Public perceptions of ecosystem services and preferences for design scenarios of the flooded bank along the Three Gorges Reservoir: Implications for sustainable management of novel ecosystems

The newly formed extensive flooded land associated with the Three Gorges Reservoir hold great potentials to provide ecosystem services (ESs) for surrounding cities and communities. Conflicting values and conventional management strategies may complicate and inhibit broad-scale decision-making for this novel ecosystem. Public attitudes are a crucial influence in the way this process plays out. This study was conducted to assess how the reservoir bank is perceived by the general public of Chongqing Municipality in terms of importance of riparian ESs, and preference for corresponding landscape design styles through photo-questionnaire interviewing. Although Chongqing citizens know little of the “ecosystem services” concept, they do recognise riparian environmental and ecological benefits especially the bank protection and pollution interception functions, while benefits of habitats for wildlife and flood attenuation were of less concern. Recreational values were least appreciated, which is inconsistent with other studies. This may be attributed to a wider, intensive environmental education in various social media in today’s China. But publicity has been dominated by toxic air, water and soil pollution control rather than the benefits of nature conservation and personal contact with nature. In line with recognition of ESs, there is quite strong preference for the forested design scenario and particularly vegetation components across the socio-demographic spectrum. Overall, socio-demographic variables have very low explanatory power for the perceptual responses. Our study also revealed misunderstandings around riparian functions and a gap between public expectations and special abiotic and biotic prerequisites in restoring novel ecosystems. Finally, we discuss the relevance of this research to urban novel ecosystems in general, and implications for raising public awareness, engaging appropriate public values in sustainable design and management of such ecosystems.     

土地利用景观格局动态分析——以阜康荒漠绿洲为例

阜康荒漠绿洲土地利用景观格局受自然分异和水土资源开发利用程度的制约 ,通过划分景观样带和选取景观空间格局指标 ,本文重点揭示该区域景观格局的变化及其影响因子。结果表明 :( 1 ) 1 987年至 1 998年间阜康土地利用景观格局变化主要表现为耕地面积在洪积扇上增加 ,在冲积平原上下降 ;荒地则刚好相反。林地面积在低山丘陵带和洪积扇带下降 ,在冲积平原上没有变化。牧草地面积在低山丘陵带上升 ,其他各带均下降。城镇面积在各样带上都有所增加 ,水域各带基本不变。 ( 2 )低山丘陵带和洪积扇带景观多样性和均匀度下降 ,优势度上升 ;而冲积平原则多样性和均匀度上升 ,优势度下降。景观破碎度有增加的趋势 ,表明了人为影响的不断增强。     

Boundary-fitted grid in landscape modeling

Landscape modeling requires the delineation of system boundaries and interior features. Quite often, these components are complex and difficult to accurately represent. A rectangular grid is used to represent the study and adjacent non-study areas in most cases. When the non-study area occupies a large portion of the grid, computer memory is wasted, and computational time increases. An elliptical grid generator for non-orthogonal curvilinear coordinates is used to generate a boundary-fitted grid for a landscape model. In a boundary-fitted grid coordinate system, one coordinate axis follows the landscape domain boundary and is non-orthogonal to the second axis. The boundary-fitted grid uses elliptic partial differential equations to distribute grid points inside the landscape domain. Although the boundary-fitted grid follows the domain boundary, the grid pattern and point allocation remain structured. Thus, a landscape model can use a boundary-fitted grid without changing the model’s data structure or the computational scheme. In this study, a boundary-fitted grid and a raster-based grid were applied to the Everglades Landscape Fire Model. Use of the boundary-fitted grid decreased model simulation time by about one fifth and computer storage by 58% relative to the raster-based grid. Also, the linear characteristics of interior geographical features such as rivers and airboat trails were preserved by the boundary-fitted grid, but not by the raster-based grid. This preservation provided a more reasonable base map for simulating ecological processes, such as fire across heterogenous landscapes.     

攀援植物凌霄花及其利用

本文介绍了凌霄花的植物学特征,并对凌霄花的分布、栽培、管理和利用方面进行了探讨,以便开发植物资源、造福于人类。     

景观植物信息查询系统(LPIIS)的构建

近年来，我国的景观植物产业得到了很大发展，但仍存在很多问题，为了解决这些问题，我们开发了景观植物信息查询系统(简称LPIIS)。LPIIS的构建包括后台数据库和管理系统2部分，以Microsoft Access开发后台景观植物数据库，实现各种零散的景观植物数据资料的数字化；采用面向对象的开发语言VB进行信息系统的界面设计和系统集成，实现了人性化的界面，操作更为方便。LPIIS的出现改变了过去景观植物信息管理的手工方式，具有可视化人性化的界面、提供多媒体信息、数据的维护和更新具有继承性、后台数据库可方便的移植于网络等特点。     

绵阳城市广场建设中的特色分析

在调查的基础上，介绍了四川绵阳市的广场，并以铁牛广场为例分析其特色和不足。     

重庆地区色叶植物资源及其在园林中的应用

色叶植物是未来园林应用的主要造景植物之一，本文就重庆地区色叶植物资源作了详细调查．按植物色彩分成常色叶类、春色叶类、秋色叶类和两季色类，并对其在园林中的应用途径和前景作了详尽介绍．     

桂花在园林景观设计中的应用

对桂花植物造景的配置原则、园林应用进行概述和研究，提出因地制宜、层次错落、季相变化、背景烘托、民族传统的配置原则，并就园林应用上桂花的独立造景，桂花与其他植物的配置，桂花与山石、建筑物的配置作了分述。     

The influence of sampling scheme and interpolation method on the power to detect spatial effects of forest birds in Ontario (Canada)

Spatial ecology is becoming an increasingly important component of resource management, and the general monitoring of how human activities affect the distribution and abundance of wildlife. Yet most work on the reliability of sampling strategies is based on a non-spatial analysis of variance paradigm, and little work has been done assessing the power of alternative spatial methods for creating reliable maps of animal abundance. Such a map forms a critical response variable for multiple scale studies relating landscape structure to biotic function. The power to reconstruct patterns of distribution and abundance is influenced by sample placement strategy and density, the nature of spatial auto-correlation among points, and by the technique used to extrapolate points into an animal abundance map. Faced with uncertainty concerning the influence of these factors, we chose to first synthesize a model reference system of known properties and then evaluate the relative performance of alternative sampling and mapping procedures using it. We used published habitat associations of tree nesting boreal neo-tropical birds, a classified habitat map from the Manitou Lakes area of northwestern Ontario, and point count means and variances determined from field studies in boreal Canada to create 4 simulated models of avian abundance to function as reference maps. Four point sampling strategies were evaluated by 4 spatial mapping methods. We found mixed-cluster sampling to be an effective point sampling strategy, particularly when high habitat fragmentation was avoided by restricting samples to habitat patches >10 ha in size. We also found that of the 4 mapping methods, only stratified ordinary point kriging (OPK) was able to generate maps that reproduced an embedded landscape-scale spatial effect that reduced nesting bird abundance in areas of higher forest age-class fragmentation. Global OPK was effective only for detecting broader, regional-scale differences. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Does matrix resistance influence Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris L. 1758) distribution in an urban landscape?

In determining isolation effects in fragmented populations, the landscape matrix is not often considered. Usually simple distance measures are used to quantify degree of isolation. We tested the effect of the matrix on the presence of red squirrels in 354 wooded patches in the Brussels Region, by comparing several isolation measures. These were 1) distance to the nearest source patch, 2) the Hanski-measure (a combination of distance to and size of all possible sources), 3) effective distances calculated from different least cost models using the ArcView grid extension ‘Cost Distance’ (a combination of distance and resistance of the landscape, with different resistances for different landscape types) and 4) some combinations of the Hanski-measure and the effective distances. Size and quality of the target patches were always included in the tests of the predictive power of different isolation measures on squirrel presence/absence. All variables examined (patch size, quality and isolation) significantly influenced squirrel presence. Models using the effective distances gave the best results. Models including the Hanski-measure improved significantly when Euclidean distance was replaced by effective distance, showing that parameterisation of matrix resistance added significant additional explanatory power when modelling squirrel presence. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.