Surface air temperature change in the Wuyi Mountains,southeast China

Detecting changes in surface air temperature in mid-and low-altitude mountainous regions is essential for a comprehensive understanding of warming trend with altitude.We use daily surface air temperature data from 64 meteorological stations in Wuyi Mountains and its adjacent regions to analyze the spatio-temporal patterns of temperature change.The results show that Wuyi Mountains have experienced significant warming from 1961 to 2018.The warming trend of the mean temperature is 0.20℃/decade,the maximum temperature is 0.17℃/decade,and the minimum temperature is 0.26℃/decade.In 1961-1990,more than 63%of the stations showed a decreasing trend in annual mean temperature,mainly because the maximum temperature decreased during this period.However,in 1971-2000,1981-2010 and 1991-2018,the maximum,minimum and mean temperatures increased.The fastest increasing trend of mean temperature occurred in the southeastern coastal plains,the quickest increasing trend of maximum temperature occurred in the northwestern mountainous region,and the increase of minimum temperature occurred faster in the southeastern coastal and northwestern mountainous regions than that in the central area.Meanwhile,this study suggests that elevation does not affect warming in the Wuyi Mountains.These results are beneficial for understanding climate change in humid subtropical middle and low mountains.

Spatial patterns and driving forces of land use change in China during the early 21st century

Land use and land cover change as the core of coupled human-environment systems has become a potential field of land change science （LCS） in the study of global environmental change. Based on remotely sensed data of land use change with a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km on national scale among every 5 years, this paper designed a new dynamic regionalization according to the comprehensive characteristics of land use change including regional differentiation, physical, economic, and macro-policy factors as well. Spatial pattern of land use change and its driving forces were investigated in China in the early 21 st century. To sum up, land use change pattern of this period was characterized by rapid changes in the whole country. Over the agricultural zones, e.g., Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, the southeast coastal areas and Sichuan Basin, a great proportion of fine arable land were engrossed owing to considerable expansion of the built-up and residential areas, resulting in decrease of paddy land area in southern China. The development of oasis agriculture in Northwest China and the reclamation in Northeast China led to a slight increase in arable land area in northern China. Due to the ＂Grain for Green＂ policy, forest area was significantly increased in the middle and western developing regions, where the vegetation coverage was substantially enlarged, likewise. This paper argued the main driving forces as the implementation of the strategy on land use and regional development, such as policies of ＂Western Development＂, ＂Revitalization of Northeast＂, coupled with rapidly economic development during this period.

Temporal and spatial changes of suspended sediment concentration and resuspension in the Yangtze River estuary

A detailed analysis of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) variations over a year period is presented using the data from 8 stations in the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent waters, together with a discussion of the hydrodynamic regimes of the estuary. Spatially, the SSC from Xuliujing downwards to Hangzhou Bay increases almost constantly, and the suspended sediment in the inner estuary shows higher concentration in summer than in winter, while in the outer estuary it shows higher concentration in winter than in summer, and the magnitude is greater in the outer estuary than in the inner estuary, greater in the Hangzhou Bay than in the Yangtze River estuary. The sediments discharged by the Yangtze River into the sea are resuspended by marine dynamics included tidal currents and wind waves. Temporally, the SSC shows a pronounced neap-spring tidal cycle and seasonal variations. Furthermore, through the analysis of dynamic mechanism, it is concluded that wave and tidal current are two predominant factors of sediment resuspension and control the distribution and changes of SSC, in which tidal currents control neap-spring tidal cycles, and wind waves control seasonal variations. The ratio between river discharge and marine dynamics controls spatial distribution of SSC.

Formula for calculating spatial similarity degrees between point clouds on multi-scale maps taking map scale change as the only independent variable

The degree of spatial similarity plays an important role in map generalization, yet there has been no quantitative research into it. To fill this gap, this study first defines map scale change and spatial similarity degree/relation in multi-scale map spaces and then proposes a model for calculating the degree of spatial similarity between a point cloud at one scale and its gener- alized counterpart at another scale. After validation, the new model features 16 points with map scale change as the x coordinate and the degree of spatial similarity as the y coordinate. Finally, using an application for curve fitting, the model achieves an empirical formula that can calculate the degree of spatial similarity using map scale change as the sole independent variable, and vice versa. This formula can be used to automate algorithms for point feature generalization and to determine when to terminate them during the generalization.

Quantitative analysis of the dynamic change and spatial differences of the ecological security: a case study of Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province

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.

Evolution of Potential Spatial Distribution Patterns of Carex Tussock Wetlands Under Climate Change Scenarios,Northeast China

Carex tussock plays an important role in supporting biodiversity and carbon sequestration of wetland ecosystems,while it is highly threatened by climate change and anthropogenic activities.Therefore,identifying the potential distribution patterns of Carex tussocks wetland is vital for their targeted conservation and restoration.The current and future(2050s and 2070s)potential habitats distribution of Carex tussocks in Northeast China were predicted using a Maximum Entropy(Maxent)model based on 68 current data of Carex tussock distributions and three groups of environmental variables(bioclimate,topography,soil properties).Results show that isothermality,seasonal precipitation variability and altitude are important factors that determine the distribution of Carex tussock.The high suitable habitat of Carex tussock is about 5.7×10^(4)km^(2) and mainly distributed in the Sanjiang Plain,Songnen Plain,Changbai Mountains and Da Hinggan Mountains.The area of stable habitats of Carex tussock is significantly higher than the lost and expanded habitats in the future climate scenarios,and the unsuitable habitats mainly occur in Da Hinggan Mountains,Xiao Hinggan Mountains and Changbai Mountains.Overall,Carex tussock wetlands at high altitude and high latitude are more sensitive to climate change,and more attention should be invested in high latitude and high altitude areas.

Characteristics of Temperature Change in China over the Last 2000 years and Spatial Patterns of Dryness/Wetness during Cold and Warm Periods

This paper presents new high-resolution proxies and paleoclimatic reconstructions for studying climate changes in China for the past 2000 years. Multi-proxy synthesized reconstructions show that temperature variation in China has exhibited significant 50–70-yr, 100–120-yr, and 200–250-yr cycles. Results also show that the amplitudes of decadal and centennial temperature variation were 1.3℃ and 0.7℃, respectively, with the latter significantly correlated with long-term changes in solar radiation, especially cold periods, which correspond approximately to sunspot minima. The most rapid warming in China occurred over AD 1870–2000, at a rate of 0.56°± 0.42℃（100 yr）^（-1）; however, temperatures recorded in the 20 th century may not be unprecedented for the last 2000 years, as data show records for the periods AD 981–1100 and AD1201–70 are comparable to the present. The ensemble means of dryness/wetness spatial patterns in eastern China across all centennial warm periods illustrate a tripole pattern： dry south of 25°N, wet from 25°–30°N, and dry to the north of 30°N. However, for all centennial cold periods, this spatial pattern also exhibits a meridional distribution. The increase in precipitation over the monsoonal regions of China associated with the 20 th century warming can primarily be attributed to a mega El Nino–Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. In addition, a significant association between increasing numbers of locusts and dry/cold conditions is found in eastern China. Plague intensity also generally increases in concert with wetness in northern China, while more precipitation is likely to have a negative effect in southern China.

Driving forces behind the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of land-use and land-cover change:A case study of the Weihe River Basin,China

The impact of socioeconomic development on land-use and land-cover change(LUCC)in river basins varies spatially and temporally.Exploring the spatiotemporal evolutionary trends and drivers of LUCC under regional disparities is the basis for the sustainable development and management of basins.In this study,the Weihe River Basin(WRB)in China was selected as a typical basin,and the WRB was divided into the upstream of the Weihe River Basin(UWRB),the midstream of the Weihe River Basin(MWRB),the downstream of the Weihe River Basin(DWRB),the Jinghe River Basin(JRB),and the Luohe River Basin(LRB).Based on land-use data(cultivated land,forestland,grassland,built-up land,bare land,and water body)from 1985 to 2020,we analyzed the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of LUCC in the WRB using a land-use transfer matrix and a dynamic change model.The driving forces of LUCC in the WRB in different periods were detected using the GeoDetector,and the selected influencing factors included meteorological factors(precipitation and temperature),natural factors(elevation,slope,soil,and distance to rivers),social factors(distance to national highway,distance to railway,distance to provincial highway,and distance to expressway),and human activity factors(population density and gross domestic product(GDP)).The results indicated that the types and intensities of LUCC conversions showed considerable disparities across different sub-basins,where complex conversions among cultivated land,forestland,and grassland occurred in the LRB,JRB,and UWRB,with higher dynamic change before 2000.The conversion of other land-use types to built-up land was concentrated in the UWRB,MWRB,and DWRB,with substantial increases after 2000.Additionally,the driving effects of the influencing factors on LUCC in each sub-basin also exhibited distinct diversity,with the LRB and JRB being influenced by the meteorological and social factors,and the UWRB,MWRB,and DWRB being driven by human activity factors.Moreover,the interaction of these influencing factors indicated an enhanced effect on LUCC.This study confirmed the spatiotemporal heterogeneity effects of socioeconomic status on LUCC in the WRB under regional differences,contributing to the sustainable development of the whole basin by managing sub-basins according to local conditions.

Spatial pattern of land cover change in China's semiarid environment

This study seeks a routine to quantify spatial pattern of land cover changes in semiarid environment of China based on post-classification comparison method. The method consists of three major steps: (1) the image classification and unification of classified results based on two-level land cover classification themes, (2) the establishment of land cover change classes based on an unification land cover classification theme, (3) the reclassification and mapping of land cover change classes with three overall classes including no-change, gain and loss based on the unification land cover class. This method was applied to detect the spatial pattern of land cover changes in Yinchuan Plain, one of famous irrigation agricultural zones of the Yellow River, China. The results showed the land cover had undergone a remarkable change from 1991 to 2002 in the study area (the changed area was over 30%). Rapid increase of cropland (12.5%), built-up area (131.4%) and rapid decrease of bare ground (51.7%) were alarming. The spatial pattern of land cover changes showed clear regional difference in the study area and was clearly related to human activities or natural factors. Thus, it obtained a better understanding of the human impact on the fragile ecosystem of China’s semiarid environment.

Spatio-temporal variations in trends of vegetation and drought changes in relation to climate variability from 1982 to 2019 based on remote sensing data from East Asia

Studying the significant impacts on vegetation of drought due to global warming is crucial in order to understand its dynamics and interrelationships with temperature,rainfall,and normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI).These factors are linked to excesses drought frequency and severity on the regional scale,and their effect on vegetation remains an important topic for climate change study.East Asia is very sensitive and susceptible to climate change.In this study,we examined the effect of drought on the seasonal variations of vegetation in relation to climate variability and determined which growing seasons are most vulnerable to drought risk;and then explored the spatio-temporal evolution of the trend in drought changes in East Asia from 1982 to 2019.The data were studied using a series of several drought indexes,and the data were then classified using a heat map,box and whisker plot analysis,and principal component analysis.The various drought indexes from January to August improved rapidly,except for vegetation health index(VHI)and temperature condition index(TCI).While these indices were constant in September,they increased again in October,but in December,they showed a descending trend.The seasonal and monthly analysis of the drought indexes and the heat map confirmed that the East Asian region suffered from extreme droughts in 1984,1993,2007,and 2012among the study years.The distribution of the trend in drought changes indicated that more severe drought occurred in the northwestern region than in the southeastern area of East Asia.The drought tendency slope was used to describe the changes in drought events during 1982–2019 in the study region.The correlations among monthly precipitation anomaly percentage(NAP),NDVI,TCI,vegetation condition index(VCI),temperature vegetation drought index(TVDI),and VHI indicated considerably positive correlations,while considerably negative correlations were found among the three pairs of NDVI and VHI,TVDI and VHI,and NDVI and TCI.This ecological and climatic mechanism provides a good basis for the assessment of vegetation and drought-change variations within the East Asian region.This study is a step forward in monitoring the seasonal variation of vegetation and variations in drought dynamics within the East Asian region,which will serve and contribute to the better management of vegetation,disaster risk,and drought in the East Asian region.

A Remote Sensing Analysis of the Temporal and Spatial Changes of Land Surface Temperature in Calabar Metropolis, Nigeria

This study investigated the temporal and spatial changes of land surface temperature (LST) over Calabar Metropolis, Nigeria (2002 to 2016). The LST over Calabar metropolis was studied from the analysis of Landsat imageries of the investigated years (2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016). The results of the LST imagery were classified using standard deviation. GIS was further applied to extract the coverage ratio of each land use in the context of Land surface temperature (LST) pixels and results were presented in degree Celsius. The result of this study revealed a great variation in the mean LST for the selected period. The highest mean LST of 25.38°C was observed in 2016, followed by 2002 with mean LST of 25.32°C whereas, the least LST was observed in 2010. This study has shown that, the changing land use pattern of the area is capable of affecting certain characteristics of the environment such as surface temperature. The study recommends that effort should be made by the government to increase urban vegetation in order to reduce potential future increased in LST.

Low-carbon technology innovation responding to climate change from the perspective of spatial spillover effects

China's technological efforts to tackle climate change have lasted for many years. It is necessary to test the effect of these efforts with quantitative method. To be exact, whether and how China's low-carbon technology innovation responds to climate change should be tested. Based on the2004-2015 panel data of 30 provinces in China, we use the method of ESDA analyzing the spatial correlation of China's low-carbon innovation technology. Furthermore, we use the spatial Durbin model empirically analyzing the spatial spillover effects. The results obtained are as follows: first,supply and demand of Chinese low-carbon innovation has some deviation in the spatial distribution. The low-carbon technology innovation as the supply factor shows the characteristics of expanding from the east to the west. Innovation in eastern China has always been the most active, but innovative activities in the middle and western China are gradually decreased.However, carbon emissions have the characteristics of moving westward, implying the change of technology demand different from technology supply. Second, China's low-carbon innovation actively responds to the trend of climate change, indicating China's technological efforts have paid off. However, the spatial spillover effects are not significant, showing that the efforts in each region of China still work for himself. Third, environmental regulation and market pull are important factors for low-carbon technology innovation. Among them, both supporting policy and inhibitory policy have significant impact on the local low-carbon technology innovation, but no significant spatial spillover effects. It shows that environmental policies in different regions are competitive and lack of demonstration effects. Economic growth and export as market pull have higher level of effect on low-carbon technology innovation for both local and adjacent areas.Some policy implications are proposed based on these results finally.

The Influence of Climate Change and Variability on Spatio-Temporal Rainfall and Temperature Distribution in Zanzibar

Climate change has resulted in serious social-economic ramifications and extremely catastrophic weather events in the world, Tanzania and Zanzibar in particular, with adaptation being the only option to reduce impacts. The study focuses on the influence of climate change and variability on spatio-temporal rainfall and temperature variability and distribution in Zanzibar. The station observation datasets of rainfall, Tmax and Tmin acquired from Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) and the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment program (CORDEX) projected datasets from the Regional climate model HIRHAM5 under driving model ICHEC-EC-EARH, for the three periods of 1991-2020 used as baseline (HS), 2021-2050 as near future (NF) and 2051-2080 far future (FF), under two representative concentration pathways (RCP) of 4.5 and 8.5, were used. The long-term observed Tmax and Tmin were used to produce time series for observing the nature and trends, while the observed rainfall data was used for understanding wet and dry periods, trends and slope (at p ≤ 0.05) using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Mann Kendall test (MK). Moreover, the Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) under the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation techniques were used for mapping the three decades of 1991-2000 (hereafter D1), 2001-2010 (hereafter D2) and 2011-2020 (hereafter D3) to analyze periodical spatial rainfall distribution in Zanzibar. As for the projected datasets the Climate Data Operator Commands (CDO), python scripts and Grid analysis and Display System (GrADS) soft-wares were used to process and display the results of the projected datasets of rainfall, Tmax and Tmin for the HS, NF and FF, respectively. The results show that the observed Tmax increased by the rates of 0.035℃ yr-1 and 0.0169℃ yr-1, while the Tmin was increased by a rate of 0.064℃ yr-1 and 0.104℃ yr-1 for Unguja and Pemba, respectively. The temporal distribution of wetness and dryness indices showed a climate shift from near normal to moderate wet during 2005 at Zanzibar Airport, while normal to moderately dry conditions, were observed in Pemba at Matangatuani. The decadal rainfall variability and distributions revealed higher rainfall intensity with an increasing trend and good spatial distribution in D3 from March to May (MAM) and October to December (OND). The projected results for Tmax during MAM and OND depicted higher values ranging from 1.7℃ - 1.8℃ to 1.9℃ - 2.0℃ and 1.5℃ to 2.0℃ in FF compared to NF under both RCPs. Also, higher Tmin values of 1.12℃ - 1.16℃ was projected in FF for MAM and OND under both RCPs. Besides, the rainfall projection generally revealed increased rainfall intensity in the range of 0 - 25 mm for Pemba and declined rainfall in the range of 25 - 50 mm in Unguja under both RCPs in perspectives of both NF and FF. Conclusively the study has shown that the undergoing climate change has posed a significant impact on both rainfall and temperature spatial and temporal distributions in Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba), with Unguja being projected to have higher rainfall deficits while increasing rainfall strengths in Pemba. Thus, the study calls for more studies and formulation of effective adaptation, strategies and resilience mechanisms to combat the projected climate change impacts especially in the agricultural sector, water and food security.

Integrating cross-sensor high spatial resolution satellite images to detect subtle forest vegetation change in the Purple Mountains,a national scenic spot in Nanjing,China

Accurate information on the location and magnitude of vegetation change in scenic areas can guide the configuration of tourism facilities and the formulation of vegetation protection measures.High spatial resolution remote sensing images can be used to detect subtle vegetation changes.The major objective of this study was to map and quantify forest vegetation changes in a national scenic location,the Purple Mountains of Nanjing,China,using multi-temporal cross-sensor high spatial resolution satellite images to identify the main drivers of the vegetation changes and provide a reference for sustainable management.We used Quickbird images acquired in 2004,IKONOS images acquired in 2009,and WorldView2 images acquired in 2015.Four pixel-based direct change detection methods including the normalized difference vegetation index difference method,multi-index integrated change analysis(MIICA),principal component analysis,and spectral gradient difference analysis were compared in terms of their change detection performances.Subsequently,the best pixel-based detection method in conjunction with object-oriented image analysis was used to extract subtle forest vegetation changes.An accuracy assessment using the stratified random sampling points was conducted to evaluate the performance of the change detection results.The results showed that the MIICA method was the best pixel-based change detection method.And the object-oriented MIICA with an overall accuracy of 0.907 and a kappa coefficient of 0.846 was superior to the pixel-based MIICA.From 2004 to 2009,areas of vegetation gain mainly occurred around the periphery of the study area,while areas of vegetation loss were observed in the interior and along the boundary of the study area due to construction activities,which contributed to 79%of the total area of vegetation loss.During 2009–2015,the greening initiatives around the construction areas increased the forest vegetation coverage,accounting for 84%of the total area of vegetation gain.In spite of this,vegetation loss occurred in the interior of the Purple Mountains due to infrastructure development that caused conversion from vegetation to impervious areas.We recommend that:(1)a local multi-agency team inspect and assess law enforcement regarding natural resource utilization;and(2)strengthen environmental awareness education.

Spatial-Temporal Changes of Soil Organic Carbon During Vegetation Recovery at Ziwuling, China

To probe the processes and mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) changes during forest recovery, a 150-yearchronosequence study on SOC was conducted for various vegetation succession stages at the Ziwuling area, in the centralpart of the Loess Plateau, China. Results showed that during the 150 years of local vegetation rehabilitation SOC increasedsignificantly (P < 0.05) over time in the initial period of 55-59 years, but slightly decreased afterwards. Average SOCdensities for the 0-100 cm layer of farmland, grassland, shrubland and forest were 4.46, 5.05, 9.95, and 7.49 kg C m-3,respectively. The decrease in SOC from 60 to 150 years of abandonment implied that the soil carbon pool was a sink forCO2 before the shrubland stage and became a source in the later period. This change resulted from the spatially variedcomposition and structure of the vegetation. Vegetation recovery had a maximum effect on the surface (0-20 cm) SOCpool. It. was concluded that vegetation recovery on the Loess Plateau could result in significantly increased sequestrationof atmospheric CO2 in soil and vegetation, which was ecologically important for mitigating the increase of atmosphericconcentration of CO2 and for ameliorating the local eco-environment.

Spatial Process of Green Infrastructure Changes Associated with Rapid Urbanization in Shenzhen,China

Through a case study of Shenzhen City,China,this study focused on a quantitative method for analyzing the spatial processes involved in green infrastructure changes associated with rapid urbanization.Based on RS,GIS and SPSS statistics software,the approach includes selection of the square analysis units and representative landscape metrics,quantification of the change types of landscape metrics in all analysis units through two indices and hierarchical cluster analysis of the above analysis units with different landscape metric change types(i.e.spatial attributes).The analyses verify that there is a significant sequence of continuous changes in green infrastructure in Shenzhen.They are the perforation,the segmentation,the fragmentation,the evanescence and the filling-in processes,which have a good spatio-temporal correspondence with urbanization and reflect the synthetic influence of urban planning,government policies and landforms.Compared with other studies on quantifying the spatial pattern,this study provides an alternative probe into linking the spatial pattern to spatial processes and the corresponding ecological processes in the future.These spatio-temporal processes offer many opportunities for identifying,protecting and restoring key elements in an urban green infrastructure network for areas in the early stages of urbanization or for non-urbanized areas.

STUDY ON THE SPATIAL PATTERNS OF LAND-USE CHANGE AND ANALYSES OF DRIVING FORCES IN NORTHEASTERN CHINA DURING 1990-2000

Land-use change is an important aspect of global environment change.It i s,in a sense,the direct result of human activities influencing our physical environment.Supported by the dynamic serving system of nation al resources,including both the environment data base and GIS technology,this paper a nalyzed the land-use change in north eastern Chi-na in the past ten years(1990-2000).It divides northeastern China into five land-use zones based on the dynamic de-gree(DD)of land-use:woodland /grassland -a rable land conversion zone,dry land-paddy field conversion zone,ur-ban expansion zone,interlocked zon e of farming and pasturing,and recla mation and abandoned zone.In the past ten years,land-use change of northeastern China can be generalized as follo ws:increase of cropland area was obvious,pad-dy field and dry land increased by 74.9and 276.0thousand ha respectively;urban area expanded rapidly,area o f town and rural residence increased by 76.8thousand ha;area of forest and grassland decreased sharply with the amo unt of1399.0and 1521.3thousand ha respec tively;area of water body and unused land increased by 148.4and 513.9thou-sand ha respectively.Besides a comp rehensive analysis of the spatial patterns of land use,this paper also di scusses the driving forces in each land-use dynamic zones.The study shows that some k ey biophysical factors affect consp icuously the conversion of different land-use ty pes.In this paper,the relationship s between land-use conversion and DEM,accumulat-ed temperature(≥10℃)and precipitation were analysed and represented.We conclude that the la nd-use changes in north-east China resulted from the change o f macro social and economic factors a nd local physical elements.Rapid population growth and management changes,in so me sense,can explain the shaping of woodland /grassland -cropland conve rsion zone.The conversion from dry land to paddy field in the dry land -paddy fie ld conversion zone,apart from the ph ysical elements change promoting the expan sion of paddy field,results from two reasons:one is that the implementation of mar-ket-economy in China has given farme rs the right to decide what they plant and how they plant their crops,the other fac-tor is originated partially from the change of dietary habit with the social and economic development.The con version from paddy field to dry land is caused prim arily by the shortfall of irrigation water,which in turn is caused by poor water alloca-tion managed by local governments.T he shaping of the reclamation and abandoned zone is partially due to the la ck of environ-ment protection consciousness amon g pioneer settlers.The reason for th e conversion fromgrassland to cropl and is the relative-ly higher profits of farming than that of pasturing in the interlocked zon e of farming and pasturing.In northeastern China,the rapid expansion of built-up areas results from two factors:the first is its small number of towns;the second comes from the huge potential for expansio n of existing towns and cities.It is n oticeable that urban expansion in th e northeastern China is characterized by gentle top ographic relief and low population d ensity.Physiognomy,transportati on and economy exert great influences on the urban e xpansion.

Spatial and Temporal Changes of Wetlands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau from the 1970s to 2010s

Wetlands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau(QTP) perform a dazzling array of vital ecological functions and are one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world. Timely and accurate information describing wetland resources and their changes over time is becoming more important in their protection and conservation. By using remote sensing data, this study intended to investigate spatial distribution and temporal variations of wetlands on the QTP at different watershed scales from 1970 s to 2010 s. Results show that wetlands on the QTP have undergone widespread degradation from 1970 s to 2010 s, with nearly 6.4% of their area being lost. Areas of freshwater marsh, salt marsh and wet meadow declined by 46.6%, 53.9% and 15.6%, respectively, while lake area increased by 14.6%. The most extensive losses of natural wetlands have occurred in endorheic basins, such as in the Kunlun-Altun-Qilian Drainage Basin and Qiangtang Basin, which shrank by 44.5% and 33.1%, respectively. A pronounced increase in temperature tends to facilitate the evaporation process and reduce water availability for wetlands. One-third of the wetlands on the QTP are under threat of being submerged due to lakes rising in recent years. More research is needed to gain insight into the interaction mechanisms behind observed variations and potential impacts from further warming in the future.

Spatial-temporal Pattern and Differences of Land Use Changes in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of China during 1975-2005

Regional land use changes are an important part of global changes.The research on land use changes in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of China attracts a lot of attention owing to the Three Gorges Dam building.The Three Gorges Reservoir Area becomes one of the important research areas.This study analyzed the transforming processes and traits of each land use type and the regional differences of land use changes during the past 30 years,summarized the distribution of different land use types in different buffer zones and regresses the equation areas and different buffer distances based on buffer analyses and regression analyses,and then analyzed the transforming rules in different buffer distances,got the optimal influence distances.The research results indicate that,(1) cultivated land lies at the northwest of the reservoir and was decreasing,however,the construction land was increasing,especially the urban construction land,a large number of land was flooded because of the reservoir water level rise;(2) urban area was sprawling quickly in developed and neighboring areas,and a great deal of cultivated land and a considerable amount of grassland were occupied;in the earlier time,rural settlements occupied lots of cultivated land and a sum of forestry land in the later time;(3) the optimum influenced distances for cultivated land and forestry land were 10-35 km,and for urban and rural settlements were in 5-20 km.Overall,this research can reflect the spatial-temporal characteristics of land use changes during the 30 years,and it is helpful for urban planning and land use planning in the reservoir area.

Spatial and Temporal Changes of Floating Population in China Between 1990 and 2000

By studying the county-level census data of 1990 and 2000, we analyzed the spatial and temporal changes in the floating population in China between 1990 and 2000. The results of the analysis revealed the following characteris- tics. First, the spatial distribution of the migrants (referred to as 'floaters' in this paper) became increasingly concentrated in the cities during the 1990s. Second, the number of floaters increased rapidly during this period, and the area in which the floaters settled expanded quickly into four population explosion belts: the coast, the Changjiang River Delta, the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and national border belts. Third, the number of inter-province floaters increased rapidly and exceeded that of intra-province floaters in the 1990s. In addition, to obtain a quantitative relationship between the number of floaters and 10 socio-economic variables by using statistical methods and also to find the chiefly important pulling factors of the migration destination, the authors selected approximately 100 cities with the largest population of floaters. Consequently, we found that four factors-GDP, passenger trips per 10,000 persons, per capita GDP and foreign direct investment-could provide an explanation for 83.7% of the number of floaters in 2000. The GDP showed the highest correlation with the number of floaters, suggesting that a highly developed economy is the most important factor that attracts floaters. Furthermore, a fairly close relationship between the number of floaters and the GDP was also found in 2000 for all the counties.