山地环境系统研究新框架

A New Framework for the Study of Mountain Environment System

20世纪80年代,地球系统科学概念开始出现,同时期全球变化研究迅速展开,可持续发展理念提出并获得广泛认同,这些都为山地环境系统研究提供了新的发展契机。当前,全球山地环境系统研究面临两大问题:山地环境变化和山区发展挑战。国际上围绕山地环境系统研究,逐渐形成若干清晰的主题,包括山地构造地貌和山地气候地貌,山地灾害在山地环境演化过程中的作用,山地(及流域)环境系统生物地球化学循环,山地全球变化和人类活动的影响与适应等。对于我国山地研究来说,核心科学问题是:我国山地环境系统是如何响应不同时间尺度全球变化和日益加剧的人类活动的影响?在此背景下如何构筑我国山区可持续发展的根本战略和支撑战略?对此核心问题的全面深入研究,将有望使我国山地环境研究水平提高到一个新的更高层次,并占据国际山地研究领域中不可替代的重要位置。为此,我们提出,以我国山地环境大断面研究为抓手,以梯度格局、系统关联和区域差异等为研究切入点,在山地环境系统的格局、干扰、过程、响应和适应研究等方面有所突破,促成我国山地环境系统研究新框架的形成,为世界山地研究做出我们应有的贡献。

The last several decades witnessed the emergence and international recognition of the concept of Earth System Sciences and Sustainable Development, as well as the rapid development within the researches of Global Change. It is in this period the mountain environment of the world has been stressed by two major challenges： the mountain environment change and the mountain sustainable development. Aimed to the study of mountain environ- ment system, major progresses have been made in several themes, including mountain tectonic geomorphology, mountain climatic geomorphology, mountain hazards, biogeochemical cycles in mountain-river valley systems, mountain global change and human impact/adaptation. In this context, the mountain environment studies in China should be focused on the key problems that how the mountain environments in China response to the global change and human impact and how to figure out the sustainable development strategies for the mountain regions in China. Here we propose to initiate a research program of Chinese Mountain Environment Transects （CMET）, to improve the understanding of the pattern, disturbance, processes, responses and adaptation in mountain environment-human society system, by exploring the gradient patterns, inter-relationships between systems and regional heterogeneity. This program will advance the knowledge of regional mountain environment changes, promote the mountain sustain- able development, and contribute to reconstruct a new framework for the study of mountain environment system in China.