Yangtze River is an important golden channel in China. The riverbank of Yangtze River is a valuable natural resource and its utilization is of great significance for both economic and social development in the areas along the Yangtze River, especially the three cities in Middle Jiangsu Province. These three cities are located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River with abundant riverbank resources. The total length of riverbank is 438.4 km in Middle Jiangsu reaches of the Yangtze River with stable riverbank and flat open hinterland. Huge advantages of resources and geographic advantage make the exploitation of riverbank vital to the economic development in Middle Jiangsu Province. Recently, the riverbank utilization along Middle Jiangsu reaches of the Yangtze River has developed fast. Therefore, in this article we chose three cities, i.e., Yangzhou, Taizhou, and Nantong, as study object, compares and analyzes the law of the development and changes of their riverbank use based on the utilization data of the riverbank of Yangtze River in 2002 and 2008. The results indicate that, since 2002, the riverbank use rate in the three cities has increased substantially, and the length of riverbank has experienced a sharp increase as well. The type of riverbank tends to be richer. The growth of industrial riverbank resources and living service riverbank resources are the most significant. From the perspective of internal growth of riverbank use, the type of industrial riverbank use is more diverse, large grain and oil processing, paper making and equipment manufacturing are newly added; metal manufacturing, metallurgical, ship building and construction materials have a huge growth of above 200%. Besides, among living service riverbank resources, the growth of pollution treatment riverbank is the largest while the growth of tourism-leisure riverbank and water intake riverbank are more than 100%. Among the newly exploited riverbank resources, the industrial riverbank resources account for the largest proportion, the port riverbank resources and the living service riverbank resources take the second and third place. Each type of the newly developed riverbank resources originates mainly from the unexploited riverbank resources. Existing types of riverbank resources transform to industrial types and unexploited riverbank resources for the most part. All these changes of riverbank utilization are by no accident but the inevitable results of many reasons, such as the port construction requirements in Middle Jiangsu Province, accelerating process of basic industries along the Yangtze River and the integrative development of port and industry and city. Of course, the most direct cause is no doubt the guidance of government's planning and policy that make the development of industries and the riverbank utilization along the Yangtze River more reasonable and mature. The study on changes of riverbank use can help us understand the level and pattern of riverbank utilization, thus leading more rational plans and more reasonable exploitation of the riverbank resources. In the future, with the changes of the socio-economic background, the three cities in Middle Jiangsu Province should integrate the riverbank resource further, transform the development mode, and make sure that limited riverbank resource can exert maximum benefits.

With the rapid development of urbanization and industrialization, urban population growth, economic development, resources energy consumption and urban spatial expansion produce marked impacts on ecological environment; at the same time, the ecological environment through the environment selection, funds fight and policy constraint on urban development; environmental degradation, resource depletion, ecological destruction and a series of problems are increasingly highlighted, environmental problems have been the restricting problem of regional economic development. Exploring the relationship between economic development and ecological environment has been the hot topic, it is the inevitable requirement of urban sustainable development strategy. In this paper we took the Pan Yangtze River Delta as the research object. We used the improved entropy method to calculate the economic development and the comprehensive index of ecological environment system. Then we used the coupling-coordination model to analyze economic development and ecological environment system coupling-coordination and its evolution. Finally through the economic development and ecological environment system score ranking classification quadrant, we proposed some urban economic development suggestions in the Pan Yangtze River Delta. The results showed that: (1)the coupling of economic development and ecological environment was between 0.5 and 0.8 during 1999-2013, on the whole located in the running-in stage; while the coordination degree of economic development and ecological environment was between 0.3 and 0.5, generally presenting a moderate coupled coordination; (2)economic development and ecological environmental system coupling and coordination degree raised in the Pan Yangtze River Delta during 1999-2013, but the economic development and ecological environment comprehensive evaluation index system was negatively correlated; (3)in the future, the south of Jiangsu, Wanjiang belt and Hangzhou-Ningbo region need to adjust the industrial structure, improve the environment of urban economic development; and the north of Jiangsu, the west of Anhui and the southwest of Zhejiang need to strengthen urban economic development inputs such as infrastructure and technology, transfer the ecological environment advantage into urban economic development advantage. Meanwhile, it should be pointed out that, this paper also has certain limitation. In this paper economic development and ecological environment system are divided into different subsystems, using the improved entropy method assignment, it has certain scientific and reference, but there are not comprehensive about indicators, need to deepen analysis indicators selection; in addition, we analyzed the coupling-coordinate pattern evolution of economic development and ecological environment system in the Pan Yangtze river delta from 1999 to 2013, but failed to reveal the influence factor and driving mechanism of the pattern generation and evolution, it is also a focus on strengthening direction in this paper.

Based on census data, we investigated the changes of population distribution pattern and its reasons of Hubei Province from 1982 to 2010, using spatial analysis methods. The results showed as follows. (1) The population distribution of Hubei Province presented significant spatial differences. At a regional scale, there appeared a population gradient in the population distribution from east to west, and the gradient gap was expanding. At a city scale, Wuhan had always been the city with the highest population density, Shen-Nong-Jia, En-Shi, Shi-Yan and Yi-Chang had always been the cities with the lowest. At a county scale, the population distribution pattern was basically stable. Population density of the counties was lower in western Hubei mountainous area, but was higher in Jiang-Han Plain and Plains along the Yangtze River. And population density polarization was obvious, population of the ultrahigh population density area and the high population density area was getting more and more intensive. At a provincial scale, regions with high population density had a situation of tripartite confrontation in a long-term trend, and the gravity center of population had always been located at the east of the geometric center, and it continued to migrate to the east area. (2) The reasons of the population distribution pattern of Hubei Province were multi-faceted. First, physical geography difference was the determinant. The population density had a weak positive correlation with annual average sunshine hours and annual average temperature, but had an obvious negative correlation with altitude and gradient. Secondly, social-economic development reshaped the population distribution on the base of nature reasons, and the population density had a significant positive correlation with economic density. Thirdly, regional strategies played a guiding role in the population distribution changes. It was obvious that the changes of high population density area were affected by regional development policies. Last but not least, the development history had also affected the layout in a certain extent. Most of the early development areas had always been the densely populated areas. On the contrary, sparsely populated areas were mostly developed later. For instance, the western mountains of Hubei was the latest development area which also had the lowest population density.

Population is a vital indicator of socioeconomic development and urban development planning, especially for developing countries like China. Accurate and high resolution information of population distribution is an important prerequisite to study human-land relationships. However, census data for any given field are inadequately to demonstrate the internal differences of population distribution. In this paper we tried to solve this problem by spatializing the population across Jiangsu Province, which is located in east China. Spatialization of statistical population is one of the vital means to achieve the integration of demographic data and spatial data. Moreover, it tends to reconstruct the spatial features of demographic statistics and supports the sustainable development of the region by providing relative data. In order to link the field between aggregated census data and geo-coded data, various techniques were used to disaggregate the census data. The satellite-measured DMSP/OLS night-time light imagery has been widely used for regional level mapping of socioeconomic activities due to its high temporal resolution, free availability and wide swath. However, because of the coarse resolution and data saturation of DMSP/OLS data, the limitations of applying this data source need to be taken into account. In this paper, population spatial processing is carried out by means of utilizing the theory and technology of RS and GIS. Specifically, data sources include three aspect: DMSP/OLS (night-time satellite imagery of operational line-scan system sensors on board of the defense meteorological satellite program); land-use data (the data was collected from the global nature recourses and it consists of six kinds and 21 subcategories in Jiangsu Province), and the sixth census data. It is proved that all the resources can be used to acquire the achievement, such as population distribution in certain area in China even in the world. Based on the analysis and the methods discussed above, SLM (Spatial Lag Regression Model) was used for population density estimation. We derived a population distribution map at 1 km×1 km grid cells in Jiangsu Province in 2010. In addition, we get the measures of fit (R-squared) of the model 0.93. According to the experiment, the validation of the resulting maps at county-level and town-level showed that average absolute value is comparatively high especially for those with high population density. That is to say, accuracy assessment results show that the DMSP/OLS night-time satellite data and land use data are suitable for restoration the spatial distribution of population and these data could characterize more explicit details. The accuracy of some region that the study observed tends to decline due to the fact that the population density is either too high or extremely low due to spatial heterogeneity. We conclude that a higher accuracy grid would be generated if more ancillary factors associated with population spatialization were incorporated in the future.

Nitrate (NO₃^-) contamination of surface water and ground water is an environmental problem in many regions across the world. Nowadays, with rapid industrialization, economic and population growth and intensive human activities (such as the discharge of industrial and domestic sewage, increased use of N-containing organic and inorganic fertilizers, animal manure, leakage of fossil fuels, etc.), the concentration of nitrate has raised increasingly and posed a serious threat to water environment, thereby causing the widespread concern of hydrological ecologists. Increased nitrate concentration in the water body has a serious impact on human health and environments. In order to safeguard drinking water supplies and control contamination effectively, it is of great importance to effectively identify the nitrate pollution sources of water body. Nitrate pollution originates from multiple sources via different pathways as point or diffuse sources: mineral nitrogen fertilizers and animal manure in agriculture, domestic or industrial nitrogen-bearing wastewater, atmospheric deposition, mineralization of soil organic nitrogen and biological nitrogen fixation. The traditional methods to identify the nitrate pollution sources are by investigating land use types of study area and combining the characteristics of local water chemistry, however, the results are relatively rough. In recent years, stable nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) and oxygen (δ¹⁸O) isotope data of NO₃^- have been frequently used to identify NO₃^- sources in water environment, because the isotopic composition of N and O in NO₃^- is generally different among various NO₃^- sources such as atmospheric N₂, soil, chemical fertilizers, and sewage and manure. Nevertheless, the stable isotope technology also has limitations because of the multiple NO₃^- sources and isotope fractionation caused by N-transformation processes. This review systematically summarizes the typical δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O-NO₃^- ranges of known NO₃^- sources, introduced the multiple isotope technology combined to identify NO₃^- sources in water environment, and presents mixing models and future development directions to quantify the contributions of different NO₃^- sources. Based on the previous researches about the application of stable isotope methods, we suggest that in the future it is important to combine multiple isotope technology to identify NO₃^- sources in water environment. In addition, future research hotspot will be quantification of the contribution of different sources of NO₃^- by using stable isotopes simultaneously, in combination with mathematical models.

Suitability evaluation of reserved land resources provides a scientific basis for reasonable exploitation and utilization of unused lands. It's also a foundation for effectively agricultural structure adjustment to reasonable suitability evaluation of reserved land resources. Suitability evaluation of reserved land resources plays an important role in many aspects. First of all, it can be used to ensure effective utilization of regional reserved land resources. Secondly, the regional ecological environment can be improved through suitability evaluation of reserved land resources. Thirdly, in the process of suitability evaluation of reserved land resources, the structure and layout of land use can be optimized. The purpose of this study is to provide reference for the policy decision making and management of subsequent land reclamation work. In this paper we took the whole unused lands in Fanchang County as the evaluating object. The reserved land resources were preliminary screening based on the consideration of the impact of regional natural and human factors on reserved land resources development. And on this basis a suitability evaluating indicator system was established, which included four aspects, i.e., terrian condition, soil condition, irrigation and drainage conditions, and locational conditions. A multi-suitability evaluation model of reserved land resources by introducing the niche-fitness method was constructed. The means of weighted average and limiting factor models were adopted to quantitatively analyze niche-fitness and restrictive factors for cultivated land, garden land and forest land. The result shows that the proportion of reserved land resources that could not be developed is 59.38%. The total area of reserved land resources that could be developed is 387.03 hm², which has little influence on the ecological environment. The habitat conditions in Fanchang County are really suitable for different land use types. Suitability evaluation result of one land use type shows that the niche-fitness peak value in Fanchang County is reaching 0.966 5, and the suitability of cultivated land is the highest, which is at grade 1 and 2, accounting for 84.09%, garden land which is at grade 1 and 2 accounting for 72.46%, forest land which is at grade 1 and 2 accounting for 82.30%. In terms of niche-fitness evaluation, area of cultivated land ranks first, forest land comes next, and garden land is the last. Drainage condition, pH, and barrier layer depth are the primary niche factors which restrict the development and utilization of reserved land resources in the area. We concluded that, to improve the ecological niche of various land use types in the study area, and to improve the habitat conditions of reserved land resources development and utilization, in the future we should pay more attention to the land quality management, to strengthen the construction of irrigation and water conservancy facilities, and to make it suitable for the needs of the development and utilization.

In order to reveal the biomass allometry of Chinese fir plantation at high altitudes, an investigation was conducted in the Dabieshan Mountains in Anhui Province. A total of 23 sampling plots (20 m×20 m) was set up in Chinese fir plantations with different ages (10, 22, 45, 48 and 50 years old) and 18 trees with different diameters and heights were sampled for biomass measurement. A total of 7 biomass models were adopted to estimate the biomass of whole tree and organs with D, D², DH and D²H, respectively for the independent variables. There were totally 35 biomass models fitted. The results showed that the power function models fitted the data best, but the polynomial models were poor. The optimal models for branch, trunk, roots and whole tree were power function models in the form of W=aD^b. However, the optimal models for foliage was polynomial models in the form of W=a+bD²+cD⁴. The carbon concentrations in different organs varied from 46.64% to 53.13%. The carbon concentrations of over-matured stands (45-50 year-old) were ranked as order of bark > root > foliage > branch > trunk. The carbon concentration was higher in roots than in branches and foliage, while for the young- and middle-aged stands the carbon concentration was significantly lower in roots than in the aboveground organs. The carbon storage in different organs of Chinese fir was ordered as trunk > branch > root > foliage. The order of carbon storage for the over-matured stands by organs was trunk > root > branch > foliage. The biomass carbon storages in the above-mentioned Chinese fir stands ranged from 59.39 (10-year-old) to 201.25 (48-year-old) Mg C/hm². In addition, our results demonstrated that the underground biomass and its carbon storage of Chinese fir plantation increased with the stand age, with a range of 14.84%-23.79% for the root biomass carbon storage to the stand total at this higher altitude. This suggests that the higher altitude environment tends to favor underground biomass accumulation of Chinese fir plantation, which can be important to increase soil organic carbon accumulation.

Submerged macrophytes are the key component of lake ecosystems. Studying the distribution of submerged macrophytes and the influencing factors of water environment is of significance for the establishment of vegetation restoration strategies. Field surveys for submerged macrophytes were carried out at 25 different sites in typical wetlands of Poyang Lake in May, 2013. Systematic sampling was conducted within the field sites and the water environment factors concentration values were determined in the laboratory. The biomass distribution map of the submerge plants were derived based on the field investigation data by using GIS methods, and the main influencing factors were analyzed by using Principal Component Analysis(PCA)and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). The results indicated that Vallisneria natans is one of the main submerged plants and the widespread species in the wetland of Poyang Lake. Hydrilla verticillata is the dominant species in Banghu Lake and Baishahu Lake, and V.natans is also the dominant species in Baishazhou Lake and Longkou Wetland. The major associated species included Ceratophyllum demersum, Potamogeton malaianus, P.crispus, Najas minor, N.marina, V.spinulosa, and Ottelia alismoides. The submerged plant communities in the study areas were divided into six classes by Two-way indicator species sorting methods. Most submerged macrophytes were still in the initial stage of growth and the biomass was still relatively low in the early of May, only the biomass of P.crispus was relatively high. The phenomenon of submerged and floating-leaved plants coexisting in the study areas was obvious. The results from PCA showed that the large coefficients of the first principal components included water depth, total phosphorus, and dissolved oxygen, while the large coefficients of the second principal components included pH value, chemical oxygen demand, and water transparency, which were the key factors affected the distribution of submerged plants. The results from CCA showed that the effects of water depth, total phosphorus and total nitrogen on V.natans and H.verticillata were obvious, and water transparency was the main factor which affected P.malaianus.

Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China. Affected by the monsoon climate, the seasonal and inter-annual changes of its water area are obvious, and the remarkable differences exist in the internal water area. Optical classification of lake water is of great significance for retrieval of lake water quality parameters and monitoring of lake water quality. Taking Poyang Lake as the study area, in this paper, the Poyang Lake waters were divided into four categories based on morphological characteristics of the measured spectral reflectance data, i.e., Special turbidi, Medium turbidi, Mild turbid, Generally Clear. We analyzeddd the results of each water body type. Considering the measured spectral data are limited to some discrete points of the lake area, which are not enough for the observation of the spatial distribution and dynamic change of all different water body types in Poyang Lake area, we use remote sensing image to observe the type of whole lake water body. Then, we selected some sampling points on the Landsat 8 OLI remote sensing images , and established a classification algorithm based on the slope according to their spectral shape. The Poyang Lake water bodies were finally divided into five types using a decision tree model: Extremely Turbid, Medium Turbid, Mild Turbid, Generally Clear, and Particularly Clear. Results from image classification were found to be consistent with the field observations. When the model is applied to other periods of remote sensing images for classification of Poyang Lake water body, comparison of image classification results showed that Poyang Lake presented three, four and four different types of water bodies in 2002, 2005 and 2009, respectively, and the water turbidity range showed dynamic changes. Turbid water areas were mainly distributed in the channel of Poyang Lake's water flow into the Yangtze River and near the Songmen Mountain at the end of September or at the beginning of October (in 2002, 2005, 20013), and turbid water areas were mainly distributed near the river estuary in Poyang Lake at the early May in 2009, the channel of Poyang Lake's water flow into the Yangtze River and near the Songmen Mountain failed to present a special turbidity. It was found that optical classification of lake water can help monitor the spatial and temporal variability of Poyang Lake water optical quality.

A lot of open space including farmland is being invaded and occupied because of economic development and city expansion. Sustainable use of farmland is increasingly concerned for the ecological functions, and non-market value of farmland has been recognized and accepted widely. The key issue of rational use of farmland is characterizing the spatial distribution pattern of farmland conversion and identifying the locations of hotspots and cold spots of farmland conversion. In this paper, farmland conversion data were extracted by using spatial statistics and spatial analyst functions in ArcGIS based on the land use data between 1990 and 2011. To explore the characteristics of spatial distribution and moving route of spatial agglomeration districts of farmland conversion, spatial autocorrelation analysis is applied to different periods of farmland conversion in the Wuhan City. Based on the analysis, the main conclusions are as follows: Firstly, the global Moran's I index indicated that the farmland conversion in the Wuhan City showed significant global spatial autocorrelation during the all four periods from 1990 to 2011, and the aggregation intensity displayed an increasing-decreasing tendency. The aggregation intensity trend reflected that the farmland conversion in the Wuhan City presented spread and out of order in space in the period from 2005 to 2011. Secondly, Empirical Bayes methods could increase the stationarity of variables while the local Moran's I statistic is computed for rates or proportions. So we used the local indicators of spatial association cluster map with the Empirical Bayes methods to show the location of cluster areas of farmland conversion in the Wuhan City and the spatial distribution of different types of aggregation (e.g., low-low, low-high and high-high). The areas presenting high-high type clustering are exactly the hotspots of farmland conversion. The conversion between the types of aggregations indicates that low-high type clustering is a potential high-high type clustering, and low-high type clustering will have a greater probability to convert into high-high type clustering. So low-high type clustering present the priority regulation areas in the perspective of the protection of farmland resources. The number of accumulation areas continued rising in the Wuhan City, and the leading role of farmland conversion has changed from low level of farmland conversion areas to high level ones. Both these description means farmland protection is becoming more difficult than before. Thirdly, the location of cluster areas of farmland conversion in the next period can be pre-estimated through drawing the moving route of different types of aggregation. The centers of gravity of low-high type clustering and high-high type clustering are expected to appear to the southeast of centroid in Wuhan, and that of low-low type clustering is expected to appear to the western. Recognizing the spatial characteristics of farmland conversion by spatial autocorrelation analysis is the foundation to protect farmland effectively and use efficiently. The research results and analysis methods can provide a theoretical reference and basis for the rational allocation and regulation of land resources.

Land use change is one of the main research subjects of global environmental change and sustainable development. Land use models are useful for disentangling complex socio-economic and biophysical factors that influence the rate and spatial pattern of land use change, and for estimating the impacts of land use changes. Furthermore, models can support the exploration of future land use change under different scenarios and conditions. Taking the Chongqing metropolitan area as a case, we used 120 m × 120 m raster data and the SPSS and ArcGIS 10.1 software to construct a dynamic simulation model in different scenarios of land use/cover change. The CLUE-S model, which is based on comprehensive considerations on the basis of natural and human factors, can simulate small-scale land use change scenarios with characteristics of integrity, openness, spatiality and competitive efficiency. Firstly, 6 key driving factors, including elevation, slope (0°-5°, 5°-15° and >15°), distance to rivers, distance to roads, distance to local financial revenue and so on, were identified by using logistic stepwise regression method; Secondly, land use data in 2000 and 2005 were used respectively to simulate the spatial pattern of land use in 2005 and 2010 for the main city of Chongqing. Lastly, the simulated land use map in 2010 was compared with the actual land use map in 2010 to validate simulation results. The model considers various macro driving factors and the relationship between the land use change and consider the various driving factors of land use/cover change. The SPSS software is used to determine the various factors from the regression model, in this way the precision of the simulation results are improved. The overall simulation accuracy was achieved to more than 86%, suggesting that the CLUE-S model has a good applicability in simulating land use change in the main city of Chongqing and can be used to predict future land use change. The CLUE-S model can provide a scientific basis for land-use planning and urban planning in the future. The simulation results show that, by 2030, wetland, artificial land, forest, cultivated land and other land present a decreasing trend. In contrast, grassland is slightly growing in all scenarios. Cultivated land and artificial land present the most significant changes. With time, cultivated land and forest land area are increasingly close in terms of total area.

Ecosystem services are the products and services in which human beings get supports from ecological structure, processes and functions for their life. They form and maintain the environmental conditions and utilities for human beings to survive and develop. Ecosystem services include ecosystem service functions and ecosystem service values. Ecosystem service value is the monetary manifestation of ecosystem service. And it is related to many factors such as the understanding ability of the ecosystem services for human beings, the scarcity of ecosystem service and the dependence of economic and social development upon ecosystem services and so on. Some representative researchers, such as Costanza and Daily, clarified the concept and classification of ecosystem services and developed the calculation methods. Based on their work, a number of domestic and foreign scholars evaluated the economic values of forest, grassland, wetland, urban land and other ecosystems on different scales. Land use/land cover change (LUCC) is one of the important parts and a main cause of global environmental changes. It not only brings great changes in surface structure, but also greatly affects the structure and function of regional ecosystems. LUCC will produce impacts on ecosystem service values inevitably, both positively and negatively. Carrying on the research of the impact of land use changes on ecosystem services has great significance on land use planning, land decision making, ecological environment protection and promoting the sustainable development of society, economic and ecological environment. Land use change and ecosystem service value coupling research has become one of internationally hot research fields of ecology and geography. By looking into a large number of relevant literatures and analyzing the concepts of land use change and ecosystem services and their influencing factors, we summarized the main research findings and methods about the impacts of land use areas, land use types and land use spatial patterns on ecosystem services. Also, we analyzed the defects of existing studies though analyzing relevant literatures comprehensively, including the limitation of dynamic assessment methods of ecosystem services, absence of dynamic evaluation models of ecosystem services which is suitable for China geographical and social and economic conditions, shortage of the researches on ecological mechanism, and the less of relevant application researches in practice. Finally, we suggested to perform the further studies as follows: (1) strengthen the researches of dynamic assessment methods of ecosystem services and the spatio-temporal dynamic assessment models; (2) intensify the studies of the ecological mechanism of land use changes effect on ecosystem services; (3) pay more attention to the integration and application researches of ecosystem services under land use changes, including optimization of land use structure and spatial pattern, providing a scientific basis for formulating ecological compensation policies and standards, and building regional economic accounting systems that integrate ecosystem service values.

For the purpose of protecting fishes, the ecological base flow process of hydropower projects on mountainous rivers was studied by taking into account the Prenant's schizothoracin spawning requirements. On the basis of prototype observation and by using the ecological hydraulic method and habitat simulation method, the determination method of this kind of ecological base flow process was established. The established method was applied and analyzed by using the Xuecheng Hydropower Station on the Zagunao River as the background which is a medium mountainous river in Sichuan Province. By using the prototype observation method, the suitability of the standards for hydraulic parameters of fish habitats was analyzed. By using the ecological hydraulic method, the hydraulic parameters of fish habitats at the water reducing reach of the Xuecheng Hydropower Station at different flow rates were numerically simulated. In this paper, 11 conditions were taken into consideration, including a site investigation condition and 10 simulation conditions of different flow conditions. The investigation reflected hydrological conditions and habitat characteristics of actual situation, and provided a comparison to simulation conditions. And the concentration of spawning period of fish was selected as the investigation period. According to the simulation results and in combination with the standards for hydraulic parameters of fish habitats, the minimum discharge volume for the survival of fishes in the Xuecheng Hydropower Station was obtained. The minimum discharge volume was 17.43 m³/s, if the flow is lower than this number, the quality of fish habitat would be affected. By using the habitat simulation method, the available habitat area of the centralized spawning site in the water reducing reach of the Xuecheng Hydropower Station at different flow rates during the spawning period was calculated, and the discharge volume corresponding to the maximum available habitat area was obtained. When the peak flow in river coursed at 20.91 m³/s, the WUA of fishing spawning area in the Xuecheng Hydropower Station would be maximized. When the flow was less than 20.91 m³/s, the WUA would reduce. By integrating the minimum discharge volume and the discharge volume corresponding to the maximum available habitat area and by considering the requirements of hydrological regime required by spawning, the ecological base flow process required for the spawning was established for the Xuecheng Hydropower Station. Due to the consideration of the requirements of minimum flow rate by fish survival and the requirements of hydrological regime by spawning, the established ecological base flow process of hydropower projects which takes into account the spawning requirements can better meet the spawning requirements of fishes, and can be used as the constraints for the operation and dispatching of a hydropower station.

Chongming Island is a typical estuary alluvial island, seawater is upstream to the island, resulting that the soil salinity and moisture are different. It is unknown whether Phragmites australis population that are widely distributed in the Chongming Island is different across habitats, as affected by soil salinity. This research is to answer this question and to study the ecological Stoichiometry of P. australis and soil under the soil salinity gradient. We assume that the ecological stoichiometry of P. australis and soil will change under the soil salinity gradient. The object are P. australis and soil in the Chongming Island. The concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and the stoichiometry of them for P. australis and soil in three wetlands with different soil salinities were measured, to clarify the ecological adaptability of P. australis and its limiting factors in the Chongming Island. The results showed: 1) the average concentrations of soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and ratio are 15.01, 0.69, 0.86 g/kg; 22.09, 21.87, 0.96. The average concentrations of P. australis carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and ratios are 413.17, 10.75, 2.53 g/kg; 41.49, 293.58, 7.29. 2) With increasing soil salinity, the concentrations of soil carbon, nitrogen increased after the first reduced, they were maximum under the highest soil salinities, but the concentrations of soil phosphorus are minimum under the lowest soil salinities. The stoichiometry ratio of soil showed a steady increase. The concentrations of plant carbon and phosphorus were maximum under the lowest soil salinities, suggesting that plants nutrient absorption were effected by soil salinities. The C/P, N/P of plants were increasing with increasing soil salinity, which indicated P. australis would adapt the higher soil salinities and increase the nutrition use efficiency when it grow under higher soil salinities. The concentrations of plant nitrogen were continuously reduced with increasing soil salinity. 3) The concentrations of soil carbon, phosphorus had positive correlations with thoseof plants phosphorus, C/P, N/P ratios, while the concentration of soil nitrogen had positive correlations with C/P, negative correlations with N/P ratios of plants; the C/N in the soil only had negative correlations with phosphorus concentrations of plants. 4) The soil carbon, nitrogen elements was poor, but the phosphorus were abundant; the average N/P ratio were lower than 14, which indicate the P. australis growth were limited primarily by nitrogen.

Currently, there are many methods for evaluating heavy metal pollution, and most of these methods are based on deterministic approaches rather than uncertainty evaluation methods. Recently, the Blind Number Theory is attracting more and more international attention for the evaluation of heavy metal pollution. This theory is based on an uncertainty point of view. Optimizing geo-accumulation model based on the Blind Number Theory is an uncertainty evaluation method, and it combines the principle of maximum degree of membership and the weighting degree of membership. Application of the Blind Number Theory in the area of pollution evaluation was different from the traditional deterministic pollution assessment method. The Blind Number Theory is suitable for the coexistence and uncertainty complex systems, especially suitable for evaluation of heavy metal contamination. Considering that the pollution assessment system involves many uncertain characteristics of information, the blind number optimization geo-accumulation model was applied to evaluate the heavy metal pollution of the sediments in the different types of lakes from the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River based on the Blind Number Theory. Three typical heavy metals including Copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) were selected as the main indicators for heavy metals contamination evaluation. According to the equality of the spatial distribution from the computed possible value and reliability as well as the rating reliability level, the pollution degree and level were identified, and the influence of the local pollution on overall regional pollution was reduced. The results showed that the spatial distributions of heavy metals from the surface sediments of Xianghu Lake, Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake were not uniform. The heavy metal pollution of the surface sediments from Xiang Lake showed a trend of Pb > Cu > Zn. Pb was a moderate pollution, and Cu was slightly polluted, but Zn was clean. The heavy metal pollution in the sediments of Poyang Lake showed a trend of Cu > Pb > Zn. Cu was a moderate pollution, Pb was a partially moderate pollution, and Zn was a partially heavy pollution. The heavy metal pollution from the sediments of Dongting Lake was Cu ≈ Pb ≈ Zn, at a level of slight pollution. The blind number optimization geo-accumulation model was a feasible method, which was basically the same as the qualitative evaluation results, but more reliable to the determination of the pollution level. Moreover, the optimizing geo-accumulation model based on the Blind Number Theory could make the deficiencies of the traditional deterministic method and it could demonstrate the heavy metal accumulation pollution degree of the sediments in the evaluated regions more authentically and objectively. This method could provide new ideas for the methods of heavy metal pollution evaluation, and it can also provide a more reliable basis for environmental management and decision-making.

In recent years, there are more and more researchers who conducted studies on the Poyang Lake about the water and sediment transport. However, they mainly focused on statistical analysis of water and sediment data at five hydrologic stations on the Ganjiang River, Fuhe River, Xinjiang River, Raohe River, Xiushui River. The data were obtained from 1956 to 2005 and the missing data were not interpolated in those researches.In this study we took the variation characteristics of runoff and sediment transport of the Poyang Lake as a whole. Studies of water and sediment transport characteristics provide evidence for researching the change in the morphology, and could give reasonable guidance in exploitation and utilization of soil and water resources in the Poyang Lake. Firstly, we used two methods to interpolate the lack of measurement data in the Poyang Lake from 1956 to 2011. Secondly, the variation characteristics of runoff and sediment transport at important hydrometric stations of the Poyang Lake were analyzed by using mathematical statistics, the double accumulative curve of annual runoff and sediment and the Mann-Kendall method, based on the data from 1956 to 2011. Then we studied the causes of the variation characteristics of runoff and sediment transport in recent decades. The results showed that: 1) The annual distribution of runoff into the lake was consistent with sediment load, however, the phenomenon of the Yangtze River water and sediment flow backward influenced the annual distribution of runoff and sediment transport out of the lake; 2) The trend of the annual variation of the suspension sediment load into the Poyang lake began to intensively decline from the 1990s, but the suspension sediment load out of the Poyang lake presented a whole descending trend from 1956 to 2000, the data also demonstrated that the suspension sediment load out the Poyang lake is on the increase from 2001 to 2011; 3) Sediment load into the Poyang lake appeared to be a mutation point around 1998, sediment load out of the Poyang lake occurred around 2003. 4) Change of runoff transport tended to be a relatively stable state in the 56 years, but in recent decades, it has close relationship with the influence of the precipitation in the Poyang Lake basin. Then change of sediment transport of Poyang Lake is relatively complicated. Sediment load into the lake was significantly reduced, but sediment load out of the lake increased obviously. The reasons caused reduced sediment load into the lake include: ① There were many reservoirs in five rivers of Poyang Lake, which had function of water storage and sediment retaining, such as Wanan reservoir. ② The government strengthened soil and water conservation in the Poyang lake basin so that this measure can obviously decrease sediment load. ③ The downstream of the five rivers were infected by the sand-excavation on the river channel, which led to reduced sediment load into the lake. However, there were many reasons which induced increasing sediment load out of the lake: ① The depth of river bed was decreased in Hukou. ② Influenced by the Three-Gorges Project, gradient ration about the Poyang Lake and Yangtze River was increased. ③ Sand mining could cause the disturbance of the river bed so that the river flowing velocity became faster.

Emissions initial allocation (EIA) is the basis and starting point of emission trading, and the allocation models and the empirical analysis need further study. Five different allocation models including regional population model (RPM), economic amount model (EAM), historical emission model(HEM), environmental capacity model (ECM) and comprehensive distribution model (CDM) were used to measure EIA amount of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen in 11 administrative regions of Poyang Lake watershed. Results showed that the distribution patterns of COD and ammonia nitrogen EIA were almost the same in our study. EIA amount was higher using EAM than other models in Nanchang, Xinyu and Yingtan administrative regions. EIA amount was higher using PAM than other models in Shangrao and Ji'an administrative regions. EIA amount was higher using HEM than other models in Jiujiang and Jingdezhen administrative regions. EIA amounts were higher using ECM and CDM than other models in Ganzhou and YiChun administrative regions, respectively. Based on CDM, EIA amount was the highest in Ganzhou, followed by Nanchang, Jiujiang, Ji'an, Yichun, Fuzhou and Shangrao, and was the lowest in Jingdezhen, Pingxiang, Xinyu and Yingtan administrative regions. EIA amount varied in different models and CDM would be the most reasonable models in Poyang Lake watershed. In order to promote regional coordinated development of economy, society and ecological environment, we suggest to strictly implement EIA amount measured by CDM for each of 11 administrative regions in Poyang Lake watershed.

The Holocene sediment profile was surveyed in detail and sampled systematically at the Liaowadian site on the first river terrace in the upper Hanjiang valley. The stratigraphic and sedimentological characteristics, pedogenic modification characteristics and the profile structure were investigated in the field. Magnetic susceptibility, particle-size distribution, geochemical characteristics and optical simulated luminescence (OSL) age were analyzed in laboratory. Based on the stratigraphic correlation and OSL dating, the chronologic framework of the LWD profile was established as follows: Malan loess L₁ was accumulated in the last glacial period; the transitional loess L_t was accumulated in the early Holocene (11 500 ~ 8 500 a B.P.);the palaeosols (S₀) was formed in the middle Holocene(8 500 ~ 3 100 a B.P.);Holocene loess L₀ was accumulated in the late Holocene (3 100 a B.P. so far). A detailed study comparing the contents of major elements, content of clay, magnetic susceptibility, Rb/Sr ratio, CIA, (K₂O/N₂O), (CaO+K₂O+N₂O)/Al₂O₃ was conducted in this paper to explore the environmental features in the Holocene. The analytical results show that, Na, Mg and Al are relatively intensive leached, K, Fe and Ca are leached in a certain extent, and the element mobility and migration ability of the major elements are ranked in the following order: Na>Mg>Al>K>Fe>Ca>Si. The distributions of content of clay, magnetic susceptibility, Rb/Sr ratio, CIA, (K₂O/N₂O), (CaO+K₂O+N₂O)/Al₂O₃ imply that during the palaeosols (S₀) formation, chemical weathering was intense, and the climate was warmer and wetter, the leaching and migrating was intense, the stage of Malan loess L₁ accumulation, weathering intensity was weakened, and the climate turned to be relatively dry, the leaching and migrating was not conspicuous. During the stage of Holocene loess L₀ accumulation, the climate turned to be improved, the weathering intensity was between those during palaeosols (S₀) formation and Malan loess L₁ accumulation, the leaching and migrating was weaker. The CIA, (K₂O/N₂O) and (CaO+K₂O+N₂O)/Al₂O₃ of 205-165 cm layer during palaeosols (S₀) formation occurred significant changes: the CIA and(K₂O/N₂O) have an obvious peak area, and the(CaO+K₂O+N₂O)/Al₂O₃ have an obvious low ebb area, which indicate the weathering and pedogenic modification was intense and there may be a secondary environmental change that the climate became relatively warm and wet. The palaeoflood slackwater deposits (SWD) was lied in the middle-upper of the profile, presenting gray-white(10 YR6/1), homogeneous texture, loose, very uniform fine slit, the stratigraphic boundary of its upper and lower adjacent showed a mutation relationship and clear boundaries. To direction of vertical bank of river tip off quickly, the palaeoflood SWD samples was OSL dated to 1 810-1 710 a B.P. (AD 200-300), which is equal to the Eastern Han dynasty to Wei Jin era (AD 25-316), indicating that a dramatic climate change event for the upper-Hangjiang catchment occurred in the end of Eastern Han dynasty during the late Holocene, which caused catastrophic floods in the upper-Hangjiang catchment.

Studying the correlations of biogenic elements between terrestrial and aquatic systems is essential for understanding the source and migration processes of these elements in the whole watershed. To comprehend the spatial distributions and correlations of total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in the aquatic and terrestrial components of the Xiangxi River watershed, we investigated concentrations of these three biogenic elements in riparian soil, stream water and stream sediments from 76 sites. The results showed that more than 60% sampling sites belonged to "abundant" or "relative abundant" condition for TOC and TN in riparian soil, and the concentrations of TOC, TN, and TP in the river sediments were markedly higher than those of many other rivers. The concentrations of TP in stream water that adjoin phosphorus-mining area were dramatically higher than those of other reaches. From the perspective of stream orders, the concentrations of TOC in the riparian soil were significantly higher in the first-order sites than those of the fourth-order sites. TN, C/P ratio and N/P ratio of the riparian soil and N/P ratio of the sediments were notably higher in the first-and second-order sites than that of the fourth-order sites, but the C/P ratio of the sediments was considerably higher in the first-order than the third-and fourth-order sites. Considering stream water, there was no significant difference among stream orders for neither the concentrations of the elements nor their ratios. Our findings imply that fertilizer utilization and phosphorus exploitation had significant impacts on spatial distributions and correlations between terrestrial and aquatic systems of these three biogenic elements in the watershed.

Soil erosion affected by a variety of natural factors and human activities has been a major concern to the public for decades. It is difficult for modelling soil loss using former soil erosion model to determine sediment transport coefficient, while soil erosion distributed models need a large number of input data. Among soil erosion models, the universal soil loss equation (USLE) is the most widely used and misused soil loss estimation equation in the world. The USLE was originally applied to the prediction of soil losses from agriculture in the USA, in order to preserve soil resources, but has been extended for use in numerous countries. USLE is an empirical equation that predicts annual average, long-term soil erosion, but does not simulate dynamic and continuous changes. The MUSLE model estimates sediment yield on a single storm basis and the output is interpreted as sediment yield coming at the outlet of the catchment. This is computed based on a combination of runoff and catchment characteristics. In addition, the integration of GIS has evolved from the advances in geospatial techniques and the increasing availability of spatial databases. The SCS-CN model and the MUSLE model were used to model soil yield for every rainfall. A small watershed, Songjiagou watershed in Three Gorges Area (TGA), was chosen to validate the SCS-CN and the MUSLE model applicability based on rainfall, vegetation coverage, soil, and DEM data. The accuracy of the simulation values of the model is in an acceptable range. Soil loss in the watershed in 2013 was 3 923 t, 80% of which was from the 5 largest rainfall events. Sediment yield from different land uses varies considerably. 81.54% of sediment loss was from cultivated land, which accounted for 44.63%. However, forestland with an area of 47.61% of the whole watershed, only contributed to 17.63% of the sediment loss. Grade differences in slope had a great influence on sediment yield. Only 1.75% of sediment was from area with slope in the 0-8 degrees, while the area with slope more than 25 degrees contributing to 55.77% sediment. The reason of larger sediment simulation value compared with the measured values may be pond interception effect. The role of pond in changing hydrologic effect and migration of sediment need follow-up study.

Ecological carrying capacity (EC) is a hot topic that has drawn much attention of domestic and foreign scholars to analyze the regional sustainable development from the perspective of interaction between ecological subsystem, resources and environment subsystem and socio-economic subsystem. We calculated the ecological carrying capacity of 2001-2010 by analyzing the remote sensing image data with ENVI4.8 and Arcgis9.3. We combined relevant socio-economic data and selected 18 indicators according to the actual situation of the Dianchi Lake Basin. We used correlation analysis and regression analysis to analyze the ecological carrying capacity of the Dianchi Lake Basin and its coupling relationship with ecological subsystem, resources and environment subsystem and socio-economic subsystem elements. The results showed that: (1) The total EC and per capital EC of the Dianchi Lake Basin declined rapidly by 37.3% from 2001 to 2010. The cultivated land EC declined remarkably by 52.61%, but the construction land EC went up constantly by 27.08%. (2) Ecological carrying capacity of the Dianchi Lake Basin and the three subsystem elements showed a significant correlation, and the coupling form between them presented different shapes, including "J" shape, "L" shape, "U" shape and inverted "S" shape. (3) The analysis of forming mechanism showed the advance of urbanization, rapid social and economic development caused a tremendous pressure on ecological systems, leading water carrying capacity beyond the affordability, and extensive style of economic growth in the basin has resulted in excessive consumption of resources and deterioration of the environment. The combination of these factors has significant influence on above-mentioned coupling form. The results showed that resources and environment subsystem was the foundation, ecological environment subsystem was the core and the purpose was the development of socio-economic subsystem in the socio-economic environment system of the Dianchi Lake Basin. Currently, the environmental pollution control has made great achievements. However the situation was still grim. Especially the water environmental problem is increasingly serious in the basin. To achieve sustainable economic and social development, the key point is to deal with the coordinate relations between ecosystem and economic development.

Flow break of urban streams has been an urgent issue in many cities, some technical measures should be implemented to restore the ecological environment of such rivers. To solve this problem, a case study of ecological water compensation dispatch scheme on the Funiu River, a heavily polluted river in Chongqing, was investigated in this paper. Firstly, the characteristics of the annual runoff of the Funiu River were analyzed. Monthly runoff data of the Funiu River from 1960 to 2004 was obtained using the hydrologic analogy method, and its annual average runoff was 0.245 m³/s. The concentration degree was 0.48 and concentration period was 191.4° as a result of the inner annual runoff characteristics analysis, demonstrating that duration of the wet season was nearly equal with the dry season. The rainfall was mainly concentrated in July. Meanwhile, ecological water compensation time was determined to be November to next April accordingly. Secondly, research on eco-environmental water requirement was carried out for the Funiu River, the results were shown as follows: basic ecological flows in the wet season is 0.147 m³/s, while in the dry season is 0.098 m³/s; diluting and self-cleaning water demand in the wet season is 1.45 m³/s, while in the dry season it is 0.49 m³/s. Moreover, landscape water demand, evaporation and leakage water demand, and outer river water demand is 2.546 m³/s, 0.02 m³/s and 0.02 m³/s, respectively. Above all, eco-environmental water requirement of the Funiu River is 2.586 m³/s. According to the water resource condition of the Funiu River basin, the calculated result of eco-environmental water demand is difficult to meet. Therefore, we consider that the ideas of ecological water supplement on these small seasonal rivers should be changed, plentiful and stable flow should not be pursued all the year round for the small seasonal river, it would be better to understand the connotation of eco-environmental water demand from a new perspective. Consequently, an automatic ecological water compensation dispatch scheme was brought out, aiming at reshaping the Funiu River with natural seasonal health. Furthermore, the control strategy of the make-up pump and the electric valve in the reservoir at the river source was formulated. The result showed that the technical solutions not only realized the automatically running of ecological water compensation system, but also saved 67.4% energy compared with present operation mode. The result of this research showed that the solutions could well guarantee the ecological water compensation system running continuously.

Soluble carbon during foliar litter decomposition in alpine forests plays an important role in carbon cycling in ecosystems, which is also closely related to the material and energy flow in downstream ecosystems. However, forest gaps could regulate soluble carbon dynamics during litter decomposition by changing the frequency of soil freeze-thaw cycles in winter and hydrothermal environment in growing seasons, but little information has been available. Therefore, a field litterbag experiment was conduct in an alpine forest in western Sichuan Province, China from 15 November 2012 to 31 October 2013. Foliar litter of typical arbor species (birch: Betula albo-sinensis, cypress: Sabina saltuaria, larch: Larix mastersiana and fir: Abies faxoniana) and shrub species (willow: Salix paraplesia, azalea: Rhododendron lapponicum) were selected. Samples of air-dried foliar litter were filled in nylon litterbags and placed on the forest floor with 2 cm spacing between litterbags from the gap center, canopy gap edge, extended gap edge to closed canopy in the alpine forest. The litterbags were sampled at snow formation stage, snow cover stage, snow melt stage and growing season in the first year of decomposition. The results indicated that the content of soluble carbon and soluble organic carbon from the foliar litter of the six species showed a similar dynamical tendency at the first year of litter decomposition. Both contents of soluble carbon and soluble organic carbon increased in winter, and decreased in growing season, though the content of soluble inorganic carbon decreased in the first year of litter decomposition. The maximum contents of soluble carbon and soluble organic carbon in closed canopy were observed at snow formation stage regardless of litter species, but those in gap center and extended gap edge were observed at snow cover stage. In contrast, the contents of soluble carbon, soluble organic carbon and soluble inorganic carbon decreased significantly in growing season, even less than the initial contents. Multivariate analysis displayed that the contents of soluble carbon and soluble inorganic carbon were significantly affected by forest gap in the first year of litter decomposition, but the content of soluble organic carbon only affected by forest gap in the winter. Moreover, the contents of soluble carbon and soluble organic carbon were influenced particularly by litter quality in the winter. These results suggested that the ongoing winter warming would decrease the content of soluble carbon during foliar litter decomposition by decreasing the cover-time and thickness of snow in the winter, although the decrease degree could be controlled by litter quality.

In this paper we analyze farmers' perception, behavior characteristics and evaluation to the project of soil and water conservation through field investigations. The analysis is based on a survey of farmer households in Lichuan, Hubei Province. We use logistic models to analyze the factors that affected farmers' participation behavior in the soil and water conservation projects. The results showed that farmer's perception to soil and water conservation projects was high, but their responsibility consciousness was poor. The farmers consider that the government has the main responsibility to conduct soil and water conservation. The farmers were mainly involved in controlling soil loss by participating in construction projects of soil and water conservation. However, the farmers participated little in the maintenance, organization and supervision of soil and water conservation. The education level and external environment are the mainly factors in farmers' willingness to participate into the project of soil and water conservation. The education level of farmers and the government's income measures and compensation have a significant impact on farmers' willingness to participate in soil and water conservation. The farmers' active behavior involved in soil and water and conservation has a significant relationship with the education level and the action of impeaching destruction of water and soil resources. The results had a significant importance in revealing the behavioral mechanism for farmers' willingness to participate in the governing of ecological environment.