Landscape of Dhaka city—one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world, is continuously changing due to un-planned urbanization. For example, the wetlands of the city have been shrinking. This study evaluates we...Landscape of Dhaka city—one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world, is continuously changing due to un-planned urbanization. For example, the wetlands of the city have been shrinking. This study evaluates wetland changes in Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA), Bangladesh, between 1978 and 2009. Spatial and temporal dynamics of wetland changes were quantified using four Landsat images, a supervised classi?cation algorithm and the post-classi?cation change detection technique in GIS environment. Accuracy of the Landsat-derived wetland maps ranged from 87% to 92.5%. The analysis revealed that area of wetland and Rivers & Khals in Dhaka city decreased significantly over the last 30 years by 76.67% and 18.72% respectively. This changing trend of wetlands makes the drainage system of Dhaka City vulnerable, creating water logging problems and their consequences. Land filling and encroachment were recognized to be the main reasons for shrinking of the wetlands in the city. Development and alteration of the existing water bodies should consider the natural hydrological conditions.展开更多
Jamuna River is one of the principal rivers of Bangladesh, changing continuously due to erosion and accretion over the past decades. This analysis evaluates the East Bank and the West Bank erosion and accretion betwee...Jamuna River is one of the principal rivers of Bangladesh, changing continuously due to erosion and accretion over the past decades. This analysis evaluates the East Bank and the West Bank erosion and accretion between 1996 and 2015 for Jamuna River. An unsupervised classification algorithm and post-classification change employing skills in Geographic Information System are performed to evaluate spatial and temporal dynamics of erosion and accretion for different points of Jamuna River using Bangladesh. Landsat image (1995, 2005, 2015). The correctness of the Landsat-produced map ranges from 82% to 84%. It has been evidently observed that changes in the proportion of erosion and accretion differ in different points of Jamuna River. The highest eroded area is 3.82 square kilometers (km2) during the period of 1995 to 2005 and the highest accreted area is 6.15 square kilometers (km2) during the period of 1995 to 2015. The erosion and accretion values fluctuated from place to place. The changing trend of Riverbank is creating many socio-economic problems in the proximate areas.展开更多
Rice is one of the most important grain crops in Northeast China (NEC) and its cultivation is sensitive to climate change. This study aimed to explore the spatio-temporal changes in the NEC rice planting area over t...Rice is one of the most important grain crops in Northeast China (NEC) and its cultivation is sensitive to climate change. This study aimed to explore the spatio-temporal changes in the NEC rice planting area over the period of 1980-2010 and to analyze their relationship to climate change. To do so, the CLUE-S (conversion of land use and its effects at small region extent) model was ifrst updated and used to simulate dynamic changes in the rice planting area in NEC to understand spatio-temporal change trends during three periods: 1980-1990, 1990-2000 and 2000-2010. The changing results in individual periods were then linked to climatic variables to investigate the climatic drivers of these changes. Results showed that the NEC rice planting area expanded quickly and increased by nearly 4.5 times during 1980-2010. The concentration of newly planted rice areas in NEC constantly moved northward and the changes were strongly dependent on latitude. This conifrmed that climate change, increases in temperature in particular, greatly inlfuenced the shift in the rice planting area. The shift in the north limit of the NEC rice planting area generally followed a 1°C isoline migration pattern, but with an obvious time-lag effect. These ifndings can help policy makers and crop producers take proper adaptation measures even when exposed to the global warming situation in NEC.展开更多
Based on the satellite remote sensing TM/ETM images of Xuzhou city, basic data about land use of the city from 1994 to 2000 are obtained with the neural network classification module of PCI software, and the dynamic c...Based on the satellite remote sensing TM/ETM images of Xuzhou city, basic data about land use of the city from 1994 to 2000 are obtained with the neural network classification module of PCI software, and the dynamic con- version matrix of land use is thus calculated. The areas of construction land and water body have increased by 1833.93 hm2 and 804.87 hm2, respectively. On the contrary, the area of cropland has decreased by 3207.24 hm2. The area of cropland converted into construction land makes up 26.84%, and that converted into water body amounts for 8.17% of the total area of cropland in 1994. The variation index of land use degree and the dynamic degree index of land use computed are 1.38 and 57.81%, respectively, which demonstrate that land use in Xuzhou is in a development period and the changes are drastic. The frequency index and importance index of the form in which cropland converted into con- struction land are 29.91% and 68.93% respectively. The results indicate that the change is not only widespread in space but a major form of spatial change of land use in the area.展开更多
Forests play a central role in the global carbon cycle.China's forests have a high carbon sequestration potential owing to their wide distribution,young age and relatively low carbon density.Forest biomass is an e...Forests play a central role in the global carbon cycle.China's forests have a high carbon sequestration potential owing to their wide distribution,young age and relatively low carbon density.Forest biomass is an essential variable for assessing carbon sequestration capacity,thus determining the spatio-temporal changes of forest biomass is critical to the national carbon budget and to contribute to sustainable forest management.Based on Chinese forest inventory data(1999–2013),this study explored spatial patterns of forest biomass at a grid resolution of 1 km by applying a downscaling method and further analyzed spatiotemporal changes of biomass at different spatial scales.The main findings are:(1)the regression relationship between forest biomass and the associated infuencing factors at a provincial scale can be applied to estimate biomass at a pixel scale by employing a downscaling method;(2)forest biomass had a distinct spatial pattern with the greatest biomass occurring in the major mountain ranges;(3)forest biomass changes had a notable spatial distribution pattern;increase(i.e.,carbon sinks)occurred in east and southeast China,decreases(i.e.,carbon sources)were observed in the northeast to southwest,with the largest biomass losses in the Hengduan Mountains,Southern Hainan and Northern Da Hinggan Mountains;and,(4)forest vegetation functioned as a carbon sink during 1999–2013 with a net increase in biomass of 3.71 Pg.展开更多
By constructing evaluation indicator system of sustainable land use of Tibet from three aspects of ecological environment, economic development, resources and social advancement, this article studies the following con...By constructing evaluation indicator system of sustainable land use of Tibet from three aspects of ecological environment, economic development, resources and social advancement, this article studies the following contents respectively in two dimensions of time and space: the changes of sustainable land use of Tibet in recent 20 years and spatial characteristics of sustainable land use of Tibet in 2002. The following conclusions can be drawn from evaluation results .① With regard to com- prehensive evaluation value of sustainable land use, the trend of Tibet sustainable land use evaluation values from 1983 to 2002 are very close to the comprehensive evaluation values of ecological environment, which is up trend; ② sustainable utilization degree of land use in eastern region of Tibet is much higher than that of western region. ③ the sustainable land use evaluation value of Nyingtri County is the highest, and the counties with relatively higher land sustainable use values include Lhasa, Lhoka, Chamdo. While Nakchu, Ngari, Shigatse counties have the relatively lower evaluation values; ④ By analyzing each evaluation indicator's weight on sustainable land use, it can be concluded that the key limiting factors of sustainable Tibet land resource utilization are land desertification, grassland degradation and low economic level.展开更多
Land cover is an impression of natural cover on surface of earth such as bare soil, river, grass etc. and utilization of these natural covers for various human needs and purposes by mankind is defined as land use. Lan...Land cover is an impression of natural cover on surface of earth such as bare soil, river, grass etc. and utilization of these natural covers for various human needs and purposes by mankind is defined as land use. Land cover identification, delineation and mapping is important for planning activities, resource management and global monitoring studies while baseline mapping and subsequent monitoring is done by application of land use to get timely information about quantity of land that has been used. The present study has been carried out in Dhund river watershed of Jaipur, Rajasthan which covers an area of about 1828 sq∙km. The minimum and maximum elevation of the area is found to be 214 m and 603 m respectively. Land use and land cover changes of three decades from 1991 to 2021 have been interpreted by using remotes sensing and GIS techniques. ArcGIS software (Arc map 10.2), SOI topographic map, Cartosat-1 DEM and satellite data of Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 have been used for interpretation of eleven classes. The study shows an increase in cultivated land, settlement, waterbody, open forest, plantation and mining due to urbanization because of increasing demands of food, shelter and water while a decrease in dense forest, river, open scrub, wasteland and uncultivated land has also been marked due to destruction of aforementioned by anthropogenic activities such as industrialization resulting in environmental degradation that leads to air, soil and water pollution.展开更多
Decline in wildlife populations is manifest globally, regionally and locally. A wildlife decline of 68% has been reported in Kenya’s rangelands with Baringo County experiencing more than 85% wildlife loss in the last...Decline in wildlife populations is manifest globally, regionally and locally. A wildlife decline of 68% has been reported in Kenya’s rangelands with Baringo County experiencing more than 85% wildlife loss in the last four decades. Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is endemic to Lake Bogoria landscape in Baringo County and constitutes a major tourist attraction for the region necessitating use of its photo on the County’s logo and thus a flagship species. Tourism plays a central role in Baringo County’s economy and is a major source of potential growth and employment creation. The study was carried out to assess spatio-temporal change of dispersal areas of Greater Kudu (GK) in Lake Bogoria landscape in the last four years for enhanced adaptive management and improved livelihoods. GK population distribution primary data collected in December 2022 and secondary data acquired from Lake Bogoria National Game Reserve (LBNGR) for 2019 and 2020 were digitized using in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Measures of dispersion and point pattern analysis (PPA) were used to analyze dispersal of GK population using GIS. Spatio-temporal change of GK dispersal in LBNR was evident thus the null hypothesis was rejected. It is recommended that anthropogenic activities contributing to GK’s habitat degradation be curbed by providing alternative livelihood sources and promoting community adoption of sustainable technologies for improved livelihoods.展开更多
The effect of pruning severity on tree growth was analyzed by change point detection using segmented regression. The present study applied this analysis to a well-known published data set including diameter growth res...The effect of pruning severity on tree growth was analyzed by change point detection using segmented regression. The present study applied this analysis to a well-known published data set including diameter growth response, tree age, pruning severity and pretreatment crown size. First, multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of tree age, pruning severity and pretreatment crown size on diameter growth response. Next, segmented regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of pruning severity on diameter growth response. The results of the multiple regression showed that diameter growth response was significantly influenced by pruning severity and pretreatment crown size. The results of the segmented regression showed that in the whole data set, an abrupt change toward a decrease in diameter growth response was detected at 25% of the live crown removed. However, in the group of fully crowned and open-grown, diameter growth response continuously decreased with increasing pruning severity with no significant abrupt change, whereas in the group of 70% - 90% live crown, diameter growth response did not significantly decrease up to the break point (53% crown removed) and then abruptly decreased. This may be the first study to show the numerical evaluation of the effect of pruning severity on tree growth by change point analysis.展开更多
An improved Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach model (CASA model) was used to estimate the net primary productivity (NPP) of the Northeast China Transect (NECT) every month from 1982 to 2000. The spatial-temporal d...An improved Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach model (CASA model) was used to estimate the net primary productivity (NPP) of the Northeast China Transect (NECT) every month from 1982 to 2000. The spatial-temporal distribution of NPP along NECT and its response to climatic change were also analyzed. Results showed that the change tendency of NPP spatial distribution in NECT is quite similar to that of precipitation and their spatial correlation coefficient is up to 0.84 (P 〈 0.01). The inter-annual variation of NPP in NECT is mainly affected by the change of the aestival NPP every year, which accounts for 67.6% of the inter-annual increase in NPP and their spatial correlation coefficient is 0.95 (P 〈 0.01). The NPP in NECT is mainly cumulated between May and September, which accounts for 89.8% of the annual NPP. The NPP in summer (June to August) accounts for 65.9% of the annual NPP and is the lowest in winter. Recent climate changes have enhanced plant growth in NECT. The mean NPP increased 14.3% from 1980s to 1990s. The inter-annual linear trend of NPP is 4.6 gC·m^-2·a^-1, and the relative trend is 1.17%, which owns mainly to the increasing temperature.展开更多
The contribution rate of ecosystem service value variation was used to analyze the effects of land use changes on the changes of ecosystem service value in Xingguo County during 1996-2005.Grey integrated correlation w...The contribution rate of ecosystem service value variation was used to analyze the effects of land use changes on the changes of ecosystem service value in Xingguo County during 1996-2005.Grey integrated correlation was employed to explore the contribution level of the indicators such as total population,urbanization level,proportion of primary industry and investment of social fixed assets on ecosystem service value,and the correlation analysis was also carried out.The results showed that the ecosystem service value in Xingguo County during 1996-2005 mainly was woodland,and the decrease of woodland area was the major reason for the sustained reduction of ecosystem service value.With the further increase of market demand and the incentives of local government,the garden area rapidly increased during 2001-2005,and the influence degree of garden towards the changes of ecosystem service value was only second to woodland,ranking No.2.Four socio-economic indicators had different correlation degree with ecosystem service value during the different research periods.Total population,urbanization level and proportion of primary industry had high correlation degree with ecosystem service value,whereas the influence degree of various socio-economic indicators on ecosystem service value was equal with each other day by day.Urbanization level,investment of social fixed assets and total population had significant negative correlation with ecosystem service value,while the proportion of primary industry had positive correlation with ecosystem service value.展开更多
[Objective] This study was to provide basis for the scientific management of land use in Haihe River Basin (HRB) through the quantitative exploration of the land use conversion, changes of intensity and spatial dist...[Objective] This study was to provide basis for the scientific management of land use in Haihe River Basin (HRB) through the quantitative exploration of the land use conversion, changes of intensity and spatial distribution in this region. [Method] With the support of remote sensing technology and geographic information technology, the land use maps of the study area in 40 years (1970-2010) were in- terpreted and plotted. Four kinds of tupu, namely, land use change tupu, process tupu, arising tupu and evolution mode tupu were built through the spatial overlay of the land use maps to analyze the change rules of land use patterns. [Result] The conversion of arable land to construction land was the main characteristics of land use changes in HRB for the 40 years; the area of non-stable region accounted for 35% of the total, indicating that the land use changed remarkably, thus, it was nec- essary to strengthen the scientific land management in HRB; the new conversions to all land use patterns were all the lowest in 1980-1990, indicating that land use changed slowly during this period. [Conclusion] The results indicate that, compared with conventional transfer matrix method, geo-information tupu has obvious advantage in analyzing land use changes that it can demonstrate the spatial distribution of interest region, display the multi-dimensional spatial information.展开更多
A quantitative model is built and the historical variation of natural disasters is analyzed in this paper,by using materials as affected area(damaged area),affected population(dead and injured),casualty of livestock,c...A quantitative model is built and the historical variation of natural disasters is analyzed in this paper,by using materials as affected area(damaged area),affected population(dead and injured),casualty of livestock,collapsed houses(damaged houses),decrease of crops yield,economic loss(direct and indirect) and price index over the same period of Ningxia natural disasters(include drought,flood,gale and hail,frost,pest disasters and other disasters) during 1978-2007,and applying gray correlation analysis method.The long-term changes trend of natural disasters is analyzed by the application of the least squares method for linear trend,and the oscillation period is analyzed by using the maximum entropy statistical method.It is found that natural disasters have basically 2 to 3 years of variation period either in the whole region or in the individual regions;from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s,Ningxia is in an oscillation period with disasters attacked frequently in decadal and interannual scale under the background of climate;the increase of damage intensity of natural disasters slow down and tends to decrease since 2000.展开更多
Based on RS and GIS methods, land use information for 1985 and 1995 was acquired from TM images and analyzed. Then on both spatial and temporal aspects, this paper analyzes land use change in three provinces of Hebei,...Based on RS and GIS methods, land use information for 1985 and 1995 was acquired from TM images and analyzed. Then on both spatial and temporal aspects, this paper analyzes land use change in three provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Liaoning and two municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin in the Bohai Rim covering the period of 1985 to 1995. The extent, rate, areal difference and trend of various types of land use changes in the region, as well as spatial changes of major types of land use, their distribution characteristics and regional orientation are revealed. The regional characteristics of land use are elaborated, so as to provide effective policy support for sustainable land use in the area around the Bohai Bay.展开更多
The knowledge of Martian salts has gone through substantial changes during the past decades. In the 70th of last century, Viking landers have noticed the existence of salts on Mars. Several salt species have been sugg...The knowledge of Martian salts has gone through substantial changes during the past decades. In the 70th of last century, Viking landers have noticed the existence of salts on Mars. Several salt species have been suggested from then on, such as sulfates and chlorides. However, their origin was a mystery due to the lack of observations. The recent explorations and related studies at the beginning of this century revealed that the crustal composition of Mars is similar to that of Earth, and it was hypothesized that almost one third of Martian surface was covered by oceans and lakes in the early stage of Mars. The huge water bodies may have dissolved a large quantity of ions from Martian primary rocks during the whole Noachian and Hesperian epoch. After the enormous drought event happened during the late Hesperian and the early Amazonian, these dissolved ions have formed huge salts deposits and most of them were preserved on Mars until today. To date, carbonates, sulfates, chlorides have all been detected by orbital remote sensing and by landers and rovers. However, the salt mineral assemblages on Mars seems to have some differences from those on Earth, e.g., rich in sulfates and lack of massive carbonates. To explain this difference, we propose that most of the surface carbonates precipitated from the ancient oceans may have been dissolved by the later ubiquitous acidic fluids originated from the global volcanism in the Hesperian era, and formed the enormous sulfate deposits as detected, and this hypothesis seems to be supported by the evidence that most of the sulfate deposits distribute around the Tharsis volcanic province while the survived carbonates located far from it. This process can release most of the carbon on Mars to the atmosphere in the form of CO2 and then be erased by the late heavy bombardments, which might have profound influence on the climate change happened in the Hesperian age. The positive correlation between the GRS results of the potassium distributions and the distribution of chlorides on Mars, together with the high Br concentration measured from the evaporate sediments at two Mars exploration rover landing sites, indicate that the brines in the regions where the chlorides deposited may have reached the stage for potassium salts deposition, thus we propose for the first time that potassium salts deposits might be prevalent in these regions.展开更多
The aim of this paper was to research the spatio-temporal changes in total soluble salt content (TS) in a typical arid region of South Xinjiang, China, where the climate is arid and soil salinization happens easily....The aim of this paper was to research the spatio-temporal changes in total soluble salt content (TS) in a typical arid region of South Xinjiang, China, where the climate is arid and soil salinization happens easily. The total soluble salt content was interpreted by measurements made in the horizontal mode with EM38 and EM31. The electromagnetic induction (EM) surveys were made three times with the apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) measurements taken at 3 873 locations in Nov. 2008, 4 807 locations in Apr. 2009 and 6 324 locations in Nov. 2009, respectively. For interpreting the ECa measurements into total soluble salt content, calibtion sites were needed for EM survey of each time, e.g., 66 sites were selected in Nov. 2008 to measure ECa, and soils-core samples were taken by different depth layers of 0-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm at the same time. On every time duplicate samples were taken at five sites to allevaite the local-scale variability, and soil temperatures in different layers through the profiles were also measured. Factors including TS, pH, water content, bulk density were analyzed by lab experiments. ECa calibration equations were obtained by linear regression analysis, which indicated that soil salinity was one primary concern to ECa with a determination coefficient of 0.792 in 0-10 cm layer, 0.711 in 10-20 cm layer and 0.544 in 20-40 cm layer, respectively. The maps of spatial distribution were predicted by Kriging interpolation, which showed that the high soil salinity was located near the drainage canal, which validated the trend effect caused by the irrigation canal and the drainage canal. And by comparing the soil salinity in different layers, the soluble salt accumulated to the top soil surface only in the area where the soil salinization was serious, and in the other areas, the soil salinity trended to increase from the top soil surface to 40 cm depth. Temporal changes showed that the soil salinity in November was higher than that in April, and the soil salinization trended to aggravate, especially in the top soil layer of 0-10 cm.展开更多
Using wavelet analysis,regression analysis and the Mann-Kendall test,this paper analyzed time-series(1959-2006) weather data from 23 meteorological stations in an attempt to characterize the climate change in the Tari...Using wavelet analysis,regression analysis and the Mann-Kendall test,this paper analyzed time-series(1959-2006) weather data from 23 meteorological stations in an attempt to characterize the climate change in the Tarim River Basin of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,China.Major findings are as follows:1) In the 48-year study period,average annual temperature,annual precipitation and average annual relative humidity all presented nonlinear trends.2) At the 16-year time scale,all three climate indices unanimously showed a rather flat before 1964 and a detectable pickup thereafter.At the 8-year time scale,an S-shaped nonlinear and uprising trend was revealed with slight fluctuations in the entire process for all three indices.Incidentally,they all showed similar pattern of a slight increase before 1980 and a noticeable up-swing afterwards.The 4-year time scale provided a highly fluctuating pattern of periodical oscillations and spiral increases.3) Average annual relative humidity presented a negative correlation with average annual temperature and a positive correlation with annual precipitation at each time scale,which revealed a close dynamic relationship among them at the confidence level of 0.001.4) The Mann-Kendall test at the 0.05 confidence level demonstrated that the climate warming trend,as represented by the rising average annual temperature,was remarkable,but the climate wetting trend,as indicated by the rising annual precipitation and average annual relative humidity,was not obvious.展开更多
Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) fish, which are an amphidromous species distributed in East Asia, live in brackish water (BW) during their larval stage and in fresh water (FW) during their adult stage. In this stud...Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) fish, which are an amphidromous species distributed in East Asia, live in brackish water (BW) during their larval stage and in fresh water (FW) during their adult stage. In this study, we found that FW-acclimated ayu larvae exhibited a slower growth ratio compared with that of BW-acclimated larvae. However, the mechanism underlying FW acclimation on growth suppression is poorly known. We employed transcriptome analysis to investigate the differential gene expression of FW acclimation by RNA sequencing. We identified 158 upregulated and 139 downregulated transcripts in FW-acclimated ayu larvae compared with that in BW-acclimated larvae. As determined by Gene Ontology annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway mapping, functional annotation of the genes covered diverse biological functions and processes, and included neuroendo- crinology, osmotic regulation, energy metabolism, and the cytoskeleton. Transcriptional expression of several differentially expressed genes in response to FW acclimation was further confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR. In accordance with transcriptome analysis, iodothyronine deiodinase (ID), pro-opiom- elanocortin (POMC), betaine-homocysteine S-meth- yltransferase 1 (BHMT), fructose-bisphosphate aldolase B (aldolase B), tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT), and Na+-K+ ATPase (NKA) were upregulated after FW acclimation. Furthermore, the mRNA expressions of b-type natriurefic peptide (BNP) and transgelin were downregulated after FW acclimation. Our data indicate that FW acclimation reduced the growth rate of ayu larvae, which might result from the expression alteration of genes related to endocrine hormones, energy metabolism, and direct osmoregulation.展开更多
Change vector analysis (CVA) and principal component analysis in NDVI time-trajectories space are powerful tools to analyze land-cover change. The magnitude of the change vector indicates amplitude of the change, whil...Change vector analysis (CVA) and principal component analysis in NDVI time-trajectories space are powerful tools to analyze land-cover change. The magnitude of the change vector indicates amplitude of the change, while its direction indicates the nature of the change. CVA is applied to two remotely sensed indicators of land surface conditions, NDVI and spatial structure, in order to improve the capability to detect and categorize land-cover change. The magnitude and type of changes are calculated in China from 1989 to 1999. Through the research, the main conclusions are drawn as follows: 1) The changes of NDVI are quite different between eastern China and western China, and the change range in the east is bigger than that in the west. The trend in NDVI time series is smoothly increasing, the increases happen mostly in Taiwan, Fujian, Sichuan and Henan provinces and the decreases occur in Yunnan and Xinjiang. 2) The spatial structure index can indicate changes in the seasonal ecosystem dynamics for spatially heterogeneous landscapes. Most of spatial structure changes, which occurred in southern China, correlated with vegetation growth processes and strike of mountains.展开更多
Using the theory and method of the ecological footprint, and combining the changes of regional land use, resource environment, population, society and economy, this paper calculated the ecological footprint, ecologica...Using the theory and method of the ecological footprint, and combining the changes of regional land use, resource environment, population, society and economy, this paper calculated the ecological footprint, ecological carrying capacity and ecological surplus/loss in 1986-2002 on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province. What is more, this paper has put forward the concept of ecological pressure index, set up ecological pressure index models, and ecological security grading systems, and the prediction models of different ecological footprints, ecological carrying capacity, ecological surplus and ecological safety change, and also has assessed the ecological footprint demands of 10,000 yuan GDE The results of this study are as follows: (1) the ecological carrying capacity in northern Shaanxi shows a decreasing trend, the difference of reducing range is the fastest; (2) the ecological footprint appears an increasing trend; (3) ecological pressure index rose to 0.91 from 0.44 during 1986-2002 on the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi with an increase of 47%; and (4) the ecological security in the study area is in a critical state, and the ecological oressure index has been increasing rapidlv.展开更多
文摘Landscape of Dhaka city—one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world, is continuously changing due to un-planned urbanization. For example, the wetlands of the city have been shrinking. This study evaluates wetland changes in Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA), Bangladesh, between 1978 and 2009. Spatial and temporal dynamics of wetland changes were quantified using four Landsat images, a supervised classi?cation algorithm and the post-classi?cation change detection technique in GIS environment. Accuracy of the Landsat-derived wetland maps ranged from 87% to 92.5%. The analysis revealed that area of wetland and Rivers & Khals in Dhaka city decreased significantly over the last 30 years by 76.67% and 18.72% respectively. This changing trend of wetlands makes the drainage system of Dhaka City vulnerable, creating water logging problems and their consequences. Land filling and encroachment were recognized to be the main reasons for shrinking of the wetlands in the city. Development and alteration of the existing water bodies should consider the natural hydrological conditions.
文摘Jamuna River is one of the principal rivers of Bangladesh, changing continuously due to erosion and accretion over the past decades. This analysis evaluates the East Bank and the West Bank erosion and accretion between 1996 and 2015 for Jamuna River. An unsupervised classification algorithm and post-classification change employing skills in Geographic Information System are performed to evaluate spatial and temporal dynamics of erosion and accretion for different points of Jamuna River using Bangladesh. Landsat image (1995, 2005, 2015). The correctness of the Landsat-produced map ranges from 82% to 84%. It has been evidently observed that changes in the proportion of erosion and accretion differ in different points of Jamuna River. The highest eroded area is 3.82 square kilometers (km2) during the period of 1995 to 2005 and the highest accreted area is 6.15 square kilometers (km2) during the period of 1995 to 2015. The erosion and accretion values fluctuated from place to place. The changing trend of Riverbank is creating many socio-economic problems in the proximate areas.
基金supported and financed by the National Basic Research Program of China(973 Program,2010CB951504)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41201089 and 41271112)
文摘Rice is one of the most important grain crops in Northeast China (NEC) and its cultivation is sensitive to climate change. This study aimed to explore the spatio-temporal changes in the NEC rice planting area over the period of 1980-2010 and to analyze their relationship to climate change. To do so, the CLUE-S (conversion of land use and its effects at small region extent) model was ifrst updated and used to simulate dynamic changes in the rice planting area in NEC to understand spatio-temporal change trends during three periods: 1980-1990, 1990-2000 and 2000-2010. The changing results in individual periods were then linked to climatic variables to investigate the climatic drivers of these changes. Results showed that the NEC rice planting area expanded quickly and increased by nearly 4.5 times during 1980-2010. The concentration of newly planted rice areas in NEC constantly moved northward and the changes were strongly dependent on latitude. This conifrmed that climate change, increases in temperature in particular, greatly inlfuenced the shift in the rice planting area. The shift in the north limit of the NEC rice planting area generally followed a 1°C isoline migration pattern, but with an obvious time-lag effect. These ifndings can help policy makers and crop producers take proper adaptation measures even when exposed to the global warming situation in NEC.
基金Projects 40401038 supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, and 05KJB420133 by Natural Science Foundation for Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province
文摘Based on the satellite remote sensing TM/ETM images of Xuzhou city, basic data about land use of the city from 1994 to 2000 are obtained with the neural network classification module of PCI software, and the dynamic con- version matrix of land use is thus calculated. The areas of construction land and water body have increased by 1833.93 hm2 and 804.87 hm2, respectively. On the contrary, the area of cropland has decreased by 3207.24 hm2. The area of cropland converted into construction land makes up 26.84%, and that converted into water body amounts for 8.17% of the total area of cropland in 1994. The variation index of land use degree and the dynamic degree index of land use computed are 1.38 and 57.81%, respectively, which demonstrate that land use in Xuzhou is in a development period and the changes are drastic. The frequency index and importance index of the form in which cropland converted into con- struction land are 29.91% and 68.93% respectively. The results indicate that the change is not only widespread in space but a major form of spatial change of land use in the area.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2019YFA0606603)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41971234)the Project of Graduate Student Innovative and Practical Research in Jiangsu Province(KYCX20-0028)。
文摘Forests play a central role in the global carbon cycle.China's forests have a high carbon sequestration potential owing to their wide distribution,young age and relatively low carbon density.Forest biomass is an essential variable for assessing carbon sequestration capacity,thus determining the spatio-temporal changes of forest biomass is critical to the national carbon budget and to contribute to sustainable forest management.Based on Chinese forest inventory data(1999–2013),this study explored spatial patterns of forest biomass at a grid resolution of 1 km by applying a downscaling method and further analyzed spatiotemporal changes of biomass at different spatial scales.The main findings are:(1)the regression relationship between forest biomass and the associated infuencing factors at a provincial scale can be applied to estimate biomass at a pixel scale by employing a downscaling method;(2)forest biomass had a distinct spatial pattern with the greatest biomass occurring in the major mountain ranges;(3)forest biomass changes had a notable spatial distribution pattern;increase(i.e.,carbon sinks)occurred in east and southeast China,decreases(i.e.,carbon sources)were observed in the northeast to southwest,with the largest biomass losses in the Hengduan Mountains,Southern Hainan and Northern Da Hinggan Mountains;and,(4)forest vegetation functioned as a carbon sink during 1999–2013 with a net increase in biomass of 3.71 Pg.
文摘By constructing evaluation indicator system of sustainable land use of Tibet from three aspects of ecological environment, economic development, resources and social advancement, this article studies the following contents respectively in two dimensions of time and space: the changes of sustainable land use of Tibet in recent 20 years and spatial characteristics of sustainable land use of Tibet in 2002. The following conclusions can be drawn from evaluation results .① With regard to com- prehensive evaluation value of sustainable land use, the trend of Tibet sustainable land use evaluation values from 1983 to 2002 are very close to the comprehensive evaluation values of ecological environment, which is up trend; ② sustainable utilization degree of land use in eastern region of Tibet is much higher than that of western region. ③ the sustainable land use evaluation value of Nyingtri County is the highest, and the counties with relatively higher land sustainable use values include Lhasa, Lhoka, Chamdo. While Nakchu, Ngari, Shigatse counties have the relatively lower evaluation values; ④ By analyzing each evaluation indicator's weight on sustainable land use, it can be concluded that the key limiting factors of sustainable Tibet land resource utilization are land desertification, grassland degradation and low economic level.
文摘Land cover is an impression of natural cover on surface of earth such as bare soil, river, grass etc. and utilization of these natural covers for various human needs and purposes by mankind is defined as land use. Land cover identification, delineation and mapping is important for planning activities, resource management and global monitoring studies while baseline mapping and subsequent monitoring is done by application of land use to get timely information about quantity of land that has been used. The present study has been carried out in Dhund river watershed of Jaipur, Rajasthan which covers an area of about 1828 sq∙km. The minimum and maximum elevation of the area is found to be 214 m and 603 m respectively. Land use and land cover changes of three decades from 1991 to 2021 have been interpreted by using remotes sensing and GIS techniques. ArcGIS software (Arc map 10.2), SOI topographic map, Cartosat-1 DEM and satellite data of Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 have been used for interpretation of eleven classes. The study shows an increase in cultivated land, settlement, waterbody, open forest, plantation and mining due to urbanization because of increasing demands of food, shelter and water while a decrease in dense forest, river, open scrub, wasteland and uncultivated land has also been marked due to destruction of aforementioned by anthropogenic activities such as industrialization resulting in environmental degradation that leads to air, soil and water pollution.
文摘Decline in wildlife populations is manifest globally, regionally and locally. A wildlife decline of 68% has been reported in Kenya’s rangelands with Baringo County experiencing more than 85% wildlife loss in the last four decades. Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is endemic to Lake Bogoria landscape in Baringo County and constitutes a major tourist attraction for the region necessitating use of its photo on the County’s logo and thus a flagship species. Tourism plays a central role in Baringo County’s economy and is a major source of potential growth and employment creation. The study was carried out to assess spatio-temporal change of dispersal areas of Greater Kudu (GK) in Lake Bogoria landscape in the last four years for enhanced adaptive management and improved livelihoods. GK population distribution primary data collected in December 2022 and secondary data acquired from Lake Bogoria National Game Reserve (LBNGR) for 2019 and 2020 were digitized using in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Measures of dispersion and point pattern analysis (PPA) were used to analyze dispersal of GK population using GIS. Spatio-temporal change of GK dispersal in LBNR was evident thus the null hypothesis was rejected. It is recommended that anthropogenic activities contributing to GK’s habitat degradation be curbed by providing alternative livelihood sources and promoting community adoption of sustainable technologies for improved livelihoods.
文摘The effect of pruning severity on tree growth was analyzed by change point detection using segmented regression. The present study applied this analysis to a well-known published data set including diameter growth response, tree age, pruning severity and pretreatment crown size. First, multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of tree age, pruning severity and pretreatment crown size on diameter growth response. Next, segmented regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of pruning severity on diameter growth response. The results of the multiple regression showed that diameter growth response was significantly influenced by pruning severity and pretreatment crown size. The results of the segmented regression showed that in the whole data set, an abrupt change toward a decrease in diameter growth response was detected at 25% of the live crown removed. However, in the group of fully crowned and open-grown, diameter growth response continuously decreased with increasing pruning severity with no significant abrupt change, whereas in the group of 70% - 90% live crown, diameter growth response did not significantly decrease up to the break point (53% crown removed) and then abruptly decreased. This may be the first study to show the numerical evaluation of the effect of pruning severity on tree growth by change point analysis.
基金This paper was supported by the National Natural Sci-ence Foundation of China (Grant No. 40371001) and the Youth Foundation of Beijing Normal University
文摘An improved Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach model (CASA model) was used to estimate the net primary productivity (NPP) of the Northeast China Transect (NECT) every month from 1982 to 2000. The spatial-temporal distribution of NPP along NECT and its response to climatic change were also analyzed. Results showed that the change tendency of NPP spatial distribution in NECT is quite similar to that of precipitation and their spatial correlation coefficient is up to 0.84 (P 〈 0.01). The inter-annual variation of NPP in NECT is mainly affected by the change of the aestival NPP every year, which accounts for 67.6% of the inter-annual increase in NPP and their spatial correlation coefficient is 0.95 (P 〈 0.01). The NPP in NECT is mainly cumulated between May and September, which accounts for 89.8% of the annual NPP. The NPP in summer (June to August) accounts for 65.9% of the annual NPP and is the lowest in winter. Recent climate changes have enhanced plant growth in NECT. The mean NPP increased 14.3% from 1980s to 1990s. The inter-annual linear trend of NPP is 4.6 gC·m^-2·a^-1, and the relative trend is 1.17%, which owns mainly to the increasing temperature.
基金Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province"Research on Optimization Model of Land Use in Southern Hilly Region with Red Soil in Jiangxi Province based on Ecological Security Evaluation"(2008GQH0057)Educational Commission of Jiangxi Province"Research on Scenario Simulation of Land Use Security Pattern in Southern Hilly Region with Red Soil in Jiangxi Province" (GJJ09557)Innovative Experimental Projects of National University Students"Research on Land Use Ecological Security Assessment in Hilly Region with Red Soil based on GIS-Xingguo County in Jiangxi Province as an Example"(101042124)~~
文摘The contribution rate of ecosystem service value variation was used to analyze the effects of land use changes on the changes of ecosystem service value in Xingguo County during 1996-2005.Grey integrated correlation was employed to explore the contribution level of the indicators such as total population,urbanization level,proportion of primary industry and investment of social fixed assets on ecosystem service value,and the correlation analysis was also carried out.The results showed that the ecosystem service value in Xingguo County during 1996-2005 mainly was woodland,and the decrease of woodland area was the major reason for the sustained reduction of ecosystem service value.With the further increase of market demand and the incentives of local government,the garden area rapidly increased during 2001-2005,and the influence degree of garden towards the changes of ecosystem service value was only second to woodland,ranking No.2.Four socio-economic indicators had different correlation degree with ecosystem service value during the different research periods.Total population,urbanization level and proportion of primary industry had high correlation degree with ecosystem service value,whereas the influence degree of various socio-economic indicators on ecosystem service value was equal with each other day by day.Urbanization level,investment of social fixed assets and total population had significant negative correlation with ecosystem service value,while the proportion of primary industry had positive correlation with ecosystem service value.
基金Supported by the Key Technology R&D Program of Hebei Province (10277105D)the Funds of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for Key Topics in Innovation Engineering(KSCX-EW-J-5)~~
文摘[Objective] This study was to provide basis for the scientific management of land use in Haihe River Basin (HRB) through the quantitative exploration of the land use conversion, changes of intensity and spatial distribution in this region. [Method] With the support of remote sensing technology and geographic information technology, the land use maps of the study area in 40 years (1970-2010) were in- terpreted and plotted. Four kinds of tupu, namely, land use change tupu, process tupu, arising tupu and evolution mode tupu were built through the spatial overlay of the land use maps to analyze the change rules of land use patterns. [Result] The conversion of arable land to construction land was the main characteristics of land use changes in HRB for the 40 years; the area of non-stable region accounted for 35% of the total, indicating that the land use changed remarkably, thus, it was nec- essary to strengthen the scientific land management in HRB; the new conversions to all land use patterns were all the lowest in 1980-1990, indicating that land use changed slowly during this period. [Conclusion] The results indicate that, compared with conventional transfer matrix method, geo-information tupu has obvious advantage in analyzing land use changes that it can demonstrate the spatial distribution of interest region, display the multi-dimensional spatial information.
基金Supported by Ningxia Natural Science Fund Program(NZ08155)Program for Tackling Key Problems in Science and Technology in Ningxia(KGX-12-09-02)~~
文摘A quantitative model is built and the historical variation of natural disasters is analyzed in this paper,by using materials as affected area(damaged area),affected population(dead and injured),casualty of livestock,collapsed houses(damaged houses),decrease of crops yield,economic loss(direct and indirect) and price index over the same period of Ningxia natural disasters(include drought,flood,gale and hail,frost,pest disasters and other disasters) during 1978-2007,and applying gray correlation analysis method.The long-term changes trend of natural disasters is analyzed by the application of the least squares method for linear trend,and the oscillation period is analyzed by using the maximum entropy statistical method.It is found that natural disasters have basically 2 to 3 years of variation period either in the whole region or in the individual regions;from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s,Ningxia is in an oscillation period with disasters attacked frequently in decadal and interannual scale under the background of climate;the increase of damage intensity of natural disasters slow down and tends to decrease since 2000.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.49831020.
文摘Based on RS and GIS methods, land use information for 1985 and 1995 was acquired from TM images and analyzed. Then on both spatial and temporal aspects, this paper analyzes land use change in three provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Liaoning and two municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin in the Bohai Rim covering the period of 1985 to 1995. The extent, rate, areal difference and trend of various types of land use changes in the region, as well as spatial changes of major types of land use, their distribution characteristics and regional orientation are revealed. The regional characteristics of land use are elaborated, so as to provide effective policy support for sustainable land use in the area around the Bohai Bay.
基金supported by the Basic Research and Operating Fund (K0903)the China Geological survey's project (1212011085524 12120113019100)
文摘The knowledge of Martian salts has gone through substantial changes during the past decades. In the 70th of last century, Viking landers have noticed the existence of salts on Mars. Several salt species have been suggested from then on, such as sulfates and chlorides. However, their origin was a mystery due to the lack of observations. The recent explorations and related studies at the beginning of this century revealed that the crustal composition of Mars is similar to that of Earth, and it was hypothesized that almost one third of Martian surface was covered by oceans and lakes in the early stage of Mars. The huge water bodies may have dissolved a large quantity of ions from Martian primary rocks during the whole Noachian and Hesperian epoch. After the enormous drought event happened during the late Hesperian and the early Amazonian, these dissolved ions have formed huge salts deposits and most of them were preserved on Mars until today. To date, carbonates, sulfates, chlorides have all been detected by orbital remote sensing and by landers and rovers. However, the salt mineral assemblages on Mars seems to have some differences from those on Earth, e.g., rich in sulfates and lack of massive carbonates. To explain this difference, we propose that most of the surface carbonates precipitated from the ancient oceans may have been dissolved by the later ubiquitous acidic fluids originated from the global volcanism in the Hesperian era, and formed the enormous sulfate deposits as detected, and this hypothesis seems to be supported by the evidence that most of the sulfate deposits distribute around the Tharsis volcanic province while the survived carbonates located far from it. This process can release most of the carbon on Mars to the atmosphere in the form of CO2 and then be erased by the late heavy bombardments, which might have profound influence on the climate change happened in the Hesperian age. The positive correlation between the GRS results of the potassium distributions and the distribution of chlorides on Mars, together with the high Br concentration measured from the evaporate sediments at two Mars exploration rover landing sites, indicate that the brines in the regions where the chlorides deposited may have reached the stage for potassium salts deposition, thus we propose for the first time that potassium salts deposits might be prevalent in these regions.
基金supported by the Special Fund of Industrial (Agriculture) Research for Public Welfare of China(200903001)the Special Fund of Industrial (Marine) Research for Public Welfare of China (201105020-3 and 201105020-4)+2 种基金the Science and Technology Support Program of Jiangsu Province, China (BE2010313)the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-359)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41171181)
文摘The aim of this paper was to research the spatio-temporal changes in total soluble salt content (TS) in a typical arid region of South Xinjiang, China, where the climate is arid and soil salinization happens easily. The total soluble salt content was interpreted by measurements made in the horizontal mode with EM38 and EM31. The electromagnetic induction (EM) surveys were made three times with the apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) measurements taken at 3 873 locations in Nov. 2008, 4 807 locations in Apr. 2009 and 6 324 locations in Nov. 2009, respectively. For interpreting the ECa measurements into total soluble salt content, calibtion sites were needed for EM survey of each time, e.g., 66 sites were selected in Nov. 2008 to measure ECa, and soils-core samples were taken by different depth layers of 0-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm at the same time. On every time duplicate samples were taken at five sites to allevaite the local-scale variability, and soil temperatures in different layers through the profiles were also measured. Factors including TS, pH, water content, bulk density were analyzed by lab experiments. ECa calibration equations were obtained by linear regression analysis, which indicated that soil salinity was one primary concern to ECa with a determination coefficient of 0.792 in 0-10 cm layer, 0.711 in 10-20 cm layer and 0.544 in 20-40 cm layer, respectively. The maps of spatial distribution were predicted by Kriging interpolation, which showed that the high soil salinity was located near the drainage canal, which validated the trend effect caused by the irrigation canal and the drainage canal. And by comparing the soil salinity in different layers, the soluble salt accumulated to the top soil surface only in the area where the soil salinization was serious, and in the other areas, the soil salinity trended to increase from the top soil surface to 40 cm depth. Temporal changes showed that the soil salinity in November was higher than that in April, and the soil salinization trended to aggravate, especially in the top soil layer of 0-10 cm.
基金Under the auspices of the Second-stage Knowledge Innovation Programs of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No KZCX2-XB2-03,KZCX2-YW-127)National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 40671014)Shanghai Academic Discipline Project (Human Geography) (No B410)
文摘Using wavelet analysis,regression analysis and the Mann-Kendall test,this paper analyzed time-series(1959-2006) weather data from 23 meteorological stations in an attempt to characterize the climate change in the Tarim River Basin of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,China.Major findings are as follows:1) In the 48-year study period,average annual temperature,annual precipitation and average annual relative humidity all presented nonlinear trends.2) At the 16-year time scale,all three climate indices unanimously showed a rather flat before 1964 and a detectable pickup thereafter.At the 8-year time scale,an S-shaped nonlinear and uprising trend was revealed with slight fluctuations in the entire process for all three indices.Incidentally,they all showed similar pattern of a slight increase before 1980 and a noticeable up-swing afterwards.The 4-year time scale provided a highly fluctuating pattern of periodical oscillations and spiral increases.3) Average annual relative humidity presented a negative correlation with average annual temperature and a positive correlation with annual precipitation at each time scale,which revealed a close dynamic relationship among them at the confidence level of 0.001.4) The Mann-Kendall test at the 0.05 confidence level demonstrated that the climate warming trend,as represented by the rising average annual temperature,was remarkable,but the climate wetting trend,as indicated by the rising annual precipitation and average annual relative humidity,was not obvious.
基金Foundation items: The project was supported by the Program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31201970) and the KC Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University
文摘Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) fish, which are an amphidromous species distributed in East Asia, live in brackish water (BW) during their larval stage and in fresh water (FW) during their adult stage. In this study, we found that FW-acclimated ayu larvae exhibited a slower growth ratio compared with that of BW-acclimated larvae. However, the mechanism underlying FW acclimation on growth suppression is poorly known. We employed transcriptome analysis to investigate the differential gene expression of FW acclimation by RNA sequencing. We identified 158 upregulated and 139 downregulated transcripts in FW-acclimated ayu larvae compared with that in BW-acclimated larvae. As determined by Gene Ontology annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway mapping, functional annotation of the genes covered diverse biological functions and processes, and included neuroendo- crinology, osmotic regulation, energy metabolism, and the cytoskeleton. Transcriptional expression of several differentially expressed genes in response to FW acclimation was further confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR. In accordance with transcriptome analysis, iodothyronine deiodinase (ID), pro-opiom- elanocortin (POMC), betaine-homocysteine S-meth- yltransferase 1 (BHMT), fructose-bisphosphate aldolase B (aldolase B), tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT), and Na+-K+ ATPase (NKA) were upregulated after FW acclimation. Furthermore, the mRNA expressions of b-type natriurefic peptide (BNP) and transgelin were downregulated after FW acclimation. Our data indicate that FW acclimation reduced the growth rate of ayu larvae, which might result from the expression alteration of genes related to endocrine hormones, energy metabolism, and direct osmoregulation.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China No. 30000027 No.39899374
文摘Change vector analysis (CVA) and principal component analysis in NDVI time-trajectories space are powerful tools to analyze land-cover change. The magnitude of the change vector indicates amplitude of the change, while its direction indicates the nature of the change. CVA is applied to two remotely sensed indicators of land surface conditions, NDVI and spatial structure, in order to improve the capability to detect and categorize land-cover change. The magnitude and type of changes are calculated in China from 1989 to 1999. Through the research, the main conclusions are drawn as follows: 1) The changes of NDVI are quite different between eastern China and western China, and the change range in the east is bigger than that in the west. The trend in NDVI time series is smoothly increasing, the increases happen mostly in Taiwan, Fujian, Sichuan and Henan provinces and the decreases occur in Yunnan and Xinjiang. 2) The spatial structure index can indicate changes in the seasonal ecosystem dynamics for spatially heterogeneous landscapes. Most of spatial structure changes, which occurred in southern China, correlated with vegetation growth processes and strike of mountains.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.40371003 Ministry of Education of China, No.01158 Master Research Project of Shaanxi Normal University
文摘Using the theory and method of the ecological footprint, and combining the changes of regional land use, resource environment, population, society and economy, this paper calculated the ecological footprint, ecological carrying capacity and ecological surplus/loss in 1986-2002 on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province. What is more, this paper has put forward the concept of ecological pressure index, set up ecological pressure index models, and ecological security grading systems, and the prediction models of different ecological footprints, ecological carrying capacity, ecological surplus and ecological safety change, and also has assessed the ecological footprint demands of 10,000 yuan GDE The results of this study are as follows: (1) the ecological carrying capacity in northern Shaanxi shows a decreasing trend, the difference of reducing range is the fastest; (2) the ecological footprint appears an increasing trend; (3) ecological pressure index rose to 0.91 from 0.44 during 1986-2002 on the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi with an increase of 47%; and (4) the ecological security in the study area is in a critical state, and the ecological oressure index has been increasing rapidlv.