Relationship Between Agriculture and Ecological Deterioration,Restoration and Reconstruction in Loess Plateau Areas of Northwest China

A comprehensive analysis was conducted on the current situation as well as historic succession processor agriculture and ecological conditions in Northwest China, in particular in the Loess Plateau, by means of a inter-disciplinary approach of ecology, agro-geohistory, and agronomy. It was concluded that the fundamental causes responsible for the ecological deterioration, signed by the poor agro-productivity and serious soil erosion, had been the extensive cropping system by ever-increasing reclamation on semi-drought slope land, where initiated a natural vegetation of brushy grasses with sparse trees, thus suitable only for animal husbandry. Based on an identification of specific actual status of China, several countermeasures of correctly dealing with the relationship between agricultural development and the ecological restoration and reconstruction were proposed, including to get breakthrough first in the transection area by means of the rational use of resources and the raising of agro-system productivity, to promoting 'water conservancy-type ecological agriculture' through the radical shift of traditional production pattern, and the adoption of a policy of proper degree of grain self-reliance, as well as to construct livestock industry base in Northwest China.

Construction of Silk Road Economic Belt and Industrial Selection of Minority Areas in Northwest China

Construction of Silk Road Economic Belt is a giant engine for the economic upgrading of China.Minority areas in Northwest China since then has become a forward position for the opening to the west,which is extremely significant for expanding the hinterland of Chinese economic development,activating economic development in inland and border areas,promoting the open economic development in central and west China,and also forming a new growth pole of Chinese economy.Optimization of industrial selection can promote economic development,constant economic growth of the northwest minority areas and the construction of Silk Road Economic Belt requires the optimization and adjustment of industrial selection,cultivation of competitive industries with market prospects,and formation of new economic growth points.Minority areas in northwest China have a vast territory and abundant resources that are all powerful support for the development of local competitive industries.

Temporal and spatial variation of annual mean air temperature in arid and semiarid region in northwest China over a recent 46 year period

We analyzed the 1961-2006 mean surface air temperature data of 138 stations in China’s northwest arid and semi-arid areas(CNASA),to measure climate change in terms of annual mean air temperature changes.We used methods of linear regression analysis,multinomial fitting,Empirical Or-thogonal Function(EOF),Rotated Empirical Orthogonal Function(REOF),Mann-Kendall,Glide T-examination,wavelet analysis and power spectrum analysis.The results show that(1) the warming rate of the annual mean air temperature in CNASA was 0.35oC/10a during the 1961-2006 study period.Some places in the west part of Xinjiang and east part of the Qinghai plateau,which is impacted by the terrain of leeward slope,exhibit smaller increasing trends.However,the majority of region has shown distinct warming in line with general global warming;(2) The standard deviation of the annual mean temperature distribution is non-uniform.The south Xinjiang and east Qinghai-south Gansu areas show relatively small standard deviations,but the inter-annual variation in annual mean air temperature in the greater part of the region is high;(3) Inner Mongolia,Shaanxi,Gansu,Ningxia and Tarim Basin are the areas where the temperature changes are most sensitive to the environment.The degree of uniformity in annual mean air temperature increase is higher in the arid and semi-arid area.From the early 1970s,the trend in tempera-ture changed from a decrease to an increase,and there was a marked increase in mean temperature in 1986.After that mean temperature went through a period of rapid increase.The entire area’s 10 hottest years all occurred in or since the 1990s,and 90% of various sub-districts’ hottest years also occurred after 1990.The process of temperature change appears to have a roughly 5-year and a 10-year cycle;(4) An-nual mean air temperature variation has regional differences.In Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Qinghai areas,the temperature variation in their northern areas was very different from that in their southern areas;(5) Using the REOF method we divided the region into 4 sub-regions:the Northern region,the Plateau region,the Southern Xinjiang region and the Eastern region.The region’s annual mean air temperature transition has regional differences.The Plateau and Southern Xinjiang re-gions got warmer steadily without any obvious acceleration in the rate of warming.The Northern region’s warming started about 5-years earlier than that of the low latitude Eastern region.The ’Startup region’ of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,appears to undergo temperature changes 3 to 10 years earlier than the other regions,and exhibits inter-decadal variations 1 to 2 years ahead of the other regions.

The Influence and the Countermeasures about Water Resources in Northwest of Climate Change

[Objective] The aim was to study the influences and countermeasures of climate changes on the water resources in northwest.[Method] The influences of climate changes on water resources in northwest part were discussed.Considering to the demand of water,corresponding countermeasures were proposed.[Result] Though there were distinct regional differences about the influences of climate changes on water resources in northwest part,the positive influences were larger than negative influences in general;because of large destruction of social factors,the positive effects of climate changes on water resources still can not solve the water shortage problem.In response,influences of climate changes on water resources shall be focused now and then.People’s awareness of saving water shall be improved.Hydraulic project shall be carried out.Suitable agricultural technology shall be applied to establish more sound laws and regulations.The ecological environment of northwest shall be improved and the development of the west part shall be promoted.[Conclusion] The study provided scientific basis for the construction of ecological environment and economic social development in the northwest.

Path of Social Construction in Northwest Sichuan Plateau Pastoral Area

On the basis of main contents of social construction and key points of construction,this paper analyzes features of conditions of northwest Sichuan plateau pastoral area.The social construction at current stage mainly includes social cause in narrow sense,and social management at meso-level.The northwest Sichuan plateau pastoral area is faced with the best policy and development opportunity.However,there are still many weak aspects.Firstly,social structure is not coordinated with economic structure.Secondly,social construction ability of grass-roots government is weak.Thirdly,the ability to respond to public demands is low.Fourthly,there is a big gap in availability of basic public service.Finally,it presents path selection for social construction of northwest Sichuan plateau pastoral area:strengthen social construction ability of grass-roots government;promote social construction with livelihood projects as key projects;boost social construction taking advantage of ecological construction;develop basic public service with the aid of external forces;intensify evaluation system for supervision of social construction works.

Variations of temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period and its effect on runoff in the mountainous areas of Northwest China

Water resources in the arid land of Northwest China mainly derive from snow and glacier melt water in mountainous areas. So the study on onset, cessation, length, tempera- ture and precipitation of snowmelt period is of great significance for allocating limited water resources reasonably and taking scientific water resources management measures. Using daily mean temperature and precipitation from 8 mountainous weather stations over the pe- riod 1960-2010 in the arid land of Northwest China, this paper analyzes climate change of snowmelt period and its spatial variations and explores the sensitivity of runoff to length, temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period. The results show that mean onset of snowmelt period has shifted 15.33 days earlier while mean ending date has moved 9.19 days later. Onset of snowmelt period in southern Tianshan Mountains moved 20.01 days earlier while that in northern Qilian Mountains moved only 10.16 days earlier. Mean precipitation and air temperature increased by 47.3 mm and 0.857~C in the mountainous areas of Northwest China, respectively. The precipitation of snowmelt period increased the fastest, which is ob- served in southern Tianshan Mountains, up to 65 mm, and the precipitation and temperature in northern Kunlun Mountains increased the slowest, an increase of 25 mm and 0.617~C, respectively, while the temperature in northern Qilian Mountains increased the fastest, in- creasing by 1.05~C. The annual runoff is also sensitive to the variations of precipitation and temperature of snowmelt period, because variation of precipitation induces annual runoff change by 7.69% while change of snowmelt period temperature results in annual runoff change by 14.15%.

A data envelopment analysis of agricultural technical efficiency of Northwest Arid Areas in China

Severe resource shortage and waste of resource in agricultural production make it necessary to assess efficiency to increase productivity with high efficiency and ensure sustainable agricultural development. This paper adopted an input-oriented data envelopment analysis(DEA) method with the assumption of variable returns to scale to evaluate agricultural production efficiency of 100 major irrigation districts in Northwest China in 2010.Major findings of this paper were as follows: firstly, the average value of total technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency of those irrigation districts in Northwest China were 0.770, 0.825 and 0.931,respectively; secondly, 30% of irrigation districts were technically efficient, while 42% and 32% of them showed pure technical and scale efficiency respectively. Among inefficient decision-making units, total technical efficiency score varied from 0.313 to 0.966, showing significant geographical differences, but geographical differences of pure technical efficiency was more consistent with that of total technical efficiency; thirdly, input redundancy was evident. Inputs of agricultural population, irrigation area,green water, blue water, consumption of fertilizer and agricultural machinery could be reduced by 34.88%,40.19%, 43.85%, 47.10%, 41.53% and 42.21% respectively without reducing agricultural outputs. Furthermore,irrigation area, green water and blue water had relatively high slack movement though Northwest China which is short of water resources. Based on these results, this paper drew the following conclusions: First, there is huge potential for Northwest China to improve its agricultural production efficiency, and agro-technology not input scale had greater influence on improvement. Second, farmers needed proper guidance in order to reduce agricultural inputs and it is time to centralize agricultural management for overall agricultural inputs regulation and control.

Impact of Irrigation Methods on Soil Salt Content and Their Differences in Whole Cotton Growing Season in Arid Area of Northwest China

Research for changes of soil water and salt is an important content of land sciences and agriculture sciences in arid and semi arid regions. In this paper, sampling in actual agricultural fields, laboratory analysis of soil samples and statistical analysis methods are used to quantitatively analyze soil salinity changes under different ir- rigation methods throughout the cotton growing season in Shihezi reclamation area. The results show that irrigation methods play an important role in soil salt content in the surface soil （0-20 cm） and sub-deep soil （40-60 cm）, fol- lowed by deep soil layer （60-100 cm） and root soil layer （20-40 cm）. Furrow irrigation yields the maximum soil salt content in deep layer （60-100 cm） or sub-deep layer （40-60 cm） and the maximum salinity occurs in the first half of the cotton growing season （June or earlier）. In contrast, drip irrigation yields the maximum soil salinity in the root layer （20-40 cm） or sub-deep （40-60 cm）, and this usually appears in the second half growing season （July or af- ter）. The ratio of chloride ion to sulfate ion （Cl-/SO2- 4） and its change in the soil are on the rise under furrow irrigation while the value first increased and then decreased with a peak point in June under drip irrigation. This suggests that furrow irrigation may shift the type of soil salinization to chloride ion type moreso than drip irrigation. Potassium and sodium ion contents of the soil show that soil sodium＋potassium content will drop after the first rise under furrow irrigation and the value is manifested by fluctuations under drip irrigation. Potassium＋sodium content change is relatively more stable in the whole cotton growth period under irrigation methods. The maximum of sodium and potassium content of the soil usually occur in deep soil layer （60-100 cm） or sub-deep soil layer （40-60 cm） in most sample points under furrow irrigation while it is inconsistent in different sample points under drip irrigation. A non- parametric test for paired samples is used to analyze differences of soil salt content under different irrigation methods. This analysis shows that the impact of irrigation on soil salinity is most significant in July, followed by August, June, May, and April in most sample points. The most significant impact of irrigation methods occurs in the surface soil layer （0-20 cm）, followed by deep layer （60-100 cm）, root layer （20-40 cm） and sub-deep （40-60 cm）. These conclusions will be benefitial for mitigation of soil salinization, irrigation and fertilization and sustainable land use.

The ecological system and the regionalization of landscape reconstruction in northwest of China

The northwest of China is a vast area with abundant resources and significant potential for development.However,the ecological system is extremely vulnerable to damage and must be managed carefully.Thus,the Chinese government is strengthening research on improvement and reconstruction of the ecological system and landscape in northwest of China while moving forward with large-scale development in west China.The disadvantages and vulnerabilities in the northwest area in China are presented.It is suggested that the reconstruction of landscape should be conducted by step by step regionalization across the various ecological systems in the 3.04 million km^(2) northwest area of China.The first level regionalization results of reconstruction of landscape are discussed.