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Paper and plastic bags have been mainly used in fruit bagging of pineapple production. However, they are often discarded as agricultural wastes after harvest of pineapple fruit and threaten environment. In this study, effects of white non-woven fabric bag, expandable polyethylene bag, black plastic bag and kraft paper bag on fruit quality of pineapple cv. ‘MD-2’ were investigated. Results showed that fruits with fruit bagging showed no sunburn. When expandable polyethylene bag was used, fruits of pineapple cv. ‘MD-2’ showed better external qualities, nutrition qualities and texture properties. Expandable polyethylene bag made of degradable and recyclable materials could be recommended as a promising practice to reduce agricultural waste in pineapple production. RESUMO: Sacos de papel e plástico têm sido usados principalmente no ensacamento de frutas na produção de abacaxi. No entanto, eles são frequentemente descartados como resíduos agrícolas, após a colheita da fruta do abacaxi, e ameaçam o meio ambiente. Neste estudo, os efeitos da sacola de tecido, não tecido branco, sacola de polietileno expansível, sacola plástica preta e sacola de papel artesanal na qualidade do fruto do abacaxi cv. ‘MD-2’ foram investigados. Os resultados mostraram que as frutas ensacadas não apresentaram queimaduras solares. Quando foi utilizada a bolsa de polietileno expansível, as frutas de abacaxi cv. ‘MD-2’ mostraram melhores qualidades externas, qualidades nutricionais e propriedades de textura. O saco de polietileno expansível feito de materiais degradáveis e recicláveis pode ser recomendado como uma prática promissora para reduzir o desperdício agrícola na produção de abacaxi.

Judging from the current situation, China’s e-commerce companies are developing more and more rapidly, and the sales records of e-commerce platforms continue to break through. However, in this rapid development, many problems have been exposed. Because B2C e-commerce business management methods are different from traditional business management methods, there are many fundamental differences between the risks faced by traditional e-commerce companies and traditional enterprises. Compared with traditional enterprises, the risks faced by e-commerce enterprises have greater uncertainty and complexity, and the related risk management measures have not fully kept up with the development speed of B2C e-commerce and are still in the stage of continuous exploration. With the popularity of e-commerce and higher applicability, the research on e-commerce data management model is urgent. In order to study the e-commerce data management model, theoretical research and commercial application of cloud computing are discussed in depth from literature analysis, comparative analysis, graphical analysis, and case analysis. I hope to expand the application research of cloud computing platform in e-commerce. Finally, it proves that e-commerce has a good development advantage in the future development.

To compare the consistency between superb microvascular imaging (SMI) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for the detection of neovascularization in carotid plaques of different thicknesses and to evaluate the applied value of these two methods for detecting neovascularization in carotid plaques in the clinic.A total of 45 patients with carotid artery plaques who were diagnosed in our hospital involving 76 hypoechoic plaques with a thickness ≥2.0 mm were selected. According to thickness, the plaques were divided into three groups: 2.0-2.5 mm, 2.5-3.0 mm and ≥3.0 mm. Each group underwent both SMI and CEUS, and two experienced sonographers (A and B) analyzed the ultrasound images to evaluate the neovascularization of carotid plaques. The amount of the neovascular signal was assessed using a semi-quantitative grading scale (vascularity grade: grade 0-3). SMI and CEUS were graded respectively according to the visual methods as follows: grade 0: no blood flow signal/enhancement within plaques; grade 1: a few blood flow signals/enhancement within plaques; grade 2: medium blood flow signals/enhancement within plaques; and grade 3: extensive blood flow signals/enhancement within plaques. Kappa consistency test was used to analyze the consistency of the grade of neovascularization in plaques between SMI with CEUS. Gamma rank correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between neovascularization grade by SMI and CEUS in plaque and plaque thickness.Of these patients, 14 had unilateral plaques and 31 had bilateral plaques. The two sonographers were highly consistent in terms of applying SMI and CEUS methods for diagnosing neovascularization in carotid plaques (Kappa values were 0.736 and 0.6800). Consistency was found between SMI and CEUS by sonographers (sonographer A: Kappa=0.823; sonographer B: Kappa=0.842) in evaluating the neovascular grade in the carotid plaques. SMI and CEUS grades were positively correlated with plaque thickness (sonographer A: γ = 0.735 and 0.772; sonographer B: γ = 0.805 and 0.798).Neovascularization in carotid plaques was successfully detected by SMI in a manner that concurred well with CEUS results. Our data indicate that both CEUS and SMI have high diagnostic value for assessing the neovascularization of plaques.

Persulfate activation is an efficient advanced oxidation process for water treatment. However, many catalyst materials make their preparation methods and raw materials very complicated and expensive while pursuing high-efficiency catalytic effects. In this research, a novel Co-modified micro/nano geopolymer (Co-MNG) material was prepared from solid waste using a mechanochemical method. The whole preparation process of Co-MNG is simple and time-saving, and most of its raw materials are solid waste. In addition, it has few adverse effects on the environment during preparation and use and has a good effect on PDS activation. Under dark conditions, 1 mg L

The extract of crofton weed (Eupatorium adenophorum) inhibits seed germination and weed growth; however, the physiological mechanisms underlying the effect of crofton weed extract on the modulation of seedling growth and root system development remain largely unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of the leaf extract of crofton weed (LECW) on primary root (PR) growth in maize seedlings. Treatment with LECW markedly inhibited seed germination and seedling growth in a dose-dependent manner. Physiological analysis indicated that the LECW induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in root tips, thereby leading to cell swelling and deformation both in the root cap and elongation zone of root tips, finally leading to cell death in root border cells (RBCs) and PR growth inhibition. The LECW also inhibited pectin methyl esterase (PME) activity, thereby decreasing the RBC number. Taken together, our results indicated that the LECW inhibited PR growth by inducing ROS accumulation and subsequent cell death in RBCs. The present study provides a better understanding of how the LECW modifies root system development and provides insight for evaluating the toxicity of crofton weed extracts in plants.

In order to obtain an adsorbent-photocatalyst with low-cost, strong stability and great reusability/recyclability, a waste-based and CdS-loaded hierarchically porous geopolymer (HPG) was prepared by facile synthesis. The adsorption-photocatalysis ability, reusability, and stability of HPG under different conditions were determined. Results indicated that HPG showed better adsorption-photocatalysis performance for organic dyes under alkaline environment, and it remained a high adsorption-photocatalysis efficiency after used for five times. Furthermore, HPG was stable in different environment conditions (strong acidic, acid raining, neutral, high salinity, and high alkali environment). The mass loss of HPG were around 3.22-6.68% (7 days extraction), and the immobilization rates of Cd

Urban parks have been considered as an effective measure to mitigate the urban heat island (UHI) effects. Many studies have investigated the impacts of shape, size and interior components on the cold island effect (CIE) of parks, while little attention has been given to the impact of neighboring buildings. Thus, taking twenty-two parks in Beijing as samples, this study investigated the impacts of the neighboring building on the CIE of central parks. The results showed that the average land surface temperature (LST) of parks are 30.98 &deg, C in summer and &minus, 1.10 &deg, C in winter. Parks have a strong CIE in summer, and average cold island footprint (CIF) and LST difference are 0.15 km2 and 2.01 &deg, C higher than that in winter. The components of the building in the CIF of parks are dominated by middle-rise building (MRB), followed by low-rise building (LRB), and high-rise building (HRB) is the least dominant. The percentage of landscape (PLAND) and landscape shape index (LSI) of MRB, and perimeter area fractal dimension (PAFRAC) of LRB are significantly related to CIF in summer and winter. This study could extend scientific understanding of the impacts of neighboring buildings on the CIE of central parks, and could guide urban planners in mitigating the UHI effects through the rational allocation of buildings.

Spatially explicit information on electric power consumption (EPC) is crucial for effective electricity allocation and utilization. Many studies have estimated fine-scale spatial EPC based on remotely sensed nighttime light (NTL). However, the spatial non-stationary relationship between EPC and NTL at prefectural level tends to be overlooked in existing literature. In this study, a classification regression method to estimate the gridded EPC in China based on imaging NTL via a Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) was described. In addition, owing to some inherent omissions in the VIIRS NTL data, the study has employed the cubic Hermite interpolation to produce a more appropriate NTL dataset for estimation. The proposed method was compared with ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) approaches. The results showed that our proposed method outperformed OLS and GWR in relative error (RE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The desirable results benefited mainly from a reasonable classification scheme that fully considered the spatial non-stationary relationship between EPC and NTL. Thus, the analysis suggested that the proposed classification regression method would enhance the accuracy of the gridded EPC estimation and provide a valuable reference predictive model for electricity consumption.

A 200-day experiment was conducted to evaluate strategies for the stable performance and rapid inhibition recovery of a thermophilic reactor treating coffee wastes, waste activated sludge, and milk waste under a high organic loading rate (OLR) and the synergistic effects of microbes. Excessive accumulation of propionate was determined to be the main reason for the deterioration of the reactor, which resulted from reduced methanogenic activity. Supplementation of inoculum sludge led to the complete inhibition recovery of the reactor in fewer than 35 d by enhancing propionate degradation. The microelement and low concentration of sulfate ensured the stable performance of the reactor at OLR of 4.6 g-TS/L/d. The efficiency of organic matters and propionate degradation was also improved. The microbial community was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing targeting 16S rRNA to determine the relationship between microbial composition and reactor performance. Propionate markedly inhibited Methanosarcina, which dominated the stable state; meanwhile, Methanobacterium and Methanothermobacter were more tolerant and comprised more than 75% of total archaea at the inhibitory stage. The deterioration of the reactor led to a shift in the CH4 generation pathway from acetoclastic to hydrogenotrophic. Clostridiales was responsible for organic degradation at stable stages; however, almost all of the genera of Clostridiales could not survive at stage II and were replaced by Thermoanaerobacterales and Lactobacillales.

Background Accurate and timely clinical laboratory critical values notification are crucial steps in supporting effective clinical decision making, thereby improving patient safety. Methods A closed‐loop laboratory critical value notification system was developed by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, laboratorians, administrators, and information technology experts. All the laboratory critical values that occurred at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital (BTCH, Beijing, China) from 2015 to 2019 were analyzed and studied retrospectively. Results The total number (ratio) of institutional laboratory critical values to all reported items at BTCH from 2015 to 2019 was 38 020/7 706 962 (0.49%). Percentage distribution points of critical value boundaries based on patients’ test reports are 0.007% ~ 6.04% for low boundaries and 71.70% ~ 99.99% for high boundaries. After the intervention, the timely notification ratio, notification receipt ratio, and timely notification receipt ratio of critical values of ED, IPD, and total patients had increased, with a significant difference (P

Soil erosion (SE) processes are closely related to natural conditions and human activities, posing a threat to environment and society. Identifying the human impact on regional SE changes is increasingly essential for pertinent SE management. Jiangxi province is studied here as a representative area of hilly-red-soil regions within southern China. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the changing trend of SE within Jiangxi and identify human impacts on regional SE change from the perspective of spatial differences, through a new approach based on a gravity-center model. Our results showed that SE status presented an overall amelioration from 1990 to 2015, while the average soil erosion modulus (SEM) declined from 864 to 281 Mg/(km2&middot, a). Compared to the situation under human and natural impacts, human-induced spatial differences of SE change demonstrated that the western and northwest regions showed stronger negative effects, the southern region shifted towards negative effects, the northeast region presented a much weaker negative effect. Our results indicated that 4 cities with strong negative effects need more attention in further SE management suited to their local conditions and development, and also suggested that the approach based on a gravity-center has potential for identifying the human impact on regional SE change from the perspective of spatial patterns.

Ecological projects are an important and vital method to help ecosystem adaptation and restoration in response to the environment change and human interference. The accurate and objective assessment of ecological projects will assist ecosystem management and adaption. This study took the central Tibetan Plateau as the study area, where a series of ecological projects has been implemented since 2005 to prevent grassland degradation by protecting and restoring the grasslands. Our aim is to explore where and to what extent the ecological projects influenced the grassland variation, using SPOT NDVI-based residual trend as an indicator. The results indicated that before the projects (between 1998 and 2004), human-induced degradation characterized the grassland. However, a general grassland restoration was detected after the projects from 2005 to 2012. Moreover, over 60% of project plots had positive trends in the NDVI residuals. From the spatial patterns, project-induced restoration was detected in the western and northern regions, such as Maduo, Dongde and Xinghai counties. For the eastern regions, the human-induced degradation has been generally mitigated and yet not reversed after the projects. Our results indicated that ecological protection and restoration projects in the central Tibetan Plateau have mitigated the grassland degradation and even reversed the degradation in some areas, and also suggested that the NDVI-based residual trend is a useful indicator for assessing the effectiveness of the ecological projects in alpine regions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This study elucidates volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation reasons during organic solid wastes degradation via kinetics and thermodynamics assessments of degradation mechanisms of representative VFA (acetate, propionate, butyrate and valerate) under mesophilic (35 °C) and thermophilic (55 °C) conditions. Acetate exhibited the highest maximum microbial specific growth rates of 0.18 d−1 and 0.33 d−1 at mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively, during the degradation process, followed by butyrate at 0.08 d−1 and 0.08 d−1. However, propionate showed a stronger inhibition to methanogenesis at thermophilic conditions, especially at the substrate concentration exceeding 5000 mg COD/L. The largest specific maximum methanogenic activity (SMA) decreased from 0.029 to 0.022 g CH4-COD/g-VSS/d. Furthermore, an inability of microorganisms to adapt to thermophilic propionate degradation conditions (at maximum lag time of 12 days) indicated substantial substrate inhibition. As an intermediate product of valerate degradation, the propionate degradation rate was considerably lower than that of valerate (0.036 g COD/d vs. 0.104 g COD/d). Hence, propionate caused a substantial rate limitation during the valerate degradation process under thermophilic conditions. In addition, under thermophilic conditions, valerate converted to methane via a long three-step syntrophic oxidation process. A large amount of hydrogen production accompanied this process. The inhibitory effect of propionate on methanogens and high hydrogen concentration (approximately 700 ppm) required time to subside. Thus, a 4-day plateau associated with a positive Gibbs free energy (1.45–2.11 kJ/mol) occurred during valerate degradation.

Yield gridded datasets are essential for agricultural land management, food security and harmonious human&ndash, land relationships. Many studies have developed yield spatialization models that are based on cropland areas. However, crop planting areas, phenological dates, and net primary production (NPP) have received minimal attention. This study proposes a novel method to simulate winter wheat yields in China from 2000 to 2015 using crop phenological datasets, phenological observations, and NPP. The results showed that the NPP in the growing season and statistical yield showed a significant positive correlation (R2 = 0.93, p &lt, 0.01). The mean prediction error of the gridded yield dataset was 12.01%. The relative errors of the gridded yield dataset for approximately half of the samples were between &minus, 10% and 10%. Furthermore, the yield distribution was high in the east and low in the west. The high yield was primarily concentrated in the North China Plain, while low yield was observed in eastern Gansu, central Shanxi, southern Hebei, and eastern Sichuan. From 2000 to 2015, the yield mainly showed an increasing trend in the study area, with the average rate of 0.17 t ha-1 yr-1, especially in the North China Plain. This study suggests that NPP is a key indicator to evaluate the yield of winter wheat. Furthermore, this method can be used to generate gridded yield maps along with providing credible and fundamental data for climate change and sustainable agricultural development.

The Colletotrichum musae and Fusarium semitectum Berk., Which often occur in banana after harvest were used as the targets. Three components with antibacterial activity extracted from the leaves of the plant were used as "fungicide". The antibacterial effect of the three component substances on the pathogens of anthracnose and shaft rot was studied. The results showed that the inhibitory rates of the components A, B and C at 2 mg / ml on the pathogens of banana anthracnose and shaft rot reached 82.53%, 79.91%, 78.30% and 82.2%, 78.69% and 81.17% respectively. The EC90 values of component A, B and C for banana anthracnose pathogens were 1.70, 1.85, and 1.69 mg / ml. Respectively, the EC90 values for banana shaft rot pathogens were 1.37, 1.38, and 1.64 mg / ml. The antibacterial effect of the three component substances on the pathogen of banana shaft rot was better than that of anthracnose. The three component substances have great potential for controlling post-harvest anthracnose and shaft rot of bananas.

With rapid and continuous population growth and the associated declining quality of cultivated land, food security in China has been attracting the attention of scholars both domestically and internationally. In recent decades, the implications of the cultivated land balance policy have promoted spatial changes of cultivated land. Estimating the agricultural potential productivity and assessing its response to cultivated land changes could provide a scientific basis for strategic decision-making concerning grain production and thus guarantee food security. In the present study, the Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) model was applied to estimate the agricultural potential productivity. Data from the second national land survey were first applied to characterize the changes of cultivated land (by comparing the cultivated land in 2009 with that in 2012) and their influence on potential productivity in Mainland China. We propose a utilization degree of total potential productivity (UTP) and its ratio coefficient (RUTP) to reveal the utilization status of potential productivity and its change characteristics at the provincial level. It was found that there was a trend for cultivated land to be shifted away from cities, and the average productive capability per hectare of cultivated land declined from 7386.5 kg/ha to 6955.2 kg/ha by occupying highly productive cultivated land generally near the cities and compensating less productive cultivated land in remote areas. UTPs and RUTPs indicate a significant difference in the utilization status of potential productivity among the 31 provinces of Mainland China. Grain production with the aim of sustainable development should be strategized according to the particular facts of each province. The methods we applied can mine the impacts of cultivated land changes on potential productivity and the utilization of potential productivity effectively.

Human mobility has played a major role in the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) through transportation; however, its pattern and mechanism have remained unclear. This study used transport networks as a proxy for human mobility to generate the spatial process of TB incidence. It examined the association between TB incidence and four types of transport networks at the provincial level: provincial roads, national roads, highways, and railways. Geographical information systems and geospatial analysis were used to examine the spatial distribution of 2217 smear-positive TB cases reported between 2009 and 2011 in the Shandong province. The study involved factors such as population density and elevation difference in conjunction with the types of transport networks to predict the disease occurrence in space. It identified spatial clusters of TB incidence linked not only with transport networks of the regions but also differentiated by elevation. Our research findings provide evidence of targeting populous regions with well-connected transport networks for effective surveillance and control of TB transmission in Shandong.

Urban population potential is a good measure of urban spatial interactions. However, previous studies often assigned population data to the administrative point of the government or the centroid of the region, such as the county, ward or village. In these cases, two problems exist: (1) the zone centroid problem and (2) the scale problem. To better deal with these problems, we proposed a novel method for simulating the urban population potential based on urban patches using Jiangsu Province as the study area. This study conducted research on a classification scheme based on area for urban patches and developed an urban population potential model on the basis of a potential model. The spatial simulation of the urban population potential at various urban scales and the comprehensive urban population potential of Jiangsu were determined. The spatial pattern is “southern Jiangsu high and north-central Jiangsu low”, which is consistent with the “pole-axis” spatial system. This study also compared the simulations of the new method and a traditional method. Results revealed that the method based on urban patches was superior in simulating real spatial patterns of the urban population potential. Further improvements should focus on actual conditions, such as passable expressway entrances and exits and railway stations, and high-speed railway data should be employed when simulating the urban population potential across provinces and greater China.

Terrain, an important limiting factor in land use change, strongly influences agricultural productivity. This study investigated the topographical characteristics of agricultural potential productivity of cropland transformations in China during the first decade of the 21st century, and explored the impacts of cropland transformations with different terrains on agricultural potential productivity as it relates to China’s national food supply. The results showed the production potential of cropland loss was much greater than that of cropland gain in most regions, and topographical characteristics of croplands losses and gains actually impacted the agricultural potential productivity in China. The losses in agricultural potential productivity was serious in regions with good terrain conditions, where the slope is lower than 5°, and the elevation is below 100 m, especially in the middle and lower Yangtze region and the Huang-Huai-Hai region. The situation for cropland loss with better quality, and expanded the worse was severe in China, and this is expected to negatively influence sustainable agricultural development in the future. This study suggests that researchers focus not only on the total area of expanded cropland but also on cropland quality, such as the different terrain conditions of the croplands, to avoid a loss in national agricultural productivity caused by the process of cropland transformation.

As elicitors of terrestrial system change (e.g., land use transformation) through the introduction of anthropogenic causes, the spatial patterns and levels of roads might be more detrimental to the long-term health of ecosystems at a large scale than the road paving itself. This paper reveals the relationship between soil erosion and roads from a large-scale perspective in Jiangxi Province, China. Temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of artificial and natural drive factors of soil erosion alongside roads were addressed. It was found that, from 1990 to 2010, Jiangxi Province experienced an obvious reduction in soil erosion (the mean annual soil erosion rate decreased from 930.8 t·km−2·a−1 to 522.0 t·km−2·a−1), which was positively correlated with road density (p < 0.01). The maximum soil erosion reduction occurred at a distance of 0–1 km from the village roads. The order of soil erosion effects of the four levels of roads is: Village road > county road > provincial/national road. We emphasize that studying the indirect roles of roads in soil erosion is strongly dependent on a comprehensive consideration of historical policy and the economic development stage in a study area. This paper highlights the indirect role of village roads in soil erosion evolution.

Accurate grid size suitability evaluations are necessary to enhance the spatialization quality of gridded population distributions. This paper proposes an improved average local variance (ALV) method to express discrepancies in population density and was validated in Anhui Province, China. A dataset consisting of 14 spatial scales, from 100 m to 900 m, and 1000 m to 5000 m, was processed by both the proposed and traditional ALV methods. Line graphs of two sets of ALV values and grid sizes were comparatively analyzed to evaluate the grid size suitability. The ALV trends calculated by the proposed method encompassed more accurate and useful features compared to the traditional method. The case study results showed that the 200 m grid size accurately expresses the population distribution characteristics of Anhui Province. The standard deviation (SD) index was adopted to validate these results; the proposed ALV method was proven valuable both in theory and practice for assessing grid size suitability. The method may be further improved by determining the essential laws of ALV values based on grid characteristics, and by enhancing the adaptability to various locations.

The natural environment factor is one of the main indexes for evaluating human habitats, sustained economic growth and ecological health status. Based on Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and an analytic hierarchy process method, this article presents the construction of the Natural Environment Suitability Index (NESI) model of China by using natural environment data including climate, hydrology, surface configuration and ecological conditions. The NESI value is calculated in grids of 1 km by 1 km through ArcGIS. The spatial regularity of NESI is analyzed according to its spatial distribution and proportional structure. The relationship of NESI with population distribution and economic growth is also discussed by analyzing NESI results with population distribution data and GDP data in 1 km by 1 km grids. The study shows that: (1) the value of NESI is higher in the East and lower in the West in China; The best natural environment area is the Yangtze River Delta region and the worst are the northwest of Tibet and southwest of Xinjiang. (2) There is a close correlation among natural environment, population distribution and economic growth; the best natural environment area, the Yangtze River Delta region, is also the region with higher population density and richer economy. The worst natural environment areas, Northwest and Tibetan Plateau, are also regions with lower population density and poorer economies.

The Southwest China Karst, the largest continuous karst zone in the world, has suffered serious rock desertification due to the large population pressure in the area. Recent trend analyses have indicated general greening trends in this region. The region has experienced mild climate change, and yet significant land use changes, such as afforestation and reforestation. In addition, out-migration has occurred. Whether climate change or human-induced factors, i.e., ecological afforestation projects and out-migration have primarily promoted forest restoration in this region was investigated in this study, using Guizhou Province as the study area. Based on Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, we found general greening trends of the forest from 2000 to 2010. About 89% of the forests have experienced an increase in the annual NDVI, and among which, about 41% is statistically significant. For the summer season, more than 65% of the forests have increases in summer NDVI, and about 16% of the increases are significant. The strongest greening trends mainly occurred in the karst areas. Meanwhile, annual average and summer average temperature in this region have increased and the precipitation in most of the region has decreased, although most of these changes were not statistically significant (p > 0.1). A site-based regression analysis using 19 climate stations with minimum land use changes showed that a warming climate coupled with a decrease in precipitation explained some of the changes in the forest NDVI, but the results were not conclusive. The major changes were attributed to human-induced factors, especially in the karst areas. The implications of an ecological afforestation project and out-migration for forest restoration were also discussed, and the need for further investigations at the household level to better understand the out-migration–environment relationship was identified.

Rapid urbanization and population growth in China have raised great concerns regarding food security caused by the loss of limited cultivated land. In this study, we used remotely sensed data and an agricultural productivity estimation model to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of the conversion of cropland into urban land and quantify its impacts on agricultural productivity potential during China’s rapid urbanization period, from 1990 to 2010. The results show that urban development has transformed approximately 4.18 Mha, or 2.26%, of the total cropland in China. From 1990 to 2000, approximately 1.50 Mha of cropland was developed, while roughly 1.8 times this amount (2.68 Mha) was converted over the period of 2000 to 2010. Most of the conversion is located in the central and eastern coastal provinces and is mainly concentrated on the periphery of the major urban areas. The transformation has, consequently, caused a 71.45 Tg, or 2.65%, loss of potential light-temperature agricultural productivity (PLTAP); losses were 24.33 Tg in the first decade of the study and 47.11 Tg in the second. At the provincial scale, the largest percentages of PLTAP loss are mainly concentrated in the developed provinces on the eastern coast, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang, Tianjin, and Jiangsu. Considering that these areas can accommodate more people and produce higher economic output on unit area of built-up land and, yet, scarce land that can be reclaimed, this study suggests that the dynamic balance of total farmland policy in China should be varied provincially according to the major function of the province. The policy adjustment will help maximize the utilization efficiency of land.

The Khingan Mountain region, the most important and typical natural foci of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in China, is the largest and northernmost forest area and the one more sensitive to climate change. Taking this region as the study area, we investigated the spatio-temporal dynamics of deciduous broadleaf forest (DBF) and its phenology changes in relation to climate change and elevation. Based on MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) time series over the period of 2001 to 2009, the start-of-season (SOS), length-of-season (LOS) and another two vegetation variables (seasonal amplitude (SA) and integrated EVI (SI)) were derived. Over the past decade, the DBF in Khingan Mountains has generally degraded and over 65% of DBF has experienced negative SA and SI trends. Earlier trends in SOS and longer trends in LOS for DBF were observed, and these trends were mainly caused by climate warming. In addition, results from our analysis also indicated that the effects of temperature on DBF phenology were elevation dependent. The magnitude of advancement in SOS and extension in LOS with temperature increase significantly increased along a raising elevation gradient.

Ascertaining the relationships between sediment transport processes and vegetation cover is essential for watershed soil and water conservation. However, it is not easy to realize this target on a large scale. In this study, the location-weighted landscape contrast index (LCI) based on the “source-sink” theory of ecological processes was introduced to unravel the response of sediment yield to vegetation cover changes in the Poyang Lake drainage area (the largest freshwater lake in China). A modified location-weighted landscape contrast index (mLCI) was proposed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the LCI. The average vegetation fraction of the study area significantly increased from 46.2% in Period I (1992–1994) to 76.5% in Period II (2004–2006) and then slightly decreased to 73.2% in Period III (2011–2013). From Period I to Period II, the area-specific sediment yield (ASY) sharply decreased by 55%. In Period II, the “source” vegetation patches were found further away from the water bodies, and were more likely to be located on gentler slopes than in Period I. From Period II to Period III, the ASY sharply increased by 83%. In Period III, “source” patches were found closer to the water bodies than in Period II, whereas the “sink” patches were found further away from the water bodies. The high statistical correlation between LCIs/mLCIs and ASY indicated a sensitive response of the sediment yield to vegetation cover changes that significantly altered the sediment transport processes in the study area. The ASY was better correlated with the mLCI than with the LCI. Three key harnessing sub-watersheds of the Ganjiang watershed were identified by calculating the mLCIs: Qingfengshan, Yuanhe, and Jinjiang. This study supported watershed ecological management in the Poyang Lake drainage area and provided a methodology reference for future sediment transport process studies.