Vegetation-Climate Relationship and Its Application in the Division of Vegetation Zone in China

Distribution of vegetation is closely coupled with climate; the climate controls distribution of vegetation and the vegetation type reflects regional climates. To reveal vegetation_climate relationships is the foundation for understanding the vegetation distribution and theoretically serving vegetation regionalization. Vegetation regionalization is a theoretical integration of vegetation studies and provides a base for physiogeographical regionalization as well as agriculture and forestry regionalization. Based on a brief historical overview on studies of vegetation_climate relationships and vegetation regionalization conducted in China, we review the principles, bases and major schemes of previous vegetation regionalization and discuss on several contentious boundaries of vegetation zones in the present paper. We proposed that, under the circumstances that the primary vegetation has been destroyed in most parts of China, the division of vegetation zones/regions should be based on the distribution of primary and its secondary vegetation types and climatic indices that delimit distribution of the vegetation types. This not only reveals the closed relationship between vegetation and climate, but also is feasible practically. Although there still are divergence of views on the name and their boundaries of the several vegetation zones, it is commonly accepted that there are eight major vegetation regions in China, i.e. cold temperate needleleaf forest region, temperate needleleaf and broadleaf mixed forest region, warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest region, subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest region, tropical monsoon forest and rain forest region, temperate steppe region, temperate desert region, and Qinghai_Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau high_cold vegetation region. Analyzing characteristics of vegetation and climate of major vegetation boundaries, we suggested that: 1) Qinling Mountain_Huaihe River line is an important arid/humid climatic, but not a thermal climatic boundary, and thus can not also be regarded as the northern limit of the subtropical vegetation zone; 2) the northern limit of subtropical vegetation zone in China is along the northern coast of the Yangtze River, from Hangzhou Bay, via Taihu Lake, Xuancheng and Tongling in Anhui Province, through by southern slope of the Dabie Mountains, to Wuhan and its west, coinciding with a warmth index ( WI ) value of 130-140 ℃·month; 3) the tropical region is limited in a very small area in southeastern Hainan Island and southern edge of Taiwan Island; and 4) considering a significant difference in climates between the southern and northern parts of the warm temperate zone, we suggested that the warm temperate zone in China is divided into two vegetation regions, deciduous broadleaf woodland region and deciduous and evergreen broadleaf mixed forest region, the Qinling Mountain_Huaihe River line being as their boundary. We also claimed that the zonal vegetation in North China is deciduous broadleaf woodland. Finally, we emphasized the importance of dynamic vegetation regionalization linked to climate changes.

Applicable conditions for a classification system of aquifer-protective mining in hallow coal seams

Based on the conclusions of domestic and foreign research, we have analyzed the collapse-fall characteristics of overlying strata and the mechanism of aquifer-protective mining in shallow coal seam working faces at the Shendong Mine. We have selected the height of the water-conducting fracture zone in overlying strata as a composite index and established the applicable conditions of aquifer-protective mining in shallow coal seams with a multi-factor synthetic-index classification method. From our calculations and analyses of variance, we used factors such as the overlying strata strength, mining disturbing factors and rock integrity as related factors of the composite index. We have classified the applicable conditions of aquifer-protective mining in shallow coal seams into seven types by comparing the result of the height of water-conducting fractured zones of long-wall and short-wall working faces with the thickness of the bedrock, the thickness of the weathered zone and the size of safety coal-rock pillars. As a result, we propose the preliminary classification system of aquifer-protective mining in shallow coal seams. It can provide a theoretical guidance for safe applications of aquifer-protective mining technology in shallow coal seams under similar conditions.

Comprehensive framework for speed-zone guidelines

Speeding is often considered as one of the major reasons of traffic crashes. As a result, State Departments of Transportations （DOTs） receive requests from communities to decrease speed limits in towns along rural highways. Such requests, coupled with the lack of proper manuals, have forced state DOTs to reduce the speed limits. A proper speed-zone manual is required to establish consistent speed zones across a state. This paper reviewed the literature on speed, crashes, enforcement techniques, and speed-zone manuals. A nationwide survey was conducted to identify various factors affecting the decisions of speed zones establishing. This paper identified best practices based on the literature review and expert opinions, and proposed a comprehensive framework for a speed-zone manual. The Nevada DOT traffic engineers were also interviewed during this research to incorpo- rate their opinions in the framework. The framework provided in this paper has six phases. They are; 1） speed-zone identification; 2） speed-limit determination; 3） transition-zone detailed design; 4） speed-zone approval; 5） speed-limit enforcement; and 6） follow-up study. Relevant studies, and manuals corresponding to each phases were presented in this paper. This framework is useful for NDOT, other state DOTs within the U.S., and transportation agencies worldwide that haven＇t had speed zone manuals currently to develop a proper speed-zone manual.