Effects of land-use patterns on soil microbial diversity and composition in the Loess Plateau,China

In the Loess Plateau of China,land-use pattern is a major factor in controlling underlying biological processes.Additionally,the process of land-use pattern was accompanied by abandoned lands,potentially impacting soil microbe.However,limited researches were conducted to study the impacts of land-use patterns on the diversity and community of soil microorganisms in this area.The study aimed to investigate soil microbial community diversity and composition using high-throughput deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA)sequencing under different land-use patterns(apricot tree land,apple tree land,peach tree land,corn land,and abandoned land).The results showed a substantial difference(P<0.050)in bacterial alpha-diversity and beta-diversity between abandoned land and other land-use patterns,with the exception of Shannon index.While fungal beta-diversity was not considerably impacted by land-use patterns,fungal alpha-diversity indices varied significantly.The relative abundance of Actinobacteriota(34.90%),Proteobacteria(20.65%),and Ascomycota(77.42%)varied in soils with different land-use patterns.Soil pH exerted a dominant impact on the soil bacterial communities'composition,whereas soil available phosphorus was the main factor shaping the soil fungal communities'composition.These findings suggest that variations in land-use pattern had resulted in changes to soil properties,subsequently impacting diversity and structure of microbial community in the Loess Plateau.Given the strong interdependence between soil and its microbiota,it is imperative to reclaim abandoned lands to maintain soil fertility and sustain its function,which will have significant ecological service implications,particularly with regards to soil conservation in ecologically vulnerable areas.

Spatial pattern recognition for near-surface high temperature increases in mountain areas using MODIS and SRTM DEM

Abrupt near-surface temperature changes in mountainous areas are a special component of the mountain climate system.Fast and accurate measurements of the locations,intensity,and width of the near-surface changes are necessary but highly difficult due to the complicated environmental conditions and instrumental issues.This paper develops a spatial pattern recognition method to measure the near-surface high temperature increase(NSHTI),one of the lesser-attended changes.First,raster window measurement was proposed to calculate the temperature lapse rate using MODIS land surface temperature and SRTM DEM data.It fully considers the terrain heights of two neighboring cells on opposite or adjacent slopes with a moving window of 3×3 cell size.Second,a threshold selection was performed to identify the NSHTI cells using a threshold of-0.65℃/100 m.Then,the NSHTI strips were parameterized through raster vectorization and spatial analysis.Taking Yunnan,a mountainous province in southwestern China,as the study area,the results indicate that the NSHTI cells concentrate in a strip-like pattern along the mountains and valleys,and the strips are almost parallel to the altitude contours with a slight northward uplift.Also,they are located mostly at a 3/5 height of high mountains or within 400 m from the valley floors,where the controlling topographic index is the altitude of the terrain trend surface but not the absolute elevation and the topographic uplift height and cutting depth.Additionally,the NSHTI intensity varies with the geographic locations and the proportions increase with an exponential trend,and the horizontal width has a mean of about 1000 m and a maximum of over 5000 m.The result demonstrates that the proposed method can effectively recognize NSHTI boundaries over mountains,providing support for the modeling of weather and climate systems and the development of mountain resources.

Effect of Quadrat Shape on Spatial Point Pattern Performance of Haloxylon ammodendron

In this study, we investigated the natural growth of Haloxylon ammodendron forest in Moso Bay, southwest of Gurbantunggut Desert. Random sample analysis was used to analyze the spatial point pattern performance of Haloxylon ammodendron population. ArcGIS software was used to summarize and analyze the spatial point pattern response of Haloxylon ammodendron population. The results showed that: 1) There were significant differences in the performance of point pattern analysis among different random quadrants. The paired t-test for variance mean ratio showed that the P values were 0.048, 0.004 and 0.301 respectively, indicating that the influence of quadrat shape on the performance of point pattern analysis was significant under the condition of the same optimal quadrat area. 2) The comparative analysis of square shapes shows that circular square is the best, square and regular hexagonal square are the second, and there is no significant difference between square and regular hexagonal square. 3) The number of samples plays a decisive role in spatial point pattern analysis. Insufficient sample size will lead to unstable results. With the increase of the number of samples to more than 120, the V value and P value curves will eventually stabilize. That is, stable spatial point pattern analysis results are closely related to the increase of the number of samples in random sample square analysis.

Using autologistic spatial models to simulate the distribution of land-use patterns in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province

Nowadays, spatial simulation on land use patterns is one of the key contents of LUCC. Modeling is an important tool for simulating land use patterns due to its ability to integrate measurements of changes in land cover and the associated drivers. The conventional regression model can only analyze the correlation between land use types and driving factors but cannot depict the spatial autocorrelation characteristics. Land uses in Yongding County, which is located in the typical karst mountain areas in northwestern Hunan province, were investigated by means of modeling the spatial autocorrelation of land use types with the purpose of deriving better spatial land use patterns on the basis of terrain characteristics and infrastructural conditions. Through incorporating components describing the spatial autocorrelation into a conventional logistic model, we constructed a regression model （Autologistic model）, and used this model to simulate and analyze the spatial land use patterns in Yongding County. According to the comparison with the conventional logistic model without considering the spatial autocorrelation, this model showed better goodness and higher accuracy of fitting. The distribution of arable land, wood land, built-up land and unused land yielded areas under the ROC curves （AUC） was improved to 0.893, 0.940, 0.907 and 0.863 respectively with the autologistic model. It is argued that the improved model based on autologistic method was reasonable to a certain extent. Meanwhile, these analysis results could provide valuable information for modeling future land use change scenarios with actual conditions of local and regional land use, and the probability maps of land use types obtained from this study could also support government decision-making on land use management for Yongding County and other similar 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 patterns of Picea crassifolia driven by environmental heterogeneity and intraspecifi c interactions

Research on the spatial patterns of tree populations is critical for understanding the structure and dynamic processes of forests.However,little is known about how the underlying drivers shape these patterns and species interactions in forest systems.In this study,spatial point pattern analysis investigated the combined eff ects of intraspecifi c interactions and environmental heterogeneity on the spatial structure and internal maintenance mechanisms of Picea crassifolia in the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve,China.Data were obtained from a 10.2-ha dynamic monitoring plot(DMP)and sixteen 0.04-ha elevation gradient plots(EGPs).Under complete spatial randomness,both mature trees and saplings in the DMP demonstratedlarge-scale aggregation with negative correlations.In EGPs,saplings were clustered in small mesoscales,mature trees were randomly distributed,and the interactions of saplingstrees at all elevations were not correlated.By eliminating the interference of environmental heterogeneity through the inhomogeneous Poisson process,saplings in the DMP and EGPs were clustered in small scales and trees randomly distributed.Intraspecifi c associations were negatively correlated,in the DMP and at low elevations,and no correlations in high elevations of EGPs.In the vertical scale,saplings showed a small-scale aggregation pattern with increase in elevation,and the aggregation degree fi rst decreased and then increased.The interactions of saplings-trees and saplings–saplings showed inhibitions at small scales,with the degree of inhibition gradually decreasing.Spatial patterns and associations of adults–adults did not change signifi-cantly.The results revealed that intraspecifi c interactions and environmental heterogeneity regulated the spatial patterns of P.crassifolia at small and large scales,respectively.Environmental heterogeneity might be the most decisive factor aff ecting the spatial patterns of saplings,while trees were more aff ected by intraspecifi c interactions.Moreover,competition between trees in this area could be more common than facilitation for the growth and development of individuals.

Sustainable land-use patterns for arid lands: A case study in the northern slope areas of the Tianshan Mountains

Sustainable land use patterns are ecological and economic prerequisites of regional sustainable development. This is especially true for arid lands, where the environment is wholly fragile thanks to extremely limited precipitation, and where human activities have greatly transformed natural desert system by clearing natural vegetation, expanding oases and even building dams on inland rivers. However, the current studies on land use patterns are still characterized by field investigations and case studies, with almost no solid scientific basis. This paper holds that land types and their combination patterns are the principal basis for designing sustainable land use patterns, and that GIS and RS-based large-scale land type mapping and the study of their spatial combination structures should be coordinated with the demand of social development. The existing environmental problems induced by irrational land use mostly result from their deviation from the natural properties of land types. Taking the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains （NSTM） as an example and considering land type patterns as the basis of land use patterns, this paper improves the vertical oa- sis-and-mid-mountain two-belts development model and the sustainable mountain land use model for arid lands put forward in recent years; and in terms of oases patterns, it outlines oasis development models, including intensive land use pattern in alluvial-diluvial fans, moderate agricultural development pattern in alluvial plains, and ecological land use pattern in river-end oases.

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 patterns of the main trees in a plant micro-reserve constructed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics mountainous competition zone

Several plant micro-reserves were established to preserve the vegetation in local mountain areas during the construction of the Yanqing competition zone of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.The spatial patterns of the main species in one of the micro-reserves and the factors affecting these patterns were characterized in this study.The distribution of arbor species was found to be mostly aggregated,especially at fine scales(<5 m).Minor species were found to be more aggregated than the major species in each forest layer.The spatial patterns were found to be affected by habitat heterogeneity,intraspecific relationships,interspecific competition,and seed dispersal limitation.Habitat heterogeneity was found to affect large-scale spatial patterns,and its effects were observed throughout population development.Interspecific competition is another factor affecting the distribution of the species,and its effects were stronger during the later stages of population development.Habitat heterogeneity was found to affect competition among species and is key for species coexistence.Both these processes are affected by the seed dispersal limitation,and intraspecific relationships are a legacy of seed dispersal.The point patterns can be used as a tool for the initial assessment of the status of communities within micro-reserves.The consideration of these relationships in the development,management,and formulation of policies for micro-reserves in mountainous areas will facilitate the achievement of conservation goals.The careful consideration of habitat conditions when selecting sites for micro-reserves establishment can promote species conservation.

Classification and Spatial Pattern of Township Development in Liaoning Province, China

The classification of township development types is an urgent problem that requires solution to enable the township to choose an appropriate development path.Using a township development classification method,we determine the township development types and their spatial patterns in Liaoning Province,China.The results showed that the patterns of township development types based on their general advantages had significant spatial differentiations.The planting,and livestock and poultry breeding township development types based on general advantages were mainly distributed across the central plain of Liaoning Province,China,and also concentrated in Dandong City−Dalian City along Yellow Sea coast,and in the northwest of Chaoyang City.The business and tourism,industry and mining,and residence township development types based on general advantages were distributed mainly along the Shenyang–Dalian Economic Belt in the central and southern Liaoning Province.The ecology township development type based on general advantages was mainly distributed in the eastern and western Liaoning Province to maintain regional ecological security.Township development types based on non-advantages were sporadically distributed in the middle and western Liaoning Province.Based on the classification and spatial patterns,the differences between the distribution of twonship development types and the plan for the major functional areas of Liaoning Province were proposed which could provide the basis for the optimization of the major functional areas.

The Spatial Patterns of Road Traffic Crash Black Spots and Emergency Facilities in Federal Capital City

This study aimed at determining the spatial patterns of Road Traffic Crash (RTC) black spots, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) zebra points and emergency health care facilities in Federal Capital City (FCC). The aim was to provide stakeholders with information that will aid their understanding of accident prone locations and accessible rescue possibilities for accident victims on the roads in FCT. GPS Map 76S Mark (GARMIN) was used to locate and pick coordinates of data in the study area. A total of 16 possible emergency health care facilities, seventy (70) RTC black spots and Five Zebra point locations were obtained from FRSC. ArcGIS 10.0 was used to compute the data by plotting the coordinates to produce maps of the spatial relationship and to carry out Nearest Neighbour Analysis (NNA). The result was further used to determine the spatial patterns of RTC black spots as well as patterns of the emergency facilities. Generally, the result shows that the spatial trend is turning towards dispersion. However, there is less than 1% likelihood that the dispersed patterns could be the result of random chance. It was recommended that, the Federal Road Safety Commission should be staffed with trained professionals that can be responsible for accident data surveillance and analysis using geospatial techniques.

Spatial Pattern and Distribution of Crime in Suleja Lga, Niger State, Nigeria

The study examines the Spatial Pattern and Distribution of Crime in Suleja LGA, Niger State, Nigeria. The study used GIS and statistical methods to analyse the pattern and distribution of crime incidence in the study area. The records of each crime incidence were geocoded. Microsoft Excel was used to collate and organise the crime entries before they were imported into the ArcGIS Pro 2.0 environment. A geodatabase was created where the spatial and aspatial data were encoded and geospatial analysis was performed. The study reveals that the crime distribution pattern is generally clustered with a Global Moran’s I index of 0.097, a Z-score of 1.87, and a P-value < 0.06. Furthermore, the study reveals that armed robbery (61), kidnapping (40), car theft (33), culpable homicide (31), rape (29), and robbery (13) cases rank the highest in crime rate. Equally, findings of the study show that Chaza, Kwamba, Madalla, Suleja central, and Gaboda are the major crime hotspot zones at 90% confidence, as analysed using the Getis-Ord Gi* (Hot spot analysis) spatial statistics tool in ArcGIS Pro 2.0. The research therefore recommends that more effort be put into fighting crime, especially in areas where there are low-security formations, as they mostly have the highest record of crimes committed. Also, the patrol units should be equipped with GPS for better surveillance and real-time tracking of criminal activities.

Evaluation of COVID-19 Cases and Vaccinations in the State of Georgia, United States: A Spatial Perspective

This study evaluates the distribution of COVID-19 cases and mass vaccination campaigns from January 2020 to April 2023. There are over 235,000 COVID-19 cases and over 733,000 vaccinations across the 159 counties in the state of Georgia. Data on COVID-19 was acquired from usafact.org while the vaccination records were obtained from COVID-19 vaccination tracker. The spatial patterns across the counties were analyzed using spatial statistical techniques which include both global and local spatial autocorrelation. The study further evaluates the effect of vaccination and selected socio-economic predictors on COVID-19 cases across the study area. The result of hotspot analysis reveals that the epicenters of COVID-19 are distributed across Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and DeKalb counties. It was also affirmed that the vaccination records followed the same pattern as COVID-19 cases’ epicenters. The result of the spatial error model performed well and accounted for a considerable percentage of the regression with an adjusted R squared of 0.68, Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) 387.682 and Breusch-Pagan of 9.8091. ESDA was employed to select the main explanatory variables. The selected variables include vaccination, population density, percentage of people that do not have health insurance, black race, Hispanic and these variables accounted for 68% of the number of COVID-19 cases in the state of Georgia during the study period. The study concludes that both COVID-19 cases and vaccinated individuals have spatial peculiarities across counties in Georgia state. Lastly, socio-economic variables and vaccination are very important to reduce the vulnerability of individuals to COVID-19 disease.

Migration Networks Pattern of China’s Floating Population from the Perspective of Complex Network

Since China’s reform and opening-up,the growing disparity between urban and rural areas and regions has led to massive migration.With China’s Rural Revitalization Strategy and the industrial transfer from the eastern coastal areas to the inland,the migration direction and pattern of the floating population have undergone certain changes.Using the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey(CMDS),excluding Hong Kong,Macao,and Taiwan regions of China,organized by China’s National Health Commission,the relationship matrix of the floating population is constructed according to the inflow place of the interviewees and their outflow place(the location of the registered residence)in the questionnaire survey.We then apply the complex network model to analyze the migration direction and network pattern of China’s floating population from the city scale.The migration network shows an obvious hierarchical agglomeration.The first-,second-,third-and fourth-tier distribution cities are municipalities directly under the central government,provincial capital cities,major cities in the central and western regions and ordinary cities in all provinces,respectively.The migration trend is from the central and western regions to the eastern coastal areas.The migration network has‘small world’characteristics,forming nine communities.It shows that most node cities in the same community are closely linked and geographically close,indicating that the migration network of floating population is still affected by geographical proximity.Narrowing the urban-rural and regional differences will promote the rational distribution this population.It is necessary to strengthen the reform of the registered residence system,so that the floating population can enjoy urban public services comparable to other populations,and allow migrants to live and work in peace.

Spatiotemporal Differentiation of Urban Spatial Form and Carbon Emissions in Poyang Lake City Group

In response to the inherent requirements of low-carbon land spatial planning in Jiangxi Province and the lack of existing research,this paper explored the mechanism of spatial form elements of Poyang Lake urban agglomeration on urban carbon emissions.Based on generalized linear regression and geographically weighted regression models,this paper analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of carbon emissions,the spatiotemporal relationship between urban form index and carbon emissions,and the spatial differentiation of the intensity of dominant factors from 63 county-level administrative units in the Poyang Lake city group from 2005 to 2020.The results showed that:①The carbon emissions of urban agglomerations around Poyang Lake are generally increasing,and the spatial distribution of carbon emissions is characterized by high-value concentration in the middle and low-value agglomeration in pieces;②The main driving factor for the spatial heterogeneity of carbon emissions was the expansion of built-up area;③Improving urban compactness and optimizing urban form could effectively reduce urban carbon emissions.The results showcased the correlation between urban spatial landscape pattern and the spatiotemporal distribution of carbon emissions,which could make the low-carbon land spatial planning in the Poyang Lake city group more reasonable and practical.

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.

Spatial patterns of urban land use growth in Beijing

By using digitized land use maps of Beijing in 1982, 1992 and 1997 and employing GIS spatial analysis techniques, this paper conducts an empirical study on the spatial differentiation and spatial patterns of urban land use growth in Beijing in the period of 1982–1997. It is observed that urban land use growth in Beijing went beyond the control of urban planning, in terms of the extraordinary high growth rate and undesired spatial pattern. The rate of urban expansion after 1982, which was predominated by growth of industrial land, was extraordinary high compared to its historical period. While its growth centers have been actively shifting toward the northern part, rather than toward the southern and eastern parts as designated by the latest General Plan (1991–2010) of Beijing, its spatial pattern of urban land use growth in general was in distinct concentric sprawl, which seriously violated the General Plan of Beijing.

Spatial patterns of ecosystem vulnerability changes during 2001–2011 in the three-river source region of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

The three-river source region (TRSR, including Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers), located in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China, is a typical alpine zone with apparent ecosystem vulnerability and sensitivity. In this paper, we introduced many interdisciplinary factors, such as landscape pattern indices (Shannon diversity index and Shannon evenness index) and extreme climate factors (number of extreme high temperature days, number of extreme low temperature days, and number of extreme precipitation days), to establish a new model for evaluating the spatial patterns of ecosystem vulnerability changes in the TRSR. The change intensity (CI) of ecosystem vulnerability was also analyzed. The results showed that the established evaluation model was effective and the ecosystem vulnerability in the whole study area was intensive. During the study period of 2001–2011, there was a slight degradation in the eco-environmental quality. The Yellow River source region had the best eco-environmental quality, while the Yangtze River source region had the worst one. In addition, the zones dominated by deserts were the most severely deteriorated areas and the eco-environmental quality of the zones occupied by evergreen coniferous forests showed a better change. Furthermore, the larger the change rates of the climate factors (accumulative temperature of ≥10°C and annual average precipitation) are, the more intensive the CI of ecosystem vulnerability is. This study would provide a scientific basis for the eco-environmental protection and restoration in the TRSR.

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.

Quantifying spatial scale of positive and negative terrains pattern at watershed-scale:Case in soil and water conservation region on Loess Plateau

The positive and negative terrains(P-N terrains) widely distributed across China's Loess Plateau constitute the dual structure characteristic of loess landforms. Analysis of loess P-N terrains at the watershed scale can serve to elucidate the structural characteristics and spatial patterns of P-N terrains, which benefits a better understanding of watershed evolution and suitable scales for loess landform research. The Two-Term Local Quadrat Variance Analysis(TTLQV) is calculated as the average of the square of the difference between the block totals of all possible adjacent pairs of block size, which can be used to detect both the scale and the intensity of landscape patches(e.g., plant/animal communities and gully networks). In this study, we determined the latitudinal and longitudinal spatial scale of P-N terrain patterns within 104 uniformly distributed watersheds in our target soil and water conservation region. The results showed that TTLQV is very effective for examining the scale of P-N terrain patterns. There were apparently three types of P-N terrain pattern in latitudinal direction(i.e., Loess Tableland type, Loess Hill type, and Transitional Form between Sand and Loess type), whereas there were both lower and higher values for P-N terrain pattern scales in all loess landforms in the longitudinal direction. The P-N terrain pattern alsoclearly presented anisotropy, suggesting that gully networks in the main direction were well-developed while others were relatively undeveloped. In addition, the relationships between the first scales and controlling factors(i.e., gully density, nibble degree, watershed area, mean watershed slope, NDVI, precipitation, loess thickness, and loess landforms) revealed that the first scales are primarily controlled by watershed area and loess landforms. This may indicate that the current spatial pattern of P-N terrains is characterized by internal force. In selecting suitable study areas in China' Loess Plateau, it is crucial to understand four control variables: the spatial scale of the P-N terrain pattern, the watershed area, the main direction of the watershed, and the loess landforms.