Do companies influenced by smart cities pay more attention to green governance?Mechanism and optimal spatial correlation

Smart cities are a way for China to construct an innovative and environmentally conscious nation.The paper examines the impact of smart cities on corporate green governance and provides a theoretical foundation for formulating and executing smart city policy in China.Based on panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2008 to 2020,this study constructs a multiperiod double-difference model to examine the influence of smart cities on corporate green governance.Additionally,it uses a spatial double-difference model to investigate the spatial spillover effect of smart cities on neighboring areas.The findings indicate that smart cities effectively enhance corporate green governance.Analyzing the influencing mechanisms reveals that resource allocation efficiency,technological innovation,management environmental awareness,and regional environmental enforcement efforts act as mediators.Furthermore,the study reveals that the impact of smart cities on promoting corporate green governance is more pronounced in regions with lower levels of marketization and resource-based cities.Moreover,the research explores the spatial spillover effects of smart cities,with an effective radius of approximately 350 km.The optimal spatial correlation zone for green governance of businesses in neighboring areas in relation to smart cities is within a range of 250-350 km.This is manifested by the significant promotion of green governance in neighboring area businesses facilitated by smart cities.

Structural characteristics and influencing factors of spatial correlation network for regional high-quality development in China

On the basis of measuring the regional high-quality development in China from 2011 to 2020,this study uses gravity model to build spatial correlation network,and uses social network analysis method to analyze the structural characteristics and influencing factors of correlation network.The results are shown as follows.First,from 2011 to 2020,the level of regional high-quality development in China is rising gradually,and the discrete characteristics between regions are gradually obvious,showing a step-like distribution structure decreasing from east to west.Second,the network density of regional high-quality development is generally low and tends to decline,but it has strong stability and correlation strength.Third,the spatial correlation network has an obvious core-edge structure.Shanghai is always at the center of the network and plays a significant intermediary role,while Qinghai and Xinjiang are always at the edge of the network.Fourth,the regional high-quality development association network can be divided into four major sectors:main benefit,net benefit,net spillover,and broker,showing the spatial correlation characteristics of inter-plate contact and intra-plate agglomeration.Fifth,the level of economic development,the level of urbanization and geographical proximity have a significant impact on the formation of regional high-quality development correlation network.

Industrial Carbon Emission Distribution and Regional Joint Emission Reduction:A Case Study of Cities in the Pearl River Basin,China

China’s low-carbon development path will make significant contributions to achieving global sustainable development goals.Due to the diverse natural and economic conditions across different regions in China,there exists an imbalance in the distribution of car-bon emissions.Therefore,regional cooperation serves as an effective means to attain low-carbon development.This study examined the pattern of carbon emissions and proposed a potential joint emission reduction strategy by utilizing the industrial carbon emission intens-ity(ICEI)as a crucial factor.We utilized social network analysis and Local Indicators of Spatial Association(LISA)space-time trans-ition matrix to investigate the spatiotemporal connections and discrepancies of ICEI in the cities of the Pearl River Basin(PRB),China from 2010 to 2020.The primary drivers of the ICEI were determined through geographical detectors and multi-scale geographically weighted regression.The results were as follows:1)the overall ICEI in the Pearl River Basin is showing a downward trend,and there is a significant spatial imbalance.2)There are numerous network connections between cities regarding the ICEI,but the network structure is relatively fragile and unstable.3)Economically developed cities such as Guangzhou,Foshan,and Dongguan are in the center of the network while playing an intermediary role.4)Energy consumption,industrialization,per capita GDP,urbanization,science and techno-logy,and productivity are found to be the most influential variables in the spatial differentiation of ICEI,and their combination in-creased the explanatory power of the geographic variation of ICEI.Finally,through the analysis of differences and connections in urban carbon emissions under different economic levels and ICEI,the study suggests joint carbon reduction strategies,which are centered on carbon transfer,financial support,and technological assistance among cities.

Spatial distribution patterns of Symplocos congeners in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaf forest of southern China

Studies on spatial distribution of congeneric species can supplement our understanding of species ecological processes. We analyzed population structure, spatial distribution, intra-and interspecific associations among six Symplocos tree species on a large(50 ha) plot in a subtropical, evergreen broad-leaf forest in southern China using spatial point pattern analysis methods. Our results suggested that the six Symplocos tree species were all clustered at small scales. The aggregation intensity of S. wikstroemiifolia with low abundance but relatively numerous large-diameter trees was much higher than that of the other five Symplocos species that occurred at high abundance but included few large-diameter trees. Spatial associations among the six congeners showed that 12 of 30 pairs were associated positively at small scales, and 13 of 30 pairs were unrelated. For species among different size classes, 79 of 120 pairs were not correlated, and 17 of 120 pairs were associated positively. These results showed insufficient evidence for interspecific competition and congeneric Symplocos species commonly coexist within subtropical plant communities. The spatial patterns of Symplocos species and their correlations changed with size(DBH) class and were simultaneously affected by spatial scales; the intensity of their aggregation and association decreased with increasing area of the sample plot.

Effects of microtopography on spatial point pattern of forest stands on the semi-arid Loess Plateau,China

Microtopography may affect the distribution of forests through its effect on rain redistribution and soil water distribution on the semi-arid Loess Plateau,China.In this study,we investigated the characteristics of microtopography on two shady slopes（slope A,5 hm2,uniform slope;slope B,5 hm2,microtopography slope） and surveyed the height,the diameter at breast height and the location（x,y coordinates） of all selected individual trees（Robinia pseudoacacia Linn.,Pyrus betulifolia Bunge,Populus hopeiensis Hu ＆ Chow,Armeniaca sibirica Lam.,Populus simonii Carr.and Ulmus pumila Linn.） on slope A and slope B in the watersheds of Wuqi county,Shaanxi province.Subsequently,the effects of microtopography on the spatial pattern of forest stands were analyzed using Ripley＇s K（r） function.The results showed that：（1） The maximal aggregation radiuses of the tree species on the uniform slope（slope A） were larger than 40 m,whereas those of the tree species on the microtopography slope（slope B） were smaller than 30 m.（2） On slope B,the spatial association of R.pseudoacacia with P.betulifolia,A.sibirica,P.simonii and U.pumila varied from being strongly negative to positive at microtopography scales.The spatial association of Populus hopeiensis Hu ＆ Chow with U.pumila also varied from being strongly negative to positive at microtopography scales.However,there was no spatial association between P.betulifolia and P.hopeiensis,P.betulifolia and A.sibirica,P.betulifolia and P.simonii,P.betulifolia and U.pumila,P.hopeiensis and A.sibirica,P.hopeiensis and P.simonii,A.sibirica and P.simonii,A.sibirica and U.pumila,and P.simonii and U.pumila.On slope A,the spatial association between tree species were strongly negative.The results suggest that microtopography may shape tree distribution patterns on the semi-arid Loess Plateau.

Interspecific association of sika deer in terrestrial animal communities of Liancheng National Nature Reserve, China

The prevention and control of invasive of alien species is an important work for nature reserves.This study analyzes the development trend of the alien species sika deer in Liancheng National Nature Reserve.From October 2019 to June 2020,3523 valid photos and videos of terrestrial animals were acquired from 130 camera traps,and sika deer were recorded in 21 photos from 13 traps.The survival of the sika deer population was investigated by means of morphological identification,population structure analysis,species relative abundance indices,and species spatial association analysis.A total of 13 sika deer individuals were identified by camera trapping,including two kids and three subadults representing the reproductive capacity of the population.Spatially,sika deer is not associated with any local species and was outside the spatial association network of terrestrial animals in Liancheng National Nature Reserve,indicating that the sika deer population has not been integrated into the local community and has failed to perform its ecological function.It is worth noting that the reserve provides habitat suitable for sika deer and that the population has adequate reproductive capacity.Due to the lack of large apex predators in the reserve,the population size of ungulates such as sika deer,red deer,and Siberian roe deer may expand and lead to population outbreaks and the associated problems for the ecosystem.To restore large-and medium-sized carnivores and avoid the population outbreak of the species,the present challenges require immediate attention in Liancheng National Nature Reserve.

Distribution patterns of tree species in an evergreen broadleaved forest in eastern China

Ecological assembly rules in evergreen broad-leaved forest are far from clear understanding.Spatial dispersion of individuals in a species is central in ecological theory.We analyzed the spatial patterns as well as associations between adult and juvenile of each tree species in a 5-ha subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest plot in eastern China.Out of the 74 species occurring with more than 10 individuals,88.4%of these species are aggregated.Most of them are aggregated from small to large scales.Spatial distributions of some species corre-spond with topography.Many bad dispersed species in the Baishanzu exhibit a highly aggregated distribution at small scales.These suggest that environmental heterogeneity and/or dispersal limitation may be the most important mechanisms that control the distribution patterns of these species.Our observations of the aggregations of abundant species basically support the hypothesis that dispersal limitation decreases as the number of reproductive trees increases.The rest species are randomly distributed,with less than 10 individuals.For most common species,spatial aggregation is weaker in larger diameter classes,and the distance between adults is larger than that between juveniles and adults,suggesting that density-dependence works on loosing aggregation and excluding conspecific juveniles away from adult trees.However,the density-dependent effect is not strong enough to eliminate all seedlings near adult trees and to result in a regular distribution of trees;thus the density dependence is usually masked by the refuge effect.