科学研究需要把握学科的发展趋势和优先领域。影响自然地理学发展的主要因素包括社会需求、学科自身性质和其他学科的影响。自然地理学当前发展态势包括积极参与多学科研究计划、新思维和新领域的出现、模式(model)作为重要手段、在认识自然演变机理的基础上解释空间格局、成果得到更广泛应用等。未来自然地理学将出现更加综合、在全球变化的高度上进行研究、更深入地揭示过程及其动态变化的机理机制、更多运用高新技术武装、更加密切地为实现区域可持续发展服务等趋势。中国自然地理学未来的优先领域是:人类活动对全球变化的影响及适应,土地变化过程及其生态环境效应与调控,城市化过程及其资源环境效应与调控,流域地表过程与综合管理,土壤演变过程及其对土壤质量的影响,资源与生态的可持续性,污染物的区域环境过程、健康风险与控制,灾害形成机制与综合风险管理,生态系统服务功能综合评估。要加强特殊自然地理区域的综合研究,包括区域综合理论研究,寒区现代地表过程对气候变化的响应,干旱化过程与人地关系演化,湿地生态过程、服务功能与恢复模式,风成环境与风成过程及其调控,喀斯特生态系统的演变过程与可持续性,青藏高原生态屏障作用及区域生态安全,山地灾害与环境相互作用及区域生态安全。

Scientific research needs to grasp the trends and priority areas. Main factors affect the development of physical geography include the needs of society, the subject's own nature and the impact of other disciplines. At present the development of physical geography has shown such situations as participating actively in a multidisciplinary research project, the emergence of new thinking and new areas, models as important means of research, the interpretation of spatial pattern based on the understanding of mechanism of natural evolution, and wider application of the research outcomes. In the future, physical geography will be more integrated, and researches on the height of global change reveal more in-depth process and its mechanism of dynamic changes, increase use of high-tech to arm its self, and serve more closely for regional sustainable development. The future priority areas of physical geography in China are: human activities impact on and adaptation to the global change, the process of land change and its eco-environmental effects and control, the process of urbanization and its environmental-resources effects and control, surface process and integrated management of river basin, the evolutionary process of soil and its impact on soil quality, sustainability of resources and ecology, the regional environmental process, health risks and control of pollutants, formation mechanism and the comprehensive risk management of disaster, and integrated assessment of ecosystem services. The comprehensive study on special natural geographical regions should be strengthened, including theoretical study on regional integration, the response of modern surface processes in cold regions to climate change, the process of drought and the evolution of man-land relationship, wetland ecological processes and their service function and recovery model, aeolian environment and aeolian processes and their regulation, evolutionary process and sustainability of Karst ecosystems, ecological barrier role and regional ecological security of Tibet Plateau, and interactions between mountain hazards and environment and mountain ecological security.