Detecting and assessing Spartina invasion in coastal region of China： A case study in the Xiangshan Bay

Spartina alterniflora is one of exotic plants along the coastal region in China. It was introduced as an important engineering approach to ecological restoration in the later 1970 s. However, owing to its good adaptability and strong reproductive capacity, the introduced species is explosively spreading along the coastal region quickly and resulting in a significant impact on the health and safety of coastal wetland ecosystems. It is imperative to quantify the spatial extent and the rate of S. alterniflora sprawl in order to assess its ecological damages and economic impacts. Remote sensing techniques have been used to address these challenges but large unsuccessful due to mixed spectral properties. In this study, a hybrid method was proposed for S. alterniflora detection using medium resolution remote sensing images by integrating both spatial and spectral features of S. alterniflora. The hybrid method consists of two phases：（1） delineation of intertidal zone as the potential area of S. alterniflora distribution and（2） extraction of S. alterniflora fraction distribution with a mixture pixel analysis. The proposed method was tested at the Xiangshan Bay on the east coastal region of Zhejiang Province, China, and mapped the spatial extent of S. alterniflora with Landsat datasets in the 2003, 2009 and 2014. The results showed that, the S. alterniflora has grown exponentially over past 10 years. In 2003, the total area of S. alterniflora was about 590 hm2, but quickly reached to 1 745 hm2 in 2009, and 5 715 hm2 in 2014. With a rate of approximately 10-folds growth within a decade, the invasive species almost occupied all muddy beaches to become the most dominant coastal salt vegetation in this region. It is believed that the strong biological reproductive capacity was the primary reason for such quick spread and at the same time human reclamation activities were also believed to have facilitated the environmental conditions for S. alterniflora sprawl.

全面停伐背景下国有林区职工主观福祉及其影响因素分析

在全面停止天然林商品性采伐背景下,准确掌握国有林区职工主观福祉水平,为政府部门精准实施全面停伐后的配套扶持政策提供科学依据。本文首次利用覆盖东北五大森工集团的1004个重点国有林区民生改革监测跟踪调查数据,基于阿玛蒂亚·森的可行能力理论框架和千年生态系统评估福祉要素,构建国有林区职工主观福祉影响因素理论模型,运用多项有序Logit模型展开实证检验。研究结果表明:①龙江森工、内蒙古森工和长白山森工全面停伐与国有林区改革效果良好,大兴安岭林业集团和吉林森工滞后;全面停伐后国有林区基础设施建设较快,但医疗条件改善缓慢,收入与就业有待提升。②82.77%国有林区职工生活满意度处于一般满意水平以上,但低于中国农民主观福祉和城镇居民生活满意度水平。③身体状况、附属医院、家庭总支出、住房满意度、物价水平满意度、行政服务满意度、社会保障满意度、收入满意度和双重就业满意度对国有林区职工主观福祉有正向影响。④尽管山上林场和山下社区职工主观福祉影响因素不同,但家庭总支出、物价水平、社会保障、双重就业与收入满意度是提升国有林区职工主观福祉的核心要素。

Processes of coastal ecosystem carbon sequestration and approaches for increasing carbon sink

The oceans are the largest carbon pools on Earth, and play the role of a "buffer" in climate change. Blue carbon, the carbon(mainly organic carbon) captured by marine ecosystems, is one of the important mechanisms of marine carbon storage.Blue carbon was initially recognized only in the form of visible coastal plant carbon sequestration. In fact, microorganisms(phytoplankton, bacteria, archaea, viruses, and protozoa), which did not receive much attention in the past, account for more than 90% of the total marine biomass and are the main contributors to blue carbon. Chinese coastal seas, equivalent to 1/3 of China's total land area, have a huge carbon sink potential needing urgently research and development. In this paper, we focus on the processes and mechanisms of coastal ocean's carbon sequestration and the approaches for increasing that sequestration. We discuss the structures of coastal ecosystems, the processes of carbon cycle, and the mechanisms of carbon sequestration. Using the evolution of coastal ocean's carbon sinks in sedimentary records over geologic times, we also discuss the possible effects of natural processes and anthropogenic activities on marine carbon sinks. Finally, we discuss the prospect of using carbon sequestration engineering for increasing coastal ocean's carbon storage capacity.

A case study of regional eco-hydrological characteristics in the Tao River Basin, northwestern China, based on evapotranspiration estimated by a coupled Budyko Equation-crop coefficient approach

In a case study in Tao River Basin, China, we derived a high spatial-resolution regional distribution of evapotranspiration(ET) using the single crop coefficient method and Budyko equation. We then further analyzed the spatio-temporal characteristics of this diverse eco-hydrological basin from 2001–2010. The results suggest that the single crop coefficient method based on leaf area index captures better spatial and temporal dynamics of the regional ET than did the Budyko Equation method. The rising temperature was the main reason for the increasing ET in the Tao River Basin during 2001–2010. Areas with high ET efficiency were distributed mainly in the areas where the vegetation coverage was high, and a lower runoff coefficient responded. The estimated spatial patterns of ET allowed an improved understanding of the eco-hydrological processes within the Tao River Basin and the method used might be generalized as a reference for future regional-scale eco-hydrological research.

中国东北松嫩平原1990–2015年的农田环境变化特征分析（英文）

Quantitative characterization of environmental characteristics of cropland(ECC)plays an important role in maintaining sustainable development of agricultural systems and ensuring regional food security. In this study, the changes in ECC over the Songnen Plain, a major grain crops production region in Northeast China, were investigated for the period 1990–2015. The results revealed significant changes in climate conditions, soil physical properties and cropland use patterns with socioeconomic activities. Trends in climate parameters showed increasing temperature(+0.49°C/decade, p < 0.05) and decreasing wind speed(–0.3 m/s/decade, p < 0.01) for the growing season, while sunshine hours and precipitation exhibited non-significant trends. Four topsoil parameters including soil organic carbon(SOC), clay, bulk density and pH, indicated deteriorating soil conditions across most of the croplands, although some do exhibited slight improvement. The changing amplitude for each of the four above parameters ranged within –0.052 to 0.029 kg C/kg, –0.38 to 0.30,–0.60 to 0.39 g/cm^3, –3.29 to 2.34, respectively. Crop production significantly increased(44.0 million tons) with increasing sown area of croplands(～2.5 million ha) and fertilizer application(～2.5 million tons). The study reveals the dynamics of ECC in the Songnen Plain with intensive cultivation from 1990 to 2015. Population growth, economic development, and policy reform are shown to strongly influence the spatiotemporal changes in cropland characteristics.The study potentially provides valuable scientific information to support sustainable agroecosystem management in the context of global climate change and national socioeconomic development.