border areas, and also introduced three indexes: local economy, export-oriented economy and local development. In addition, our study systematically described geo-economic evolution in the border areas of China. We also analyzed the mechanism of geo-economic spatial differentiation in these border areas by using geographical detectors. Our results indicated that the level of geo-economic influence in border areas has grown steadily with significant spatial differentiation. The absolute geo-economic dominance of Northeast China gradually declines over time. Areas with geo-economic advantages are highly dispersed, showing a spatial polarization pattern with several polar nuclei including Mudanjiang city (Northeast China), Baotou city (Inner Mongolia), Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (Xinjiang), Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and the city of Chongzuo (Yunnan-Guangxi area). Geo-economics in border area is mainly influenced by national policies, the development level of neighboring countries, as well as the desire of these countries to cooperate with China in bilateral trade. Favorable policies, traffic, cultural proximity and other factors also impact the geo-economics of border areas significantly. The Inner Mongolia and Tibet areas are mainly influenced by neighboring countries, while Northeast China and Xinjiang are mainly affected by Chinese policies; the Yunnan-Guangxi area is influenced by a combination of these factors. At the end of the study, we provide our recommendations for developing policies that further geo-economic advantages in complex geopolitical environments and in areas with varied development.

Frequent extreme weather events like drought, etc. in the context of climate change present huge challenges to agricultural production. To find out if farmers have taken measures against them and identify governments’ impact on their response measures are the foundation of and key to further improving relevant policies and farmers’ responsiveness. Taking the North China Plain as an example, the study analyzes farmers’ responses to frequent climate change-induced drought, and assesses the impacts of governments’ early- warning, policy support and other factors on farmers’ responses based on questionnaire survey data and an econometric approach. The results show that: (1) Farmers are responsive to drought, and they are more likely to take measures as the degree of drought deepening. (2) Governments’ regulation affects farmers’ responses, although only part of its regulation measures has remarkable effects. Governments’ early-warning messages can increase the possibility of farmers’ responding to drought, however, only when they get the early-warning in all the processes including before, during, and after disasters can the effects be significant. Currently, as the primary channel through which early-warning information is released, television cannot change farmers’ behaviors significantly. Early-warning is most effective when spread via two or more types of channels. In addition, governments’ (especially town and village level institutions’) policy support has certain impacts on farmers’ responses to drought, yet with less prominent effects in disaster years than in normal years; to provide subsidies, as a regulation measure, can encourage farmers’ initiative a lot in adopting response measures, but most of the farmers haven’t got support from any institutions. Both the structure and strength of government regulation need to be improved. (3) Farmers with different conditions respond differently. Farmer households in irrigation areas, those whose farmland is lower fragmented, and those with numerous agricultural family members tend to take response measures. The study can provide scientific reference to the making of relevant regulation policies under the background of acidifications.

The excessive expansion of urbanized areas has resulted in haphazard land utilization, immoderate consumption of superior agricultural land and water resources, significant fragmentation of agricultural landscape, and gradual deterioration of the agro-ecological environment. Combined, these factors cause poor land use efficiency. Under these circumstances, comprehensively assessing land use efficiency for urban agriculture is a key issue in land use research. Currently, evaluation methods for agricultural land use efficiency narrowly concentrate on aspects of economic input and output. However, urban agro-ecosystems can provide diverse economic, social, and ecological services and functions. In particular, the social and ecological services and functions originating from agricultural land, which have a higher value than economic services, play a significant role in ensuring regional social, ecological, and environmental security. However, recent research has rarely taken these benefits into consideration. Therefore, land use value has been greatly underestimated, which has resulted in mishandled and poor land use policies. In this study, we apply Landsat imagery and social and economic statistical data for the Xi’an metropolitan zone (XMZ) to investigate agricultural multi-functionality. We develop an evaluation framework for urban agricultural land use efficiency and identify agro-ecosystem services and functions as important outputs from agricultural land. The land use efficiency of urban agriculture is then evaluated using ecosystem services models, providing a mechanism for assessing spatial-temporal changes in land use efficiency in the XMZ from 1999 to 2015. Four important conclusions are reached from this analysis. First, the rapid urbanization and agricultural transformation from traditional cereal cultivation to modern urban agriculture has resulted in steadily increasing costs, outputs, and land use efficiency of urban agriculture. The total output value increased 41% and land use efficiency per hectare increased by 33.13% on average. Second, the spatial patterns of comprehensive output and land use efficiency were dominated by economic outputs from agricultural land. Areas near cities, which are dominated by orchard and arable land, provide more economic functions. These areas support and regulate services due to the transformation from extensive cereal production to intensive modern urban agriculture; therefore, they have higher output value and land use efficiency. In contrast, areas distant from cities, towns, and high traffic roads, namely, remote rural areas, provide more support and regulating services, but have relatively lower economic function due to inaccessibility to urban markets and slow agricultural transformation. Therefore, these areas have lower output value and land use efficiency. The spatial change in agricultural output and land use efficiency in urban areas is strongly dependent on the degree of urbanization and agricultural transformation. Third, the total output value and land use efficiency of urban agriculture measured with our approach are much higher than evaluations using traditional methods. However, the spatial patterns measured using the two approaches are in agreement. The evaluation framework integrates ecological services and economic and social functions into a comprehensive output from agricultural land. This approach is more methodical and accurate for evaluating the comprehensive efficiency of land use based on quantities and spatial scale because they are at the pixel scale. Finally, the evaluation results have important implications for enhancing current agricultural subsidies and even implementing ecological payment policies in China. Most importantly, they can be directly applied to agricultural transformation regulations, decision-making, and guidance for rational land utilization.

Ancient Chinese cartography dates back to the Western Jin Dynasty in the third century. Cartography was initiated during this period by Pei Xiu, a minister and cartographic expert, who suggested six principles of cartography. Pei Xiu, who is known as the father of Chinese cartography, oversaw the completion of the “Yu Gong Regional Maps”, along with 18 articles and the “Terrain Fangzhang Map” (AD 224-271). This led to a number of subsequent cartographic initiatives including the “Wooden Fangzhang Map” (an administrative map) which was completed by Xie Zhuang, a minister during the Southern Dynasties (AD 502-557), “Haineihuayi Tu” (Map of China and its neighbouring countries) (AD 730-805), drawn by Jia Dan, a cartographer of the Tang Dynasty, and “Shouling Tu” (an administrative map, AD 1031-1095), drawn by Shen Kuo, a scientist during the Northern Song Dynasty. Throughout the 16th century, ancient Chinese cartography developed continuously and cumulatively, and formed the specific characteristics of China ancient cartography. Although Western latitude-based and longitude-based mapping techniques introduced to China in AD 1460, the theories and methods of Chinese and Western mapping systems co-existed for over 400 years. The cultural heritage of Chinese cartography can be seen in many famous ancient Chinese maps, including astronomical figures and atlases (world, Chinese, regional, military, water conservancy, historical, and educational maps), charts, and maps of scenic spots. These have hitherto been kept in well-known archives and institutions across the world. They form an important part of the global cultural heritage of ancient maps and cartography. Given their high cultural value, these maps remain an important point of study. This paper provides a preliminary discussion on the rarity, application, and the historical, scientific, and artistic value of ancient Chinese maps.

Contemporary science philosophy suggests that discussing ontological problems is of fundamental significance broadly within certain specific disciplines. Natural and social science research are inseparable from philosophical guidance; for instance, the philosophy of geography is the ideological basis for geography. The traditional philosophy of geography is methodology- oriented, which primarily emphasizes the “logical structure of geography explanations,” and ignores the discussion of its ontology. This study, in the context of the philosophy of science, explores the relationships between methodology, ontology, and the philosophy of geography, defines the connotations of geographical ontology, analyzes the links and differences between philosophical ontology and scientific ontology of geography, clarifies the nature of geographical ontology, and summaries its theoretical values. The ontology of geography incorporates the philosophically ontological beliefs of geographers and geographical schools and the ontological commitment of the theory of geography. As different geographers hold different philosophical viewpoints, their ontological beliefs are different; one geographical theory asserts an ontological commitment of “what is there,” which determines the nature and types of objectives the theory references. The ontological beliefs of geographers determine their epistemology, methodology, and axiology, and the ontological commitment of a geographical theory is the premise and basis of that theory.

The “High-Level Forum of the Development of China’s Human Geography Under the Background of Change” was held in Beijing on January 22-23, 2016. More than 30 professors attended this forum. At this conference, they discussed the major progress made towards developing China’s human geography, as well as the existing problems, limiting factors, opportunities, international collaborations, emerging directions, and prospects in the development of this discipline. In recent years human geography has boomed, generating many important opportunities for its development. Establishing an academic community for joint research on major research issues and collaborative innovation is a promising and important route to take. We should embrace both domestic and international characteristics, to promote China’s human geography onto the world stage. Meanwhile, the cultivation of various scholarly talents is also of great value to enrich and advance the discipline.

Ecohydrology, aiming to study the interactions between terrestrial ecological systems and hydrological cycles as well as their impacts on water management, has been an emerging interdisciplinary research field since the 20th century. It hosts both natural and human regulated processes that are potentially coupled in complex ways. Understanding the ecological-hydrological processes, the fundamental mechanisms and the connections between them is critical since these processes are not isolated but integrated to impact basin-scale hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of a larger river system, especially in arid environment where water resources are considered to be the source of life. Thus, research on ecological-hydrological processes in arid environment is not only a scientific focus area but also important to sustainable development. Research projects and initiatives involved in observation, measurement, modeling and data assimilation have been well-developed for those purposes over the past 20 years. This review summarizes the historical development of ecohydrology science in China and the state-of-the-art tools available in the research framework. Five grand scientific challenges are listed as prospects and exciting opportunities for the scientific community. To advance the current ecological-hydrological processes research, scientists from multidisciplinary backgrounds (such as geography, geology, geomorphology, hydrology, geochemistry and ecology), need to unite to tackle the many open problems in new dimensions.