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The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), known as the "Third Pole of the Earth", contains fragile ecosystems and is sensitive to global environmental changes. With the intensification of climate change and human activities, the land cover of the QTP is changing significantly, which affects its function as an ecological security barrier. This paper searched 379 papers in the Web of Science core database, conducted a bibliometric analysis, and proposed potential future research directions to gain a macroscopic understanding of the impact of land use and cover change (LUCC) on the regional and global ecological environment of the QTP. The results are as follows. (1) The period from 1995 to 2022 witnessed an overall increase in the number of publications in this field with a high development potential. (2) Climate change, land use, China, impacts, conservation, and management were high-frequency keywords in the field; among these, climate change has received increasing research attention since 2018. (3) The field included three main research directions: the impact of LUCC on biodiversity, the impact of land degradation on ecosystems, and the impact of climate change and land use changes on ecosystem services. (4) The development and evolution of research hotspots were mainly focused on three aspects: the impact of cultivated land expansion and deforestation, the impact of land use management and conservation, and the impact of climate change and human activities on LUCC. (5) Future research should focus on improving the accuracy of land use and cover data on the QTP, assessing and preventing the ecological risks of LUCC, investigating the impacts of human activities on LUCC and the ecological environment, and exploring the interactions between climate change and human activities on the ecological environment. The findings of this paper will help researchers and stakeholders gain a rapid and comprehensive understanding of this research area and thus contribute to the sustainable development of the QTP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-standing development pattern dominated by international circulation makes China face the risk of "low-end lock-in" and "being decoupling". In addition, the current global climate change and environmental crisis are becoming increasingly severe, coupled with the COVID-19 impact. Chinese enterprises must actively build a green development system for domestic industries in a mutually reinforcing manner in the context of the domestic general circulation, in order to adapt to the new dual circulation environment as soon as possible. This paper analyzes the specific coupling and coordination relationship between the two systems based on the relevant data of China's three major industries from 2008–2014 using Index DEA, entropy value method, gray correlation analysis and coupling coordination model. The results of the study show that: the two systems of dual circulation pattern and industrial green development have a strong correlation and basically present a coupling relationship, but within the industry, there is a problem of the collapse of the tertiary industry. In terms of the type of coupling, the domestic and international circulation in general gradually present the green development leading state, except for the primary industrial segment of the international circulation. On the whole, the coupling quality of the two systems needs to be further improved. Based on this, this paper puts forward the following suggestions: (1) coordinate the internal and external development of the industry; (2) take innovation as the driving force to promote the green transformation of industries; (3) take green sharing as the goal to strengthen the policy orientation of green development; (4) take the opportunity of mutual promotion of dual circulation to stabilize the steady state of green development coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is accelerating globally, causing a variety of environmental changes such as increases in air temperature, precipitation, atmospheric CO2, and nitrogen (N) deposition. However, effects of these changes on forest soil carbon (C) sequestration remain largely unclear. Here we used urban-to-rural environmental gradients in Guangdong Province, southern China, to address the potential effects of these environmental changes on soil C sequestration in Pinus massoniana forests. In contrast with our expectations and earlier observations, soil C content in urban sites was significantly lower than those in suburban and rural sites. Lower soil C pools in urban sites were correlated with a significant decrease in fine root biomass and a potential increase in soil organic C decomposition. Variation of soil C pools was also a function of change in soil C fractions. Heavy fraction C content in urban sites was significantly lower than those in suburban and rural sites. By contrast, light fraction C content did not vary significantly along the urban-to-rural gradient. Our results suggest that urbanization-induced environmental changes may have negative effect on forest soil C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/cover change (LUCC) detection and modeling play an important role in global environmental change research, in particular, policy-making to mitigate climate change, support land spatial planning, and achieve sustainable development. For the time being, a couple of hybrid models, such as cellular automata–Markov (CM), logistic–cellular automata-Markov (LCM), multicriteria evaluation (MCE), and multicriteria evaluation–cellular automata–Markov (MCM), are available. However, their disadvantages lie in either dependence on expert knowledge, ignoring the constraining factors, or without consideration of driving factors. For this purpose, we proposed in this paper a new hybrid model, the logistic–multicriteria evaluation–cellular automata–Markov (LMCM) model, that uses the fully standardized logistic regression coefficients as impact weights of the driving factors to represent their importance on each land use type in order to avoid these defects but is able to better predict the future land use pattern with higher accuracy taking Hefei, China as a study area. Based on field investigation, Landsat images dated 2010, 2015, and 2020, together with digital elevation model (DEM) data, were harnessed for land use/cover (LUC) mapping using a supervised classification approach, which was achieved with high overall accuracy (AC) and reliability (AC > 95%). LUC changes in the periods 2010–2015 and 2015–2020 were hence detected using a post-classification differencing approach. Based on the LUC patterns of the study area in 2010 and 2015, the one of 2020 was simulated by the LMCM, CM, LCM, and MCM models under the same conditions and then compared with the classified LUC map of 2020. The results show that the LMCM model performs better than the other three models with a higher simulation accuracy, i.e., 1.72–5.4%, 2.14–6.63%, and 2.78–9.33% higher than the CM, LCM, and MCM models, respectively. For this reason, we used the LMCM model to simulate and predict the LUC pattern of the study area in 2025. It is expected that the results of the simulation may provide scientific support for spatial planning of territory in Hefei, and the LMCM model can be applied to other areas in China and the world for similar purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change is a significant contributor to global environmental change. The expansion of urban areas has increasingly impacted rural ecological environments, in particular the shift from agro-ecosystems to urban ecosystems, leading to alterations in land use patterns. Rural land use has led to economic, social, and environmental problems, including poor economic efficiency, emissions of pollutants, and increased environmental crises. The research of alterations in rural land use and their consequential environmental ramifications has garnered escalating attention, evolving into an indispensable subject of inquiry within pertinent academic disciplines. This study aims to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the ecological impacts of rural land use change. We examined 1237 literature sources through the Web of Science database and conducted a bibliometric analysis utilizing the Bibliometrix tool. Secondly, based on the results of bibliometric analysis, we conducted a review study on the impact of rural land use changes on the ecological environment, clarified the current research status in this field, and looked forward to future research directions. The study's findings indicate that there has been a steady rise in publication volume from 1982 to 2023 and a significant potential for growth. The top three journals by publication volume are Sustainability, Land Use Policy, and Land. (2) A total of 4768 scholars from 95 countries or regions have contributed publications in this domain, notably led by researchers and institutions predominantly based in China. Developed nations, exemplified by the U.S., exhibit a notable citation frequency and robust research prowess within this field. (3) Land use, urbanization, China, ecosystem services, biodiversity, and remote sensing emerge as keywords of elevated frequency within the field, indicative of the scholarly emphasis on these subjects. (4) Studies in this domain are directed towards evaluating the effects on intrinsic components of the environment, including but not limited to soil quality, atmospheric conditions, water resources, and biodiversity. The implementation of sustainable rural land use strategies is essential for the realization of rural development and environmental protection. In future research efforts, the use of remote sensing technology holds immense potential as a robust technical tool for investigating both land use change and rural ecology, offering viable strategies for addressing environmental challenges in specific, localized regions. The results of this study can assist in comprehending the current state and direction of research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clues of climate change on the Alashan Plateau since the last glacial period (40 ka) are important for revealing the mechanism of desertification of middle-latitude deserts in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Studies are still rare for the understanding of the specific relationship of climate changes between the Alashan Plateau and the global. Based on a systematic and comparative analysis of the existing research in China and the international academic community, this paper reviews the environmental evolution history of the Alashan Plateau since the last glacial period from the records of paleo-environment and geomorphological characteristics in different deserts of the plateau (e.g., Badanjilin, Tenggeli, and Wulanbuhe). From about 40 ka to the end of the last glacial maximum, the climate on the plateau was wetter than it is today, and to the end of the Pleistocene, the climate was generally dry and the aeolian activities were enhanced. However, the climate was arid during the whole last glacial period in the Wulanbuhe Desert, evidently different from the overall pattern of the plateau. The Tenggeli Desert was characterized by an arid climate in the early Holocene. The most controversial events for the Alashan Plateau are the drought events in the middle Holocene in the Badanjilin Desert. The role and impact of the westerlies and the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) systems on the climate change of the desert and even the whole plateau is a vexed question that brings different views in different periods. There is still a lack of definite evidence representing the events of global environmental change that occurred on the plateau during the discussed period. The distinctive morphology of dune mountains and the distribution of sand dunes are mutually indicative of the direction and energy of wind systems on the plateau. It is suggested that appropriate wind energy is the significant key to the desertification in these middle-latitude deserts on the plateau. From a global-scale review of climate change, the desertification of the modern-scale sandy desert landscapes on the Alashan Plateau is generally related to the global glacial period and the cold and dry climate during the past 40 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How fishermen produce and live has been a hot topic of academic concern in recent years. However, existing research has focused excessively on marine fishermen. Inland fisheries make a significant but often overlooked contribution to rural livelihoods in developing countries. In this paper, we constructed a framework for fishermen's livelihood strategies and used questionnaires and in-depth interviews to study 275 households of inland fishermen in a professional fishing village at Poyang Lake. The results show that (1) the impact of the comprehensive fishing ban has led to significant changes in the livelihood capital of inland fishermen, leading to fishermen being forced to change their livelihood strategies. (2) The current livelihood strategies can be divided into four categories, which are non-fishing employment, self-employment, public welfare positions and retirement respectively. (3) Livelihood capital such as age, education, social interaction and fishing rights influence their choice of livelihood strategies. (4) The fishing ban proposal generally meets the interests of fishermen, but there is some capacity for improvement in terms of implementation details and policy flexibility. Based on these findings, we recommend that the government conducts further in-depth research and adjusts and improves its policy options in good time. To the satisfaction of all parties, the current policy protects the environment and achieves sustainable human development, making Chinese contributions and proposing Chinese plans to address global environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world currently faces an unprecedented phase of global environmental change largely driven by the combined impact of anthropogenic climate change and environmental degradation. Adaptation to global environmental changes in natural resource management is often hindered by high levels of uncertainty related to environmental impact projections. Management strategies and policies to support adaptation measures and sustainable resource management under substantial environmental uncertainty are thus urgently needed. The paper reports results of behavioral irrigation experiments with farmers and students in the region of Hangzhou in China. The experimental design simulates a small-scale irrigation system with five parties located along an irrigation channel. The first treatment adds weather variability with a drying tendency that influences water availability in the irrigation channel. In the second treatment, the participants can select one of two adaptation options. Our results suggest that participants react with a marked delay to weather uncertainty. In addition, upstream players are more likely to adapt to uncertainty than those further downstream, and groups who show higher levels of cooperation more frequently invest in adaptation measures. Lastly, extraction inequality in earlier stages is found to constitute a key obstacle to collective adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities and global environmental changes have transformed terrestrial ecosystems, notably increasing vegetation greenness in China. However, this greening is less effective across the Hu Huanyong Line (Hu Line). This study analyzes dynamic changes and driving factors of nine vegetation net primary productivities (NPPs) in regions divided by the Hu Line using remote sensing data, trend analysis, and the Geodetector model. Findings reveal that from 2001 to 2022, 38.22% of regional vegetation NPP in China increased, especially in the Loess Plateau, Sichuan Basin, and Northeast Plains, while 2.39% decreased, primarily in the southeastern region and southern Tibet. Grasslands contributed 39.71% to NPP north of the Hu Line, and cultivated vegetation contributed 50.58% south. The driving explanatory power of factors on vegetation NPP on the north side of the Hu Line is generally greater than that on the south side. Natural factors primarily drive NPP changes, with human activities having less impact. Combined factors, particularly climate and elevation, significantly enhance the driving explanatory power (q, 0–1). The joint effects of elevation and precipitation on grassland NPP dynamics (q = 0.602) are notable. GDP's influence on broadleaf forests north of the Hu Line (q = 0.404) is significant. Grasslands respond strongly to land use changes and population density, with a combined effect of q = 0.535. Shrubs, alpine vegetation, and meadows show minimal response to individual factors (q < 0.2). These findings offer insights for devising ecological protection measures tailored to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Accurate information on mining land use and land cover change are crucial for monitoring and environmental change studies. In this paper, RapidEye Remote Sensing Image (Map 2012) and SPOT7 Remote Sensing Image (Map 2015) in Pingshuo Mining Area are selected to monitor changes combined with object-based classification and change vector analysis method, we also used R in highresolution remote sensing image for mining land classification, and found the feasibility and the flexibility of open source software. The results show that (1) the classification of reclaimed mining land has higher precision, the overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of the classification of the change region map were 86.67% and 89.44%. It's obvious that object-based classification and change vector analysis which has a great significance to improve the monitoring accuracy can be used to monitor mining land, especially reclaiming mining land; (2) the vegetation area changed from 46% to 40% accounted for the proportion of the total area from 2012 to 2015, and most of them were transformed into the arable land. The sum of arable land and vegetation area increased from 51% to 70%; meanwhile, build-up land has a certain degree of increase, part of the water area was transformed into arable land, but the extent of the two changes is not obvious. The result illustrated the transformation of reclaimed mining area, at the same time, there is still some land convert to mining land, and it shows the mine is still operating, mining land use and land cover are the dynamic procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change has become a new field in global change research, and it is closely related to land resource security and sustainable development. The environmental simulation model was mostly used to study the land-use change before. In this paper, we use the Economic Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient of economic model to study the land use structure changes in the western plain of Jilin Province, China. The results showed that the Lorenz curve has the phenomenon of “two near and two far” and Gini coefficient “two increased and two decreased”. That is to say, during the 15 years from 1989 to 2004, the areas of cultivated land and unused land had increased, Lorenz curves were near to the perfect equality line, and the distribution tended to be uniform; the areas of grassland and water body were reduced, the Lorenz curves were away from the perfect equality line, and the distribution tended to be increasingly uneven, which reflects the main process of the land use structure changes. Studying on the land use changes based on Economic model is simpler and more intuitionistic, and had the generalization values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change plays an important role in regional socio-economic development and global environmental change. Whether the land is effectively and efficiently used is not only related to the income level of the people in the surrounding cities but also closely related to the local economy and national economy. Intelligent environment refers to the indoor environment with a variety of data acquisition equipment. Combined with related technologies, the reasoning and analysis of the data can be used to realize the functions of activity identification, data perception, and control. In addition, the Yangtze River Delta is an economically developed area in China, and its land use situation is related to the economic development in the next ten or even decades. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the spatial and temporal pattern of land use in Yangtze River Delta region by remote sensing image technology and GIS in intelligent environment. Based on intelligent environment, this paper uses RS and GIS technology to interpret remote sensing image and map land use in multitemporal coastal zone. The land use dynamic degree model and spatial interpolation method were used to analyze and evaluate the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of land use in the Yangtze River Delta region, and the landscape pattern changes in the Yangtze River Delta region were analyzed and evaluated. This study found that the land use types in the Yangtze River Delta have transformed each other, and the land use change speed is fast, which is inseparable from the rapid economic development. In the future, in addition to maintaining the rapid and stable development of industry, the rational use of limited land resources, the improvement of agricultural development short board, and the improvement of tourism economic benefits will make the economy of the Yangtze River Delta region to a new level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the variations in leaf stoichiometry among plant common species at different altitudes, along with the factors that influence these variations and the adaptative strategies employed, is of significant importance for understanding biogeochemical cycles amidst global environmental changes. In this research, we measured soil organic carbon and nutrient concentrations, as well as leaf stoichiometry for plant common species at five altitudes (2400–3200 m with an interval of 200 m) within the Qilian Mountains of Northwest China. This study aims to enhance our understanding of how plant common species in mountainous regions exhibit adaptable responses to altitude variations and how potential environmental changes in the future may influence their leaf functions. Results showed that the leaf C:N:P stoichiometry of plant common species varied with increasing altitude. Across altitudes, mean annual temperature (MAT), soil total phosphorus, mean annual precipitation (MAP), soil water content, and soil nitrate nitrogen were the main factors influencing leaf element concentrations of plant common species. However, leaf stoichiometric ratios were mainly determined by MAT, MAP, and soil total nitrogen. The effects of MAT and MAP on both leaf element concentrations and leaf stoichiometric ratios of plant common species were found to be significant. Plant growth in the study area was mainly limited by P. The results not only highlight the adaptive strategies employed by plants, but also contribute to understanding of leaf stoichiometry, and establishing connections between individual plant species and broader plant community composed of these common species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between megaproject construction and change in water management institutions. Due to the wide geographical distribution of their costs and benefits, which often spans national and provincial borders, water supply megaprojects frequently prompt intentional or evolutionary institutional change. China’s South-North Water Transfer Project (Middle Route), the world’s largest interbasin transfer project, was completed in December 2014 and is now in operation. Based on extensive fieldwork and analysis of Chinese documents, this paper introduces the government actors involved in, and impacted by, the planning and construction of the project. By detailing the interests of these actors, and the way those interests have been affected by the political, economic and environmental changes wrought by the megaproject, it shows that the Middle Route project has already contributed to change in one major financial institution – water pricing – and is exerting pressure on at least two others—infrastructure financing and compensation. Despite the regulatory efforts of the Chinese central government, incomplete institutional change processes threaten the long-term viability of the megaproject. Megaprojects demand institutional change and this must be factored into policymaking processes; business as usual will not suffice if the real benefits of the South-North Water Transfer are to be fairly distributed and its negative social, economic and environmental effects mitigated and appropriately compensated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: China has the biggest population in the world, and has been experiencing the largest migration in history, and its rapid urbanization has profound and lasting impacts on local and national public health. Under these conditions, a systems understanding on the correlation among urbanization, environmental change and public health and to devise solutions at national, local and individual levels are in urgent need.Methods: In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of recent studies which have examined the relationship between urbanization, urban environmental changes and human health in China. Based on the review, coupled with a systems understanding, we summarize the challenges and opportunities for promoting the health and wellbeing of the whole nation at national, local, and individual levels.Results: Urbanization and urban expansion result in urban environmental changes, as well as residents' lifestyle change, which can lead independently and synergistically to human health problems. China has undergone an epidemiological transition, shifting from infectious to chronic diseases in a much shorter time frame than many other countries. Environmental risk factors, particularly air and water pollution, are a major contributing source of morbidity and mortality in China. Furthermore, aging population, food support system, and disparity of public service between the migrant worker and local residents are important contributions to China's urban health.Conclusions: At the national level, the central government could improve current environmental policies, food safety laws, and make adjustments to the health care system and to demographic policy. At the local level, local government could incorporate healthy life considerations in urban planning procedures, make improvements to the local food supply, and enforce environmental monitoring and management. At the individual level, urban residents can be exposed to education regarding health behaviour choices while being encouraged to take responsibility for their health and to participate in environmental monitoring and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land cover change (LCC) is both a consequence and a cause of global environmental change. This paper attempts to construct a framework to reveal the driving mechanism and ecological effects of different ecological factors under LCC and to explore the ecological characteristics of future LCC. A rule-mining framework based on a land expansion analysis strategy (LEAS) in the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model was used to analyze the drivers of LCC. Neighborhood analysis and ecological effect index were used to investigate multiple ecological effects of LCC. Remote sensing-based ecological indices (RSEI) and the PLUS and stepwise regression model were introduced to explore and predict the integrated ecological effect of LCC. Focusing on the Weihe River basin, study's main drivers of LCC were precipitation, temperature, elevation, population, water table depth, proximity to governments and motorways, GDP, and topsoil organic carbon were the main drivers of LCC. Change directionality were similar for the effects of greenness and biomass formation but opposite for summertime and wintertime temperature. In addition, the conversion of land cover types to cropland had the most significant integrated ecological effect, followed by forest, grassland-shrubland, and other types. The RSEI is predicted to rise to 0.77 in 2030, and the areas where the ecological quality grade will improve and decrease are concentrated on the east and west sides of Ziwuling Mountain, respectively. The findings of this study have practical significance for land management and ecological protection. • The PLUS Model is used to explore driving mechanism of land cover change (LCC). • Ecological effects of LCC are analyzed from multiple and integrated perspectives. • The integrated ecological effect of land cover types converted to cropland is the most significant. • The PLUS model with stepwise regression predicts a decreasing trend of RSEI in 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Palaeoclimate legacies have been reported to influence microbial communities and carbon (C) stocks even after thousands of years. However, the direct and indirect influences of climate legacies on microbial C processes remain poorly understood and thus limit our capacity to predict how climate legacies regulate C cycling. Here, we conducted microbial, soil and vegetation surveys along a continental latitudinal transect of 4200 km covering a wide range of forest biomes. With these data, we evaluated the potential capacity of climate legacies to predict direct and indirect variations in microbial metabolic quotient (MMQ) across and within three main forest biomes: tropical, subtropical and temperate forests. Location: North–south transect (4200 km), China. Time period: 2019. Major taxa studied: Soil microbes. Methods: We used molecular ecology technology to determine microbial biomass and diversity, in addition to a soil incubation experiment to measure MMQ. Results: Palaeoclimate explained a unique portion of the variation in the continental distribution of MMQ, which showed a hump‐shaped pattern with latitude. Locations with increased isothermality (an index of temperature) over the last 20,000 years also showed the highest MMQ in the present day. Moreover, we found multiple indirect effects of climate legacies on MMQ caused either by changes in key soil properties, such as soil organic carbon and ammonium (NH4+), in lower latitudinal regions or by plant traits in higher latitudinal regions. Furthermore, MMQ was positively related to bacterial richness but negatively to fungal richness across forest biomes. Main conclusions: Climate legacies associated with continuous changes in temperature over the last 20,000 years influenced MMQ across forest biomes. Our findings demonstrate that including climate legacies in climate carbon models is essential for better prediction of the microbe‐driven ecosystem processes under global environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of industry, the massive emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) has become a global challenge that cannot be ignored due to its nature as the primary driver of global climate change and environmental crisis. Carbon neutrality is proposed as a global initiative to mitigate climate change. As a developing industrial country, China provides about one-third of global carbon emissions and has set a carbon-neutral goal by 2060. To achieve this goal, continuous efforts across the country are required. In this review, Zhejiang Province, one of the most developed regions in China, is set as a model for analysis. We first summarize the current situation of carbon emission in Zhejiang Province. Then, corresponding sustainable approaches such as ecological and industrial solutions for the reduction of future carbon emissions are introduced for Zhejiang Province. We also provide a direction for the realization of carbon neutrality, focusing on the most promising solutions for Zhejiang Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The division of the territorial space functional area is the primary method to study the rational exploitation and use of land space. The research on the Production–Living–Ecological Space (PLES) change and its motivating factors has major implications for managing and optimizing spatial planning and may open up a new research direction for inquiries into environmental change on a global scale. In this study, the transfer matrix and landscape pattern index methods were used to analyze the temporal changes as well as the evolution features of the landscape pattern of the PLES in the Chaohu Lake Basin from 2000 to 2020. Using principal component analysis and grey correlation analysis, the primary driving indicators of the spatial changes of the PLES in the Chaohu Lake Basin and the degree of the influence of various driving factors on various spatial types were determined. The study concluded with a few findings. First, from the standpoint of landscape structure, the Chaohu Lake Basin's agricultural production space (APS) makes up more than 60% of the total area, and it and urban living space (ULS) are the two most visible spatial categories. Second, the pattern of the landscape demonstrates that the area used for agricultural production holds a significant advantage within the overall structure of the landscape. Although there is less connectedness between different landscape types, less landscape dominance, and more landscape fragmentation, the structure of different landscape types tends to be more varied. Third, the findings of the driving analysis demonstrate that the natural climate, population structure of agricultural development, and industrial structure of economic development are the three driving indicators of the change of the PLES. Finally, in order to promote the formation of a territorial space development pattern with intensive and efficient production space, appropriate living space, and beautiful ecological space, it is proposed to carry out land regulation according to natural factors, economic development, national policies, and other actual conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cover: China is a megadiverse country with myriad conservation challenges and opportunities. In anticipation of the Society for Conservation Biology's annual meeting in Beijing this summer, a small collection of papers focused on China will prime the pump for active discussion of the conservation issues that China and the world face now and in the coming decades. Photos by Jianchu Xu and R. Edward Grumbine. See pages 520-547. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In a world increasingly affected by global environmental changes, Low Income countries will play an ever more central role in determining the future health of the biosphere. While global use of the biosphere''s capacity has increased over the past 45 years, per capita demand for biocapacity, as measured by the Ecological Footprint, has only increased in high-income countries and has remained constant or fallen in middle- and low-income nations. Consumption has increased faster than population in high-income nations, while population growth has been the dominant factor in middle- and low- income countries. Although listed in the middle-income group of countries, China showed atypical trends in the past 45 years, with a rapid increase in per capita Ecological Footprint that outstrip its gains in income. Typical trends were instead noticed for India, whose per person Ecological Footprint has fallen slightly. The results of this paper show that decisions made in China and India will be of fundamental importance for future global sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In-depth and comprehensive survey and research on the public environmental awareness in Shanghai has been gradually carried out in recent years. However, there is lack of dynamic analysis of the time sequence. Therefore, the paper carried out survey of the public environmental awareness in Shanghai between 2007 and 2011 to learn about the trend of the public environmental awareness in Shanghai in recent 5 years in time. The conclusion show: the public environmental awareness of Shanghai took on a slightly rising tendency between 2007 and 2011, the public in Shanghai can sense the changes in the environmental conditions in Shanghai in the past 5 years, the proportion of the information obtained from newspapers and magazines has decreased, while that of the information on environmental protection from internet has obviously risen. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Zhada basin is a large Neogene extensional sag basin in the Tethyan Himalaya of southwestern Tibet. In this paper we examine environmental changes in the Zhada basin using sequence stratigraphy, isotope stratigraphy, and lithostratigraphy. Sequence stratigraphy reveals a long-term tectonic signal in the formation and fi lling of the Zhada basin, as well as higher-frequency cycles, which we attribute to Milankovitch forcing. The record of Milankovitch cycles in the Zhada basin implies that global climate drove lake and wetland expansion and contraction in the southern Tibetan Plateau from the Late Miocene to the Pleistocene. Sequence stratigraphy shows that the Zhada basin evolved from an overfi lled to underfi lled basin, but continued evolution was truncated by an abrupt return to fl uvial conditions. Isotope stratigraphy shows distinct drying cycles, particularly during times when the basin was underfi lled. A long-term environmental change observed in the Zhada basin involves a decrease in abundance of arboreal pollen in favor of nonarboreal pollen. The similarity between the long-term environmental changes in the Zhada basin and those observed elsewhere on and around the Tibetan Plateau suggests that those changes are due to global or regional climate change rather than solely the result of uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) are onboard the same satellite platform NASA TERRA. Both MODIS and ASTER offer routine retrieval of land surface temperatures (LSTs), and the ASTER- and MODIS-retrieved LST products have been used worldwide. Because a large fraction of the earth surface consists of mountainous areas, variations in elevation, terrain slope and aspect angles can cause biases in the retrieved LSTs. However, terrain-induced effects are generally neglected in most satellite retrievals, which may generate discrepancy between ASTER and MODIS LSTs. In this paper, we reported the terrain effects on the LST discrepancy with a case examination over a relief area at the Loess Plateau of China. Results showed that the terrain-induced effects were not major, but nevertheless important for the total LST discrepancy. A large local slope did not necessarily lead to a large LST discrepancy. The angle of emitted radiance was more important than the angle of local slope in generating the LST discrepancy. Specifically, the conventional terrain correction may be unsuitable for densely vegetated areas. The distribution of ASTER-to-MODIS emissivity suggested that the terrain correction was included in the generalized split window (GSW) based approach used to rectify MODIS LSTs. Further study should include the classification-induced uncertainty in emissivity for reliable use of satellite-retrieved LSTs over relief areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming and climate anomalies have attracted worldwide attention. The study of global climate change has received increasing attention from all countries and fields worldwide. Paleoclimate research is an important way to understand past global change and environmental evolution and to simulate and predict future climate development. A stalagmite ND3 collected in Naduo Cave was used to reconstruct the history of local climate and environmental changes from 0.55 to 5.07 ka BP based on the data of 13 230Th ages and 642 groups of oxygen and carbon stable isotopes. First, according to correlation analysis, δ18O and δ13C were significantly correlated (correlation coefficient r = 0.308, n = 318, P < 0.001) during the 5.07–2.00 ka BP period. However, during the period of 2–0.55 ka BP, there was no significant correlation P > 0.05 . The δ18O and δ13C data indicate that the climatic environment changed asynchronously during the period of 2.00–0.55 ka BP. During the period of 5.07–2.00 ka BP, the influence of human activities was weak, and δ18O and δ13C indicate similar climatic and environmental conditions, both of which changed in the same direction (positive correlation). In other words, when δ18O was positive, it indicated weak summer monsoons and lower precipitation, which led to declines in vegetation, weakened biological activity, and decreased soil CO2 and positive δ13C. The reverse patterns were also true. Since 2.0 ka BP, the intensity of human activities and the transformation and influence of surface vegetation have increased, and native vegetation has been destroyed in large quantities. Therefore, the climatic and environmental significance indicated by δ13C and δ18O has been well demonstrated. Second, the δ18O records showed that stalagmite ND3 responded to the weak monsoon drought events of 4.2 ka BP and 2.8 ka BP in the Holocene in a discontinuous deposition manner, which brings up new directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bacteria inhabiting brackish lake environments in arid or semi-arid regions have not been thoroughly identified. In this study, the 454 pyrosequencing method was used to study the sedimentary bacterial community composition (BCC) and diversity in Lake Bosten, which is located in the arid regions of northwestern China. A total of 210,233 high-quality sequence reads and 8,427 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were successfully obtained from 20 selected sediment samples. The samples were quantitatively dominated by members of Proteobacteria (34.1% ± 11.0%), Firmicutes (21.8% ± 21.9%) and Chloroflexi (13.8% ± 5.2%), which accounted for more than 69% of the bacterial sequences. The results showed that (i) Lake Bosten had significant spatial heterogeneity, and TOC(total organic carbon), TN(total nitrogen) and TP(total phosphorus) were the most important contributors to bacterial diversity; (ii) there was lower taxonomic richness in Lake Bosten, which is located in an arid region, than in reference lakes in eutrophic floodplains and marine systems; and (iii) there was a low percentage of dominant species in the BCC and a high percentage of unidentified bacteria. Our data help to better describe the diversity and distribution of bacterial communities in contaminated brackish lakes in arid regions and how microbes respond to environmental changes in these stable inland waters in arid or semi-arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Perspective, we discuss whether in times of quickly proceeding global environmental change, radical global interventions like "climate engineering" may gain legitimacy in China and eventually be deployed or supported. We argue that one cornerstone for whether climate engineering, and solar radiation management in particular, could gain legitimacy in China, is its current weather modification programme. In China, weather modification is institutionalized and deployed on a large scale, and current narratives around the legitimacy to intervene into the local climate may provide a rationale for interventions such as solar radiation management. In the end, in the same way as Deng Xiaoping coined the phrase "stepping on stones to cross the river" in the era of China's Industrial Civilization, narrating China's "Ecological Civilization" may want to make use of "seeding the clouds to reach the sky". [See ESM for a summary of the article in Chinese.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims With the global atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition increasing, the effect of N deposition on terrestrial plant diversity has been widely studied. Some studies have reviewed the effects of N deposition on plant species diversity; however, all studies addressed the effects of N deposition on plant community focused on species richness in specific ecosystem. There is a need for a systematic meta-analysis covering multiple dimensions of plant diversity in multiple climate zones and ecosystems types. Our goal was to quantify changes in species richness, evenness and uncertainty in plant communities in response to N addition across different environmental and experimental contexts. Methods We performed a meta-analysis of 623 experimental records published in English and Chinese journals to evaluate the response of terrestrial plant diversity to the experimental N addition in China. Three metrics were used to quantify the change in plant diversity: species richness (SR), evenness (Pielou index) uncertainty (Shannon index). Important Findings Results showed that (i) N addition negatively affected SR in temperate, Plateau zones and subtropical zone, but had no significant effect on Shannon index in subtropical zones; (ii) N addition decreased SR, Shannon index and Pielou index in grassland, and the negative effect of N addition on SR was stronger in forest than in grassland; (iii) N addition negatively affected plant diversity (SR, Shannon index and Pielou index) in the long term, whereas it did not affect plant diversity in the short term. Furthermore, the increase in N addition levels strengthened the negative effect of N deposition on plant diversity with long experiment duration; and (iv) the negative effect of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) addition on SR was stronger than that of urea (CO(NH2)2) addition, but the negative effect of NH4NO3 addition on Pielou index was weaker than that of CO(NH2)2 addition. Our results indicated that the effects of N addition on plant diversity varied depending on climate zones, ecosystem types, N addition levels, N type and experiment duration. This underlines the importance of integrating multiple dimensions of plant diversity and multiple factors into assessments of plant diversity to global environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature change is an important environmental variable for global change sciences since it largely affects the physiology of plants in forest ecosystems. Canopy temperature depression (CTD) - the result of the deviation of the air temperature (Ta) from the plant canopy surface temperature (Tc) - varies depending on the meteorological and environmental conditions of the forests. Here, we evaluated the differences in CTD between a rubber plantation (RP) and a tropical rainforest (TR) in Xishuangbanna, southwestern China across the various time series of the period of 2011 to 2015. The mean maximum CTD values at the TR site and the RP site were 2.4°C and 0.6°C at diurnal level, 1.3°C and -0.5°C at monthly level, 0.6°C and -0.8°C at seasonal level and 5.6°C and 0.2°C at yearly time series level, respectively, while they were only significant (p < 0.01) in the diurnal time series. There was a significant (p < 0.01) negative linear relationship between CTD and global radiation (Q) in both sites at diurnal level and a significant (p < 0.05) negative linear relationship in the RP site at monthly time series level. A significant (p < 0.05) positive linear relationship between CTD and precipitation (P) at the RP site was found at diurnal level, as well as a significant (p < 0.01) positive linear relationship in the TR site at monthly time series level. The variation of CTD was critical for these two sites and largely depended on the amount of global radiation and the precipitation, while it will mainly affect the physiological variables. This study may prove useful for assessing the physiological response in terms of high temperature and drought conditions to regional and global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by global warming and environmental changes, meteorological and hydrologicalfactors in the Dagu River Basin have also undergone a series of response changes, resulting inchanges of time and space in the quantity of water resources, and the natural ecologicalenvironment and the economic development of human society have been seriously affected.In this paper, hydrometeorological factors such as temperature, rainfall and runoff areselected as the research objects. Mann-Kendall order correlation test, sliding t test,YAMAMOTO test signal to noise ratio (SNR) and other mutation point test methods are usedto analyze the mutation law of meteorological and hydrological elements in the Dagu RiverBasin in the past 50 years. The results show that in the last 50 years, the trend of climatewarming in Dagu River basin is basically consistent with the general trend of climate changein China, and the annual mean temperature mutation is mainly after 1985, and theabrupt point of annual precipitation in the basin occurred during 1975-1985. Theannual evaporation in the basin fluctuates with time, and the decreasing trend issignificant. By means of sliding t and SNR test, it is found that the abrupt point of annualrunoff occurred between 1965-1968 and 1975-1983 in the studied area, and theprecipitation mutation is the main cause of the abrupt change of annual runoff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable chronologies are prerequisites when interpreting proxy records in terrestrial archives of Quaternary climate and environmental change. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating (AMS 14C) are commonly used to date late Quaternary loess deposits in the Chinese Loess Plateau, but the range and reliability of the two methods in Central Asia are still debated. In this study, we investigate both fine‐grained quartz OSL and AMS 14C dating of a late Quaternary loess section located at the northern piedmont of the South Tianshan Mountains in Central Asia and discuss the reliability of the two radiometric dating methods. The results show that the OSL and AMS 14C ages are generally consistent with the stratigraphic sequence when the ages are younger than 25 cal ka BP, which means that both can be used to establish a reliable chronology in the Ili Basin. But beyond this age, the OSL dating method seems to be a more reliable approach. The results also supported previous dates based on medium‐grained quartz OSL dating of the Ili loess in the southern piedmont of the North Tianshan Mountains. Radiocarbon ages older than 25 cal ka BP should be treated with caution, and attention must be paid to the influence of pedoturbation on OSL signals in the Central Asian loess. Multiple dating approaches for mutual authentication and exploring new dating materials are suggested in further loess chronological research. These findings will be helpful in establishing a reliable timescale and in reconstructing high‐resolution environmental change in Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of estuarine islands is potentially controlled by sediment discharge, tidal currents, sea level rise, and intensive human activities. An understanding of the spatial and temporal changes of estuarine islands is needed for environmental change monitoring and assessment in estuarine and coastal areas. Such information can also help us better understand how estuarine islands respond to sea level rise in the context of global warming. The temporal changes of two estuarine islands in Shanghai near the Yangtze River Estuary were obtained using Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) and ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper) images from 1987 to 2016 on an annual scale. First, a composite image was generated by using the multi-temporal Landsat images for each year. Then, a modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI) was applied to the annual estuarine island maps using a threshold segmentation method. Finally, we obtained the temporal changes of the estuarine islands in Shanghai during the period 1987-2016. The results suggest that (1) Landsat TM/ETM+ images can be used for estuarine island mapping and change detection; (2) the two estuarine islands have expanded significantly during the past three decades; (3) human activities are the main driving factor that caused the expansion of the estuarine islands; and (4) the sea level can also partly explain the change in the estuarine islands. This study demonstrates that Landsat data are useful for determining the annual variations in the land area of two estuarine islands in Shanghai during the past 30 years. In the future, other factors and their contributions to estuarine island changes should be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using remote sensing images, we provided the first complete picture of freshwater bodies in mainland China. We mapped 89,700 reservoirs, covering about 26,870 km2 and approximately 185,000 lakes with a surface area of about 82,232 km2. Despite relatively small surface area, the total estimated storage capacity of reservoirs (794 km3) is triple that of lakes (268 km3). Further analysis indicates that reservoir construction has made the river systems strongly regulated: only 6% of the assessed river basins are free-flowing; 20% of assessed river basins have enough cumulative reservoir capacity to store more than the entire annual river flow. Despite the existence of 2,721 lakes greater than 1 km2, we found that about 50 lakes greater than km2 have formed on the Tibetan Plateau resulting from climate change. More than 350 lakes of ⩾1 km2 vanished in four other major lake regions. Although the disappearance of lakes happened in the context of global climate change, it principally reflects the severe anthropogenic impacts on natural lakes, such as, the excessive plundering of water resources on the Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang Plateau and serious destruction (land reclamation and urbanization) on the eastern plains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass conversion factors (BCFs, defined as the ratios of tree components (i.e. stem, branch, foliage and root), as well as aboveground and whole biomass of trees to growing stock volume, Mg m−3) are considered as important parameters in large-scale forest biomass carbon estimation. To date, knowledge of possible sources of the variation in BCFs is still limited at large scales. Using our compiled forest biomass dataset of China, we presented forest type-specific values of BCFs, and examined the variation in BCFs in relation to forest type, stand development and environmental factors (climate and soil fertility). BCFs exhibited remarkable variation across forest types, and also were significantly related to stand development (especially growing stock volume). BCFs (except Stem BCF) had significant relationships with mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) (P<0.001). Climatic data (MAT and MAP) collectively explained 10.0–25.0% of the variation in BCFs (except Stem BCFs). Moreover, stronger climatic effects were found on BCFs for functional components (i.e. branch, foliage and root) than BCFs for combined components (i.e. aboveground section and whole trees). A general trend for BCFs was observed to decrease and then increase from low to high soil fertility. When qualitative soil fertility and climatic data (MAT and MAP) were combined, they explained 14.1–29.7% of the variation in in BCFs (except Stem BCFs), adding only 4.1–4.9% than climatic data used. Therefore, to reduce the uncertainty induced by BCFs in forest carbon estimates, we should apply values of BCFs for a specified forest type, and also consider climatic and edaphic effects, especially climatic effect, in developing predictive models of BCFs (except Stem BCF). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ongoing challenge that enterprises currently face is that of fostering agile mindsets and behaviors among employees as necessary to achieve enterprise agility by leveraging IT. Although existing studies focus on the shortening business processes and adopting agile methods of system implementation, little attention is directed toward the “people” factor as a critical factor in enterprise agility. As a means to inspire agile mindsets and behaviors in employees, our study proposes an important concept, organizational identity of IT department which encourages organization members to achieve IT-enabled enterprise agility. We term such an identity as IT organizational identity. As rapid environmental changes continue, a firm's IT department should develop different types of IT organizational identities to maintain agile behaviors and mindsets among its employees. Therefore, our study reveals how IT departments can develop appropriate and positive organizational identity at various stages of organizational development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use and land cover change (LUCC) modeling has continuously been a major research theme in the field of land system science, which interprets the causes and consequences of land use dynamics. In particular, models that can obtain long-term land use data with high precision are of great value in research on global environmental change and climate impact, as land use data are important model input parameters for evaluating the effect of human activity on nature. However, the accuracy of existing reconstruction and prediction models is inadequate. In this context, this study proposes an integrated convolutional neural network (CNN) LUCC reconstruction and prediction model (CLRPM), which meets the demand for fine-scale LUCC reconstruction and prediction. This model applies the deep learning method, which far exceeds the performance of traditional machine learning methods, and uses CNN to extract spatial features and provide greater proximity information. Taking Baicheng city in Northeast China as an example, we verify that CLRPM achieved high-precision annual LUCC reconstruction and prediction, with an overall accuracy rate 9.38% higher than that of the existing models. Additionally, the error rate was reduced by 49.5%. Moreover, this model can perform multilevel LUCC classification category reconstructions and predictions. This study casts light on LUCC models within the high-precision and fine-grained LUCC categories, which will aid LUCC analyses and help decision-makers better understand complex land-use systems and develop better land management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of regional climate change on net primary productivity (NPP) is an important aspect in the study of ecosystems’ response to global climate change. China’s ecosystems are very sensitive to climate change owing to the influence of the East Asian monsoon. The Lund–Potsdam–Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model for China (LPJ-CN), a global dynamical vegetation model developed for China’s terrestrial ecosystems, was applied in this study to simulate the NPP changes affected by future climate change. As the LPJ-CN model is based on natural vegetation, the simulation in this study did not consider the influence of anthropogenic activities. Results suggest that future climate change would have adverse effects on natural ecosystems, with NPP tending to decrease in eastern China, particularly in the temperate and warm temperate regions. NPP would increase in western China, with a concentration in the Tibetan Plateau and the northwest arid regions. The increasing trend in NPP in western China and the decreasing trend in eastern China would be further enhanced by the warming climate. The spatial distribution of NPP, which declines from the southeast coast to the northwest inland, would have minimal variation under scenarios of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human mobilization and use of reactive nitrogen (Nr) has been one of the major aspects of global change over the past century. Nowhere has that change been more dramatic than in China, where annual net Nr creation increased from 9.2 to 56 Tg from 1910 to 2010. Since 1956, anthropogenic Nr creation exceeded natural Nr creation, contributing over 80%of total Nr until 2010. There is great interest and uncertainty in the fate and effects of this Nr in China. Here, a comprehensive inventory of Nr in China shows that Nr (including recycled Nr) has continuously and increasingly accumulated on land (from 17 to 45 Tg), accompanied by increasing transfers to the atmosphere (before deposition; from 7.6 to 20 Tg), inland waters (from 2.7 to 9.6 Tg), and coastal waters (from 4.5 to 7.7 Tg) over the past 30 y. If current trends continue, Nr creation from human activities will increase to 63 Tg by 2050, raising concerns about deleterious environmental consequences for land, air, and water at regional and global scales. Tremendous amounts of Nr have accumulated in plants, soils, and waters in China over the past 30 y, but the retention capacity of the terrestrial landscape seems to be declining. There is a possibility that the negative environmental effects of excessive Nr may accelerate in coming decades, increasing the urgency to alter the trajectory of increasing Nr imbalance. Here, a conceptual framework of the relationships between human drivers and Nr cycling in China is oriented and well-targeted to Chinese abatement strategies for Nr environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four wetland maps for all China have been produced, based on Landsat and CBERS-02B remote sensing data between 1978 and 2008 (1978, 1990, 2000 and 2008). These maps were mainly developed by manual interpretation and validated by substantial field investigation in 2009. Based on these maps, we analyzed the 2008 wetland distribution in China and discussed wetland changes and their drivers over the past 30 years. (i) There were about 324097 km of wetlands in 2008, for which inland marshes or swamps were the most common wetland type (35%), with lakes (26%) second. Most of the wetlands were in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Tibet, occupying about 55% of the national wetland area. (ii) From 1978 to 2008, China's wetland area continually and significantly decreased, by about 33% based on changes in the wetland map. This was in sharp contrast to the increase in artificial wetlands, which increased by about 122%. Inland marshes accounted for the main loss of total wetlands from 1978 to 2000. From 2000 through 2008, riverine and lacustrine wetlands constituted the main wetland loss. Fortunately however, the rate of wetland loss decreased from 5523 to 831 km/a. (iii) The change ratio of lost natural wetlands (including inland and coastal wetlands) to non-wetlands has decreased slightly over the past 30 years. From 1978 to 1990, nearly all natural wetlands (98%) lost were transformed into non-wetlands. However, the ratio declined to 86% from 1990 to 2000, and to 77% from 2000 to 2008. (iv) All Chinese provinces were divided into three groups according to patterns of wetland changes, which could relate to the driving forces of such changes. Tibet was completely different from other provinces, as it was one representative example in which there was a net wetland increase, because of global warming and decreased human activity since 1990. Increased economic development caused considerable wetland loss in most eastern provinces, and artificial wetlands increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timing of phenological events is highly responsive to global environmental change, and shifts in a phenological phase can affect terrestrial ecosystems, agriculture and economics. We analyzed changes in phenology for the spring season in China that occurred between the 1960's and the 2000's using four methods: species-level observations, meta-analysis, satellite measurements and phenology modeling. Previous analyses have rarely been reported due to sparse observations. Our results suggest that spring in China has started on average 2.88 days earlier per decade in response to spring warming by −4.93 days per degree Celsius over the last three decades. The shift towards an earlier start of spring was faster in two forest biomes (spring started on average 3.90 days earlier per decade) than in three grassland biomes (spring started on average 0.95 day earlier per decade). This difference was probably due to increased precipitation impacts in the grassland biomes. Interannual variations in the start of spring were most likely attributed to annual fluctuations in spring temperature (∼40%) and in large-scale circulation anomalies (∼20%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the extraction of impervious surface area (ISA) in a major region of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China. The study considered ISA as an indicator of environmental change and a parameter for hydrological cycle simulation, water management and area pollution assessment. It showed the drastic changes in developed areas of the country. The importance of the study's results to land use management, ecological protection and policy establishment is noted.

Background: Although it has been widely accepted that global changes will pose the most important constrains to plant survival and distribution, our knowledge of the adaptive mechanism for plant with large-scale environmental changes (e.g. drought and high temperature) remains limited. Methodology/Principal findings: An experiment was conducted to examine anatomical and physiological plasticity in Leymus chinensis along a large-scale geographical gradient from 115° to 124°E in northeast China. Ten sites selected for plant sampling at the gradient have approximately theoretical radiation, but differ in precipitation and elevation. The significantly increasing in leaf thickness, leaf mass per area, vessel and vascular diameters, and decreasing in stoma density and stoma index exhibited more obvious xerophil-liked traits for the species from the moist meadow grassland sites in contrast to that from the dry steppe and desert sites. Significant increase in proline and soluble sugar accumulation, K+/Na+ for the species with the increasing of stresses along the gradient showed that osmotic adjustment was enhanced. Conclusion/Significance: Obvious xerophytic anatomical traits and stronger osmotic adjustment in stress conditions suggested that the plants have much more anatomical and physiological flexibilities than those in non-stress habitats along the large-scale gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its diverse, wondrous plants and unique topography, Western China has drawn great attention from explorers and naturalists from the Western World. Among them, Ernest Henry Wilson (1876 -1930), known as 'Chinese' Wilson, travelled to Western China five times from 1899 to 1918. He took more than 1,000 photos during his travels. These valuable photos illustrated the natural and social environment of Western China a century ago. Since 1997, we had collected E.H. Wilson's old pictures, and then since 2004, along the expedition route of E.H. Wilson, we took 7 years to repeat photographing 250 of these old pictures. Comparing Wilson's photos with ours, we found an obvious warming trend over the 100 years, not only in specific areas but throughout the entire Western China. Such warming trend manifested in phenology changes, community shifts and melting snow in alpine mountains. In this study, we also noted remarkable vegetation changes. Out of 62 picture pairs were related to vegetation change, 39 indicated vegetation has changed to the better condition, 17 for degraded vegetation and six for no obvious change. Also in these photos at a century interval, we found not only rapid urbanization in Western China, but also the disappearance of traditional cultures. Through such comparisons, we should not only be amazed about the significant environmental changes through time in Western China, but also consider its implications for protecting environment while meeting the economic development beyond such changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys the recent literature that has assessed China’s ecological restoration programs, including the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) and the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP). Our presumption is that the performance of these programs should be determined by their effectiveness of implementation and significance of impact. Implementation effectiveness can be measured with such indicators as land area converted or conserved, and survival and stocking rates of restored vegetation, while impact significance can be gauged by the induced changes in ecosystem functionality and stability (erosion control, biodiversity protection, etc.) and socioeconomic conditions. Coupling this matrix with an exhaustive search of the publications, we find that: (1) the implementation effectiveness has not been examined as extensively as the impact significance; (2) efforts to assess the impact significance have concentrated on the SLCP, particularly its socioeconomic effects: growth of income, alternative industry, and employment, and likelihood of re-conversion; and (3) most of the socioeconomic studies are based on rural household surveys and discrete choice and difference in differences models. While much has been learned from previous studies, a lot more needs to be done in improving our understanding of the program execution and impacts. Future work should pay more attention to the NFPP and other programs, and the environmental impacts and the implementation effectiveness of all of them. To these ends, analysts must gather more field data regarding the evolving ecosystem conditions and socioeconomic information of higher aggregation, and conduct their research across scales and disciplines, with better application of geospatial technology and more effective modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induced by high population density, rapid but uneven economic growth, and historic resource exploitation, China’s upper Yangtze basin has witnessed remarkable changes in land use and cover, which have resulted in severe environmental consequences, such as flooding, soil erosion, and habitat loss. This article examines the causes of land use and land cover change (LUCC) along the Jinsha River, one primary section of the upper Yangtze, aiming to better understand the human impact on the dynamic LUCC process and to support necessary policy actions for more sustainable land use and environmental protection. Using a repeated cross-sectional dataset covering 31 counties over four time periods from 1975 to 2000, we develop a fractional logit model to empirically determine the effects of socioeconomic and institutional factors on changes for cropland, forestland, and grassland. It is shown that population expansion, food self-sufficiency, and better market access drove cropland expansion, while industrial development contributed significantly to the increase of forestland and the decrease of other land uses. Similarly, stable tenure had a positive effect on forest protection. Moreover, past land use decisions were less significantly influenced by distorted market signals. We believe that these and other findings carry important policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial community patterns vary in glaciers world wide, presenting unique responses to global climatic and environmental changes. Four bacterial clone libraries were established by 16S rRNA gene amplification from four ice layers along the 42-m-long ice core MuztB drilled from the Muztag Ata Glacier. A total of 152 bacterial sequences obtained from the ice core MuztB were phylogenetically compared with the 71 previously reported sequences from three ice cores extracted from ice caps Malan, Dunde, and Puruoganri. The six functional clusters Flavisolibacter, Flexibacter (Bacteroidetes), Acinetobacter, Enterobacter (Gammaproteobacteria), Planococcus/Anoxybacillus (Firmicutes), and Propionibacter/Luteococcus (Actinobacteria) frequently occurred along the Muztag Ata Glacier profile. Sequence analysis showed that most of the sequences from the ice core clustered with those from cold environments, and the sequences from the same glacier formed a distinct cluster. Moreover, bacterial communities from the same location or similarly aged ice formed a cluster, and were clearly separate from those from other geographically isolated glaciers. In a summary, the findings provide preliminary evidence of zone distribution of microbial community, support our hypothesis of the spatial and temporal biogeography of microorganisms in glacial ice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/cover change (LUCC), which results from the complex interaction of social, ecological and geophysical processes, is a major issue and the main cause of global environmental change. This study analyzed the land use/cover dynamics and their environmental and socio-political forces in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River from 1980 to 2000 by using remote sensing, climatic and socio-economic data from both research institutes and government departments. The results indicated that there had been significant land use/cover changes between 1980 and 2000 in the study area, which were characterized by a severe replacement of cropland and woodland with grassland and builtup land. The transition matrices highlight the dominant dynamic events and the internal conversions between land use/cover types during the study period and reveal two distinct transition phases. Land use/cover changes in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River during 1980 to 2000, while restricted by environmental attributes, were strongly driven by socio-political factors. However, excessively pursuing higher land use benefits likely results in serious environmental degradation. This study suggests that the restructuring of land use should be based on land suitability and sustainable protection of fragile environment in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. A thorough comprehension of historical changes will enhance our capability to predict future land use change and contribute to effective management strategies and policies for the rational land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An inventory of isolated tree stands surrounded by desert pastures in Southern Tibet (A.R. Xizang, China) revealed more than 50 sites with vigorous trees of Juniperus convallium Rehder & E.H. Wilson and Juniperus tibetica Kom and additional more than 10 records where juniper trees had been destroyed between 1959–1976. The tree stands are not restricted to any specific habitat, and occur within an area stretching 650 km westwards from the current forest border of Southern Tibet. The trees are religious landmarks of the Tibetan Buddhists. The highest trees were found at an elevation of 4,860 m. Vegetation records, rainfall correlations and temperature data collected by local climate stations and successful reforestation trials since 1999 indicate that forest relicts fragmented through human interference could regenerate if current cattle grazing and deforestation practices are halted. The drought line of Juniperus forests in Southern Tibet is approximately 200–250 mm/a. A first pollen diagram from Lhasa shows forest decline associated with the presence of humans since at least 4,600 yr BP. The currently degraded commons developed in the last 600 yr. To date, no findings of remains of ancient forests in the Central Tibetan Highlands of the Changtang have been reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/cover in Northeast China went through extensive changes during the 1990s. This report explores the interaction between these changes and the environment, and the implication of these changes for rational allocation of water resources. Two maps of land use/cover produced from 1990 and 2000 Landsat TM satellite images were overlaid in ArcInfo to reveal changes in land cover. Results indicate that farmland and grassland decreased by 386,195 and 140,075 ha, respectively, while water, built-up areas, and woodland increased by 238,596, 194,231, and 192,682 ha, respectively. These changes bore a mutual relationship with the environmental change. On the one hand, climate warming made some of these changes (e.g., conversion of woodland and grassland to farmland) possible. On the other hand, the changed surface cover modified the local climate. These changes, in turn, caused severe environmental degradation and increased flooding. The change between dry field and rice paddy, in particular, raised severe implications for the proper allocation of limited water resources in the Northeast. Efforts are needed to coordinate their rational allocation to reap maximum and sustainable return over the entire area, not just in some localities. Results obtained in this study should be of interest to the international audience of Environmental Management in that they highlight the interactive nature of human activities and the environment and the off-site impact of these activities on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]