江苏省如皋市长寿现象与土壤环境关系研究初探

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LONGEVITYAND ENVIRONMENT IN RUGAO COUNTY OF JIANGSU PROVINCE

江苏省如皋市以每百万人口中拥有134位100岁以上老人而成为闻名中外的长寿之乡。该市内100岁老人比率总体上由东向西、由北向南递减,东南部 100 岁老人分布较为集中,中部和西部分布较少;且 90 岁以上高龄人口分布也呈相似的分布趋势。这一分布特征与该地区土壤类型的空间分布特征极其相似,具体表现为普通简育水耕人为土和水耕暗色潮湿雏形土分布区的长寿老人比率显著高于石灰淡色潮湿雏形土分布区的长寿老人比率。这些特征表明长寿现象与土壤环境有一定的相关性。

Rugao County of Jiangsu Province is famous for its possession of 134 centenarians in one million people in 2002. The life-span of a person mainly depends on factors such as inheritance, living habits and environment. Among the three factors, environmental factor is the most influencing one in Rugao County because the inhomogeneity of the spatial distribution of the density of longevous people is hard to explain by inheritance and living habits. It can be concluded from the population data that the density of centenarians is degressive from east to west and from north to south of the county showing the pattern of a curve. The density of centenarians in the eastern area is significantly higher than that in the central and western areas and reaches the highest in the southeastern area. Moreover, the spatial distribution of the density of over 90-year-old people is similar to that of centenarians. The characteristic of the spatial distribution of the density of longevous people is very similar to that of some soil types in Rugao County. In other words, the density of longevous people on Typic Hapli-Stagnic Anthrosols and Anthrostagnic Dark-Aquic Cambosols distributed from north through northeast to southeast in the pattern of an arch, is much higher than that on Calcaric Ochri-Aquic Cambosols distributed in central and western areas. The relationship between the density of longevous people and soil types suggests that the phenomenon of longevity was pertinent to the soil environment in Rugao County. As for mechanism of the pertinence, further study is needed.