2008 Vol. 18, No. 1

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Articles
Relationship Between Producer Services Developing Level and Urban Hierarchy——A Case Study of Zhujiang River Delta
ZHONG Yun, YAN Xiaopei
2008, 18(1): 1-8. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0001-0
Abstract:
As the Central Place Theory indicates, the centricity of a central city can influence the extension of its service. Since the service industry in the theory is mostly consumer services, it is worth studying the relationship between the producer services and the centricity of the city in the service society with producer services becoming a more important part of the service industry. The paper takes the case of the Zhujiang (Pearl) River Delta (PRD), a developed region in China, to study the relationship between the developing level of producer services and the urban hierarchy. Based on the analysis about the spatial difference of the producer services in the nine cities of the PRD, and the division of the nine cities according to some economic indices, it is shown that there is a correlation between the developing level of producer services and the urban hierarchy. Furthermore, two deductions about the future status of the producer services in the city and the location of the producer services in a large region can be made from this correlation between the developing level of producer services and the urban hierarchy.
Empirical Analysis of Xinjiang's Bilateral Trade: Gravity Model Approach
CHEN Xuegang, YANG Zhaoping, LIU Xuling
2008, 18(1): 9-16. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0009-5
Abstract:
Based on the basic trade gravity model and Xinjiang's practical situation, new explanatory variables (GDP, GDPpc and SCO) are introduced to build an extended trade gravity model fitting for Xinjiang's bilateral trade. From the empirical analysis of this model, it is proposed that those three variables affect the Xinjiang's bilateral trade positively. Whereas, geographic distance is found to be a significant factor influencing Xinjiang's bilateral trade negatively. Then, by the extended trade gravity model, this article analyzes the present trade situation between Xinjiang and its main trade partners quantitatively in 2004. The results indicate that Xinjiang cooperates with its most trade partners successfully in terms of present economic scale and developing level. Xinjiang has established successfully trade partnership with Central Asia, Central Europe and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, East Asia and South Asia. However, the foreign trade development with West Asia is much slower. Finally, some suggestions on developing Xinjiang's foreign trade are put forward.
Rural-urban Migration, Rural Household Income and Local Geographical Contexts——A Case of Northwestern Guangxi, China
YANG Chunyue, LU Qi, XIE Lishuang
2008, 18(1): 17-23. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0017-5
Abstract:
This paper aims to examine New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) in the northwestern Guangxi, China and investigate the relationships among rural-urban migration, rural household income and local geographical contexts. Stratified sampling and typical case study were adopted and 236 questionnaires were collected from four villages, Daxin, Lixin, Longhe and Yongchang. We analyzed the rural-urban migration rate, household income and local geographical factors, focusing on the ratio of remittance income to total household income. Data descriptions and statistical methods, such as Pearson Chisquare test, Contingency coefficient, Eta, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, multiple comparisons (LSD test, Tamhane T2, Dunnett T3 and Dunnet C test) were used. The results are as follows. Rural households' income is diversified in survey villages so the motivation of rural-urban migration in the study area can be partly explained by NELM. The migration rate of households (the percentage of households with migrants in survey households) in survey villages varies from 50% to 86%, while the proportion of remittance income to house-hold income is in the range of 30% to 80%. In the village of Yongchang, with the least average arable land area per household, the remittance income plays a vital role in household income (80%). And the statistical findings show that the proportion is significantly and negatively correlated with arable land area per household. The conclusion is that di- rect effect of migration, i.e., the contribution of remittance to household income, is negatively correlated with the contribution of resources to local income.
Spatial Pattern and Influencing Factor of County-level Industrial Development in Liaoning Province of China
GAO Xiaona, MA Yanji
2008, 18(1): 24-32. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0024-6
Abstract:
County-level industrial development and structure upgrade is one of the most important issues of revitalizing old industrial base of China. After the cluster analysis on GDP per capita and GDP per area of each county in Liaoning Province, this paper finds the similarity of population size, land use intensity, and economic development of each county. Location quotient reflects the specialization intensity of industries in each county, and it also reflects the spatial differences of county-level industrial development. Economic development level is higher in the southeast than in the northwest of Liaoning, and the industry driving effect on county-level economy is apparent. The main influencing factors include location, industrial foundation and economic system reform, capital input level, knowledge and technology dissemination, conditions of domestic and overseas markets, population and labor force transfer. Industrialization is an important approach to urbanization for the counties in Liaoning Province. The proportion of agriculture is much higher in the northwest than in the southeast of Liaoning, so it will be take longer time for counties in the northwest of Liaoning to make industrialization, urbanization and modernization.
Long-term Dynamics of Cultivated Land Resources and Their Driving Forces of Guyuan City in Upper Reaches of Jinghe River
CHEN Caocao, XIE Gaodi, ZHEN Lin, LENG Yunfa
2008, 18(1): 33-40. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0033-5
Abstract:
The land use patterns in Guyuan City,Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China,have changed greatly over the years,due to population growth and farming and stock raising development.This study,using 50-year statistical data of cultivated land and 14-year spatial data of land use pattern,analyzed the developmental stages,the character,and the spatial variance of farmland in the city,and discussed the driving forces of cultivated land changes based on empirical and conceptual statistical models.First,the change of cultivated land area went through different stages of rapid increase,fluctuating change,decrease and rapid decrease from 1949 to 2004,additionally,social and economic policies in different stages had an important impact on farmland variance.Second,from 1986 to 2000,the quantity of cultivated land increased,but its quality decreased.Third,social and economic factors are determinant factors in culti-vated land transition.Five constructed paths explain cultivated land transition.Factors that have direct or indirect ef-fects on farmland include the economy(Xeco),the population(Xpop),agricultural output(Xagr),and scientific input(Xsci).The sequence of impact was Xeco>Xpop>Xsci>Xagr.Among all these impacts,Xeco was the major positive one,and Xpop was the major negative one.It is urgent to take measures or adopt a policy to stop the vicious cycle in eco-environment and agriculture production.Otherwise,negative patterns of farmland use will increase,and high-quality cultivated land will continue to decline.
Landscape Effects of Land Consolidation Projects in Central China——A Case Study of Tianmen City,Hubei Province
GU Xiaokun, DAI Bing, CHEN Baiming
2008, 18(1): 41-46. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0041-5
Abstract:
The goal of land consolidation in China is still to develop agricultural production.The study of landscape effects of land consolidation projects(LCPs)faces many difficulties because of the lack of government's interest and data.This paper,taking Tianmen City of Hubei Province in Central China as an example,presents a methodology for analyzing landscape effects of LCPs by GIS and Fragstats3.3.It describes landscape effects with indexes of Patch Density(PD),Largest Patch Index(LPI),Landscape Shape Index(LSI),Interspersion and Juxtaposition Index(IJI),Aggregation Index(AI),and Shannon's Diversity Index(SHDI),showing more regular shape,simpler structure and less habitat diversity after LCPs.It computes ten landscape indexes of four categories of patches including Cultivated Land,Road,Water Channel,and River and Pond.The indexes show that 1)cultivated land becomes more fragmental in patch area,less irregular in patch shape and more concentrated in block;2)the transport capacity of roads and irri-gation and drainage capacity of water channels have been improved;3)the landscape change of river and pond can be summarized as decreasing scale,more regular shape,reducing connectivity and diversity of the class.LCPs can facili-tate agricultural production as well as protect cultivated land and food security.However,it is doubted that the increase of cultivated land from LCPs results from the reducing in landscape diversity of water area.
Changes of Urban Wetland Landscape Pattern and Impacts of Urbanization on Wetland in Wuhan City
WANG Xuelei, NING Longmei, YU Jing, XIAO Rui, LI Tao
2008, 18(1): 47-53. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0047-z
Abstract:
In this study,remote sensing data of Wuhan City,Hubei Province,China in 1996-2001 were selected to extract wetland landscape information.Several landscape indices were used to evaluate the changes of landscape pattern within the five years,including patch number,patch density,patch fractal dimension,landscape diversity,dominance,evenness,and fragmentation indexes.Then,transformation probabilities of wetland landscapes into non-wetland landscapes were calculated based on Markov Model,and on these grounds the relationship between changes of wetland landscape pattern and urban construction was analyzed.The results showed that fragmentation degree of all wetland types increased,lake area declined,and dominance of natural wetland decreased.The reasons for these results were mainly because of urban construction.According to the features of abundant wetland in Wuhan City,we suggested that protection of wetland landscape should cooperate with urban construction,which means wetland should become important part of urban landscape.
Holocene Abrupt Climate Shifts and Mid-Holocene Drought Intervals Recorded in Barkol Lake of Northern Xinjiang of China
XUE Jibin, ZHONG Wei, ZHAO Yinjuan, PENG Xiaoying
2008, 18(1): 54-61. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0054-0
Abstract:
Study results in this paper have indicated that the Holocene climate in Xinjiang,Northwestern China has been alternating between wet and dry conditions,and was punctuated with a series of abrupt climate shifts.A sediment core taken from Barkol Lake in the northern Xinjiang of Northwest China was analyzed at 1cm interval for grain-size distribution.Abrupt climate shifts revealed by the grain-size proxy occurred at ca 1.4,3.0,4.3,5.6,8.0 cal kyr B.P.,which were well correlated to both the abrupt shifts recorded in the North Atlantic Ocean(NAO)and the Holocene sea surface temperature(SST)cooling events in the Arabian Ocean.The correlation indicated that the climatic changes in the extreme arid Northwest China were associated with the NAO,probably via the North Atlantic Oscillation-affected westerly winds.The strength and position of westerly winds probably modulated the Siberian-Mongolian high-pressure system(winter monsoon),and played an important role in climate change of Northwest China.Moreover,an evident drought interval during the middle Holocene was also revealed by grain-size proxy.
Symbiosis of Marshes and Permafrost in Da and Xiao Hinggan Mountains in Northeastern China
JIN Huijun, SUN Guangyou, YU Shaopeng, JIN Rui, HE Ruixia
2008, 18(1): 62-69. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0062-0
Abstract:
Recently,the degradation of permafrost and marsh environments in the Da and Xiao Hinggan Mountains has become a great concern as more human activities and pronounced climate warming were observed during the past 30 years and projected for the near future.The distribution patterns and development mechanisms of the permafrost and marshes have been examined both in theories and in field observations,in order to better understand the symbiosis of permafrost and marshes.The permafrost and marshes in the Da and Xiao Hinggan Mountains display discernible zonations in latitude and elevation.The marsh vegetation canopy,litter and peat soil have good thermal insulation properties for the underlying permafrost,resulting in a thermal offset of 3℃ to 4℃ and subsequently suppressing soil temperature.In addition,the much higher thermal conductivity of frozen and ice-rich peat in the active layer is conducive to the development or in favor of the protection of permafrost due to the semi-conductor properties of the soils overlying the permafrost.On the other hand,because permafrost is almost impervious,the osmosis of water in marsh soils can be effectively reduced,timely providing water supplies for helophytes growth or germination in spring.In the Da and Xiao Hinggan Mountains,the permafrost degradation has been accelerating due to the marked climate warming,ever increasing human activities,and the resultant eco-environmental changes.Since the permafrost and marsh environments are symbiotic and interdependent,they need to be managed or protected in a well-coordinated and integrated way.
Characteristics of Extreme Temperature Event and Its Response to Regional Warming in Northwest China in Past 45 Years
YANG Jinhu, REN Chuanyou, JIANG Zhihong
2008, 18(1): 70-76. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0070-0
Abstract:
Using the daily maximum and minimum temperature dataset from 128 stations from 1960 to 2004 in Northwest China,daily extreme high temperature(EHT)and extreme low temperature(ELT)thresholds were determined by centesimal method for different stations at first,then yearly EHT and ELT events were counted up in different stations,and the characteristics of their spatio-temporal distribution were diagnosed at last.The study drew following conclusions:1)The consistent anomaly distribution characteristic was the most important mode of the EHT and ELT events in Northwest China.2)The spatial distribution of the EHT and ELT events can be divided into five subregions,namely,the north of Qinghai and west of Gansu,the north of Xinjiang,the south of Xinjiang,the east of Northwest China and the south of Qinghai.3)The EHT events showed remarkable increasing trend in all of five sub-regions,but only in the north of Qinghai and west of Gansu area,sudden change phenomenon occurred;the ELT events showed decreasing trend in all of five sub-regions,and sudden change phenomenon occurred in Northwest China except for south of Qinghai.4)In all of five sub-regions the EHT events showed remarkable 12-14yr period oscillation,and the ELT event showed significant 13-15yr and 7-8yr period oscillation.5)The EHT and ELT events displayed remarkable positive and negative responses to regional warming of Northwest China respectively.
Long-term Trend and Fractal of Annual Runoff Process in Mainstream of Tarim River
XU Jianhua, CHEN Yaning, LI Weihong, DONG Shan
2008, 18(1): 77-84. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0077-6
Abstract:
Based on the time series data from the Aral hydrological station for the period of 1958-2005,the paper re-veals the long-term trend and fractal of the annual runoff process in the mainstream of the Tarim River by using the wavelet analysis method and the fractal theory.The main conclusions are as follows:1)From a large time scale point of view,i.e.the time scale of 16(24)years,the annual runoff basically shows a slightly decreasing trend as a whole from 1958 to 2005.If the time scale is reduced to 8(23)or 4(22)years,the annual runoff still displays the basic trend as the large time scale,but it has fluctuated more obviously during the period.2)The correlation dimension for the annual runoff process is 3.4307,non-integral,which indicates that the process has both fractal and chaotic characteris-tics.The correlation dimension is above 3,which means that at least four independent variables are needed to describe the dynamics of the annual runoff process.3)The Hurst exponent for the first period(1958-1973)is 0.5036,which equals 0.5 approximately and indicates that the annual runoff process is in chaos.The Hurst exponents for the second(1974-1989)and third(1990-2005)periods are both greater than 0.50,which indicate that the annual runoff process showed a long-enduring characteristic in the two periods.The Hurst exponent for the period from 1990 to 2005 indicates that the annual runoff will show a slightly increasing trend in the 16 years after 2005.
Entire Catchment and Buffer Zone Approaches to Modeling Linkage Between River Water Quality and Land Cover——A Case Study of Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
Bahman Jabbarian AMIRI, Kaneyuki NAKANE
2008, 18(1): 85-92. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0085-6
Abstract:
This study investigated the linkages between river water quality and land use in river catchments in Yama- guchi Prefecture, the western Japan, in order to examine the effect of land use changes of both entire catchment and buffer zone on river water quality. Dissolved Oxygen (DO), pH, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Suspended Solids (SS), Escherichia coli, Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) were considered as river water quality indica- tors. Satellite images were applied to generating the land use map. Multiple regression model was applied to linking the changes in the river water quality with the land uses in both entire catchment area and buffer zone. The results in- dicate that the integrative application of land use data from the entire catchment and the buffer zone could give rise to more robust model to predict the concentrations of Suspended Solids (r2=0.88) and Total Nitrogen (r2=0.90), rather than models which separately considered land use data in catchment and buffer zone.
Advance in Application of Regional Climate Models in China
ZHANG Wei, YAN Minhua, CHEN Panqin, XU Helan
2008, 18(1): 93-100. doi: 10.1007/s11769-008-0093-6
Abstract:
Regional climate models have become the powerful tools for simulating regional climate and its change process and have been widely used in China. Using regional climate models, some research results have been obtained on the following aspects: 1) the numerical simulation of East Asian monsoon climate, including exceptional monsoon precipitation, summer precipitation distribution, East Asian circulation, multi-year climate average condition, summer rain belt and so on; 2) the simulation of arid climate of the western China, including thermal effect of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the plateau precipitation in the Qilian Mountains; and the impacts of greenhouse effects (CO2 doubling) upon climate in the western China; and 3) the simulation of the climate effect of underlying surface changes, including the effect of soil on climate formation, the influence of terrain on precipitation, the effect of regional soil degradation on regional climate, the effect of various underlying surfaces on regional climate, the effect of land-sea contrast on the climate formulation, the influence of snow cover over the plateau regions on the regional climate, the effect of vegetation changes on the regional climate, etc. In the process of application of regional climate models, the preferences of the models are improved so that better simulation results are gotten. At last, some suggestions are made about the application of regional climate models in regional climate research in the future.