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Industrial ecology (IE) is the process of constructing industrial-ecological systems (IES) with the realization of the mutual benefits for industrial system (IS) and ecological system (ES). Therefore, the IE level depends on the IES development and the relationship between IS and ES. This paper calculated the development index of ES and IS to account for IES development and adopted the grey Lotka–Volterra to analyze the relationship between IS and ES. Choosing the π-shaped curve area in the Yellow River basin of China as the study area, this paper analyzed its IE level and influence factors from 2005 to 2019. Findings include: (1) The development level of IES in the Area presented significant spatial differentiation and could be classified into three levels. (2) IS and ES remained in the stage of isolated development or mutual restriction. (3) IE was found to be positively correlated with scientific innovation, economic development, openness degree, pollution control, and industrial structure while negatively correlated with urbanization, resource consumption, and government influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the historical context and current dynamics of the transboundary water issues between India and China. Both countries share multiple transboundary river basins, with the Brahmaputra River being one of the most significant. The importance of the Brahmaputra River to both nations goes beyond just providing resources. It has implications for national security, regional stability, and human livelihoods. However, China's upstream control over the river and its extensive dam-building projects have raised concerns in downstream India and Bangladesh about potential impacts on water availability, agriculture, and livelihoods. The river system is critical for the socioeconomic well-being of millions of people, yet the competing demands for water resources have led to geopolitical tensions. The paper highlights China's strategic use of water resources, including plans for large-scale dams, which India views as a potential threat to its water security. It also underscores the importance of a nuanced understanding of hydropolitics, emphasizing the need for human security, particularly water security, in addressing these challenges. It argues that while "water wars" are unlikely, "water tensions" are significant and must be addressed through comprehensive bilateral agreements and collaborative efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River (hereafter referred to as the YZR), the largest river in China, is of paramount importance for ensuring water resource security. The Yangtze River Basin (hereafter referred to as the YRB) is one of the most densely populated areas in China, and complex human activities have a significant impact on the ecological security of water resources. Therefore, this paper employs theories related to ecological population evolution and the Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model to construct an indicator system for the ecological security of water resources in the YRB. The report evaluates the ecological security status of water resources in each province of the YRB from 2010 to 2019, clarifies the development trend of its water resource ecological security, and proposes corresponding strategies for regional ecological security and coordinated economic development. According to the results of the ecological population evolution competition model, the overall indicator of the ecological security of water resources in the YRB continues to improve, with the safety level increasing annually. Maintaining sound management of water resources in the YRB is crucial for sustainable socioeconomic development. To further promote the ecological security of water resources in the YRB and the coordinated development of the regional economy, this paper proposes policy suggestions such as promoting the continuous advancement of sustainable development projects, actively adjusting industrial structure, continuously enhancing public environmental awareness, and actively participating in international ecological construction and seeking cooperation among multiple departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, environmental damage caused by economic development has been increasing in China's Yellow River basin (YRB), one of the country's most important economic zones. Finding an appropriate governance model is a prerequisite to ensuring the coordinated development of the YRB. Traditional analysis focus on city or province level, which is less accurate and ignores the interaction between spaces. This paper explores the distribution, spatial relationships and influencing factors of the level of coordinated development at county level in the YRB and its impact on the study area's environment. This investigation aims to provide scientific support for the region's governance. We used the equivalent value method, the entropy method, a coupling coordinating degree model and the double-fixed spatial Durbin model to quantify, spatialize and assess the relationship between the value of ecosystem services and economic development and to analyze the drivers of ecological changes and the spatial interaction effects in the YRB from 2010 to 2020. The results show that (1) The degree of ecological-economic coupling coordination in the YRB steadily increased over the study period and is high in eastern areas but low in the western area. The growth rate is fast in the east and slow in the west and the gap has gradually enlarged. (2) Adjusting the industrial ratios alone cannot improve the level of local coordinated development. The intensity of government public expenditure support can significantly affect the coordinated development level of local, and the intensity of the impact on the neighboring areas depends on the difficulty of intercommunication between areas. (3) Increasing rural disposable income in mountainous areas can effectively increase the level of local coupling coordination but can also lead to a decrease in coupling coordination in the surrounding areas. (4) The influence of the normalized difference vegetation index on coupling coordination depends on local land values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integral development of agriculture and tourism heavily depends on natural resources, especially agricultural resources, and it also may contribute to the sustainability of agriculture. The sustainability of agriculture is usually measured by the agricultural eco-efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of the agriculture and tourism integration on agricultural eco-efficiency, so as to reflect the role of the agriculture and tourism integration on promoting agricultural sustainability. Applying panel data of 19 provinces in Yangtze River Basin and Yellow River Basin in China from 2008 to 2019, this paper uses a PSTR model to demonstrate the impact of agriculture and tourism integration on agricultural eco-efficiency and its mechanisms. It is found that in the study area, the integration of agriculture and tourism can contribute to improvements in agricultural eco-efficiency, and when levels of integration are high, the promotional effect is enhanced. However, impacts vary among different regions to some extent. In terms of influencing mechanisms, inputs of agricultural labor, sown crop area, effective irrigation area and other factors decrease with continuous improvements of integration. The input of pesticides, fertilizers and other factors does not decrease in the initial stage of integration but undergoes a rapid decrease after crossing a threshold value. And it demonstrates that the integration of agriculture and tourism is beneficial for improving the agricultural eco-efficiency, so that it will contribute to agricultural sustainability. Meanwhile, this paper offers a new research perspective for discovering effects of agriculture and tourism integration, providing implications for formulating regional policies for the integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining and improving ecological resilience is of great practical significance for the Yellow River Basin to reduce potential ecological risks and deliver sustainable development. Based on the essential characteristics of evolutionary resilience, this paper developed an ecological resilience index system of "resistance-recovery-reconstruction-renewal" and calculated the ecological resilience of 75 prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2007 to 2021 with the improved TOPSIS method. Then the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of ecological resilience were analyzed using the gravity center-standard deviation ellipse, Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition, and spatial autocorrelation analysis. Furthermore, the dynamic spatial Durbin model (DSDM) was used to investigate the influencing factors of ecological resilience. The main results are as follows: (1) The ecological resilience of the Yellow River Basin showed an overall fluctuating upward trend, and the average annual growth rate in the downstream region was larger than in the upstream and midstream regions. (2) Cities with similar levels of ecological resilience were distributed in a "large settlement, small scattered" pattern. The center of gravity shifted to the southeast, and the spatial distribution exhibited a "northwest-southeast" pattern and a trend towards an "east–west" pattern. The primary source of spatial differences was the intensity of transvariation. (3) The ecological resilience in the Yellow River Basin showed significant spatial clustering, with the H–H clustering area shifting from the Hubao-Eyu urban agglomeration to the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration, and the L–L clustering area mainly distributed around the Central Plains city cluster. (4) The ecological resilience of the Yellow River Basin exhibited significant snowball, spillover, and siphon effects in time, space, and space-time dimensions, respectively. In the short and long term, population density and openness significantly positively affected the ecological resilience of local and surrounding cities. Urbanization had a long-term effect on ecological resilience without a short-term effect. GDP per capita and industrial structure only imparted a significant positive influence on local ecological resilience. The negative spatial spillover of the intensity of financial investment in technological innovation gradually turned into a positive effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the prerequisite for rural revitalization to recognize the evolutionary laws and different characteristics of rural areas. China's Rural Revitalization Strategic Plan (2018–2022) emphasizes the importance of rural territorial classification. The differences in resources, environment, economy, culture and so on in Jiangsu Province lead to obvious territorial classifications. Existing studies on rural development lack the differentiation of territorial types. Based on the complexity and comprehensiveness of the rural areas in Jiangsu Province, this paper selects the county as the basic unit and combines the "top-down" and "bottom-up" evaluation perspectives. Finally, we form a "two divisions and six zones" division scheme for rural areas in Jiangsu Province. Specifically, the two divisions refer to the Yangtze River Delta area and Huaihai area, and the six zones include Tai Lake plain area, Ningzhen mountainous and hilly area, Riverside plain area, Lixia River and coastal plain area, Huai River drainage area, and Xuhuai Plain area. By summarizing the laws and development orientation of different types of rural areas, it will provide a reference for realizing urban–rural integration and sustainable development in economically developed areas. It can also provide governance references for other economically developed regions with high population density and obvious urban–rural integration trends in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urban ecological health is crucial for the long-term sustainable development of watershed. Accurately evaluating the health level of the ecological environment helps to develop reasonable strategies for ecological environment restoration and resource management. This paper constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework and evaluated the ecological health of eleven administrative regions in the Wei River Basin (WRB), northwest China in 1980, 2000, and 2020 using an evaluation model established by fuzzy mathematics. Further, obstacle degrees were used to quantify the contribution of pressure, state, and response modules, as well as individual indicators to ecological health. Results: The comprehensive evaluation system constructed based on the PSR framework could effectively reflect the ecological health conditions of different regions in the WRB. During the study period, the ecological health went through a process of first deterioration and then improvement. By 2020, the ecological health of seven administrative regions reached healthy levels. The state module was the main obstacle module of the PSR framework to the ecological health of the most regions. The population density (P1), patch density of construction land (S5), comprehensive elasticity index (S8), soil erosion index (R1), and per capital GDP (R3) were the most crucial individual indicators affecting the ecological health. For different cities, the main obstacle factors varied. In economically developed cities, the limiting effect of P1 was more significant, while in economically underdeveloped cities, the limiting effect of R3 was stronger. Conclusions: In response to the special natural environment and socio-economic conditions of arid and semi-arid areas in the WRB, an ecological health evaluation index system suitable for the characteristics of the basin was constructed. The results indicated that, to improve the levels of urban ecological health, it is necessary to restore the natural ecological environment and control population size while accelerating economic construction. Our results can provide scientific support for the ecological health evaluation and protection of the WRB and even the arid and semi-arid areas in northwest China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the spatial coupling relationship and interaction mechanism between green urbanization (GU) and tourism competitiveness (TC) is of great significance for promoting urban sustainable development. However, the lack of research on the interaction mechanism between GU and TC limits the formulation of effective environmental management policy and urban planning. Taking 734 counties in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as the study area, this paper analyzes the spatial coupling relationship between GU and TC on the basis of comprehensive evaluation of GU and TC. Then, the interactive mechanism between GU and TC is systematically discussed, and the synergistic development strategy of the two is proposed. The results show that the GU level presents a multicore circle structure, with provincial capitals, prefecture-level urban districts and economically developed counties in east-central regions as high-value centers. The TC at county scale presents a multi-center spatial structure. Additionally, there is a significant positive spatial coupling between GU and TC in the YRB. The analysis further reveals that green urbanization level, social progress, population development, infrastructure construction, economic development quality, and eco-environmental protection has a observably influence on TC. Tourism competitiveness, service competitiveness, location competitiveness, resource competitiveness, market competitiveness, environmental influence, and talent competitiveness has a observably influence on GU. TC can promote GU, and the improvement of green urbanization level can support the development of tourism competitiveness. According to the spatial zoning method, 734 counties are divided into 6 categories, and the coordinated development strategy of GU and TC for each type of district is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analysed the temporal and spatial distributions of ancient archaeological sites in China as well as their influencing factors. Our aim was to reveal the developmental trajectory of Chinese civilisation and to explore the natural and cultural factors affecting human distribution, with the goal of providing insights for the conservation and development of ancient relics. We employed spatial analysis methods using ArcGIS 10.8 software, such as kernel density analysis and trend surface analysis, to analyse 1194 historical ancient sites listed in the National Cultural Relics Protection Units of China. The research findings are as follows: (1) the distribution of ancient sites demonstrates an agglomerative spatial pattern. The nearest neighbour index (R < 1) for sites from various historical periods indicates an agglomerative spatial distribution of ancient sites across historical periods, with the clustering degree being relatively poor for sites from the Wei-Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and in the Ming and Qing periods. The regions with a concentration of ancient sites are the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Yellow River Basins. Furthermore, there is a higher abundance of ancient sites in the southeastern region than in the northwestern region. (2) The distribution of ancient sites in different historical periods also exhibits an imbalance, with an overall decreasing trend in the number of ancient sites in China. Notably, more ancient sites were found for the prehistoric and pre-Qin periods. The temporal trend of ancient sites during historical periods follows a trajectory from northeast to northwest, northeast to southwest, etc. (3) The temporal and spatial distributions of ancient sites are influenced by multiple factors, including social development, the natural environment, geographical elements, and socioeconomic and political factors. Finally, based on an understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution pattern of ancient sites and the factors that influence this pattern, recommendations for conservation and development can be proposed and supported by modern technological methods, with the aim of offering insights for the protection and sustainable development of heritage sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the characteristics and influencing factors of the spatial distribution of 889 national intangible cultural heritage sites in the Yellow River basin of China based on ArcGIS spatial analysis and Geodetector. The results show that the distribution of national intangible cultural heritage sites in the Yellow River basin is significantly different among provinces, and most of them are distributed in the central and western regions. From east to west, the density of intangible heritage in the Yellow River basin presents a triangular "one area and three points" pattern. All kinds of intangible cultural heritage in the Yellow River basin generally show the characteristic of aggregated distribution.Traditional skills, traditional medicine, traditional theatre, traditional music, and folklore have high levels of agglomeration, and traditional dance, Quyi, folk literature, and traditional fine arts have lower levels. The levels of traditional sports, entertainment and acrobatics have the lowest agglomeration. Among social and humanistic factors, highway density is the most influential indicator for the spatial distribution of national intangible cultural heritage in the Yellow River basin. GDP, population density and the urbanization level also have a great impact on the spatial distribution of national intangible cultural heritage in the Yellow River basin. Among geographical environmental factors, the river system and topography have a certain effect on the spatial distribution of national intangible cultural heritage in the Yellow River basin. Based on these facts, this paper finally discusses the specific path to protect and develop intangible cultural heritage in the Yellow River basin in the context of the newerato promote its creative protection and innovative development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become an unavoidable problem in achieving sustainable development. As one of the major industries worldwide, tourism can make a significant contribution to mitigating climate change. The main objective of the paper is to assess the development level of low-carbon tourism from multi-aspect, using the Yellow River Basin as an example. Firstly, this study quantified tourism carbon dioxide emissions and tourism economy, and analyzed their evolution characteristics. The interaction and coordination degree between tourism carbon dioxide emissions and tourism economy were then analyzed using the improved coupling coordination degree model. Finally, this study analyzed the change in total factor productivity of low-carbon tourism by calculating the Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index. The results showed that: (1) the tourism industry in the Yellow River Basin has the characteristics of the initial environmental Kuznets curve. (2) There was a strong interaction between tourism carbon dioxide emissions and tourism economy, which was manifested as mutual promotion. (3) The total factor productivity of low-carbon tourism was increasing. Based on the above results, it could be concluded that the development level of low-carbon tourism in the Yellow River Basin has been continuously improved from 2000 to 2019, but it is still in the early development stage with the continuous growth of carbon dioxide emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of world heritage conservation, there has been broad consensus on carrying out heritage conservation research on the basis of spatial integration and interregional and international cooperation. However, there are still many deficiencies in the integration of culture with the environment, regional economic and social development, and the regional, holistic and multimodal conservation and utilization of cultural heritage sites. In China, the Dongjiang-Hanjiang River Basin is a representative area of substantial cultural and ecological value for both Guangdong Province and the whole country. This paper uses the morphological spatial pattern analysis and the minimum cumulative resistance model to integrate cultural ecology sources and establish a cross-regional and large-scale cultural ecology network system that includes 1 main corridor, 22 important corridors and 17 secondary corridors. In addition, based on identified cultural landscape nodes and cultural ecology services, the economy of the cultural ecology corridor could be developed with large-scale co-construction, co-governance and shared working mechanisms to overcome administrative limits and realize the conservation and utilization of multimodal and large-scale heritage sites. This approach has strong theoretical and practical significance for innovative methods in cultural ecology research, as well as for new content in the research of Lingnan culture, ecosystem restoration, and the economic and social development of towns and villages. This article supplements unilateral studies of regional culture and ecology and demonstrates an in-depth application of cultural ecology theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Henan Province is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and one of the earliest human settlements, which means that the area has an important national cultural heritage. Traditional villages are an important facet of this cultural heritage, and studying their spatiotemporal characteristics in different periods has important theoretical and practical significance for the sustainable development and protection of cultural heritage in the region. This paper takes the traditional villages of the Yellow River basin in Henan Province that were formed before 1919 as the research object. Information on the ancient river was obtained through a literature search as well as via field research, and the important tributaries of the Yellow River in different periods were mapped using ArcGIS 10.0 software. The nearest neighbor index, kernel density estimation, standard deviation ellipse and other methods were adopted to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the traditional villages. The factors that influenced the evolution of traditional villages were explored in depth by combining changes in the course of the river and water conservancy projects. The results show that the formation of traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province has experienced a historical track of growth, contraction, growth and prosperity and stability. The traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province generally show a clustered pattern, forming a dense concentration of traditional villages in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The center of gravity shows a migration trend from southeast to northwest. In terms of influencing factors, the spatiotemporal evolution of the relationship between villages and their distance to water is closely related to climatic fluctuations, changes in channel, water conservancy projects and social and cultural factors. This paper deepens our understanding of the relationship between traditional village evolution and watersheds by improving the consistency between village spatial distribution and historical geography and provides a useful theoretical reference for the sustainable development of China's traditional villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This transition from gathering to cultivation is a significant aspect of studying early agricultural practices. Fruit trees are an essential component of food resources and have played a vital role in both ancient and modern agricultural production systems. The jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), with its long history of cultivation in northern China, holds great importance in uncovering the diet of prehistoric humans and understanding the origins of Chinese agricultural civilization. This paper focuses on the domestication of jujube by analyzing the morphology of jujube stones found in three Neolithic sites in northern China's Qi River basin, Zhujia, Wangzhuang, and Dalaidian. The measurements of these jujube kernels are compared with those found in other areas of northern China, as well as modern jujube kernels that were collected. The measurements revealed that the length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio of sour jujube kernels ranged from 1.36 to 1.78, whereas the L/D ratio of cultivated jujube stones varied between 1.96 and 4.23. Furthermore, jujube stones obtained from Zhujia and Wangzhuang sites exhibit pointed ends and possess an elongated oval or narrow oval shape overall, which is indicative of clearly artificial domestication traits. Therefore, this study suggests that jujube was selected and cultivated as an important food supplement in the Qi River basin no later than around 6200 BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbonate rock formations have obvious dual media characteristics, fracture development and good physical conditions, which are the main seepage channels and storage spaces for gas after the reconstruction of underground gas storage. The carbonate strata of the Ordovician system are important natural gas reservoirs in the eastern area of Sulige Gas Field in the Ordos Basin, and the identification and characterization of their fractures are of great significance for the modeling of fractures in the later stage and the improvement of the operation scheme of the gas storage. At present, there is little research on fractures, which restricts exploration and development. Therefore, taking the 39–61 gas storage reservoir in the eastern area of Sulige Gas Field in the Ordos Basin as the research object, this paper identifies and studies the characteristics of the fractures by core, microscopic, conventional logging curves, and imaging logging identification. The results show that the fracture length ranges from 5 to 15 cm and the width ranges from 0.1 to 3 mm. The fracture angles are mostly between 75° and 90° and the main direction is NW–SE. In conventional logging curves, porosity logging has a good response to fractures, while resistivity logging has a general response to fractures; In layers with more developed fractures, natural gamma values are mostly higher than 40API, rock volume density is less than 2.8 g/cm3, neutron porosity is greater than 12.5%, and acoustic time difference is greater than 160 μ s/m. This study is of great significance for improving the identification of carbonate fractures, enriching the relevant theories, and providing guidance for the construction of carbonate gas storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River Basin is a key ecological barrier and commercial zone in China, as well as an essential source of energy, chemicals, raw materials, and fundamental industrial foundation, the achievement of its carbon peaking is of great significance for China's high-quality development. Based on this, we decomposed the influencing factors of carbon dioxide emissions in the Yellow River Basin using the LMDI method and predicted the carbon peaking in the Yellow River Basin under different scenarios using the STIRPAT model. The results show that (1) the energy intensity effect, economic activity effect and population effect play a positive role in promoting carbon emissions during 2005–2020. The largest effect on carbon emissions is the population size effect, with a contribution rate of 65.6%. (2) The STIRPAT model predicts that the peak of scenarios "M–L", "M–M" and "M–H" will occur in 2030 at the earliest. The "M–H" scenario is the best model for controlling carbon emissions while economic and social development in the Yellow River Basin. The results of this paper can provide a theoretical basis for the development of a reasonable carbon peak attainment path in the Yellow River Basin and help policy makers to develop a corresponding high-quality development path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Identifying potential sources of pollution in tributaries and determining their contribution rates are critical to the treatment of water pollution in main streams. In this paper, we conducted a multivariate statistical analysis on the water quality data of 12 parameters for 3 years (2018–2020) at six sampling sites in the Laixi River to qualitatively identify potential pollution sources and quantitatively calculate the contribution rates to reveal the tributaries' pollution status. Spatio-temporal cluster analysis (CA) divided 12 months into two parts, corresponding to the lightly polluted season (LPS) and highly polluted season (HPS), and six sampling sites were divided into two regions, corresponding to the lightly polluted region (LPR) and highly polluted region (HPR). Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the potential sources of contamination, identifying four and three potential factors in the LPS and HPS, respectively. The absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR) receptor model quantitatively analyzed the contribution rates of identified pollution sources, and the importance of the different pollution sources in LPS can be ranked as domestic sewage and industrial wastewater and breeding pollution (33.80%) > soil weathering (29.02%) > agricultural activities (20.95%) > natural influence (13.03%). HPS can be classified as agricultural cultivation (41.23%), domestic sewage and industrial wastewater and animal waste (33.19%), and natural variations (21.43%). Four potential sources were identified in LPR ranked as rural domestic sewage (31.01%) > agricultural pollution (26.82%) > industrial effluents and free-range livestock and poultry pollution (25.13%) > natural influence (14.82%). Three identified latent pollution sources in HPR were municipal sewage and industrial effluents (37.96%) > agricultural nonpoint sources and livestock and poultry wastewater (33.55%) > natural sources (25.23%). Using multivariate statistical tools to identify and quantify potential pollution sources, managers may be able to enhance water quality in tributary watersheds and develop future management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firstly, based on the river health evaluation theory and starting from the integrity of the river system, the river health evaluation index system is selected. Secondly, the index systems of river health assessment including river morphology, hydrological and environmental characteristics, habitat elements and human activity characteristics are determined. Thirdly, set-pair (SPA) evaluation theory and extension were dealt with, a set-pair analysis-extension coupling model is constructed. Finally, taking Huangchuan Rive as an example, the ecological health evaluation on the river channel is carried out by using set-pair analysis-extension coupling model. The results of the comprehensive evaluation using the set-pair analysis-extension coupling method is obtained through calculation. It is proved by practice that the method of river health evaluation using the coupling model of set-pair analysis and extension theory could make full use of the data transformation and extension calculation, which shows the superiority in calculating correlation degree, and could reflect the determination and uncertainty of practical problems. It is possible to comprehensively consider all relevant factors. The paper provides a new idea for solving the relevant problems and obtains more accurate conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological anthropology in China has a history of more than 70 years, and can be divided into four stages. The first stage was in the 1950s, which began with China's identification of minzu and socio-historical surveys of ethnic minorities. This stage was characterized by refinement and application of the Economic-Cultural Type theory from Soviet ethnography. The second stage took place in the 1980s and 1990s, when China's ecological anthropology research focused on explaining the relationship between local group culture and the environment, and how this changed in the process of modernization. Studies in this phase mainly concentrated on China's southwestern and northwestern regions, and the theoretical trends of the "adaptation model" and "the cost of development" were formed, becoming central topics. The third stage was in the first decade of the twenty-first century, when Chinese ecological anthropologists focused on the natural and social consequences of changes in the ecological environment, and stressed the importance of exploring, protecting and transforming local ecological knowledge. Ecological anthropology research flourished in Hunan, Guizhou, and Guangxi as well as in the Daxing'anling and Xiaoxing'anling mountainous regions of Northeast China. The fourth stage was in the most recent decade, when ecological anthropologists expanded their research to cover disasters, biodiversity, local social vulnerability and promotion of ecological progress, and their research areas expanded to the southeastern coast, inland river basins and traditional farming areas in the Central Plains. This paper argues that the development of ecological anthropology in China has been driven by academic consciousness rooted in local field experience, accurate understanding of the research target and changes in social situations of the era, and in-depth dialogue with Western ecological anthropological theories. At present, China's economic and social development patterns and the relationship between local people and their ecological environments are undergoing profound changes. Therefore, China's ecological anthropology should respond and adapt to these new changes through solid ethnographic surveys, take root in local field experience, and draw on the wisdom of ecological civilization development in excellent traditional Chinese culture, to become aware of new theories and carry out innovative development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid area is very sensitive to global warming and are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Moreover, the water resources system in the arid area is fragile and will undergo tremendous changes with climate change. Therefore, the interaction of climate and hydrology in arid area has an important impact on the formation of regional microclimate and hydrological changes. Daihai Lake is a typical closed inland lake in arid area of China, and a key area for ecological protection in North China. In this paper, WRF-Hydro model is used to simulate the climate hydrological coupling situation of Daihai Basin from 1980 to 2020, and the coupling results are verified and calibrated by meteorological statistics, runoff calculation and remote sensing analysis. Based on the synopsis of climate and hydrology in the past 40 years, the causes and future trends of the hydrological elements in Daihai Basin are analyzed. Through the analysis, it is found that the interannual variation of precipitation in Daihai Basin is sharp, with 401.75 mm as the average from 1980 to 1994; and drastic fluctuations from 1995 to 2011, with a difference of nearly 400 mm between the interannual maximum and minimum; From 2012 to 2020, the fluctuation is small. Although the interannual variation of evaporation fluctuated, it showed an upward trend with a slope of 8.855 mm/year. The annual average temperature showed an obvious upward trend with a slope of 0.040 °C/year. From 1980 to 2020, the inflow of Daihai Lake shows a downward trend; Since 2013, the runoff into the lake has tended to be flat. Climate change and human activities are the decisive factors leading to the change of water quantity in Daihai, among which human activities play a greater role. Cultivated land irrigation and industrial water use are highly correlated with the lake discharge, and these two factors have a great influence on the lake discharge. If the current agricultural and industrial water consumption does not increase, Daihai still has a lifespan of nearly 120 years. If human activities do not change and any protective measures are not taken in time, under the background of global climate change, the flow of the Daihai Lake into the lake will be reduced to zero in 2025, and the Daihai Lake will completely dry up in 2031–2033. The study of climate hydrological coupling of long time series in Daihai Basin can not only make up for the lack of runoff data, but also provide the basis for water resources management, disaster prevention and mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An in-depth understanding of the rainfall-runoff process is essential for effective stormwater management. However, the understanding of the hierarchy of rainfall characteristics in terms of their importance in influencing runoff generation is limited. This paper investigates the influence of rainfall characteristics and catchment characteristics on runoff generation in urban catchments. The outcomes showed that there are 4 dominant factors affecting runoff generation: total precipitation TP and maximum 60-min rainfall intensity MAX60 are the two top-ranked factors while average rainfall intensity RI and maximum 5-min rainfall intensity MAX5 are ranked second. Additionally, compared to the moderate rainfall regime (MR), the heavy rainfall regime (HR) tends to produce higher peak flow rates, higher total inflow per unit area, and lower runoff control effect. Note that the antecedent precipitation has a more significant effect on runoff generation and is even the dominant factor when rainstorm events with daily rainfall larger than 50 mm are not considered. The results of analyzing the influence of catchment characteristics suggest that only under HR regime conditions do the catchment characteristics have an impact on runoff generation and behave as smaller catchment areas, and higher proportions of green landscapes always lead lower peak flow rates, lower total inflows per unit area, and higher runoff control effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How and to which extent terrain factors affecting the drainage area threshold (DAT) are disputable. This paper uses principal component analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis to study the influence degree of terrain factors on DAT. Firstly, 22 watersheds, locating in the severe soil erosion region (SSER) of Loess Plateau of China, are picked out as the example areas. The purpose of the mean change point method (MCP) to detect the relationship between DAT and gully density (GD) is to get a reasonable DAT. Secondly, nine terrain factors are calculated, and their statistical values are compared and put in the matrix to clear the different effects on DAT. Finally, the effects of statistical eigenvalues of terrain factors on DAT are compared with PCA and the correlation analysis. According to the PCA, the nine terrain factors are summarized into three principal components, which are slope, height variation, and relief factor. By calculating the score weighted by each factor coefficient matrix and eigenvalue, the result states that slope (S), terrain curvatures (K), and surface roughness (SR) are the factors that have great influence on DAT. Meanwhile, the results of correlation analysis indicate that S, SR, and K have exerted a great influence on the DAT, and the significance level was above 0.05. Both the results of PCA and correlation analysis make clear that the slope is the most direct and influential factor affecting DAT, while other factors are more or less related to slope directly and indirectly. The result implies that the vertical variation of terrain has a strong correlation with the slope, and also has a great influence on DAT. This research not only would be of great significance to recognize the mechanism of gully development, but also able to provide a scientific reference for soil and water conservation in the Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydropower is the most economically developed renewable energy source in China. In the twenty-first century, the era of clean and low-carbon development, hydropower can meet the continuous growth of energy consumption and help China achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2060. In 2019, China's installed hydropower capacity was 358.04 GW, and hydropower consumption was 1.132 × 1016 kJ, with a growth rate of 5.5%, well above the global average of 0.8%. Although China's hydropower achievements are renowned worldwide, hydropower development in China still faces challenges in relation to environmental, technological, economic and social issues. In this paper, we first review the history, achievements and current situation of China's hydropower development and summarize the specific challenges mentioned above. Then, we take the Dadu River Hydropower Base as a case study. This project ranks fifth among China's 13 largest hydropower bases, and the construction of 14 cascade hydropower stations was completed in December 2020, accounting for 61.3% of the total planned installed capacity of 28 cascades, with 3 more still under construction (accounting for another 16.3%). We comprehensively describe the background, tasks and exploitation of hydropower development in the Dadu River basin and highlight current practices, including exploration of environmental protection and ecological restoration, technical innovation, supporting facility construction, economic promotion and resettlement. Finally, based on the identified practices and lessons, we propose feasible suggestions for China's future hydropower development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, the widespread presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the environment and the related exposures and adverse health effects has received increasing attention. However, PFASs are not routinely monitored in drinking water in many parts of the world, including China. PFAS data are mainly generated by research studies. This paper provides an overview of the available research studies on PFASs in Chinese drinking water to better understand the current status of PFAS contamination and the potential for exposure. Results: The available studies provided PFAS data from 526 drinking water samples across 66 cities in China with a total of approximately 452 million inhabitants. We mapped the risk distribution associated with PFAS-contaminated drinking water in China by comparing the measured levels with recent international guidelines. The PFAS concentrations reported in more than 20% of the studied cities, likely affecting 98.5 million people, were above the maximum contaminant level issued by Vermont in 2019. Furthermore, we also investigated the human exposure to PFASs in drinking water by estimating total daily intakes based on Exposure Factors Handbook of Chinese Population. This study revealed that East China and the Southwest regions posed a relatively higher risk to the Chinese population and some cities in the Yangtze River basin such as Zigong, Jiujiang, Lianyungang and a considerable share of other cities have exceeded the health-based guidelines issued by EU and US agencies. Conclusion: Drinking water in many cities and regions in China is contaminated with PFASs at levels of concern. PFAS elimination of PFASs from drinking water in contaminated cities and affected regions in China is urgently needed. PFAS releases from industries and other sources need better control and reduction. Further monitoring in remote Chinese regions is needed to overcome the knowledge gaps for a more comprehensive understanding of population exposure. The current risk assessment of PFASs in China should be re-evaluated considering the most recent toxicological studies, to clarify if the guidelines need to be lowered as recently done in Europe and the United States. This is necessary to have the best national base for risk assessment and a science-based driver for countermeasures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring vegetation change and their potential drivers are important to environmental management. Previous studies on vegetation change detection and driver discrimination were two independent fields. Specifically, change detection methods focus on nonlinear and linear change behaviors, i.e., abrupt change (AC) and gradual change (GC). But driver discrimination studies mainly used linear coupling models which rarely concerned the nonlinear behaviors of vegetation. The two diagnoses need be treated as sequential flow because they have inner causality mechanisms. Furthermore, ACs concealed in time series may induce over/under-estimate contributions from human. We chose the Yangtze River Basin of China (YRB) as a study area, first separated ACs from GCs using breaks for additive and seasonal trend method, then discriminated drivers of GCs using optimized Restrend method. Results showed that (1) 2.83% of YRB were ACs with hotspots in 1998 (30.2%), 2003 (10.4%), and 2002 (7.6%); 66.7% of YRB experienced GC with 94.8% of which were positive; and (2) climate induced more area but less dramatic GCs than human activities. Further analysis showed that temperature was the main climate driver to GCs, while human-induced GCs were related to local eco-policies. The widely occurring ACs in 1998 were related to the flooding catastrophe, while the dramatic ACs in sub-basin 12 in 2003 may result from urbanization. This paper provides clear insights on the vegetation changes and their drivers at a relatively long perspective (i.e., 34 years). Sequential combination of specifying different vegetation behaviors with driver analysis could improve driver characterizations, which is key to environmental assessment and management in YRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that the climate in northwest China has turned to warm-wet in recent decades. Does this mean that the entire northwest of China has become wet in the last few decades? In the context of the climate transition in northwest China, this paper investigates whether the Bosten Lake Basin (BLB) located in southern Xinjiang has been dry or wet in the last 30 years. We used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and Temperature Vegetation Drought Index (TVDI) to investigate these changes. The results show that although the dry-wet changes indicated by the SPEI and TVDI exhibited slight spatiotemporal differences, the entire BLB reflected a tendency to be dry. That is, the BLB has not become wet during the climate transition in northwest China, but is developing a trend toward aridification. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) The SPEI indicated a drying trend in seasonal and interannual variations in plains; in mountains, except in spring and summer it has a drying trend, too. (2) The TVDI showed that although the drying trend in summer and winter was weaker than that in spring and autumn in the BLB, where some regions represented a significant tendency toward wetness owing to seasonal or annual changes, the entire study area has still become more dry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provision capacity of ecosystem services is affected by land-use/land-cover (LULC) change and biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. Studies related to ecosystem service values (ESVs) and their impact factors can provide a good reference for natural capital management. In this paper, the temporal and spatial dynamics of LULC and ESVs in the Nansihu Lake basin, China, since the reform and opening of China were analyzed by a combined method of spatial analysis and correlation analysis, and the factors that influence ESV changes were discussed. The results indicated that the main LULC changes were the enormous loss of cultivated land and rapid urban land expansion since the policy of reformation and opening in 1978. The ESVs in the basin decreased by 1.64% (1.70 × 108 US$) from 1975 to 2015, and the main impact factors of this temporal change in ESVs were the changes in waterbodies and cultivated land. Spatial patterns of ESVs were significantly influenced by socio-economic factors in the basin, such as population density and intensity of land use. This research provides alternatives and robust information for policy-making processes for the Nansihu Lake basin, and similar work can be conducted in other parts of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yellow River Basin (YRB) is a pivotal region for energy consumption and carbon emissions (CEs) in China, with cities emerging as the main sources of regional CEs. This highlights their critical role in achieving regional sustainable development and China's carbon neutrality. Consequently, there is a pressing need for a detailed exploration of the urban spillover effects and an in-depth analysis of the complex determinants influencing CEs within the YRB. Remote sensing data provide optimal conditions for conducting extensive studies across large geographical areas and extended time periods. This study integrates DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS nighttime light datasets for a longitudinal analysis of urban CEs in the YRB. Using a harmonized dataset from DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS nighttime light from 2007 to 2021, this study quantifies CEs of 58 prefecture-level cities in the YRB. By combining ESDA, STIRPAT model and spatial econometric model, this investigation further clarifies empirically the spatial spillover effects and driving factors of urban CEs. The analysis delineates a phase-wise augmentation in urban CEs, converging towards a distinct spatial distribution characterized by "lower reach > middle reach > upper reach". The spatial autocorrelation tests unravel a complex interplay between agglomeration and differentiation patterns within urban CEs, underscored by pronounced spatial lock-in phenomena. Significantly, this study demonstrates that urbanization, economic development, energy consumption structure, green coverage rate, industrial structure, population, technological progress, and FDI each exhibit varied direct and indirect effect on urban CEs. Furthermore, it elaborates on potential policy implications and future research directions, offering crucial insights for formulating CEs mitigation strategies to advance sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The statistical characteristics of precipitation play an extremely important role in the risk assessment of drought and flood disasters and water resource management. In this paper, the precipitation concentration degree (PCD), precipitation concentration period (PCP) and precipitation concentration index (PCI) were used to analyse the spatiotemporal variation in precipitation concentration characteristics in China from 1960 to 2015. In addition, the cross-wavelet transform was used to analyse the possible dependencies and spatial characteristics between these three precipitation concentration indices (PCD, PCP and PCI) and monsoon indices (East Asian summer monsoon index, EASMI; South Asian summer monsoon index, SASMI; and South China Sea summer monsoon index, SCSSMI) of nine river basins in China. The results show that the spatial distribution of precipitation concentration indices in China has obvious north-south and east-west variability. China's precipitation concentration indices are generally declining, with weak volatility. Among these indices, the PCD (P < 0.05) and PCI (P < 0.01) have decreased significantly at rates of − 0.005/10 year and − 0.006/10 year, respectively, while there has been no obvious decrease in the PCP. Compared with the PCD before 1978, the PCD in the rainy season after 1978 has decreased. In most areas, the rainy season is concentrated in July every year; however, the rainy season has been delayed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and has advanced mainly in the other basins. The PCI has declined since 1978, indicating a decreasing contribution of heavy precipitation to the total annual precipitation, but this change in the PCI has occurred mainly at high-value stations (PCI > 0.7), and the PCI at low-value stations has increased. Most of China's precipitation concentration indices and monsoon indices, as well as the NWRB, have small-scale (2–4 years) or medium-scale (12–15 years) oscillation periods. The oscillation periods between the precipitation concentration indices and monsoon indices in the Yangtze and Pearl River basins are more significant than those in other basins. The results of this study can help to understand the differences among the precipitation concentration characteristics in different basins in China and the intrinsic relationship between these characteristics and the summer monsoon and provide a reference for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effectiveness of three WUAs in the arid and semi-arid regions of northwest China, drawing upon empirical evidence collected through mixed methodologies. Results show significant discrepancies between understanding, motives and experiences regarding WUAs among different water stakeholders. These discrepancies are affected by a complex interaction of a variety of factors, including geographical locations, socio-economic and political contexts, personal experiences, knowledge gaps, incentives and value systems rather than ordinary socio-demographic variables. It has also shown that in a traditionally clientelistic society such as China social networks and the pattern of relations between different levels (either cooperative or exploitative) can be more important in participatory irrigation management than the existence of formal institutions or regulation. Furthermore, the roles of social networks on water governance are not necessarily positive, including collective exploitation, corruption especially rent-seeking and collusion. It concludes that for WUAs to be effective, they have to be context specific better understanding and strategic uses of social networks with shared water motives and goals among different stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate variability and human activities are two main contributing attributions for runoff changes in the Yellow River, China. In the loess hilly-gully regions of the middle Yellow River, water shortage has been a serious problem, and this results in large-scale constructions of soil and water conservation (SWC) measures in the past decades in order to retain water for agricultural irrigation and industrial production. This disturbed the natural runoff characteristics. In this paper, we focused on a typical loess hilly-gully region (Wudinghe and Luhe River basins) and investigated the effects of SWC measures and climate variability on runoff during the period of 1961-2013, while the SWC measures were the main representative of human activities in this region. The nonparametric Mann-Kendall test was used to analyze the changes of annual precipitation, air temperature, potential evapotranspiration (PET), and runoff. The analysis revealed the decrease in precipitation, significant rise in temperature, and remarkable runoff reduction with a rate of more than 0.4 mm per year. It was found that runoff capacity in this region also decreased. Using the change point detection methods, the abrupt change point of annual runoff series was found at 1970, and thus, the study period was divided into the baseline period (1961-1970) and changed period (1971-2013). A conceptual framework based on four statistical runoff methods was used for attribution analysis of runoff decline in the Wudinghe and Luhe River basins (−37.3 and −56.4%, respectively). Results showed that runoff reduction can be explained by 85.2-90.3% (83.3-85.7%) with the SWC measures in the Wudinghe (Luhe) River basin while the remaining proportions were caused by climate variability. The findings suggested that the large-scale SWC measures demonstrated a dominant influence on runoff decline, and the change of precipitation extreme was also a promoting factor of the upward trending of SWC measures' contribution to runoff decline. This study enhances our understanding of runoff changes caused by SWC measures and climate variability in the typical semiarid region of Loess Plateau, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting soil heavy metal (HM) content is crucial for monitoring soil quality and ensuring ecological health. However, existing methods often neglect the spatial dependency of data. To address this gap, our study introduces a novel graph neural network (GNN) model, Multi-Scale Attention-based Graph Neural Network for Heavy Metal Prediction (MSA-GNN-HMP). The model integrates multi-scale graph convolutional network (MS-GCN) and attention-based GNN (AGNN) to capture spatial relationships. Using surface soil samples from the Pearl River Basin, we evaluate the MSA-GNN-HMP model against four other models. The experimental results show that the MSA-GNN-HMP model has the best predictive performance for Cd and Pb, with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.841 for Cd and 0.886 for Pb, and the lowest mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.403 mg kg−1 for Cd and 0.670 mg kg−1 for Pb, as well as the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.563 mg kg−1for Cd and 0.898 mg kg−1 for Pb. In feature importance analysis, latitude and longitude emerged as key factors influencing the heavy metal content. The spatial distribution prediction trend of heavy metal elements by different prediction methods is basically consistent, with the high-value areas of Cd and Pb respectively distributed in the northwest and northeast of the basin center. However, the MSA-GNN-HMP model demonstrates superior detail representation in spatial prediction. MSA-GNN-HMP model has excellent spatial information representation capabilities and can more accurately predict heavy metal content and spatial distribution, providing a new theoretical basis for monitoring, assessing, and managing soil pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The inland river basins of northwestern China are structured as mountain-basin systems. Water resources originate in the flow-producing area (FPA), are utilized and operated in the oasis area and are dissipated in the desert area. In this study, a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was constructed in the Manas River Basin (MRB) FPA. Meanwhile, it simulated climate change and runoff evolution trends in the FPA of the MRB under different four climate change scenarios of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5. The main findings showed that (1) the years 1979–1980 were chosen as the model warm-up period, 1979–2000 as the model calibration period and 2001–2015 as the model validation period to complete the construction of the SWAT model for MRBFPA. From 1981 to 2015, three performance parameters indicated that the model accuracy meets the requirements (NSE = 0.81, R2 = 0.81 and PBIAS = 1.44) and can be used for further studies; (2) the hydrological elements (e.g. runoff, potential evapotranspiration, evapotranspiration, soil water content, snowmelt) in the MRBFPA were analysed by the constructed SWAT model; (3) the climate change in the MRBFPA is close to the RCP 8.5 scenario, and the future changes in water resources under this scenario will range from 659 to 2308 (million)m3. Compared to the multi-year historical mean value (12.95 × 108 m3), the future fluctuation in the amount of water resources available in this basin is increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through active involvement in UNESCO's ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage) programme, China has developed its own framework to support traditional making practices. To examine the 'characteristics' of heritage crafts preservation in China, we undertook empirical research in the Yellow River basin. Our research involved in-depth observations and key informant interviews with a range of highly accomplished craftspeople who have inherited their particular expertise from their family and have been officially designated ICH Inheritors. Through our qualitative research with inheritors, a businessperson and a government official, we identified various support mechanisms employed by the Chinese government that aim to protect traditional culture while also recognising outstanding individuals. We also found that ICH Inheritors play an important role in raising cultural awareness and enhancing cultural confidence through their creative activities and making practices, craft businesses and transfer of expertise. Based on the findings, potential areas where designers may collaborate with inheritors were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xiaolangdi Basin of the Yellow River, located between Mengjin County and Jiyuan City in Henan Province, is composed of a reservoir, a barrage dam, flood discharge buildings, and a water diversion and power generation system, among which, the Xiaolangdi project is the only control project in the lower reaches of the Yellow River that has a large storage capacity. In this study, distributed scatterers InSAR (DS-InSAR) deformation analysis was used to process 27 images of ESA Sentinel-1A data for the period between September 10, 2018, and July 19, 2019. Using the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) to select the statistical homogeneous pixels (SHP) and the eigenvalue decomposition method to optimize the interference phase, the time series surface deformation of the study area was obtained. The results showed that the maximum deformation rate in the study area was − 40.71 mm/year, the maximum deformation rate of the Xiaolangdi project was − 10.09 mm/year, and the larger deformation rates in the area around the Xiaolangdi Reservoir were mostly within the range − 35 to − 20 mm/year. Furthermore, small baseline subset (SBAS) InSAR and DS-InSAR are used for verification and analysis, and the monitoring results have high consistency. Therefore, to sum up, the time series deformation of low coherence areas may be monitored using DS-InSAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil carbon redistribution is an important process in the terrestrial carbon cycle. This study describes a new index, soil carbon redistribution (SCR) index, that can be used to assess long-term soil carbon redistribution at a large watershed scale. The new index is based on the theoretical preconditions that soil carbon redistribution is mainly controlled by vegetation type, precipitation, topography/slope, and soil carbon concentration. The Haihe River Basin served as an example for this analysis. The SCR index was calculated, and a GIS-based map shows its spatial patterns. The results suggested that soil carbon was usually prone to being carried away from mountainous regions with natural vegetation, while it was prone to deposition in the plain and plateau regions with cultivated vegetation. The methods in the paper offer a tool that can be used to quantify the potential risk where soil carbon is prone to being carried away and deposited in a large watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Threshold level method is well-known for drought identification with the advantage of its simplicity. However, there is no criterion for classification of drought classes in this method. Therefore, a K index based on threshold level method was proposed and verified to perform well in drought assessment in the Luanhe River basin, China. Meteorological data and remote sensing data were used to calculate the net primary productivity (NPP) of the basin by the CASA model. Results showed that the model had a good performance in comparison with the downloaded yearly remote sensing NPP and monthly PsnNet. The NPP in the basin tended to increase slowly during the year of 2000–2010, and the NPP in the downstream was generally larger than upstream. In three selected representative drought years, drought reduced NPP by about 15–25%, and during the growth season, drought may reduce NPP by about 4.6%, 2.7%, and 1.9% in July, August, and September, respectively, due to reduced precipitation. NPP on grasslands and agricultural land were more susceptible to drought than forests. The result of gray incidence analysis showed that the effects of drought on NPP had a certain delay with about 5 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droughts or floods are usually attributed to precipitation deficits or surpluses, both of which may become more frequent and severe under continued global warming. Concurring large-scale droughts in the Southwest and flooding in the Southeast of China in recent decades have attracted considerable attention, but their causes and interrelations are not well understood. Here, we examine spatiotemporal changes in hydrometeorological variables and investigate the mechanism underlying contrasting soil dryness/wetness patterns over a 54-year period (1965–2018) across a representative mega-watershed in South China—the West River Basin. We demonstrate that increasing rainfall intensity leads to severe drying upstream with decreases in soil water storage, water yield, and baseflow, versus increases therein downstream. Our study highlights a simultaneous occurrence of increased drought and flooding risks due to contrasting interactions between rainfall intensification and topography across the river basin, implying increasingly vulnerable water and food security under continued climate change. Increasing rainfall intensity produces opposite hydrological effects across a large river basin in South China (drying in the uplands vs. wetting in the lowlands) due to spatially contrasting interactions between rainfall intensification and topography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the framework of payment for transboundary watershed ecosystem services (ESs), identifying midstream and downstream residents' preference and willingness to pay (WTP) for ESs provided by the upstream is crucial for sustainable watershed management. The residents' preferences and WTP are not evenly distributed within the watershed. This study uses a choice experiment assessing the spatial impact of physical distance (including residents' watershed location and distance to waterbody) and psychological distance on residents' preference and WTP for the Wei River Basin ESs. The results showed that midstream and downstream residents' preference and WTP for the ecological attributes have a significant distance-decay effect, either the physical distance to the upstream exit or physical and psychological distance to the waterbody. However, compared with the residents in the midstream, the residents downstream have a stronger preference and WTP for upstream ecological governance. Besides, the distance-decay effect differs between urban and rural residents. There is a psychological distance-decay effect in rural residents' preference for water quality and a physical distance-decay effect in their preference for water quantity, entertainment area, and cost; there is a physical distance decay effect in urban residents' preference for entertainment areas. The above differences lead to heterogeneity in WTP and total economic value (TEV) for ESs. When calculating the TEV of the transboundary watershed ES and charging the public, policymakers should consider the location of the residents, the physical and psychological distance to the water body, and the difference between urban and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To rehabilitate the depleted fish resources of the Yangtze River Basin, China, a 10-year fishing ban has been implemented. This national initiative has attracted worldwide attention. The present study aimed to explore the ecological process and recovery effectiveness of this complete fishing ban in the Chishui River, the first river where the fishing ban was enacted in the Yangtze River Basin. Changes in fish resources were analyzed based on investigations conducted 5 years before (2012–2016) and 5 years after (2017–2021) the implementation of the fishing ban in four reaches along the longitudinal gradient. Results: A total of 140 fish species, including 127 native and 13 exotic species, were collected during the study period. The number of fish species as well as the diversity indices showed no significant temporal changes. However, 11 native species that had disappeared for many years appeared again after the fishing ban. The occurrence rates of some key protected species, Procypris rabaudi, Acipenser dabryanus, Euchiloglanis davidi and Myxocyprinus asiaticus, increased after the fishing ban, while Coreius guichenoti, Percocypris pingi, Onychostoma angustistomata and Leptobotia rubrilabris showed no obvious recovery. The fish assemblage structure in nearly all reaches (except the headwater) showed significant temporal changes with an increase in the relative abundance of larger body-sized species. The population structure of most dominant species improved greatly with the mean standard length and the mean body weight as well as the proportion of larger-sized individuals clearly increasing. In addition, the density of fishes changed dramatically with the catch per unit effort (CPUE) increasing by 140–210% for different study reaches. Conclusions: The present study confirmed that the complete fishing closure is an effective measure to facilitate fish resources recovery. These results provide valuable references for evaluating the effectiveness of the 10-year fishing ban policy in the entire Yangtze River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A regional analysis of soil temperature (ST) is essential for improving our understanding of the soil thermal regime and its link with the atmosphere. This study attempts to assess trends in the Poyang Lake Basin (PLB) ST magnitude during 1960–2016 from station observations at multiple depths. The Mann–Kendall, Thiel-Sen, linear regression, and probability density statistics (PDF) are used for ST trend assessment with a significance level of 95%. The ST seasonal variability shows minimum values in winter (8℃) and maximum in the summer season (32 ℃). On an interannual scale, spring and winter seasons exhibited a significant increase in both land surface temperature (LST) (0.4℃, 0.4℃) and ST (0.3 °C, 0.15℃) magnitude than summer (LST − 0.1℃, ST 0.2℃) and autumn seasons (LST 0.3℃, ST 0.2℃). The northern basin exhibited a significant increase in LST, and ST magnitude, especially during the cold seasons (spring, winter) than the warm seasons. The maximum and minimum temperature trend and their diurnal difference infer an increase in the minimum temperature, especially during the summer, autumn, and winter seasons. The PDF further inferred that extreme cold events' frequency decreased, and a significant increase in extreme warm events is obvious in the recent decade. The increasing trend in soil temperature magnitude is more in the northern basin than the high-altitude southern basin. Large-scale global warming and regional water and energy cycle changes can be the leading factors of such a warming trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuojiang River watershed is an economically developed and densely populated area in Sichuan Province (southwest of China), which is also an important tributary of the Yangtze River. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the main pollutants affecting water quality, but there is still lack of study on the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of these two pollutants. In this study, the typical non-point source pollution loads in the Tuojiang River watershed are simulated by Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, and the spatial autocorrelation method is used to reveal the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the pollution loads from the annual average and water periods. Combined with redundancy analysis (RDA) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis, the main driving factors affecting the typical non-point source pollution loads in the Tuojiang River watershed are discussed from the global and local perspectives. The results show that (1) from different water periods, the pollution loads of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in three water periods show obviously different, is the highest in the abundant water period, with 323.4 kg/ha and 47.9 kg/ha, followed by the normal water period, with 95.7 kg/ha and 14.1 kg/ha, and the lowest in the dry water period, with 28.4 kg/ha and 4.2 kg/ha. The annual average value of TN pollution load is higher than that of TP, with 447.5 kg/ha and 66.1 kg/ha, respectively; (2) the TN and TP pollution loads are stable on the whole, and the overall level in the middle reaches is higher. The pollution loads of Shifang City and Mianzhu City are higher in all three water periods. (3) Elevation and slope are two main driving factors affecting the TN and TP pollution loads in the Tuojiang River watershed. Therefore, the visualization and quantification of temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of typical non-point source pollution loads in the Tuojiang River watershed are helpful to provide the basis for scientific prevention and control of pollution in the Tuojiang River watershed and are of great significance to promote the sustainable, coordinated, and healthy development of water environment and economy in the watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reasonable regulation of the total amount and layout of land resources is the significant cornerstone for releasing the potential of land resources. This study explored the spatial layout and evolution characteristics of the Nansi Lake Basin from the perspective of land use and simulated the spatial distribution pattern under multiple scenarios in 2035 with the Future Land Use Simulation model which more effectively reflected the process of land use change in the actual situation, revealing the land use change of the Nansi Lake Basin under the influence of different human activities. Analysis indicated that the simulation results obtained using the Future Land Use Simulation model strongly agree with reality. By 2035, the magnitude and spatial distribution of land use landscapes will change significantly under three scenarios. The findings provide a reference for the adjustment of land use planning in the Nansi Lake Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to earthquakes and volcanoes, drought is one of the most damaging natural disasters and is mainly affected by rainfall losses, especially by the runoff regulation ability of the underlying watershed surface. Based on monthly rainfall runoff data recorded from 1980 to 2020, in this study, the distributed lag regression model is used to simulate the rainfall-runoff process in the karst distribution region of South China, and a time series of watershed lagged-flow volumes is calculated. The watershed lagged effect is analyzed by four distribution models, and the joint probability between the lagged intensity and frequency is simulated by the copula function family. The results show that (1) the watershed lagged effects simulated by the normal, log-normal, P-III and log-logistic distribution models in the karst drainage basin are particularly significant, with small mean square errors (MSEs) and significant time-scale characteristics. (2) Affected by spatiotemporal distribution differences in rainfall and the impacts of different basin media and structures, the lag response of runoff to rainfall differs significantly among different time scales. Especially at the 1-, 3- and 12-month scales, the coefficient of variation (Cv) of the watershed lagged intensity is greater than 1, while it is less than 1 at the 6- and 9-month scales. (3) The lagged frequencies simulated by the log-normal, P-III and log-logistic distribution models are relatively high (with medium, medium–high and high frequencies, respectively), while that simulated by the normal distribution is relatively low (medium–low and low frequencies). (4) There is a significant negative correlation (R < − 0.8, Sig. < 0.01) between the watershed lagged intensity and frequency. For the joint probability simulation, the fitting effect of the gumbel Copula is the best, followed by the Clayton and Frank-1 copulas, and while that of the Frank-2 copula is relatively weak. Consequently, the propagation mechanism from meteorological drought to agricultural or hydrological drought and the conversion mechanism between agricultural and hydrological drought are effectively revealed in this study, thereby providing a scientific basis for the rational utilization of water resources and drought resistance and disaster relief in karst areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sedimentary architecture of fan deltas, which commonly constitute reservoirs, is a primary control on distribution and recovery efficiency of oil and gas. Deep-water fan deltas have been extensively discussed in the literature, whereas the sedimentary architecture of shallow-water fan-delta fronts, especially the characterization of mouth bar, quantification of architectural elements, and factors controlling the various architectural elements, remain poorly understood. Here, based on the integration of field survey and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) observation, the sedimentary architecture of Sangyuan section of the Lower Cretaceous Xiguayuan Formation in the Luanping Basin to is qualitatively and quantitatively characterized. Furthermore, factors controlling the architecture of the shallow-water fan-delta front are highlighted. Five facies associations, which differ in both lithofacies and dimensions, were interpreted in gravel-sand deposits of Sangyuan section, and indicate variations in flow conditions during deposition. The width/thickness ratio of facies associations generally increases rapidly as the flow energy and flow concentration decreases from debris flow to traction currents during the evolution of shallow-water fan delta. Both distributary channels and mouth bars dominate facies associations in the shallow-water fan-delta front, accounting for 53.42% and 36.88% of gravel-sand deposits respectively in Sangyuan section. Mouth bar consists of gravel accretions and sand accretions. Grain size of sediments influences the relative strength of the inertial force and bed friction, which determine the effluent behavior in a river-mouth system and the vertical grain-size trend of mouth bar accretions. Gravel accretions are characterized by normal grading, and these are interpreted as the products of inertia-dominated effluent. Sand accretions exhibit coarsening-upward trends in the river-mouth systems where friction-dominated outflow occurred. The overall vertical grain-size trend of mouth bar depends on the stacking pattern of accretions rather than the grading of one accretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion (SE) is one of the most serious disasters in the world, which directly damage the productivity of the land and affect human well-being. How to effectively mitigate soil erosion is a challenge faced by all countries in the world. In this study, soil erosion was quantitatively assessed base on the RULSE model in an ecologically fragile area [Xiushui watershed (XSW)], and the effects of three major categories of factors (land use/cover change, landscape fragmentation and climate) on soil erosion were investigated using correlation analysis and structural equation model. The results indicated that there was no continuous increase or decrease trend on the SE of XSW with impact of rainfall, the mean values of SE were 2205.27 t/ha, 3414.25 t/ha and 3319.44 t/ha from 2000 to 2020 and the hot areas of SE were mainly distributed around the Xiushui river channel, respectively. The expansion of urbanization (the area of impervious increased from 113.12 to 252.57 km2) aggravated landscape fragmentation, and the landscape fragmented area had some overlap with the hot zone of SE. Additionally, the LUCC factor dominated by NDVI, landscape fragmentation factor and climate factor dominated by rainfall had a directly driving effect on SE, where the path coefficient of landscape fragmentation was 0.61 (P < 0.01), respectively. We also found that except increasing forest area, improving forest quality (NDVI, canopy closure, structure) deserved emphasized in SE management, and the effect of landscape fragmentation on SE also should not be ignored. Moreover, soil erosion assessment at large scales over long time periods tends to underestimate the driving force of rainfall on SE, and it is a great challenge to evaluate the effect of extreme rainfall on soil erosion at short time scales in a downscale manner. This research provides insights for ecological sustainable management and soil erosion protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the Taihu Lake Basin as an example, in this study, the characteristics of the rainfall factors in the study area were analyzed using daily rainfall data from 1955 to 2019. Three factors, i.e., the contribution rate of the rainfall in the flood season, the rainfall frequency, and the maximum daily rainfall, were selected to determine the optimal probability distribution function for each single factor. Furthermore, the root mean square error goodness-of-fit test was used to determine the optimal copula function for the three-dimensional joint probability distribution characteristics of the rainfall factors. The research results show that the three-dimensional copula joint probability method contains much more information than the results of the single variable probability calculation. The copula function can be used to analyze the multi-dimensional joint distribution of rainfall factors, which can fill the gap in research on multiple rainfall factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]