Although understood differently in different parts of the world, conservation tillage usually includes leaving crop residues on the soil surface to reduce tillage. Through a global review of long-term conservation til...Although understood differently in different parts of the world, conservation tillage usually includes leaving crop residues on the soil surface to reduce tillage. Through a global review of long-term conservation tillage research, this paper discusses the long-term effect of conservation tillage on sustainable land use, nutrient availability and crop yield response. Research has shown several potential benefits associated with conservation tillage, such as potential carbon sequestration, nutrient availability, and yield response. This research would provide a better perspective of the role of soil conservation tillage and hold promise in promoting application of practical technologies for dryland farming systems in China.展开更多
The problem of price scissors difference between industrial products and agricultural products is one of the important problems in China. It impacts not only the living standard improvement of farmers but also the eco...The problem of price scissors difference between industrial products and agricultural products is one of the important problems in China. It impacts not only the living standard improvement of farmers but also the economic value of cultivated land, furthermore results in the direct and indirect loss of cultivated land resources. China's cultivated land area has decreased dramatically in recent years. An important reason for the decrease is the relatively low cost of cultivated land occupancy, which results from the distortion of economic value of cultivated land due to the existence of scissors difference. This study firstly analyzed the dynamic change of scissors difference and calculated the absolute and relative magnitude of scissors difference from 1997 to 2002, then computed the economic value of cultivated land before and after scissors difference adjustment in 2002, and finally discussed the inverted scissors difference. Results suggest that the scissors difference has a remarkable impact on the economic value of cultivated land, and the adjustment of scissors difference even inverted scissors difference to the economic value of cultivated land is indisoensable.展开更多
The major soil animal groups, enchytraeid worms and oribatid mites, were compared in the abundance and diversity between conventional fields (CT) and organic farming fields with tillage (OT) or no-tillage (ON) practic...The major soil animal groups, enchytraeid worms and oribatid mites, were compared in the abundance and diversity between conventional fields (CT) and organic farming fields with tillage (OT) or no-tillage (ON) practices. The values of abundance, species richness, diversity and evenness were significantly larger in OT and ON than in CT, indicating that the abundance and diversity in organic farming fields were greater than those in conventional farming. The community structure of enchytraeid genera was different between OT and ON. Enchytraeus was the most abundant in OT, while Fridericia in ON. The abundance of oribatids in OT was similar to that in ON, while the species richness and diversity in the former were smaller. These results suggested that no-tillage practice under organic management might contribute to the improvement in quality of soil mesofauna.展开更多
The studies of driving forces of regional land use change (LUC) are to reveal the real motivation behind the LUC and its interacting mechanism, so as to simulate and predict the process of LUC. Presently, studies root...The studies of driving forces of regional land use change (LUC) are to reveal the real motivation behind the LUC and its interacting mechanism, so as to simulate and predict the process of LUC. Presently, studies rooting from different natural and socio-economic backgrounds and from different scales have deepened the people’s understanding and cognition to driving forces of regional LUC. Biophysical driving forces are relatively stable, and have the cumulating effects. Human driving forces are relatively active, and are main driving forces of short-term regional LUC. Existing regional LUC models can answer the three main problems: which contribution (why), which location (where) and what rate (when). But, regional land use system is defined as the self-organized system, usually affected by the cri- tical value area and sudden change, and controlled by different stages. To reduce the impact of critical threshold and break on land use system, the studies of LUC driving forces will aim at following priority areas: data linkage between remote sensing and no-remote sensing data; underlying driving force identification; driving factor quantification; driving factor scale dependence; and driving process integration simulation.展开更多
: With the acceleration of thc urbanization and industrialization of China, it is inevitable that cultivated land convcrts to built-up land for industrial, commercial and residential uses, which would impose pressure...: With the acceleration of thc urbanization and industrialization of China, it is inevitable that cultivated land convcrts to built-up land for industrial, commercial and residential uses, which would impose pressure both on food security and on the sustainability of urbanization itself tbr such a country with large population and few cultivated land. Based on thc three-time Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) digital imagcs and statistic data of Hebei Province, the general facts of cultivated land conversion and its driving forces were analyzcd by establishing econometric model in this papcr. Some conclusions werc drawn as the following: during 1985 2000, the rate of cultivated land converting to built-up arca in Hebei was 4.01% or 0.27% pcr year. Of all the converted cultivated land, 20.96% was converted to built-up area and of all the new built-up areas, 83.4% was converted from cultivated land; meanwhile the conversion is uneven not only in time but also in space; factors such as edgc length shared by cultivated land and built-up land, agricultural value per hectare, non-agriculture value per hectarc, GDP, total population, farmer's net income per capita and time had significant effects on this conversion.展开更多
A study on community soil fertility management concepts and practices was conducted through rapid and participatory method of research in 15 villages of the Gourma region in Eastern part of Burkina Faso. These investi...A study on community soil fertility management concepts and practices was conducted through rapid and participatory method of research in 15 villages of the Gourma region in Eastern part of Burkina Faso. These investigations aimed at determining farmers' knowledge on soil resources: local soil taxonomy and indicators of soil degradation, soil fertility management practices, and capacity for adoption of new technologies in soil fertility management. The results of the study showed that the main parameter for soil classification for all the investigated villages was soil texture composition; soil degradation was evaluated according to crops yield decrease and the development Striga sp. in 100% of the investigated villages; the use of organic manure and long term fellow were the main practices for soil fertility management; concerning the villages where modem technologies of soil fertility management were introduced, the lack of tools and capacity building were the main limiting factors of the adoption of these improved practices at small scale farmers' level. Even if discordance between scientific and local soil taxonomy were revealed by our investigations; significant similarities between indigenous and scientific indices of soil degradation were noticed. With regard to the actual magnitude of soil degradation; the local techniques of soil fertility management need to be improved and accessible to a big number of farmers.展开更多
Many conflicts are reported in small islands mainly in Eastern region of Indonesia and it is needed to conflict resolution in the forest sector. The research has been conducted on forest conflict in the small island o...Many conflicts are reported in small islands mainly in Eastern region of Indonesia and it is needed to conflict resolution in the forest sector. The research has been conducted on forest conflict in the small island of Yamdena. The aims of the research were: (1) to determine the customary rights of indigenous peoples to the forest area that was claimed as theirs according to the applicable rules and regulations; (2) to study the causes of conflict between indigenous peoples and the logging company; (3) to analyze the policy in the forest resources management on the customary land. This research is qualitative and uses a case study methodology. Data collection methods used include semi-structured interviews, participant observation and focus group discussion (FGD). The results showed that indigenous peoples whose livelihood is highly dependent on the forest were most threatened because of forest exploitation of their traditional land by the logging company. Handling of the conflict potential in the forest resources management in Yamdena island was approached through use of traditional laws, involving all the relevant parties to the conflict. The forest management either by indigenous peoples or the logging company is no longer focused on the timber harvesting but more on conservation aspects.展开更多
The production of hydro power from its natural water resources has come to mean more to Norway than to possibly any other country in world. The right to utilize the falling water in the rivers belonged to whoever owne...The production of hydro power from its natural water resources has come to mean more to Norway than to possibly any other country in world. The right to utilize the falling water in the rivers belonged to whoever owned the adjacent ground. The acquisition of water rights is not allowed without a license from the government. Any development is also dependent on a governmental licence. Important conditions such as return of the property to the government without any compensation after 60 years, compulsory delivery of power at production cost and license fees to the local municipalities have been important incentives for the public and political acceptance of hydro power development in Norway during a long period of economic development. Today, Norway is a rich and materially well developed country, and there is no longer any acceptance for further hydro power development. Some of the remaining potential will be utilized for small-scale local developments, but most of it will be incorporated in governmental conservation plans.展开更多
Dong ethnic people have rich indigenous knowledge in terms of their daily life and production, which plays an important role in the sustainable development of their village. This paper aims to understand traditional k...Dong ethnic people have rich indigenous knowledge in terms of their daily life and production, which plays an important role in the sustainable development of their village. This paper aims to understand traditional knowledge of Dong ethnic people in resource management and population control, including traditional resource management, traditional medicinal knowledge and village regulations in Zhanli Village in Southeast Guizhou Province. The research methods include key informant interview, group discussion, participant observation and secondary data collect- ing. The results show that Zhanli villagers try their best to utilize indigenous knowledge to manage the natural resources and keep the stable population to make themselves live in a sustainable way. Indigenous knowledge plays an important role in managing their limited natural resources and keeping the population stable under an excellent condition. Zhanli villagers employ indigenous knowledge to manage natural resources and use local herbs to control the population. Village regulation terms significantly influence villagers’ awareness in resource management and birth control. Women play the chief role in employing indigenous knowledge in weaving as well as medicinal knowledge in birth control, and these kinds of knowledge are passed down through the female line. However, the inheritance style of traditional knowledge is decreasing. Indig- enous knowledge plays an important role in the sustainable development of this village, which gives implications for development practices to involve indigenous knowledge to achieve sustainable development.展开更多
Nowadays, mowing has an increasing role in the management of semi-natural and nature conservation areas. Semi-dry grasslands have been planted on cleared areas of forest in the Pannon Mountains, which would be reclaim...Nowadays, mowing has an increasing role in the management of semi-natural and nature conservation areas. Semi-dry grasslands have been planted on cleared areas of forest in the Pannon Mountains, which would be reclaimed by forest without use of the areas by humans. In our work we analysed cleared grasslands. The questions we tried to answer were which changes were caused by different land use, how favourable mowing can be for the purpose of grassland management and nature protection, do the composition of the plant species and the diversity vary within two years when conditions of precipitation are different. In four sampling areas, in 4 × 10 quadrats we registered the plant species and their cover values. We performed a site assessment in April, June and October, 2013-2014. We analysed the data by using cluster and ordination processes and we compared the sampling areas on the basis of the humidity preference and Shannon's index of diversity. According to the results, the composition of species and diversity on the analysed areas used for different purposes considerably deviate from each other. Further, we found a difference between two portions of the area whose had minor deviation in water management.展开更多
The Upper Blue Nile Basin, the highest sources of the Nile River flow through this area, is still under severe land degradation, which aggravates water scarcity. The productivity of subsistence farming is below 50% of...The Upper Blue Nile Basin, the highest sources of the Nile River flow through this area, is still under severe land degradation, which aggravates water scarcity. The productivity of subsistence farming is below 50% of the potential of agriculture, mainly because of inappropriate rainwater management. At farm level, rainwater is exposed to poor partitioning described as flooding, land degradation, siltation and water scarcity for domestic, irrigation, hydropower and environmental uses in the basin. Hence, it is one of the root causes of food-insecurity in the region. To reverse this situation and achieve increased rainwater productivity knowledge of rainfall partitioning at grassroots level is significantly important. However, rainwater partitioning and partitioning points are not clearly known by farmers in the area. Besides, understanding water-routes helps to manage rainwater with integrated water resources management (IWRM) processes. The objective of this study was to identify the knowledge gap of farmers and experts on rainwater partitioning that help for increased water productivity. Intensive monitoring and interviews have been carried out for 81 farmers and 22 local experts in three pilot sites. The interviewed farmers and experts are clearly aware of the runoff partitioning, since it is easily observable. While, only 10% of the farmers and 25% of experts know about evaporation partitioning, which is the largest compared to other losses. The paper gives recommendations for better understanding of rainfall partitioning points and management of water-routes at grassroots level to increase rainwater productivity and enhance food security in the area with IWRM processes.展开更多
The present work is aimed at assessing the water quality index (WQI) for the groundwater for Gulbarga city. The water quality index (WQI) is a mathematical instrument used to transform large quantities of water qu...The present work is aimed at assessing the water quality index (WQI) for the groundwater for Gulbarga city. The water quality index (WQI) is a mathematical instrument used to transform large quantities of water quality data into a single number which represents the water quality level. In fact, developing WQI in an area is a fundamental process in the planning of land use and water resources management. One can then compare different samples for quality on the basis of the index value of each sample. The present work relates to the development of water quality index for the study area based on the experimental results of physicochemical analysis of water samples. For calculating the WQI, the following 11 parameters have been considered, pH, TH, Ca, Mg, NO3, SO4, TDS, F, CI, K and Na. The WQI for these samples ranges from 10.40 to 155. Using developed indices, groundwater isopleth map has been prepared for study area. In the case study, the WQI map reveals that groundwater quality in two areas is extremely near to mineral water quality. Created index map provides a comprehensive picture that is easily interpretable for regional decision makers for better planning and management. The results of analysis have been used to suggest models for predicting water quality. The analysis reveals that the groundwater of the area needs some degree of treatment before consumption, and it also needs to be protected from the perils of contamination.展开更多
To determine whether reforestation efforts in the denuded hills have significant impacts on hydrology in the Xinjiang River watershed, the authors examined eight land-cover scenarios to compare hydrologic responses an...To determine whether reforestation efforts in the denuded hills have significant impacts on hydrology in the Xinjiang River watershed, the authors examined eight land-cover scenarios to compare hydrologic responses and to provide a conceptual basis for restoration practices. The authors analyzed a 17-year time period using remote sensing to develop land-cover classification for the watershed. Climate, soil and terrain data for the watershed were used as input in the SWAT (soil and water analysis tool) to quantify and compare the impacts on hydrologic processes. The model was calibrated to a two-year record of stream discharge measurements. The results show significant increase in forest-cover on hills (13%). However, the hydrological response is not very significant considering the changes in forest-cover, the surface runoff and percolation ratios only changed by 2% and 1% over time. Installment of earthen irrigation ponds in the outlets of sub-basin with maximum runoff had provided the most significant hydrologic improvements and could provide irrigation water to increase crop yield on remaining cropland. The study will provide information to the local government to aid decision-making in sustainable reforestation programs resulting in better hydrologic functioning for sustainable water resource management.展开更多
Here, we used Bayes methods to evaluate land use intensity in 365 typical industrial enterprises across nine manufacturing industries in Hubei, China and calculated the potentiality of enterprises with moderate and lo...Here, we used Bayes methods to evaluate land use intensity in 365 typical industrial enterprises across nine manufacturing industries in Hubei, China and calculated the potentiality of enterprises with moderate and low intensive land use. We did this by constructing an evaluation index system of intensive land use for industrial enterprises comprised of four sub-objective layers including land use structure, land use intensity, land input and land output, and nine element layers. We found that among 365 enterprises, 82 enterprises use land intensively, accounting for 22.47% of our sample; 215 enterprises use land moderately or have low use, accounting for 58.90% of our samples. Enterprises with intensive use tended to be metal smelting and rolling processing industries and communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing industries. Enterprises with moderate and low use tended to be from the special equipment manufacturing industry, pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and chemical raw materials and chemical industry. The potential area for enterprises with moderate and low land use is approximately 865.70 ha and accounts for 42.38% of total current land approved, indicating that their potentiality for intensive use is large.展开更多
High-resolution and detailed regional soil spatial distribution information is increasingly needed for ecological modeling and land resource management. For areas with no point data, regional soil mapping includes two...High-resolution and detailed regional soil spatial distribution information is increasingly needed for ecological modeling and land resource management. For areas with no point data, regional soil mapping includes two steps: soil sampling and soil mapping. Because sampling over a large area is costly, efficient sampling strategies are required. A multi-grade representative sampling strategy, which designs a small number of representative samples with different representative grades to depict soil spatial variations at different scales, could be a potentially efficient sampling strategy for regional soil mapping. Additionally, a suitable soil mapping approach is needed to map regional soil variations based on a small number of samples. In this study, the multi-grade representative sampling strategy was applied and a fuzzy membership-weighted soil mapping approach was developed to map soil sand percentage and soil organic carbon (SOC) at 0-20 and 20-40 cm depths in a study area of 5 900 km2 in Anhui Province of China. First, geographical sub-areas were delineated using a parent lithology data layer. Next, fuzzy c-means clustering was applied to two climate and four terrain variables in each stratum. The clustering results (environmental cluster chains) were used to locate representative samples. Evaluations based on an independent validation sample set showed that the addition of samples with lower representativeness generally led to a decrease of root mean square error (RMSE). The declining rates of RMSE with the addition of samples slowed down for 20-40 cm depth, but fluctuated for 0-20 cm depth. The predicted SOC maps based on the representative samples exhibited higher accuracy, especially for soil depth 20-40 cm, as compared to those based on legacy soil data. Multi-grade representative sampling could be an effective sampling strategy at a regional scale. This sampling strategy, combined with the fuzzy membership-based mapping approach, could be an optional effective framework for regional soil property mapping. A more detailed and accurate soft parent material map and the addition of environmental variables representing human activities would improve mapping accuracy.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40571151)the Beijing Key Lab of Resources Environment and GIS at Capital Normal Universitythe National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (Nos. 2002AA2Z4311 and 2002AA2Z4021).
文摘Although understood differently in different parts of the world, conservation tillage usually includes leaving crop residues on the soil surface to reduce tillage. Through a global review of long-term conservation tillage research, this paper discusses the long-term effect of conservation tillage on sustainable land use, nutrient availability and crop yield response. Research has shown several potential benefits associated with conservation tillage, such as potential carbon sequestration, nutrient availability, and yield response. This research would provide a better perspective of the role of soil conservation tillage and hold promise in promoting application of practical technologies for dryland farming systems in China.
文摘The problem of price scissors difference between industrial products and agricultural products is one of the important problems in China. It impacts not only the living standard improvement of farmers but also the economic value of cultivated land, furthermore results in the direct and indirect loss of cultivated land resources. China's cultivated land area has decreased dramatically in recent years. An important reason for the decrease is the relatively low cost of cultivated land occupancy, which results from the distortion of economic value of cultivated land due to the existence of scissors difference. This study firstly analyzed the dynamic change of scissors difference and calculated the absolute and relative magnitude of scissors difference from 1997 to 2002, then computed the economic value of cultivated land before and after scissors difference adjustment in 2002, and finally discussed the inverted scissors difference. Results suggest that the scissors difference has a remarkable impact on the economic value of cultivated land, and the adjustment of scissors difference even inverted scissors difference to the economic value of cultivated land is indisoensable.
文摘The major soil animal groups, enchytraeid worms and oribatid mites, were compared in the abundance and diversity between conventional fields (CT) and organic farming fields with tillage (OT) or no-tillage (ON) practices. The values of abundance, species richness, diversity and evenness were significantly larger in OT and ON than in CT, indicating that the abundance and diversity in organic farming fields were greater than those in conventional farming. The community structure of enchytraeid genera was different between OT and ON. Enchytraeus was the most abundant in OT, while Fridericia in ON. The abundance of oribatids in OT was similar to that in ON, while the species richness and diversity in the former were smaller. These results suggested that no-tillage practice under organic management might contribute to the improvement in quality of soil mesofauna.
基金Under the auspices of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 49771073) and Key Project of ChineseAcademy of Sciences (No. KZ952-J1-203)
文摘The studies of driving forces of regional land use change (LUC) are to reveal the real motivation behind the LUC and its interacting mechanism, so as to simulate and predict the process of LUC. Presently, studies rooting from different natural and socio-economic backgrounds and from different scales have deepened the people’s understanding and cognition to driving forces of regional LUC. Biophysical driving forces are relatively stable, and have the cumulating effects. Human driving forces are relatively active, and are main driving forces of short-term regional LUC. Existing regional LUC models can answer the three main problems: which contribution (why), which location (where) and what rate (when). But, regional land use system is defined as the self-organized system, usually affected by the cri- tical value area and sudden change, and controlled by different stages. To reduce the impact of critical threshold and break on land use system, the studies of LUC driving forces will aim at following priority areas: data linkage between remote sensing and no-remote sensing data; underlying driving force identification; driving factor quantification; driving factor scale dependence; and driving process integration simulation.
文摘: With the acceleration of thc urbanization and industrialization of China, it is inevitable that cultivated land convcrts to built-up land for industrial, commercial and residential uses, which would impose pressure both on food security and on the sustainability of urbanization itself tbr such a country with large population and few cultivated land. Based on thc three-time Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) digital imagcs and statistic data of Hebei Province, the general facts of cultivated land conversion and its driving forces were analyzcd by establishing econometric model in this papcr. Some conclusions werc drawn as the following: during 1985 2000, the rate of cultivated land converting to built-up arca in Hebei was 4.01% or 0.27% pcr year. Of all the converted cultivated land, 20.96% was converted to built-up area and of all the new built-up areas, 83.4% was converted from cultivated land; meanwhile the conversion is uneven not only in time but also in space; factors such as edgc length shared by cultivated land and built-up land, agricultural value per hectare, non-agriculture value per hectarc, GDP, total population, farmer's net income per capita and time had significant effects on this conversion.
文摘A study on community soil fertility management concepts and practices was conducted through rapid and participatory method of research in 15 villages of the Gourma region in Eastern part of Burkina Faso. These investigations aimed at determining farmers' knowledge on soil resources: local soil taxonomy and indicators of soil degradation, soil fertility management practices, and capacity for adoption of new technologies in soil fertility management. The results of the study showed that the main parameter for soil classification for all the investigated villages was soil texture composition; soil degradation was evaluated according to crops yield decrease and the development Striga sp. in 100% of the investigated villages; the use of organic manure and long term fellow were the main practices for soil fertility management; concerning the villages where modem technologies of soil fertility management were introduced, the lack of tools and capacity building were the main limiting factors of the adoption of these improved practices at small scale farmers' level. Even if discordance between scientific and local soil taxonomy were revealed by our investigations; significant similarities between indigenous and scientific indices of soil degradation were noticed. With regard to the actual magnitude of soil degradation; the local techniques of soil fertility management need to be improved and accessible to a big number of farmers.
文摘Many conflicts are reported in small islands mainly in Eastern region of Indonesia and it is needed to conflict resolution in the forest sector. The research has been conducted on forest conflict in the small island of Yamdena. The aims of the research were: (1) to determine the customary rights of indigenous peoples to the forest area that was claimed as theirs according to the applicable rules and regulations; (2) to study the causes of conflict between indigenous peoples and the logging company; (3) to analyze the policy in the forest resources management on the customary land. This research is qualitative and uses a case study methodology. Data collection methods used include semi-structured interviews, participant observation and focus group discussion (FGD). The results showed that indigenous peoples whose livelihood is highly dependent on the forest were most threatened because of forest exploitation of their traditional land by the logging company. Handling of the conflict potential in the forest resources management in Yamdena island was approached through use of traditional laws, involving all the relevant parties to the conflict. The forest management either by indigenous peoples or the logging company is no longer focused on the timber harvesting but more on conservation aspects.
文摘The production of hydro power from its natural water resources has come to mean more to Norway than to possibly any other country in world. The right to utilize the falling water in the rivers belonged to whoever owned the adjacent ground. The acquisition of water rights is not allowed without a license from the government. Any development is also dependent on a governmental licence. Important conditions such as return of the property to the government without any compensation after 60 years, compulsory delivery of power at production cost and license fees to the local municipalities have been important incentives for the public and political acceptance of hydro power development in Norway during a long period of economic development. Today, Norway is a rich and materially well developed country, and there is no longer any acceptance for further hydro power development. Some of the remaining potential will be utilized for small-scale local developments, but most of it will be incorporated in governmental conservation plans.
文摘Dong ethnic people have rich indigenous knowledge in terms of their daily life and production, which plays an important role in the sustainable development of their village. This paper aims to understand traditional knowledge of Dong ethnic people in resource management and population control, including traditional resource management, traditional medicinal knowledge and village regulations in Zhanli Village in Southeast Guizhou Province. The research methods include key informant interview, group discussion, participant observation and secondary data collect- ing. The results show that Zhanli villagers try their best to utilize indigenous knowledge to manage the natural resources and keep the stable population to make themselves live in a sustainable way. Indigenous knowledge plays an important role in managing their limited natural resources and keeping the population stable under an excellent condition. Zhanli villagers employ indigenous knowledge to manage natural resources and use local herbs to control the population. Village regulation terms significantly influence villagers’ awareness in resource management and birth control. Women play the chief role in employing indigenous knowledge in weaving as well as medicinal knowledge in birth control, and these kinds of knowledge are passed down through the female line. However, the inheritance style of traditional knowledge is decreasing. Indig- enous knowledge plays an important role in the sustainable development of this village, which gives implications for development practices to involve indigenous knowledge to achieve sustainable development.
文摘Nowadays, mowing has an increasing role in the management of semi-natural and nature conservation areas. Semi-dry grasslands have been planted on cleared areas of forest in the Pannon Mountains, which would be reclaimed by forest without use of the areas by humans. In our work we analysed cleared grasslands. The questions we tried to answer were which changes were caused by different land use, how favourable mowing can be for the purpose of grassland management and nature protection, do the composition of the plant species and the diversity vary within two years when conditions of precipitation are different. In four sampling areas, in 4 × 10 quadrats we registered the plant species and their cover values. We performed a site assessment in April, June and October, 2013-2014. We analysed the data by using cluster and ordination processes and we compared the sampling areas on the basis of the humidity preference and Shannon's index of diversity. According to the results, the composition of species and diversity on the analysed areas used for different purposes considerably deviate from each other. Further, we found a difference between two portions of the area whose had minor deviation in water management.
文摘The Upper Blue Nile Basin, the highest sources of the Nile River flow through this area, is still under severe land degradation, which aggravates water scarcity. The productivity of subsistence farming is below 50% of the potential of agriculture, mainly because of inappropriate rainwater management. At farm level, rainwater is exposed to poor partitioning described as flooding, land degradation, siltation and water scarcity for domestic, irrigation, hydropower and environmental uses in the basin. Hence, it is one of the root causes of food-insecurity in the region. To reverse this situation and achieve increased rainwater productivity knowledge of rainfall partitioning at grassroots level is significantly important. However, rainwater partitioning and partitioning points are not clearly known by farmers in the area. Besides, understanding water-routes helps to manage rainwater with integrated water resources management (IWRM) processes. The objective of this study was to identify the knowledge gap of farmers and experts on rainwater partitioning that help for increased water productivity. Intensive monitoring and interviews have been carried out for 81 farmers and 22 local experts in three pilot sites. The interviewed farmers and experts are clearly aware of the runoff partitioning, since it is easily observable. While, only 10% of the farmers and 25% of experts know about evaporation partitioning, which is the largest compared to other losses. The paper gives recommendations for better understanding of rainfall partitioning points and management of water-routes at grassroots level to increase rainwater productivity and enhance food security in the area with IWRM processes.
文摘The present work is aimed at assessing the water quality index (WQI) for the groundwater for Gulbarga city. The water quality index (WQI) is a mathematical instrument used to transform large quantities of water quality data into a single number which represents the water quality level. In fact, developing WQI in an area is a fundamental process in the planning of land use and water resources management. One can then compare different samples for quality on the basis of the index value of each sample. The present work relates to the development of water quality index for the study area based on the experimental results of physicochemical analysis of water samples. For calculating the WQI, the following 11 parameters have been considered, pH, TH, Ca, Mg, NO3, SO4, TDS, F, CI, K and Na. The WQI for these samples ranges from 10.40 to 155. Using developed indices, groundwater isopleth map has been prepared for study area. In the case study, the WQI map reveals that groundwater quality in two areas is extremely near to mineral water quality. Created index map provides a comprehensive picture that is easily interpretable for regional decision makers for better planning and management. The results of analysis have been used to suggest models for predicting water quality. The analysis reveals that the groundwater of the area needs some degree of treatment before consumption, and it also needs to be protected from the perils of contamination.
文摘To determine whether reforestation efforts in the denuded hills have significant impacts on hydrology in the Xinjiang River watershed, the authors examined eight land-cover scenarios to compare hydrologic responses and to provide a conceptual basis for restoration practices. The authors analyzed a 17-year time period using remote sensing to develop land-cover classification for the watershed. Climate, soil and terrain data for the watershed were used as input in the SWAT (soil and water analysis tool) to quantify and compare the impacts on hydrologic processes. The model was calibrated to a two-year record of stream discharge measurements. The results show significant increase in forest-cover on hills (13%). However, the hydrological response is not very significant considering the changes in forest-cover, the surface runoff and percolation ratios only changed by 2% and 1% over time. Installment of earthen irrigation ponds in the outlets of sub-basin with maximum runoff had provided the most significant hydrologic improvements and could provide irrigation water to increase crop yield on remaining cropland. The study will provide information to the local government to aid decision-making in sustainable reforestation programs resulting in better hydrologic functioning for sustainable water resource management.
基金National Fund of Social Science(09BZZ024)Social Science Fund of Henan Province(2013CJJ036,2014CJJ080)
文摘Here, we used Bayes methods to evaluate land use intensity in 365 typical industrial enterprises across nine manufacturing industries in Hubei, China and calculated the potentiality of enterprises with moderate and low intensive land use. We did this by constructing an evaluation index system of intensive land use for industrial enterprises comprised of four sub-objective layers including land use structure, land use intensity, land input and land output, and nine element layers. We found that among 365 enterprises, 82 enterprises use land intensively, accounting for 22.47% of our sample; 215 enterprises use land moderately or have low use, accounting for 58.90% of our samples. Enterprises with intensive use tended to be metal smelting and rolling processing industries and communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing industries. Enterprises with moderate and low use tended to be from the special equipment manufacturing industry, pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and chemical raw materials and chemical industry. The potential area for enterprises with moderate and low land use is approximately 865.70 ha and accounts for 42.38% of total current land approved, indicating that their potentiality for intensive use is large.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41471178, 41530749, and 41431177)the State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, China (No. Y052010002)+2 种基金the Natural Science Research Program of Jiangsu, China (No. 14KJA170001)the National Key Technology Innovation Project for Water Pollution Control and Remediation, China (No. 2013ZX07103006)the National Basic Research Program (973 Program) of China (No. 2015CB954102)
文摘High-resolution and detailed regional soil spatial distribution information is increasingly needed for ecological modeling and land resource management. For areas with no point data, regional soil mapping includes two steps: soil sampling and soil mapping. Because sampling over a large area is costly, efficient sampling strategies are required. A multi-grade representative sampling strategy, which designs a small number of representative samples with different representative grades to depict soil spatial variations at different scales, could be a potentially efficient sampling strategy for regional soil mapping. Additionally, a suitable soil mapping approach is needed to map regional soil variations based on a small number of samples. In this study, the multi-grade representative sampling strategy was applied and a fuzzy membership-weighted soil mapping approach was developed to map soil sand percentage and soil organic carbon (SOC) at 0-20 and 20-40 cm depths in a study area of 5 900 km2 in Anhui Province of China. First, geographical sub-areas were delineated using a parent lithology data layer. Next, fuzzy c-means clustering was applied to two climate and four terrain variables in each stratum. The clustering results (environmental cluster chains) were used to locate representative samples. Evaluations based on an independent validation sample set showed that the addition of samples with lower representativeness generally led to a decrease of root mean square error (RMSE). The declining rates of RMSE with the addition of samples slowed down for 20-40 cm depth, but fluctuated for 0-20 cm depth. The predicted SOC maps based on the representative samples exhibited higher accuracy, especially for soil depth 20-40 cm, as compared to those based on legacy soil data. Multi-grade representative sampling could be an effective sampling strategy at a regional scale. This sampling strategy, combined with the fuzzy membership-based mapping approach, could be an optional effective framework for regional soil property mapping. A more detailed and accurate soft parent material map and the addition of environmental variables representing human activities would improve mapping accuracy.