Spatial Correlation and Ecological Characteristics Analysis of Man-agement Area for Biodiversity Conservation and Relevant Regionalization

Formulation of different ecological zone plans according to the corresponding protection targets and the necessity of proper conservation policy is one of the measures to achieve the goal of ecological conservation in China.In order to clarify the interrelation among key ecological zone plans,this paper carried out the research on spatial relation of priority areas of biodiversity conservation and three key ecological areas(key ecological function areas,key regions of ecological service function,national nature reserves)and the research on ecological conditions,based on multi-scale ecological spatial theme information,which incorporates elements like ecological quality and type,and by the aid of spatial information analysis and GIS modeling.The results showed a contrastively fine spatial consistency with 68.8%of priority areas of biodiversity conservation overlapping with three key ecological areas.Although the environment in priority areas of biodiversity conservation were in good conditions,protection pressure is also increasing,powerful supervision and protection should not be ignored.The environmental conditions in the overlapping areas,as a whole,were superior to those in the non-overlapping areas.Since two areas have different characteristics,targeted protection measures should be formulated based on this difference,which will be very important for biodiversity conservation in priority areas of biodiversity conservation.

Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture Balance for Vegetative Restoration in a Gully Catchment on the Loess Plateau, China

Evapotranspiration, soil moisture balance and the dynamics in a gully catchment of the Loess Plateau in China were determined with 6 land use treatments including natural grassland, shrubs (Caragana microphylla), two woodlands (Prunus armeniaca var. ansu and Pmus tabulaeformis), cultivated fallow, and farmland (Triticum aestivum L.) in order to obtain a better understanding of soil moisture balance principles and to improve vegetation restoration efficiency for ecological rebuilding on the plateau. Average runoff from cultivated fallow was very high, reaching 10.3% of the seasonal rainfall. Evapotranspiration under T. aestivum was not significantly different from natural grasslands. Compared with natural grass, evapotranspiration was significantly greater (P < 0.05) in 2002 and there was an increase in soil moisture depleted in the 1-3 m soil under P. armeniaca, P. tabulaeformis and C. microphylla. During the two years of the study the average soil moisture (0-100 cm soil profile) of T. aestivum was generally the highest, with P. armeniaca, P. tabulaeformis and C. microphylla usually the lowest. Thus, according to the soil moisture balance principle for this area the planned reforestation project was not ecologically reasonable. Reducing human disturbance and restoration with grass could be more effective.

A MULTISCALE SOIL LOSS EVALUATION INDEX

Exploring the relationships between land use and soil erosion at different scales is a fron-tier research field and a hot spot topic in contempo-rary physical geography. Based on the scale-pattern-process theory in landscape ecology and with consideration of such influential factors as land use, topography, soil and rainfall, this paper ap-plies the scale transition method to establishing a soil loss evaluation index at different scales and puts forward a research path and methodology for mul-tiscale soil loss evaluation indices. The multiscale soil loss evaluation index is applied to the evaluation of relationships between land use and soil erosion and the research of soil erosion evaluation at multiple scales. It provides a new method for optimizing the design of regional land use patterns and integrated multiscale research.