Folk migration is a historical and social phenomenon worthy of study. However, most of folk migration in Chinese history does not have detailed written records and accurate data. Folk migration has left many traditional villages, whose settlement forms contain information on the “genes” of their folk groups and their evolution. Thus, traditional villages can be used as side evidence to reveal historical migrations. However, there is still a lack of means to study traditional settlement morphology on a large geographic scale, which makes it difficult to obtain overall universal patterns. Currently, artificial intelligence techniques for satellite remote sensing images show strong potential in earth observation. Applying these techniques is a promising way to restore the wholeness of traditional settlement patterns. In this study, we propose a remote sensing-based AI method to explore the evolution of traditional settlement morphology on a large geographic scale. In detail, a self-supervised deep learning model, called convolutional autoencoder, is applied to automatically extracting the folk prototype information of settlement forms from building footprint data and remote sensing images. The extracted folk prototype information is represented as feature vector format, which then is input to KMeans clustering algorithm to categorize the folk prototypes. In addition, cosine similarity is used to calculate the similarity space of the selected villages, in order to discover the topological relationship between the folk prototypes. Hanjiang River Basin area is taken as the study area and the traditional villages of Hakka and Teochew folk groups are the research objects of this study. The result of the convolutional autoencoder is combined with historical records of folk migration, in order to restore the process of the evolution of the settlement morphology. The results show that the prototypes of Hakka and Teochew villages exist in the basin of the Hanjiang River, and show a pattern of morphological gradual change along the migration path. From the data-driven perspective and historical records’ perspective, this article demonstrates that the Hakka and Teochew settlement prototypes derived from the migration-driven cultural fusion process have created a transitional settlement form “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix”, which combines the characteristics of Hakka and Teochew prototypes, and thus complements the existing knowledge of traditional settlement morphology. In detail, from the data-driven perspective, Type 2 is recognized as the transitional type between the Type 1 and Type 3 in the feature similarity space. Also, the villages of Type 2 are mainly located between the villages of Type 1 and Type 3 in the geographic space. From the historical records’ perspective, the villages of Type 1 and Type 3 are recognized as Hakka and Teochew villages. And the villages of Type 2 are identified as the settlement form of “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix”. In summary, the settlement form of “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix” is recognized as the transitional form between the Hakka and Teochew settlement prototypes. Using traditional villages as a medium, this article provides a feasible tool for exploring the morphological evolution of folk settlements on a large scale without manual survey and labelling. Currently, the method proposed in this article automates feature extraction, but the input remote sensing images of traditional villages still need to be manually selected by the researcher. In order to further improve the automation of traditional settlement pattern recognition, in the future, this study will combine other artificial intelligence tools to achieve automatic selection of traditional village remote sensing images and combine them with the method in this article to form a set of automated processes, which will further break through the limitations of traditional surveys, and bring more data for the study of historical population migration.
In the era of information, smart cities represent the future of urban development. The integration of intelligence can enhance the economic, environmental and social performance of cities, which is crucial for the sustainable development of urban areas. Since the reform and opening-up, China has achieved remarkable progress in urbanization and economic growth. However, these advancements have also brought about risks stemming from the inefficient use of land. Intelligent cities contribute to the promotion of intensive urban land use and enhancement of urban land use efficiency. Since the launch of the Smart City Pilot Project in 2012, the transformation of cities towards intelligence has had a significant impact on the economic productivity, social services and environmental pollution. Existing research on urban land use efficiency primarily focuses on its measurement and influencing factors. However, there is a lack of studies that integrate the intelligence transformation of cities with urban land use efficiency within a single research framework. This study addresses a research gap by investigating the impact and mechanism of intelligence on urban land use efficiency. This study has developed a theoretical framework through literature review to examine the influence of intelligence on urban land use efficiency. Then, the study utilized the entropy value method and super-SBM model to assess the level of urban intelligence and urban land use efficiency of 281 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2020. The panel regression model and mediated effect model are used to investigate the mechanism through which intelligence influences urban land use efficiency. The findings indicated that urban intelligence and land use efficiency in Chinese cities have shown overall improvement, albeit with regional disparity. Intelligence has a positive impact on urban land use efficiency. Technological innovation, upgrading of industrial structure, and improvement in labor skill structure all play a mediating role in this process. The impact of intelligence on urban land use efficiency exhibits spatially heterogeneity. Intelligence significantly enhances urban land use efficiency in the eastern and central regions, but not in the western region. The mediating effects of technological innovation, industrial structure and labor force skill structure upgrading are significant in the eastern and central regions, while labor force skill structure does not play a mediating role in the western region. Finally, specific policy recommendations tailored to different regions are proposed in order to improve urban land use efficiency, drawing from the research findings.
Based on panel data from 110 resource-based cities in China from 2010 to 2022, this study uses a threshold effect model to explore the dynamic impact of environmental regulation on resource misallocation, further analyzing the moderating role of government governance capacity. The results indicate that: 1) The intensity of environmental regulation in resource-based cities has shown an overall upward trend, with the most significant increases observed in eastern regions and mature resource-based cities. While the overall conditions of capital and labor misallocation have been continuously improving, the northeastern regions and declining resource-based cities show limited improvement and face substantial transformation pressures. 2) Environmental regulation helps to improve resource misallocation. At the regional level, the improvement effect is strongest in the eastern regions and weakest in the northeastern regions. At the city type level, environmental regulation significantly improves resource misallocation in mature resource-based cities but has relatively weaker effects on declining resource-based cities. 3) Mechanism tests reveal that marketization progress partially mediates the relationship between environmental regulation and resource misallocation. Before the marketization process reaches the first threshold value, environmental regulation has no significant effect on resource misallocation. After surpassing the first threshold, environmental regulation significantly improves resource misallocation, and the improvement effect becomes increasingly pronounced once the marketization process crosses the second threshold. 4) Further analysis shows that enhancing government governance capacity facilitates the positive impact of environmental regulation on resource misallocation. Moreover, environmental regulation not only improves local resource misallocation but also exerts spatial spillover effects that improve resource misallocation in neighboring regions.
The ‘International Charter on Geography Education’ explicitly states that helping students understand human-environment relationships is crucial for sustainable development education. Among these, the human-environment coordination concept, as a fundamental value in geography, is a key objective in the development of core competencies at the higher education level. However, current research on the assessment of human-environment coordination concept mainly focuses on basic geography education and predominantly utilizes explicit measurement methods such as paper-and-pencil tests or questionnaires. This study first uses literature analysis and the Delphi method to collect and design vocabulary for the experiment, followed by the use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and survey methods to measure university students’ implicit and explicit attitudes towards human-environment coordination concept. Finally, interviews are conducted to triangulate the evaluation results. The participants were third- and fourth-year undergraduate students from both geography and non-geography majors at a comprehensive university in China. The results show: 1) Both the IAT effect values and explicit measurement scores of students are relatively high, reflecting a generally positive recognition of human-environment coordination concept; 2) Geography students exhibit significantly higher IAT effects than non-geography students, indicating a notable difference in implicit connection strength; 3) Geography students’ response times in both compatible and incompatible tasks are significantly longer than those of non-geography students; 4) A dissociation effect is observed between implicit and explicit recognition of human-environment coordination concept, validating the effectiveness and value of the IAT as a tool for measuring human-environment coordination. These findings not only verify the positive role of geography in cultivating college students’ human-environment coordination concept, but provide dual-perspective measurement evidence of explicit attitude and implicit attitude for geography education reform and offer practical insights for enhancing university students’ core competencies.
In order to quantify ecosystem carbon storage and effectively identify the potential area for improving the quality and efficiency of ecosystem carbon sink service in the Nanliu River Basin (NRB), the InVEST model and GIS spatial analysis techniques were applied to quantitatively assessing the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and distribution pattern of ecosystem carbon storage in the NRB in 1990—2020. Moreover, this study analyzed the impact of land use types on ecosystem carbon storage changes and the spatial pattern of their hot and cold spots cluster area, and revealed carbon storage change rate in the town scale. Based on these, the potential enhancement area priority protection of ecosystem carbon sink was identified and determined, and the corresponding management measures and suggestion were discussed and proposed. The results indicated that: 1) The land use types were mainly cultivated land and forest land in the NRB, and the transformation from forest and cropland to construction land mainly occurs. From 1990 to 2020, ecosystem carbon storage showed a decreasing trend with a cumulative loss of 0.77×106 t. 2) In space, ecosystem carbon storage of the NRB showed obvious spatial differentiation characteristic by a “low-high-low” pattern along the northeast-southwest direction. The high areas of ecosystem carbon storage were mainly concentrated in the middle reaches, while the low and medium areas were distributed in the lower reaches and upper regions of the NRB, respectively. 3) The spatial distribution of ecosystem carbon storage was closely related to the type and distribution of land use. The high value and hot spots of carbon storage were mountain forest lands, where there was less construction land and more concentrated ecological land, with high vegetation cover. The cold spots areas were mostly concentrated in urban and farming areas where the intensity of land development and ecological land fragmentation were higher. 4) Based on the combination of vegetation landscape heterogeneity, ecological function zoning and carbon storage change, this study took the improvement of carbon sink function as the target orientation and classified 77 administrative town units into 4 carbon sink potential subareas in the NRB, namely key potential area, important potential area, general potential area and ecological construction area. Meantime, differential protection and management measures were proposed for each subarea. The research results showed that we should continue to maintain the important position of the ecological protection barrier in the nature reserve and mountainous forest areas, slow down the intensity of construction land development plain area and downstream delta, and form a balanced and coordinated development pattern in the NRB. The results would provide scientific references for the strategic planning and the management of carbon neutral in Guangxi.
Revealing the reasons for changes in ecological and environmental quality is an important prerequisite for conducting ecological and environmental governance. In this study, the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) was used to assess the ecological and environmental quality in Shaanxi Province from 2000 to 2020. The Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) was employed to explore and analyze the influencing factors of ecological and environmental quality changes in Shaanxi Province. The results show that: 1) The overall trend of ecological and environmental quality in Shaanxi Province is improving, with more than 89% of the total area having a grade of “medium” or above in terms of ecological and environmental quality; 2) The ecological and environmental conditions in the southern part of Shaanxi are generally better than those in the central and northern regions, with poorer ecological and environmental conditions concentrated in the central region and the northern desert area of Shaanxi. The primary reason is that natural geographical factors such as precipitation, elevation, and slope gradients not only influence ecological environment quality by altering hydrothermal conditions but also contribute to ecological conservation through their impact on socioeconomic activities; 3) Socioeconomic factors have become primary factors affecting the eco-environmental quality in Shaanxi Province. Specifically, as the province’s industrial development still exhibits heavy reliance on resources and the environment, it thereby inhibits the improvement of regional eco-environmental quality, with this inhibitory effect gradually transitioning from the primary sector to the tertiary sector. In order to further improve the ecological environment, Shaanxi Province needs continue to promote ecological environment governance through the implementation of ecological restoration and other projects, in order to increase vegetation coverage in the region and accelerate the process of ecological system evolution in Shaanxi Province. At the same time, while developing the economy, it is necessary to pay attention to the impact of the tertiary industry on the environment, accelerate industrial transformation and development, reduce carbon emissions, promote low-carbon lifestyles, control population density, and establish a carbon reduction reward and punishment mechanism to achieve a balance between economic development and ecological environment protection.
Human activities have significantly and irreversibly altered the natural environment of each sphere within the earth system. Consequently, both domestic and international scholars have adopted the term “Anthropocene” to encapsulate these effects since 1950. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on the Anthropocene in the densely populated middle reaches of the Yangtze River, characterized by robust industrial and agricultural activities. A whole sedimentary core (TCY) was drilled in Tianchi Reservoir, located at the eastern peak of Wuling Mountain in northwest Hunan Province within Lishui River Basin of West Dongting Lake. By establishing a reliable chronological sequence based on 137Cs and 210Pbex activity distributions, and combining with geochemical characteristics such as water content, particle size, elemental composition, loss on ignition, total organic carbon (TOC), and total nitrogen (TN), the TCY core was formed between 1945—2022 and was deemed as an ideal geological carrier for identifying environmental characteristics during Anthropocene within the middle reaches of Yangtze River. Subsequently, by coupled with local socio-economic data during this period, it was observed that those agricultural activities contributed to coarsening surface soil particles while enriching nutrients like TOC, TN and C/N within the Tianchi Reservoir catchment, including increased fertilizer usage, enhanced crop yields, citrus planting since 1985. Additionally, industrial activities such as raw coal mining and thermal power generation had significantly elevated sulfur content within the lake. All above results shed light on substantial impacts of industrial and agricultural activities on the local environment during the Anthropocene in the middle reaches of Yangtze River, which provided a valuable example for comprehending geographical environmental transformations during Anthropocene. This study also offered historical references and scientific foundations for promoting coordinated efforts towards high-level ecological protection alongside high-quality economic development within this region.
Based on land use data, meteorological data, hydrological data, soil data, and DEM data, the area change rate of production-living-ecological space was used to reveal the structural change characteristics of the Xitiaoxi River Basin from 1990 to 2018, the SWAT model and AHP-entropy weight method were comprehensively utilized to assess the flood hazards, and geographically weighted regression model was used to explore the impact of production-living-ecological space structure on the hazard of regional flood hazards. The results show that: 1) The structure of the production-living-ecological space has significant changes in the Xitiaoxi River Basin, with considerable changes in agricultural and industrial production spaces, while rural living space and other ecological space had experienced smaller changes, and the directions of changes in various spaces were diverse. 2) The spatial distribution of flood hazard levels in the study area was significantly different, with high/relatively high hazard levels mainly distributed in the southeast of the upstream basin and some sub-basins close to the river downstream. 3) The structure of the production-living-ecological space in the study area had a significant impact on flood hazards. In general, the area change rate of agricultural and industrial production space had significant positive impact on the change rate of flood hazards in the Xitiaoxi River Basin, while the area change rate of rural living space and grassland ecological space had significant negative impact on the change rate of flood hazards. The area change rates of forest and water ecological spaces had varying impact on the change rate of flood hazards. There were obvious spatial differences in the effects of various spaces on flood hazards.
Scientific awareness of the multiple effects of cultural-tourism integration and effective stimulation of the inherent potential of cultural-tourism integration in constructing a strong economic pattern of resilience are important ways to cope with the risk of uncertainty in the external environment and to achieve high quality economic development. The coupled coordination model and entropy method are used to measure the cultural-tourism integration level and economic resilience in China’s inter-provincial from 2006 to 2022, and combined with a panel model to empirically analyse the impact of cultural-tourism integration on economic resilience. Furthermore, this study investigates the specific mechanisms through which cultural-tourism integration influences economic resilience by constructing an innovative theoretical framework of “demand driven traction-policy regulated coordination-technology enabled empowerment”. The results of the study show that: 1) The level of China’s cultural-tourism integration rises significantly, and the eastern provinces are the “pioneering area” of cultural-tourism integration, with the overall differentiation characteristics of high in the east and low in the west. The economic resilience continues to increase, achieving a good transition from mainly low level to mainly medium level, with a spatial pattern of decreasing distribution of “eastern- central-western”. 2) Cultural-tourism integration has a significant positive impact on economic resilience, and the positive effect of cultural-tourism integration on economic resilience is positively moderated by the upgrading of cultural-tourism consumption demand, the strength of financial support for cultural tourism and the level of information technology,and the strength of the effect is shown as the upgrading of cultural-tourism consumption demand > financial support for cultural-tourism > the level of information technology. 3) Cultural-tourism integration has regional heterogeneity in its impact on economic resilience, and the positive effect of cultural-tourism integration on economic resilience is more prominent in the western and northern regions than in the eastern and southern regions, while the effect in the central region is not significant. The study provides a policy reference for promoting high-quality integration of culture-tourism integration in the region and thus contributing to the building of economic resilience.
In response to the requirements of strengthening the protection of cultural relics and heritage, and promoting the deep integration development of cultural and tourism, based on constructing the evaluation model for activation utilization environment of national key cultural relics protection units from the perspective of System Theory, it was quantitatively evaluated that the activation utilization environment of 531 national key cultural relics protection units in Shanxi Province using multi-source data by this paper. It was classified that the grades and types of theirs activation utilization environment, then it was proposed that the strategies and work focuses for promoting the activation utilization of cultural heritage according to the disparities existing in different grades and types. The results showed that: 1) The national key cultural relics protection units with superior or better activation utilization environment were concentrated in the urban areas and suburban areas of prefecture-level cities, as well as in the western part of Jinzhong, while the national key cultural relics protection units with relatively poor or poor activation utilization environment were mainly distributed in the adjacent areas of rivers such as the Fenhe River, the Zhuozhang River, the Danhe River, and the inter provincial border areas and the inter prefecture-level border areas. 2) The distribution of national key cultural relics protection units with superior or better activation utilization environment showed obvious population orientation and income orientation, the distribution of national key cultural relics protection units with superior or better intermediary environment showed obvious traffic orientation, the national key cultural relics protection units with superior or better attractive environment were concentrated in regions with relatively excellent cultural entertainment facilities and high levels of tourism development, the national key cultural relics protection units with superior or better support environment were concentrated in regions with higher socio-economic levels and stronger innovation capabilities. 3) The activation utilization environment were distributed in 5 grades and 15 types, and there were 74, 72, 95, 154 and 136 national key cultural relics protection units at the all dimensional advantage grade, 3 dimensional advantage grade, dual dimensional advantage grade, three dimensional disadvantage grade and all dimensional disadvantage grade respectively. 4) For national key cultural relics protection units at each grade, it was proposed to adopt strategies of fully-force, actively, moderately, finitely, and protectively activation utilization respectively, then the work focuses of promoting the activation utilization of their culture heritage were further clarified based on the types of activation utilization environment.
Taking 38 prefecture-level cities (states) in the Triangle of Central China as the sample unit, and selecting 2011 and 2021 as the time nodes, using social network analysis, mathematical statistics and spatial econometric models, the evolution characteristics and spatial matching of land transportation and tourism economic patterns in the Central Triangle region were discussed. 1) There are obvious differences in the spatial pattern of transportation advantages in the Central Triangle region, and the comprehensive level of land transportation has increased significantly, with a “triangular” gradient decreasing from the central to the peripheral areas. 2) The development of the tourism industry in the Triangle of Central China continues to improve, and the inter-provincial disparity in the tourism economy is obvious, with a shift from “single-core prominence” to “multi-center manifestation”. 3) In the synchronization and coordination of land transport and tourism economy, the coordination type of city and state scale is much smaller than the disorder type, the matching level is low, and there is a certain development difference between provinces. Based on this, the research results can provide practical guidance for the effective adaptation of supply and demand of transportation and tourism to achieve regional high-quality development.
With the help of tourism to enrich the people and create a new highland for rural revitalization, the study of the interactive relationship between rural tourism resource development and common prosperity is of great significance for co-creating and sharing a better life. This article clarifies the coordinated promotion of tourism resource development and common prosperity supported by rural governance, selects western Hunan region as a case study, characterizes the adaptability between rural tourism resource development and common prosperity, and reveals the adaptation mechanism between the two. Research has found that: 1) The adaptability of rural tourism resource development and common prosperity in western Hunan region has improved, showing a trend of steady increase followed by a slight decrease, and the proportion of adaptability types is steadily improving. 2) Adaptability generally presents a “U” shaped spatial differentiation feature in the east-west and north-south directions. The Yongding District, Wulingyuan National Scenic Spot District and Yuanling County have always been in an adaptive state, while Chenxi County is highly mismatched. 3) Combining the theory of symbiosis, focusing on the regional system of human land relationship in western Hunan region, the adaptation mechanism between rural tourism resource development and common prosperity mainly includes the adaptation of symbiotic units, symbiotic modes, and symbiotic environments. Specifically, population, land, and industry are mutually beneficial and symbiotic, with coordinated internal system architecture and efficient utilization of external resources, as well as effective driving of political, economic, social, cultural, and ecological environments.
Optimizing the supply of life services is a key issue in the integrated development of metropolitan areas. However, existing research lacks exploration of the mechanisms of life service supply in metropolitan areas from the perspective of network externalities. Taking town-level spatial units within the Nanjing Metropolitan Area as the research subject, this study analyzes the spatial distribution characteristics of the life service supply level. It further examines the network characteristics of towns through 4 indicators: network connection strength, proximity coupling, alter-based centrality, and alter-based power. The study then empirically tests the influence of network externalities on the life service supply level using the Spatial Durbin Model. The main findings are as follows: 1) In the Nanjing Metropolitan Area, the life service supply level in the east is higher than that in the west and shows a “core-edge” spatial distribution pattern within each county. 2) Significant variation exists in network characteristics among towns in the metropolitan area. Based on these characteristics, towns can be classified into 4 types: those that control the whole network, those that control local areas, those located on the network periphery, and those with minimal participation in the network. 3) Towns with higher values on 4 network characteristic indicators perform better on local life service supply levels. Among these indicators, only enhanced network connection strength shows a positive spillover effect on neighboring towns. 4) Network externalities have heterogeneous effects across towns of different scales. Medium and small towns will benefit more from the improvement of proximity coupling and network status, but experience diminishing or even negative marginal effects from increased network connection strength. The conclusions of this study offer insights for advancing the development and integrated construction of life services in metropolitan areas.
The equitable and high-quality allocation of urban health resources for older adults is a crucial step towards achieving “healthy ageing” and “active aging”, and has garnered widespread attention from all sectors of society. This study constructs a multi-layered urban health resource system based on residents’ needs for both active and passive health behaviors. This study employs the Gaussian Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (G2SFCA) method in conjunction with the Gini coefficient to evaluate the opportunity fairness of urban health resources. Additionally, it utilizes quantile regression models to explore the impact of spatial accessibility to urban health resources on mental health disparities among older adults, reflecting the outcome fairness of health resources. Finding shows that various types of health resources and residential areas all exhibit agglomeration characteristics in their spatial distribution, but there are notable differences in the degrees of agglomeration. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the community accessibility to various health resources and a serious imbalance between supply and demand, demonstrating marked inequality. The evidence of the spatial accessibility of urban health resources is correlated with mental health inequality among older adults is also provided. This study can provide new insights into the land use planning of urban health resources and offer scientific reference for advancing the construction of healthy China.
Existing research on online shopping mainly focuses on its impact on physical shopping trips, but there is a lack of systematic research on the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of online shopping and offline commercial facilities. Based on this, this study used China Unicom’s mobile phone signaling data, census data, and point of interest (POI) data to conduct a cluster analysis of 2 746 communities in Guangzhou using the K-means clustering method, and used a multinomial logistic regression model to analyze the differences in influencing factors among various types of communities. The results show that the K-means clustering results can divide all communities into 3 categories. Among them, the “high number of stores-high online shopping duration” communities are mainly located in the city center and sub-center areas; The communities characterized by “low number of stores-low online shopping duration” are primarily situated in old urban areas and distant rural regions; The “low number of stores-high online shopping duration” communities are mainly distributed in the peripheral areas of the city center, including urban villages, industrial parks, and emerging urban areas. The results of the multinomial logistic regression indicate that socio-demographic and geographical environment characteristics are the main factors affecting the “online-offline” relationship in different types of communities. Specifically, communities that exhibit the characteristic of “high number of stores-high online shopping duration” have a resident population that is significantly characterized by a generally high level of education, a dominant proportion of unmarried individuals, and labor income as the mainstay of their economic life. In contrast, communities that display the characteristic of “low number of stores-low online shopping duration” generally present a different socio-demographic and geographic profile: a relatively higher proportion of female residents, an older average age of residents, more families relying on non-labor income for subsistence, a significant proportion of married families, a lower proportion of residents with higher education, and a lower per capita number of stores. These features collectively constitute the unique characteristics of such communities. As for communities with “low number of stores-high online shopping duration”, their socio-demographic and geographic characteristics exhibit a transitional nature. The research results indicate that the relationship between the duration of online shopping by community residents and the number of commercial facilities is not fixed. Due to the influence of socio-demographic characteristics and geographical environmental factors within the community, a variety of combinations may emerge. For instance, the community type characterized by “low number of stores-low online shopping duration” partially supports the efficiency hypothesis that residents choose online shopping because of the low convenience of offline shopping. Similarly, in the urban center, communities with a “high number of stores-high online shopping duration” have confirmed the complementary and even enhancing relationship between online and offline shopping. Against the backdrop of the increasing popularity of online shopping, this study can provide a reference for optimizing urban commercial layout.
The challenge of land desertification presents a critical obstacle to regional ecological security. Establishing a scientifically grounded ecological security framework is imperative to maintain the ecological equilibrium of sandy regions and ensure sustainable economic and social development. This study focuses on the Horqin Sand Land as the research area. It analyzes the significance of ecosystem services using land use and precipitation data spanning 4 periods: 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. Through ecological demand assessment, ecological source areas are identified. Ecological corridors are delineated using Circuit Theory, employing the Linkage Mapper toolbox and Circuitscape software. The study reveals that: 1) From 1990 to 2010, both the number and area of ecological source land increased, attributed to the expansion of forest and grassland, whereas from 2010 to 2020, there was a decline, indicating recent degradation despite intervention efforts. 2) The ecological security pattern of the study area between 1990 and 2020 underwent construction, optimization, management, and degradation. 3) The number of ecological corridors increased from 32 to 120 between 1990 and 2010, then decreased by 30 from 2010 to 2020, suggesting a significant influence of changes in ecological source land area on flow intensity of ecological processes. 4) Pinch points are primarily situated within forested and grassland areas, while improvement areas are concentrated in unused land and urban peripheries. Building upon these findings, the study proposes an optimization strategy for the ecological security pattern titled “one belt, two axes, and three centers”, providing a practical and reliable theoretical basis and technical approach for future ecological environmental protection and utilization of the Horqin Sand Land.
This study systematically analyzes the spatiotemporal pattern evolution characteristics of wildfires in the Da Hinggan Mountains by comprehensively applying spatial analysis and Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) methods, based on the MCD64A1 burned area dataset. Additionally, by constructing a logistic regression model, this research deeply reveals the key driving factors influencing wildfire occurrence in this region. The research results show that during the period of 2001—2021, the overall burned area of wildfires in the Da Hinggan Mountains showed a significant decreasing trend. In terms of seasonal distribution characteristics, wildfire occurrences were mainly concentrated in spring and autumn, with the burned area in spring accounting for 73% of the annual total. In terms of spatial distribution characteristics, spring wildfires in the Da Hinggan Mountains exhibit a significant clustering pattern, primarily concentrated in the northeastern and central regions of the study area. The spatial distribution of summer, autumn, and winter wildfires is relatively centralized, with the central part of the study area as the core region. Further analysis shows that wildfires in spring and autumn have a high degree of spatial clustering. Monitoring data over the past 20 years indicate that the burned area has shown an upward trend in 37% of the study area, while a downward trend has been observed in 63% of the area, demonstrating remarkable spatial heterogeneity. The influencing factors were ranked by their impact on wildfire occurrence probability as follows: settlement density > monthly total precipitation > water system density > monthly average saturation vapor pressure deficit > vegetation type > slope aspect > monthly average wind speed > slope gradient > road network density > altitude. These findings highlight that anthropogenic factors, humidity-related variables, and vegetation types are critical drivers of wildfire occurrence in the Da Hinggan Mountains, providing a scientific basis for regional wildfire prevention and ecological management.
To recognize the changes of vegetation cover and their drivers in the post-earthquake area with different contexts, this article selects MOD13Q1 data from 2007 to 2020 to obtain the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of small watersheds with the intensity over Ⅷ of Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. And the evolution pattern and distribution characteristics of NDVI in small watersheds were obtained through Fourier transform, topographic and geomorphic analysis and cluster analysis. Finally, the main driving factors of vegetation cover changes in different watersheds were analyzed by Geodetector. The result shows that the change of post-earthquake NDVI in small watersheds of study area could be broadly classified into four types, including dual-controlled by earthquake and strong rainfall, strongly controlled by earthquake, strongly controlled by strong rainfall and no obvious influence. There were significant differences in amplitude, frequency, and the timing of peaks and valleys in different types. And the watersheds in the study area are basically located in the mid-alpine region and is basically in the prime of tectonic-geomorphic evolution. The overall slope and channel of the watershed are relatively steep, and are affected by earthquakes to a greater extent. The average elevation and average rainfall of the watershed vary significantly among different types. The difference of vegetation cover changes after the earthquake were still mainly driven by elevation. The impact of earthquakes on post-earthquake changes of vegetation cover was relatively limited. However, under the superimposed elevation effect, the average elevation of the watershed and the average distance from the surface rupture are driven to the greatest extent interactively. There is a correspondence between different change types of post-earthquake NDVI and the changes in the loose material supply capacity of the watersheds in different post-earthquake periods, leading to differences in debris flow development with the different change of NDVI. This study deepens the research on post-earthquake vegetation cover changes under different environmental backgrounds and degrees of influence by the earthquake. It would be helpful to better cognize the post-earthquake ecological damage and recovery under different backgrounds and provide reference for post-earthquake disaster prevention and control.
Accurate assessment the impact of regional transport on atmospheric concentrations of coarse particulate matter (PM2.5-10) is essential for effective joint prevention and control measures. In this study, the Shandong Peninsula serves as the case study site. Utilizing hourly concentration monitoring data from 2015 to 2022, we employed backward trajectory assessments, and concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) model to quantitatively evaluate trends and spatial variations in the impacts of regional transport on atmospheric PM2.5-10 pollution. The results indicate that: 1) The annual mean atmospheric PM2.5-10 concentration in the Shandong Peninsula significantly decreased from (58.06±15.36) μg/m3 in 2015 to (33.27±6.96) μg/m3 in 2022 (Z<0, P<0.001). However, the proportion of PM2.5-10 concentration relative to PM10 concentration increased from 43.17% to 46.27%, with the period of heavy pollution primarily occurring from March to April. 2) Spatially, the overall trend of atmospheric PM2.5-10 concentration in the Shandong Peninsula exhibited a decline from the western inland areas to the eastern coast, with Dezhou, Jinan, Liaocheng identified as highly polluted areas. 3) The airflow trajectories affecting the Shandong Peninsula in spring, autumn and winter are primarily influenced by long-range transport from the northwest, while summer is predominantly characterized by close-range transport. The proportion of air masses transported over long distances from the northwest is gradually increasing, while the proportion of air masses transported from the southeastern ocean is gradually decreasing. 4) CWT analysis reveals that the concentration of atmospheric PM2.5-10 transported from regions such as China’s Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Henan decreased from 28.47 μg/m3 to 9.00 μg/m3. Notably, the reductions are more pronounced for transport from Kaifeng, Hengshui, and Puyang, while regions such as Changsha, Xiangtan and Tianmen require enhanced control measures. This study quantitatively assesses the contribution of regional transport to atmospheric PM2.5-10 pollution in the Shandong Peninsula and provided a valuable reference for future joint prevention and control strategies strategies atmospheric PM2.5-10 pollution.
