Spatial-temporal characteristics of siping urban expansion based on remote sensing and GIS

Based on the RS and GIS methods, Siping city is selected as a study case with four remote sensing images in 25 years. Indices of urban morphology such as fractal dimension and compactness are employed to research the characteristics of urban expansion. Through digital processing and interpreting of the images, the process and characteristics of urban expansion are analysed using urban area change, fractal dimension and compactness. The results showed that there are three terms in this period. It expended fastest in the period of 1979~1991, and in the period of 1992~2001, the emphases on urban redevelopment made it expended slower. And this is in agreement with the Siping Statistical Yearbook. This indicates that the united of metrics of urban morphology and statistical data can be used to satisfactorily describe the process and characteristics of urban expansion. © 2008 IEEE.

Genetic diversity of the subterranean Gansu zokor in a semi-natural landscape

We studied the relationship between genetic diversity of the subterranean Gansu zokor Myospalax cansus and habitat variability in the Loess Plateau, Qinghai Province, China. We used a combination of geographic information systems and molecular techniques to assess the impact of habitat composition and human activities on the genetic diversity of zokor populations in this semi-natural landscape. Although they occurred relatively infrequently in the landscape, woodland and high-coverage grassland habitats were the main positive contributors to the genetic diversity of zokor populations. Rural residential land, plain agricultural land and low-coverage grassland had a negative effect on genetic diversity. Hilly agricultural land and middle-coverage grassland had little impact on zokor genetic diversity. There were also interactions between some habitat types, that is, habitat types with relatively better quality together promoted conservation of genetic diversity, while the interaction between (among) bad habitat types made situations worse. Finally, habitat diversity, measured as patch richness and Shannon's diversity index, was positively correlated with the genetic diversity. These results demonstrated that: (1) different habitat types had different effects on the genetic diversity of zokor populations and (2) habitat quality and habitat heterogeneity were important in maintaining genetic diversity. Habitat composition was closely related to land use thus emphasizing the importance of human activities on the genetic diversity of subterranean rodent populations in this semi-natural landscape. Although the Gansu zokor was considered to be a pest species in the Loess Plateau, our study provides insights for the management and conservation of other subterranean rodent species.

巴丹吉林沙漠沙丘、植被和湖泊演化

The formation and evolution of magedunes and lakes in Badain Jaran desert is focused by scholars for a long time. In this paper, detailed investigation was made with the Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, climatological data of research region to study the evolution of magedunes, vegetation and lakes. The main conclusions are presented as follows: (1) The magedunes are mainly located in south and northeast of the desert. The density of magedunes decreases from south to north, east to west, and greatest in southeast of the desert. Most of magedunes strike NE30°~60°, and which are NE-SW and NNE-SSW directions. The distribution of magedunes’ strikes indicates that the paleowind of the desert is northwest and west wind. (2) The vegetation cover is low in the Badain Jaran Desert, but there are some well-vegetated areas in the desert, and the value of NDVI is 0.6107. In southeast of the desert, the vegetation degradated seriously from 1987 to 2000. (3) At about 2000, the total area of permanent lakes was 2231.64 hm2 (±5.9%) in southeast of Badain Jaran Desert. From 1960 to about 2000, the lakes changed as followings: in the early 30 years, the area of lakes increased, but after 1990 it decreased. When lakes were large, the toral area of lakes is 20648 hm2 in Badain Jaran Desert, much larger than that of present lakes. (4) From 1961 to 2001, the mean annual evaporation of lakes was 1039.8mm (±10%) in Badain Jaran Desert, and the difference between years was large. The monthly evaporation of lakes was mainly affected by rainfall, temperature. And it was largest in June, 140.9mm(±10%). (5) Based on water balance calculation of present lakes and old lakes in southeast of Badain Jaran Desert, the total precipitation is more than the total evaporation in this area. So it is probable that the precipitation in the lake area supplies water to the lakes, and also to groundwater in west and north part of the desert.