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.

Comprehensive study on land-use change of spatial pattern and temporal process is the key component in LUCC study nowadays. Based on the theories and methods of Geo-information Tupu (Carto-methodology in Geo-information, CMGI), integration of spatial pattern and temporal processes of land-use change in the Yellow River Delta (YRD) are studied in the paper, which is supported by ERDAS and ARC/INFO software. The main contents include: (1) concept models of Tupu by spatial-temporal integration on land-use change, whose Tupu unit is synthesized by "Spatial·Attribute·Process" features and composed of relatively homogeneous geographical unit and temporal unit; (2) data sources and handling process, where four stages of spatial features in 1956, 1984, 1991, and 1996 are acquired; (3) integration of series of temporal-spatial Tupu, reconstruction series of "Arising" Tupu, spatial-temporal Process Tupu and the spatial temporal Pattern Tupu on land-use change by remap tables; (4) Pattern Tupu analysis on land-use change in YRD during 1956-1996; and (5) spatial difference of the Pattern Tupu analysis by dynamic Tupu units. The various landform units and seven sub-deltas generated by the Yellow River since 1855 are different. The Tupu analysis on land-use in the paper is a promising try on the comprehensive research of "spatial pattern of dynamic process" and "temporal process of spatial pattern" in LUCC research. The Tupu methodology would be a powerful and efficient tool on integrated studies of spatial pattern and temporal process in Geo-science.

The influence of land use and land cover on ecological environment is a focus of global change research. The paper chooses an industrial city-Shuicheng in Guizhou Province-as a study area because the karst water quality around the city is deteriorating with land use and land cover change. The natural susceptibility of karst water system is an important factor leading to karst water pollution. But land use and land cover change is also a main factor according to the chemical analysis of karst water quality and land use change. So it is a good way to protect karst water through rational planning and managing of land use and land cover.

This paper takes Zhexi hydraulic region in Taihu Basin as a study area. On the basis of hydraulic analysis function of Arcgis8.3, the drainages were delineated by selecting the monitoring points and discharge stations as outlets. The landuse map were finished by denoting the TM/ETM image. The precipitation map was finished by spatial interpolation according to the rainfall monitoring records. Overlaying the drainage boundary, landuse map and precipitation map, the rainfall, different landuse type area, and runoff pollution concentration and runoff were calculated. Based on these data in different sub-watersheds, by Origin7.0 regression tool, an equation is established to predict runoff using the relationships between runoff, precipitation depth and land use patterns in each of the sub-watersheds. Selecting the sub-watershed which is mainly composed of forest landuse type, the mean runoff concentration (MRC) from sub-watershed has been estimated. The mean runoff concentration of farmland has been estimated by the same methods after the contribution of forest landuse type was removed. The results are: for the forest landuse type, the mean runoff concentrations of COD, BOD, Total N and Total P are 2.95 mg/l, 1.080 mg/l, 0.715 mg/l, and 0.039 mg/l, respectively; for the farmland, the mean runoff concentrations of COD, BOD, Total N and Total P are 5.721 mg/l, 3.097 mg/l, 2.092 mg/l, and 0.166 mg/l, respectively. By using these results, the agriculture non-point pollution loads have been assessed. The loads of COD, BOD, Total N and Total P in Zhexi region are 14,631.69 t/a, 6401.93 t/a, 4281.753 t/a and 287.67 t/a, respectively.

The land desertification in Xinjiang was monitored and analyzed based on RS and GIS techniques. Satellite data interpretation was adopted to obtain the general situation of Xinjiang's land desertification in assistance with the sampling method and on-the-spot investigations. Related monitoring and investigations showed that Xinjiang was facing with severe wide range land desertification, and its desertified area made up 77.08% of the total monitoring area. As for land types, the desertified farmland accounted for 1.92% of the total monitoring area, desertified woodland 4%, desertified grassland 45%, and unused land 49%. Accordingly, as for desertification degrees, non-desertified land occupied 22.92%, weak desertified land 5.69%, medium-degree desertified land 16.58%, severe desertified land 33.19% and super severe desertified land 21.61%. Finally, as for inducing factors, wind-eroded desertification made up 58.23%, water-eroded desertification 8.69%, salinization desertification 6.52% and frozen-melt eroded desertification 3.64%. Xinjiang's land desertification tended to get worse and the harnessing mission remained hard.

Potentilla fruticosa scrub, Kobresia humilis meadow and Kobresia tibetica meadow are widely distributed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. During the grass exuberance period from 3 July to 4 September, based on close chamber-GC method, a study on CO₂ emissions from different treatments was conducted in these meadows at Haibei research station, CAS. Results indicated that mean CO₂ emission rates from various treatments were 672.09±152.37 mgm^-2h-1 for FC (grass treatment); 425.41±191.99 mgm^-2h-1 for FJ (grass exclusion treatment); 280.36±174.83 mgm^-2h-1 for FL (grass and roots exclusion treatment); 838.95±237.02 mgm^-2h-1 for GG (scrub+grass treatment); 528.48±205.67 mgm^-2h-1 for GC (grass treatment); 268.97±99.72 mgm^-2h-1 for GL (grass and roots exclusion treatment); and 659.20±94.83 mgm^-2h-1 for LC (grass treatment), respectively (FC, FJ, FL, GG, GC, GL, LC were the Chinese abbreviation for various treatments). Furthermore, Kobresia humilis meadow, Potentilla fruticosa scrub meadow and Kobresia tibetica meadow differed greatly in average CO₂ emission rate of soil-plant system, in the order of GG>FC>LC>GC. Moreover, in Kobresia humilis meadow, heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration accounted for 42% and 58% of the total respiration of soil-plant system respectively, whereas, in Potentilla fruticosa scrub meadow, heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration accounted for 32% and 68% of total system respiration from GG; 49% and 51% from GC. In addition, root respiration from Kobresia humilis meadow approximated 145 mgCO₂m-2h-1, contributed 34% to soil respiration. During the experiment period, Kobresia humilis meadow and Potentilla fruticosa scrub meadow had a net carbon fixation of 111.11 gm-2 and 243.89 gm-2, respectively. Results also showed that soil temperature was the main factor which influenced CO₂ emission from alpine meadow ecosystem, significant correlations were found between soil temperature at 5 cm depth and CO₂ emission from GG, GC, FC and FJ treatments. In addition, soil moisture may be the inhibitory factor of CO₂ emission from Kobresia tibetica meadow, and more detailed analyses should be done in further research.

Quantitatively determining the sources of dune sand is one of the problems necessarily and urgently to be solved in aeolian landforms and desertification research. Based on the granulometric data of sand materials from the Hulun Buir Sandy Land, the paper employs the stepwise discriminant analysis technique (SDA) for two groups to select the principal factors determining the differences between surface loose sediments. The extent of similarity between two statistical populations can be described quantitatively by three factors such as the number of principal variables, Mahalanobis distance Ｄ2 and confidence level α for F-test. Results reveal that: 1) Aeolian dune sand in the region mainly derives from Hailar Formation (Q3), while fluvial sand and palaeosol also supply partially source sand for dunes; and 2) in the vicinity of Cuogang Town and west of the broad valley of the lower reaches of Hailar River, fluvial sand can naturally become principal supplier for dune sand.

The aim of the study was to assess the environment-health development in different regions of China. 175 indicators, such as average life expectancy at birth, emission intensity of waste gas, GDP etc. were chosen to describe various aspects of the environment, health and development of China. Of all the indicators, life expectancy can sufficiently reflect health situation of population. Consequently, life expectancy was identified as key indicator, and 42 out of 175 indicators were selected for establishing the environment-health indicator framework with three grades of integrative indices to assess the development of environment-health of China. Based on the hierarchical relation between various grades of indices, the comprehensive environment-health index was calculated and contributed to classify the environment-health situation of 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China which were divided into five grades by four predefined limits. Comprehensive assessment indicates that the environment-health situation of the eastern and coastal areas is superior to that of inland which is the western regions with underdeveloped economy and rigorous natural condition. Especially, the Qinghai-Tibet and Yunnan-Guizhou plateaus in southwestern China are most vulnerable in the environment and population health. These fit in with the pattern of national socio-economic development, which fully shows that socio-economic context plays a dominant role in the improvement of environment-health in China.

The spatial and temporal variations of stable oxygen isotope in precipitation on different time scales are analyzed according to the data from the IAEA/WMO stations with long survey series in the Northern Hemisphere. Temperature effect is mainly distributed in mid-high latitudes on seasonal scale except for Bamako and Addisababa stations. The δ¹⁸O/temperature slope displays the positive correlation against altitude for most of the statistical stations. Amount effect appears primarily in the region south of 30oN and coastal areas. The δ¹⁸O/precipitation slope is indirectly proportional to precipitation amount. For some of the sampling stations at mid-high latitudes where their seasonal distribution of precipitation is contrary to that of temperature, coupled with temperature effect, the amount effect appears synchronistically. Either the temperature effect or the amount effect on seasonal scale, there are positive correlations to a certain extent between the annual weighted mean δ¹⁸O and the annual mean temperature for almost all the stations. The correlation between composite δ¹⁸O and temperature on spatial scale is much more marked, compared with that of individual station. There is a good agreement between 10-year moving average temperature curves I and II, with the values of the former all markedly smaller than corresponding ones of the latter, calculated by the monthly mean series group I and the annual mean series group II, respectively. However, two calculated dδ¹⁸O/dT curves display the distinct difference: the variation amplitude of slope series II is larger than that of slope series I. Both curves had similar ascending trend from the 1960s to the 1970s, and then, their variations display the anti-phase. Moreover, the analyses show that there is negative correlation between slope series II and temperature series II. However, the status is different for slope series I and temperature series I. Both series have contrary trend from the 1960s to the 1970s, whereas the same trend since the 1980s.

The monthly, seasonal, and annual precipitation trends in the Yangtze river catchment have been detected through analysis of 51 meteorological stations' data between 1950-2002 provided by National Meteorological Administration. Results reveal that: 1) Summer precipitation in the Yangtze river catchment shows significant increasing tendency. The Poyanghu lake basin, Dongtinghu lake basin and Taihu lake basin in the middle and lower reaches are the places showing significant positive trends. Summer precipitation in the middle and lower reaches experienced an abrupt change in the year 1992; 2) The monthly precipitation in months just adjoining to summer shows decreasing tendency in the Yangtze river catchment. The upper and middle reaches in Jialingjiang river basin and Hanshui river basin are the places showing significant negative trends; 3) Extreme precipitation events show an increasing tendency in most places, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river catchment.

Red tides are one of the main coastal catastrophic events in Guangdong Province of southern China. The comparison between the number of red tide events and the development indexes of cities along the coasts of the province shows that the regional differences in red tide outbreaks has close relations with the coastal urban developments. The cause for an initiation of red tide blooms may be natural factors, while wastewater caused by the fast development of population, industry and aquiculture of the coastal cities enhanced the blooms. It may explain why the two periods of frequent outbreaks of the red tides over the last two decades matched the urban developments in the coastal areas of Guangdong not only spatially but also temporally. The red tides in the first period were restricted only to the coasts of middle Guangdong, where urbanization process was at a higher speed than the other coastal areas of the province. In the second period, fast development of the coastal cities in eastern Guangdong led to an increase in the occurrence of red tides in local sea areas of the same coasts.

With the long-term data of the geodetic sea level measurements undertaken in the Dongting Basin and the recent sediment data of Dongting Lake, we analyze the tectonic subsidence rate of the Dongting Basin and the sedimentary rate of Dongting Lake. From the point of view of geomorphology and hydrogeology, we distinguish the two different spatial concepts between "the basin of Dongting Lake" and "the Dongting Basin". Then, we discuss the influences of the tectonic subsidence and the siltation on the levees and the space of storing flood. The better quality of levees is required due to the tectonic subsidence and the siltation, and the difficulties of preventing flood disasters are increasing. The space of storing flood is not affected by the tectonic subsidence, but by the siltation. At present, the sedimentary rate of Dongting Lake is higher than the tectonic subsidence rate of the Dongting Basin. The tectonic subsidence capacity of the Dongting Basin counteracts a part of sedimentary capacity, and the shrinking tendency of Dongting Lake is restrained to a certain extent, but the tectonic subsidence is harmful to the situation of preventing flood disasters in the Dongting Lake area.

Radar remote sensing can acquire information of sub-surface covered by sand in arid area, detect surface roughness and vegetation coronet's layer and linear feature such as linear structure and channel sensitively. With sediment facies analysis, this paper studies the features of environmental evolution in mid-late Epipleistocene (60 ka BP-20 ka BP) in northeastern Ejin Banner. The conclusions are listed as follows: (1) The evolution of the three lakes, i.e. Gaxunnur, Sugunur and Tian'e lakes, are dominated by faults and regional climate. (2) By analyzing sedimentary section of old Juyanze Lake, the three lakes used to be a large outflow lake before 50 ka BP in northeastern Ejin Banner, and at 50 ka BP, temperature declined rapidly in northwestern China. The event caused the lake's shrinkage. (3) By fault activity uplift in the northern part of old Juyan Lake and depression in the southern part, the lake's water followed from north to south at around 35 ka BP, old Juyanze fluvial fan was formed. At the same time, Juyan Lake separated from Sugunur Lake and Wentugunr old channel was abandoned. (4) In recent 2000 years, Ruoshui River is a wandering river, sometimes it flows into Juyan Lake and sometimes Sugunur and Gaxunnur lakes. Due to human activities and over exploitation, the oasis ecosystem is rapidly degenerated in 15 years (1986-2000).

On the basis of extensive survey to the Quaternary paleosols, soils and weathering layers in the vast northern China and the Loess Plateau, we found some unusually special phenomena of chemical components such as unsuccessive illuvium, twin illuviums, unusually thick illuvium and multi-illuviums etc. According to the analysis on the content of CaCO3 and the data of penetrating experiment, a new theory of illuvial depth or removal depth of CaCO3 in weathering and leaching belt was constructed, which indicates that the time of CaCO3 removing to the illuvial depth is very short, and the effect of time factor on illuvial depth can be ignored. The theory can be taken as a credible foundation for studying many geological and geographical problems in weathering and leaching belt. When the illuvial depth of CaCO3 is bigger than the thickness of developing belt of soil or paleosol, it can be determined that the paleosol has turned into weathering crust. When the illuvial depth of CaCO3 is bigger than the thickness of paleosol, paleosol is leaching moderately acid soil. When two, three layers or unusually thick CaCO3 illuviums exist in the same weathering section or at the bottom of the same paleosol, there were two or more periods forming paleosol and corresponding climatic stages at that time. On the basis of the equation of relationship between mean annual rainfall (y) and illuvial depth of CaCO3 (x) (y = 305.5x + 168.5) determined in the paper, mean annual precipitation during the development of paleosol can be calculated.

The eastern and western fronts of plate movement in Taiwan Island and Tibetan Plateau respectively are the two major sources of tectonic force for the morphogensis during Quaternary in China’s tropics. Seven examples of geomorphological effects of plate movement are enumerated to discuss the differentiation of tectonic landforms in space and time during Quaternary. The tectonic movement tends to be more active since middle Pleistocene. Some phenomena such as the arc-shape mountain systems, volcanism and crustal deformation imply that the juncture zone of eastern and western tectonic forces is located at about 110^oE.

The preservation and sustainable development of soil and water resources is one of the basic principles for the development of China. Throughout the course of history, all the social improvement and economic development are deeply concerned with soil loss and ecological environmental protection. It is now a common sense that soil and water conservation is the safety insurance for national ecology and its development. For the past long period of time, soil and water loss has been recognized as "the No.1 killer" to the ecological environment. The nation is on the stage of the critical conditions for its development. China has massive mountain and upland area with complicated geological conditions and accelerated human destruction and serious soil and water loss. Based on rich historical documents, renovating experience and detailed analysis of the data collected in field experiments and field surveys for soil and water conservation, this paper aims to review the general characteristics of soil and water loss, to explore the relationship between soil and water conservation and sustainable economic development, and to provide relevant strategies for soil and water conservation in China.

Using monthly precipitation and monthly mean temperature, a surface humid index was proposed. According to the index, the distributed characteristics of extreme dryness has been fully analyzed. The results indicated that there is an obvious increasing trend of extreme dryness in the central part of northern China and northeastern China in the last 10 years, which shows a high frequency period of extreme dryness; while a low frequency period in the regions during the last 100 years. Compared with variation trend of the temperature in these regions, the region of high frequent extreme dryness is consistent with the warming trend in the same region.

During the 1992-1993 joint Australian-Chinese over-snow traverse of the western Lambert Glacier Basin (LGB), two firn cores were drilled respectively at MGA and LGB16. During the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 austral summers, two firn cores were drilled respectively at DT001 and DT085 on the eastern LGB. Based on the measurements made during the expeditions, the climatic and environmental features on both sides of the LGB have been studied. Results show that during the past 50 years, the trends of both air temperature and accumulation rate show a slight increase on the east side of the LGB, in contrast to the west side of the LGB. The spatial trends of the accumulation rate measured by accumulation canes at 2 km intervals along the nearly 500 km of the traverse lines on both sides of the LGB are different. Moreover, correlations of δ18O vs T10 along the two sides of the LGB are also different. In addition, the variations of sea salt ion concentrations show different trends in the past 50 years. All the evidence shows that the Lambert Glacier is a dividing region for the different climatic regimes over the East Antarctic ice sheet, which may be due to different moisture resources resulting from special local circumfluence such as cyclone activities, local terrain influences.

A compilation of paleoclimate records from lake sediments, trees, ice cores, and historical documents provide a view of China and Arctic environmental changes in the last 600 years. Many of these changes have also been identified in sedimentary and geochemical signatures in deep-sea sediment cores from the North Atlantic Ocean, Arctic and Greenland and ice cores from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, confirming the linkage of environmental changes of different time scales between the Arctic and China. It is shown that the changes of precipitation, temperature and sea ice cover in Arctic were correlated with climate changes in China. This paper also developed a comparative research on the climate changes between Arctic and China both during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and the instrumental observation period. Cycles and trend of temperature variations during LIA and temperature and precipitation during the instrumental observation period are performed. We found some similarities and differences of environmental changes between Arctic and China.

Both marginal fluctuation and areal change were used to detect the accurate dynamics of glacier change in the study area using Landsat MSS, ETM, SPOT HRV and topographic maps based on GIS. From 1963 to 1977, four of eight glaciers advanced, two of them retreated and another two kept stable, the glacier advanced generally. From 1977 to 1986, four of eight glaciers retreated and the others kept stable, but the retreated glaciers were those which advanced from 1963 to 1977. From 1986 to 2000, seven of eight glaciers retreated and only one glacier kept stable, the retreating velocity was 10-15 m/a. Glacier recession in this period became very fast and universal. From 1963 to 2000, the area of glaciers decreased from 5479.0 ha to 4795.4 ha, up to 12.5%. It is alarming that most of glacier retreats happened from 1986 to 2000. This was very consistent with change process of summer mean temperature in this region and global warming beginning in the 1980s.

This paper presents the detailed results and analyses on the ecological footprints and bio-capacities of the individual cities and the province as a whole for the year 2001, providing a clear picture of sustainability for the province. Results show that the ecological footprints of most cities in Liaoning exceeded their respective bio-capacities, incurring high ecological deficits. The ecological deficit of the province as a whole was 1.31 ha/cap. Those cities with resources extraction and/or primary material-making as their major industries constitute the "ecologically black band", whose ecological deficits ranged from 2.45 to 5.23 ha/cap, the highest of all cities in the province. Fossil energy consumption was the major source of footprint amounting to 1.63 ha/cap at the provincial level, taking up 67.3% of the total. For cropland, modest ecological surpluses occurred in Jinzhou, Tieling, Huludao, and Panjin while modest ecological deficits in Dalian, Benxi, Fushun, and Dandong, resulting in an overall surplus for the province. Liaoning had a certain level of surplus in fishing ground (water area), mainly distributed in the coastal cities of Dalian, Panjin, Huludao, Yingkou, Jinzhou, and Dandong. Most cities had a small ecological deficit in pasture and all had a small ecological surplus in forest. The eco-efficiency, expressed as GDP value per hectare of footprint, exhibits high variations among the cities, with the highest (Shenyang) more than 10 times the lowest (Fuxin). Cities with manufacture, high-tech, and better developed service industries had high eco-efficiency, while those with resources extraction, primary material-making, and less developed service industries had low eco-efficiency. Based on the components and geographical distribution of ecological footprint, strategic policy implications are outlined for Liaoning's development toward a sustainable future.

This paper studies the effects of land cover changes on distributions and circulations of nutrients in a terrestrial ecosystem, taking Jianou Niukenglong Grassland Ecosystem Experimental Station as a case study. During a two year experiment from 1994 to 1996, the land cover types were changed from desert slopeland to grasslands, in particular, Chamaecrista rotundifolia(pers) green + Pasalum thunbergii and Glycine max var. + Pasalum thunbergii. In order to study land cover change effects on nutrients in the terrestrial ecosystem, we selected organic materials (OMs), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and aluminum (Al) to study their changes in total soil nutrient concentrations, nutrient reserves in soil, distributions and reservations of nutrients in distinct grassland communities and overall nutrient contents reserved in terrestrial ecosystem, and their circulation with land cover change. The experimental results indicate that with the increase of vegetation coverage, the total concentrations of N, P and K grow rapidly in the soil, but that of Al decreases markedly. The increases of the total concentrations of N, P and K were mainly the consequences of changes of the factors that affect soil evolution, e.g., soil moisture, and changes of soil evolution processes, e.g., weathering rate and the decrease of soil erosion. These changes were caused by land coverage growth from desert slopeland to grassland. With the change of the land cover types and the increase of land coverage, the activity of Al accelerated as well, and the vertical penetration and lateral penetration of Al have been increased. Therefore, the loss of Al within the experimental terrestrial ecosystem was inevitable, and the total concentration and reserve of Al in soil have become smaller and smaller, in spite of the growth of grass absorbing some amounts of Al. The Al reserve has increased in vegetation, but it has declined in total terrestrial ecosystem. Land cover change also affects the circulations of nutrients in the terrestrial ecosystem and for the purpose of study on nutrient circulations, we choose to study plant absorption, litter and reservation of nutrients to establish an index to indicate the situations of nutrient circulations within terrestrial ecosystems. The results indicate that in the two land cover types (two grassland ecosystems), the sequence of nutrient circulation indices are N > K > P > Al in Chamaecrista rotundifolia(pers) green + Pasalum thunbergii and P > N > K > Al in Glycine max var. + Pasalum thunbergii. On the basis of the study, we can conclude that land cover change affects both distributions and circulations in the terrestrial ecosystem, and that different changes have distinct influences on distributions and circulations. Some nutrients were affected differently in some contents.

Sampling and testing are conducted on groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the 670 km² of the Sangong River Basin and semi-variance function analysis is made afterwards on the data obtained by the application of geo-statistics. Results showed that the variance curve of the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage displays an exponential model. Analysis of sampling data in 2003 indicates that the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage change similarly in space in this area. The Sangong River Basin is composed of upper oasis, middle ecotone and lower sand dune. In oasis and ecotone, influenced by irrigation of the adjoining oasis, groundwater level has been raised and soil water content also increased compared with sand dune nearby, vegetation developed well. But in the lower reaches of the Sangong River Basin, because of descending of groundwater level, soil water content decreased and vegetation degenerated. From oasis to abandoned land and desert grassland, vegetation coverage and groundwater level changed greatly with significant difference respectively in spatial variation. Distinct but similar spatial variability exists among the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the study area, namely, the vegetation coverage decreasing (increasing) as the groundwater depth increases (decreases). This illustrates the great dependence of vegetation coverage on groundwater depth in arid regions and further implies that among the great number of factors affecting vegetation coverage in arid regions, groundwater depth turns out to be the most determinant one.

After dividing the source regions of the Yellow River into 38 sub-basins, the paper made use of the SWAT model to simulate streamflow with validation and calibration of the observed yearly and monthly runoff data from the Tangnag hydrological station, and simulation results are satisfactory. Five land-cover scenario models and 24 sets of temperature and precipitation combinations were established to simulate annual runoff and runoff depth under different scenarios. The simulation shows that with the increasing of vegetation coverage annual runoff increases and evapotranspiration decreases in the basin. When temperature decreases by 2^oC and precipitation increases by 20%, catchment runoff will increase by 39.69%, which is the largest situation among all scenarios.

By using GIS and remote sensing techniques, the paper discusses how human activities have changed along the Yellow River in Henan province, China and how these altered activities have influenced the wetland landscape pattern change from 1987 to 2002. Results show that the total area of the wetland reduces dramatically compared to 1987, the total area of wetland reduces by 19.18%, the number of the patches in 2002 increases by 21.17%, the density increases by 50%, and the total perimeter increases by 1,290,491 m. Disturbed by human activities, landscape diversity index decreases from 1.1740 in 1987 to 0.9803 in 2002. During the last 20 years, the total area of the rice wetland increases, while the others decrease. Among those, the area of the bulrush wetland decreases most. In 1987, it takes 0.5% of the total area, but in 2002, it only takes 0.11%. The interpenetration of human influences on the wetland natural system has been long and close. The impacts of human activities on the spatial pattern of the wetland landscape along the Yellow River in Henan from 1987 to 2002 are great.

Combined with recent historical climate data and two periods of land use data sets from remote sensing data, we test the net primary productivity (NPP) data sets in North China modelled by the satellite data-driven Global Production Efficiency Model (GLO-PEM) for detecting the widespread spatial and temporal characteristics of the impacts of climate and land use change on the regional NPP. Our results show that over the past 20 years, the mean annual temperature in the study region has remarkably increased by more than 0.064 ^oC, but over the same period, there has been a 1.49 mm decrease in annual precipitation and decrease in NPP by an annual rate of 6.9 TgC. The NPP changes in the study region were greatly affected by the average temperature and precipitation by ten-day periods as well as the seasonal temperature and precipitation in the study region. The correlation between seasonal NPP and seasonal precipitation and temperature is highly consistent with land cover spatially, and the correlation coefficient changes with the changes of vegetation types. The analysis reveals that the related areas in land use change only take up 5.45% of the whole studied region, so the climate changes dominate the impacts on the NPP in the whole study region (90% of the total). However, land use plays an absolute dominative role in areas with land cover changes, accounting for 97% of the total. From 1981 to 2000, the NPP in the whole study region remarkably reduced due to obvious precipitation decrease and temperature rise. Between two periods of land use (about 10 years), the changes in climate are predicted to promote a decrease in NPP by 78 (±0.6) TgC, and integrated impacts of climate changes and land use to promote a decrease in NPP by 87(±0.8) TgC.