Table of Content

20 September 2018, Volume 33 Issue 9 Previous Issue    Next Issue

Theoretical Discussion

The Genesis and Evolution of the Concept of Carrying Capacity: A View of Natural Resources and Environment FENG Zhi-ming, LI Peng 2018, 33 (9):  1475-1489.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170967 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (1367KB) ( )   Save Understanding the genesis and evolution of the concept of carrying capacity scientifically is of great scientific value and realistic significance to carry out theoretical investigation and practical research of resources and environmental carrying capacity (RECC). With the perspective of natural resources and environment, in this paper, starting from the terminology of ecological carrying capacity established based on the maximum biomass of individual species, the terminology of resources carrying capacity (RCC) developed based on the relationship of human population and natural resources, to the terminology of environmental carrying capacity formed based on the relationship of human population and environment, and then to the integrated term of RECC oriented to regional sustainable development, the genesis and evolution process of RECC were comprehensively summarized in a longitudinal fashion. This preliminary review paper was typically relied on the currently available historical English literatures (e.g. published papers, books and reports) as well as some literatures in Chinese. This review paper showed that the term of Carrying Capacity originated in the fields of engineering and mechanism which belong to the study of Physics in 1840s. It then achieved continuous but controversial development in Ecology, Geography, Resource Science and Environmental Science. To our knowledge, the concept of RECC can be mirrored in the studies of energy carrying capacity and carrying capacity of animal husbandry in the earlier 1900s. It was not until the late 1940s that the examination of land carrying capacity symbolized the born of RCC. In the late 1990s, a comprehensive concept of carrying capacity or RECC was reported occasionally without gaining too much public attention. However, strictly speaking, the related analysis of RECC in China was just started in the early 2000s. Overall, the RECC related studies in China are currently at their developing stage featured by concept discussion and qualitative analysis, although the concept of RECC has gained much attention from national decision-making departments. In contrast, similar studies of RECC are seldom reported abroad. Entering the 21st century, labelled as an important indicator for describing the restriction degree of development, the practical importance of the RECC related studies is gaining and/or will gain more and more attention from the scientific community of natural resources and environment as well as the central government. For example, there were several projects supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China during 2016-2018. However, the concept of carrying capacity has seemingly become a ready-made panacea which is widely generalized in many research aspects or has a conceptualization tendency. In terms of these issues, it is necessary to clarify and rectify the genesis and evolution of RECC thoroughly and strengthen continuous studies of RECC from the perspectives of scientific connotation and theoretical basis, technical approaches and model parameters, as well as the standardization for practical utilization. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Resource Utilization and Management

Driving Effect of per Capita Grey Water Footprint in China from the Perspective of Factor and Efficiency Coupling SUN Cai-zhi, BAI Tian-jiao, WU Yong-jie, ZHAO Liang-shi 2018, 33 (9):  1490-1502.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170795 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (4943KB) ( )   Save This paper systematically measures the per capita grey water footprint in 31 provinces in the mainland of China during 2000-2014. Capital and labor factors which are most critical in production factors are first introduced into the research about driving effect of per capita grey water footprint, besides, traditional environmental efficiency factors and technical efficiency factors are coupled. Subsequently, the driving effect of the above factors on per capita grey water footprint is analyzed synthetically by using the extended Kaya identity and LMDI model. The results show that: 1) Nationwide, the biggest reduction of per capita grey water footprint comes from technical efficiency effect, the reduction effect of capital output has been improved in recent years, and the most increment effect is from capital deepening (the annual average value exceeds 52.29 m3 per capita). 2) The spatial distributions of the technical efficiency effect, the capital output effect and the capital deepening effect are all high in the northwest and low in the southeast; environmental efficiency and technical efficiency have greater decrement effect on the per capita grey water footprint in Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin and Shandong, and technological efficiency and capital output are more favorable for the reduction of per capita grey water footprint in other provinces; in addition, capital deepening can lead to significant increase in per capita grey water footprint in all provinces, and it causes the increment over 400 m3 per capita in Tibet. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Analysis on Supply and Demand Capability of the RegionalArable Land Equivalent Unit and Its Policy Implication: A Case Study of Zhoushan City TAN Yong-zhong, HE Ju, YU Zhen-ning, TAN Yong-hua 2018, 33 (9):  1503-1513.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170846 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (646KB) ( )   Save In the course of implementing the cultivated land requisition-compensation balance policy, the food security concept of “taking grain as the key link” makes China pursuit the quantity balance of cultivated land while neglect the role of land use types other than cultivated land in regional food security. This approach leads to not only significant difference between supplementary and occupied cultivated land, but also blind development of grasslands, woodlands and wetlands, and thus pays a big price for ecological environment. Based on the connotation of food security, this paper introduces the concept of arable land equivalent unit (ALEU) and food equivalent unit (FEU). Zhoushan City of Zhejiang Province is chosen as the research area. This paper analyzes the supply and demand capability of the ALEU in the study area, and puts forward corresponding policy implications for improving cultivated land requisition-compensation balance. The results are as follows: 1) With the concepts of ALEU and FEU, we can better unify the FEU of grain and aquiculture products and then unify the ALEU supplies from cultivated land and aquaculture water. 2) Under the influence of the decrease of cultivated land area and big area of cultivated land abandonment, the ALEU of cultivated land decreased by 37.3% in recent years. The aquaculture water area in the study area, meanwhile, is also shrinking, however, under the influence of the construction of standard aquaculture pond and the improvement of breeding technology, the ALEU of aquaculture pond increased by 18.3% in recent years. The ratio of the ALEU from cultivated land and aquaculture pond changed from 46:54 in 2009 to 31:69 in 2015. 3) Under three different living standards: adequately fed, well-off and prosperous, ALEU from cultivated land and aquaculture water are hard to meet the needs of permanent resident population in the study area. However, measures such as improving agriculture infrastructure, raising cultivated land multi-cropping index, building high-standard aquaculture ponds, and improving yield per unit area of aquaculture water can increase the ALEU from cultivated land and aquaculture water to 19 771.22 hm2 and then reduce the ALEU gap by around 35%. On the basis of the results, the paper puts forward some policy implications, such as changing the food safety concept, attaching importance to food supply capability of land types other than the cultivated land, exploring the diversified form and differentiated management policy of cultivated land requisition-compensation balance, promoting the construction of high-standard cultivated lands and high-standard aquaculture ponds, enhancing supply capability of ALEU from existing cultivated lands and aquaculture ponds. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Resource Ecology

Energy-Water Nexus in Hubei Province Based on System Input-Output Analysis and Ecological Network Analysis PENG Kun, ZHU He, WANG Sai-ge, CHEN Bin, WEI Wen-dong, LI Jia-shuo 2018, 33 (9):  1514-1528.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170849 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (7495KB) ( )   Save Energy and water are highly correlated. In order to break through the limitations of the previous single-resource management policy and improve the effectiveness of related policies, it is urgent to carry out research on energy-water coupling relationship and collaborative management. Based on the system input-output analysis and ecological network analysis, this paper built an energy-water nexus network of Hubei Province in 2007 and 2012. The results are as follows: 1) In 2012, the energy consumption and water use caused by urban final demand were 14 304.93×104 tce and 346.66×108 m3, respectively. Compared with those in 2007, energy consumption and water use induced by urban final demand increased by 52.26% and 7.98%, respectively. About 50% of energy consumption and water use caused by urban final demand were contributed by manufacturing. 2) In 2007, the recycling rates of water networks and energy networks in Hubei Province were all around 2.71%. The recycling rate of water network increased to 4.23%-4.40% in 2012, and the recycling rate of energy network had small variation. 3) The robustness analysis showed that both energy and the water networks are less efficient and more redundant. 4) After taking nexus effect into consideration, the control of production and supply sectors of electric power and heat over most other sectors in the energy and water networks becomes stronger during 2007-2012. The proposed nexus network approach may help bridge the gap between nexus modeling and regional resource management by identifying the regulating pathways for each sector to coordinate with their nexus management. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Effects of Stand Density on Soil Properties and Water Conservation Function of Picea asperata Plantation in the Subalpine Region of Gansu Province FENG Yi-ming, LI Yi, CAO Xiu-wen, LIU Jin-qian 2018, 33 (9):  1529-1541.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170842 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (4069KB) ( )   Save This paper aims to quantitatively analyze soil properties and water conservation function of Picea asperataa plantations with different stand densities and provide a theoretical basis for sustainable management of forests. Totally 28 plots with seven different densities in young Picea asperata plantation were investigated, and soil properties, water-holding capacities of litter and soil in these plots were measured. The results showed that: 1) Stand density has significant influence on soil bulk density, total porosity, organic matter content, soil water-holding capacity, litter accumulation, and litter water-holding capacity. With the increase of density, soil porosity, soil nutrient, litter accumulation, water-holding capacities of litter and soil all increase at first and then decrease, while bulk density decreases at first and then increases. The plantations with moderate density (1 550 trees/hm2) have the lowest soil bulk density (1.08 g/cm3), the greatest total porosity (58.99%), the highest organic matter contents (9.13%), the most litter accumulation (44.41 t/hm2), good soil water-holding capacity (3 898.93 t/hm2), and the highest litter water-holding capacity which is 4.49 times of that of plantation with density of 3 000 trees/hm2. 2) Based on the total water-holding capacity of litter and soil, water conservation function of the seven different stand densities in order are density of 1 550 trees/hm2 (4 068.36 t/hm2), density of 1 750 trees/hm2 (3 945.32 t/hm2), density of 1 350 trees/hm2 (3 698.39 t/hm2), density of 1 060 trees/hm2 (3 484.10 t/hm2), density of 2 300 trees/hm2 (3 157.60 t/hm2), density of 850 trees/hm2 (2 915.03 t/hm2), and density of 3 000 trees/hm2 (2 820.81 t/hm2). 3) According to this study, the forest with density about 1 550 trees/hm2 showed better soil properties and water conservation ability than other forests. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Effects of Canopy Gap on the Growth Dynamics of Dominance and Periodic Fluctuation of Abies faxoniana Seedlings in a Subalpine Coniferous Forest CHEN Guo-peng, XIAN Jun-ren, LI Guang 2018, 33 (9):  1542-1551.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170869 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (2991KB) ( )   Save Abies faxoniana coniferous forests play important roles such as conserving water and soil and maintaining habitat stability for the giant panda in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Canopy gap disturbance drives successional dynamics of forest communities and shapes forest structure, dynamics and biodiversity in the A. faxoniana forests. The objective of this study was to elucidate the growth dynamics of dominance and periodic fluctuation of seedling population and evaluate the effects of canopy gaps on A. faxoniana regeneration. There strip transects (300 m×2 m), including forest canopy(FC) and canopy gaps (CG), were established in a subalpine coniferous forest in the Wanglang National Nature Reserves, Pingwu County, western Sichuan Province. We investigated the diameter, height and biomass of A. faxoniana seedling (H≤100 cm) and used the Logistic model and spectra analysis for data analysis. The results showed that the Logistic model fitted well with the dynamic adjustment process of the growth dynamic of dominance of A. faxoniana seedling population. The habitat carrying capacity based on basal area and total biomass were 11.34 mm2·m-2, 4.64 g·m-2, respectively, and the intrinsic rate of increase were 0.60 and 0.62, respectively. The ratios of the habitat carrying capacity and the intrinsic rate of increase of CG and FC seedling populations were 4.2:1 and 1.4:1 , and the biggest absolute growth rate of CG seedling population was two age classes in advance of FC seedling population. The spectra analysis showed that the fundamental wave regulated the periodic fluctuation of A. faxoniana seedling population and the harmonic wave affected the fluctuation. The fundamental wave of CG population had higher amplitude than the fundamental wave of FC population, and the ratio amplitude was 3:1. The harmonic wave effects on CG population appeared earlier. CG are an important impetus for growth dynamics of dominance, e.g., they improve habitat carrying capacity and intrinsic rate of increase, and advance the appearance of the biggest growth rate. CG can also affect the periodic fluctuation of seedling population, which enhance the regulation of the fundamental wave, and advance the time of the harmonic effect. After the beginning of the highest absolute growth rate, the A. faxoniana seeding population growth was inhibited by intraspecific competition in CG and environmental resource constraints. The influence of CG seeding population on the growth dynamics of dominance and fluctuation of global seeding population was not strong, so we should pay attention to the role of the forest gap in the process of A. faxoniana forest ecosystem management. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Resource Evaluation

Prediction of Land Use Change and Its Hydrological Effect in Shanghai Based on Scenario Simulation QUAN Rui-song 2018, 33 (9):  1552-1562.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170858 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (7263KB) ( )   Save With the acceleration of urbanization process, waterlogging problems in urban area are becoming more and more serious due to climate change. In this context, it is very important to reduce disaster risk through urban planning. The pre-condition for urban planning is to simulate future land use and to analyze its hydrological effect. Taking Shanghai as a case study, this study predicted land use in 2030 by using Terrset CA-Markov model and analyzed hydrological response to land use change based on the land use data of Shanghai in 2000, 2003 and 2006. The results revealed that the simulation accuracy of CA-Markov model reached 0.85, which met the required simulation accuracy for the prediction of land use in 2030. The proportion of urban impermeable land, which consists of industrial and commercial land, residential land and road and square, increased from 26.54% in 2000 to 59.19% in 2030. Meanwhile, the proportion of non-construction land, which consists of arable land, garden, forestry and green space, decreased from 73.46% in 2000 to 40.81% in 2030. Moreover, the surface runoff depth showed an increasing trend from 2000 to 2030, but the spatial and temporal difference among districts in Shanghai was remarkable due to the land use change. Under the assumption of daily maximum precipitation at 200.5 mm, the surface runoff depth increased 3.86 mm during 2000-2006 and 9.66 mm during 2006-2030, respectively. Generally, the increase of surface runoff depth in suburb is more than that in central urban area in Shanghai, which results from high and stable proportion of impermeable land in central urban area and significantly increased proportion of impermeable land in suburb in Shanghai during 2000-2030. The study shows that the rapid increase of impermeable surface area increased the surface runoff depth, which could increase waterlogging risk in Shanghai. In addition, to reduce the exposure and vulnerability of urban system to rainstorm waterlogging, urban planning should focus on improving drainage system and optimizing the structure and layout of land use with the consideration of eco-environmental protection. These results provide important information for local government to improve urban risk management and urban planning. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Research of Critical Rainfalls in Wet-net Plains Based on Statistical Method and FloodArea MIAO Qian, XIE Zhi-qing, ZENG Yan, WANG Ke-qing, SUN Jia-li 2018, 33 (9):  1563-1574.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20171084 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (5670KB) ( )   Save Accompanying with developing economy, wet-net plains locating at the down basin of large rivers are becoming more vulnerable to rainstorm events than before. Combining DEM, terrain data and meteorology-hydrology characteristics of Jiangsu wet-net plain, we handled the mechanism of rainstorm flood through analyzing the meteorological and hydrological data. The water level of Laosui River changed with the quantity and intensity of the rainfall. Based on the correlation of water level increment and accumulative rainfalls, we modeled the linear relations during 2007-2011 and got a series of critical rainfalls. Then the heavy precipitation event occurred in 2010 was chosen to testify the statistical rainfalls. Inputting the hourly precipitation into FloodArea (FA), the water level dynamics were grasped which correlated with the input precipitation powerfully. Compared with the statistical results, the thresholds calculated by the FA model showed smaller value at higher risk level and greater value at lower risk level, but the variability is almost less than 5%. The recurrence periods of critical rainfalls in 24 h are 167 a, 17 a and 2 a, respectively. With observation data, the relationships of precipitation-water level can be analyzed adequately, especially in short duration, while FA method has advantage in evaluating long duration correlation. The data from statistical method and FA simulation can be integrated and used as indices in flood disaster warning. Selection of proper indice is a key point of risk warning services. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Natural Factors and Human Factors on Hydrological System Using the SWAT Model: The Zhangweinan Canal Basin Case BAI Qi-jie, SONG Zhi-song, WANG Hong-rui, DENG Cai-yun, ZHAO Yong 2018, 33 (9):  1575-1587.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170882 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (8441KB) ( )   Save Drought is a natural hazard caused by large-scale climatic variability and cannot be prevented by local water management. Water scarcity refers to the water shortage caused by long-term unsustainable use of water resources, which can be influenced by water management policies. Clarifying drought and water scarcity is not trivial, since they often occur simultaneously. In this paper, we propose an observation-modeling framework to separate natural (drought) and human (water scarcity) effects on the hydrological system. Taking the Zhangweinan Canal Basin as study area, we carry out the preliminary comparison and difference analysis on the scenario simulation results of the SWAT model (without human influence) and observed data (with natural factors and human influence) of daily runoff series during 1976-1995. The result shows that: 1) The calibrated and validated SWAT model can effectively simulate the runoff process. 2) Water scarcity resulted in the disappearance of the peak flood period in summer, even in relatively wet years. 3) Human factors are the main reason that caused the loss of runoff in Zhangweinan Canal Basin. The impact of human factors on the hydrological system was, on average, four times as high as the impact of natural factors. The proposed observation-modeling framework helps water managers in water-stressed regions quantify the relative impact of drought and water scarcity and make decisions regarding drought and water scarcity condition. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Study on the Evolution Characteristics and Driving Forces of Rainfall Structure in Datong River Basin LI Pei, HUANG Sheng-zhi, HUANG Qiang, MA Lan, WU Hong-shi, LUAN Jin-kai 2018, 33 (9):  1588-1598.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170800 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (12892KB) ( )   Save In this paper, Datong River Basin in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is taken as an example. The characteristics of rainfall structure in Datong River Basin are characterized by daily and monthly rainfall concentration indices (CI and CIM), and the evolution characteristics of these indices are analyzed. Cross-wavelet analysis is used to investigate the relationship between sunspot, atmospheric circulation anomaly index (PDO, ENSO, Arctic Oscillation) and changes in rainfall structure. The results show that: 1) The annual CI is higher in the south of the basin than in the north, while the annual average CIM is higher in the central part of the basin than in other parts of the basin. 2) The CI value has a slight increasing trend, and the annual CIM value decreased significantly. 3) Sunspot has the most significant effect on the precipitation structure, followed by AO and ENSO, and PDO has the weakest effect. References | Related Articles | Metrics

The Spatio-temporal Evolution of Drought Vulnerability in the Ecotone between Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in the North of China LI Wen-long, SHI Yu-zhong, LU Da-ming, LIU Qian, WU Tie-hong 2018, 33 (9):  1599-1612.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170896 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (5598KB) ( )   Save Drought vulnerability researches provide a new idea and an analytical framework for the study on the integration of human-land relations in the ecotone between agriculture and animal husbandry in the north of China. This paper divides the system vulnerability into three dimensions with VSD (Vulnerability Scoping Diagram) vulnerability assessment framework, namely exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Taking 112 counties (cities) in the ecotone between agriculture and animal husbandry in northern China as research units, the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of drought vulnerability in counties (cities) are analyzed and summarized by methods of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, spatial hotspot detection analysis and variation coefficient analysis based on socio-economic statistics, meteorological data and remote sensing image data in 2000, 2008 and 2015. The results show that: 1) The drought vulnerability index of human-land system in the ecotone between agriculture and animal husbandry in the northern China decreased gradually, and the drought vulnerability was low in northeast and high in southwest. 2) The degree of drought exposure increased first and then decreased, and it presented gradually increasing trend from northeast to southwest. The sensitivity decreased first and then increased, showing fragmentation features in space; the adaptive capacity has been improved year by year, forming a spatial pattern that it is high in the middle, moderate in the east and low in the west. 3) The differentiation of the drought vulnerability in the study area is obvious that the vulnerability difference degree is big in the west and south and small in eastern and northern regions. 4) The number of cold and hot spots of drought vulnerability increased obviously in the study area. The number of cold and hot spots increased significantly during 2000-2008. In space, the distribution of hot spots extended from central region to western region, and the cold spot area extended from the eastern boundary to west and south, forming a spatial pattern of “cold-hot-hot” from east to west. References | Related Articles | Metrics

The Influence of Rural Land Consolidation on Households’ Livelihood Strategies Based on PSM-DID Method LIU Chen-fang, ZHAO Wei 2018, 33 (9):  1613-1626.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170898 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (737KB) ( )   Save Households are kernel of stakeholders in rural land consolidation. It is exceedingly meaningful to estimate the actual disposition effect of rural land consolidation on households’ livelihood strategies. In this paper, the types of households’ livelihood strategies are classified, and thereafter, on the basis of the livelihood capital measurement, PSM-DID method is employed to exclude other confounding factors and econometrically analyze the influence of rural land consolidation on the livelihood strategy of households. The robustness of the estimation results is tested by various matching methods and counterfactual method. The results show that: 1) Rural land consolidation can indeed significantly change the livelihood strategy of two-type-job households. But it does not significantly change the livelihood strategies of professional agriculture households or multi-type-job households. 2) Rural land consolidation has a significant impact on the livelihood strategies of traditional agriculture-dependent households, modern agriculture-dependent households and non-agriculture households. Both the proportions of traditional agriculture-dependent households and modern agriculture-dependent households have increased significantly, while the proportion of non-agriculture households has significantly reduced, which demonstrates that households can adjust their livelihood strategies to adapt to the changes after rural land consolidation. Or in other words, rural land consolidation promotes the diversification of households’ livelihoods. 3) A variety of matching methods and counterfactual method are adopted to carry out robustness tests which confirm that the main estimation results of this paper are considerably robust. Finally, suggestions are proposed based on this study. Incentive policies for different kinds of households should be developed. Specifically, two-type-job households should be encouraged to develop appropriate scale management of agriculture, and professional agriculture households should be assisted with training on modern agricultural technology or non-agricultural employment skills. Relying on local agricultural industry policies and rural land consolidation, modern agriculture-dependent households could develop regional unique agricultural industry, for example, leisure agriculture. Moreover, traditional agriculture-dependent households and non-agriculture households should be guided to realize the transfer of local surplus rural labor force and the transformation of livelihood to obtain diversified employment channels and income sources of households. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Evaluation and Obstacle Factor Diagnosis of Cultivated Land System Security in Yingtan City Based on the Improved TOPSIS Method KUANG Li-hua, YE Ying-cong, ZHAO Xiao-min, GUO Xi 2018, 33 (9):  1627-1641.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170754 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (12200KB) ( )   Save Evaluation and obstacle factor diagnosis of cultivated land system security are significant foundation for improving the security of cultivated land system and promoting the sustainable use of cultivated land. This paper takes Yingtan City as the example area. According to the systemic thinking and “triad of quantity, quality, ecology of cultivated land”, this article selects 38 factors that reflect quantitative security, qualitative security and ecological security of cultivated land to build the evaluation index system based on the concepts of quantitative security, qualitative security and ecological security of cultivated land and the relationships between them. Then, the temporal and spatial variations of cultivated land system security during 2005-2015 are evaluated and the obstacle factors are diagnosed by using the improved TOPSIS method and disorder degree model. The results showed that: 1) During 2005-2015, the quantitative security and qualitative security of cultivated land showed an increasing trend, and the cultivated land ecological security presented a rising tendency during the first five years while it had a slow downward trend in the following five years. Generally, the cultivated land security was uptrend. In 2015, the area of cultivated land in safe state occupied 90.44% of the total cultivated land area, and the area of cultivated land in very safe state area accounted for 2%. 2) Different counties have different development types and characteristics, while the variation characteristics of cultivated land system security were different in different counties due to the different development types and the characteristics of counties. In the Yuehu District, the cultivated land system security was the lowest, and it declined first and then rose slowly. The cultivated land system security in Yujiang County was in a higher level, and it showed an increasing trend. The cultivated land system security in Guixi County was above the average, and it went down first and then went up. 3) The main obstacle factors that affected the security of the cultivated land system in Yingtan City were soil organic matter content, fertilizer load per unit area, arable land protection capacity, pH, fixed assets investment, irrigation assurance, the area of cultivated land per capita, the level of urbanization, the proportion of environmental protection investment in GDP, and pesticides load per unit area. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Influence of Tourism Experience on Environmental Attitude and Behavior: A Longitudinal Tracking Study HONG Xue-ting, ZHANG Hong-mei, ZHANG Ye-chen 2018, 33 (9):  1642-1656.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170788 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (700KB) ( )   Save Longitudinal research on the influence of tourism experience on environmental attitude and behavior is sparse in China. This study fills this gap by comparing the environmental attitude and environmentally responsible behavior of the same sample at three different time points, namely pre-visit, post-visit and three months after visit. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effects of natural-based tourism experience on visitors’ environmental attitudes and behaviors. Huangshan Scenic Area, which provided a typical natural based tourism, was chosen as a case destination. Paired-sample t test was used to analyze the change of attitude and behavior. The results indicate that there is little change in environmental attitudes. Scores on the environmental attitudes of post-visit and follow-up-visit samples increaesed with no significance, but the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behaviors change positively and significantly. For the short-term impact, the paired-sample t test of pre-visit and post-visit of site-specific environmentally responsible behaviors indicated that these increase were significant, education (P<0.001), physical (P<0.001) and legal action (P=0.012) in site-specific environmentally responsible behaviors were significantly improved; the paired-sample t test of pre-visit and post-visit of general environmentally responsible behaviors indicated that these increase were significant, education (P=0.001), consumption (P<0.001), persuasion (P=0.018), physical (P=0.003) and legal action (P=0.010) in general environmentally responsible behaviors were significantly improved. For the long-term impact, the paired-sample t test of pre-visit and follow-up-visit of general environmentally responsible behaviors indicated that some of these increase were significant, consumption (P=0.020), physical (P=0.004) and legal action (P=0.022) in general environmentally responsible behaviors were significantly improved; the paired-sample t test of pre-visit and follow-up-visit survey of site-specific environmentally responsible behaviors indicated that these increase were significant, education (P<0.001), consumption (P=0.002), physical action (P<0.001) in site-specific environmentally responsible behaviors were significantly improved. We conclude that short-term effects of tourism experience were greater than the long-term effects. Change of environmentally responsible behaviors is mainly caused by the cognitive and emotional stimulations at the destination, including anticipated guilt, collective pride, environmental interpretation, environmental knowledge, self-efficacy, ecological responsibility, and adverse consequence, etc. The emotions aroused by the natural experience can promote the environmentally responsible behavior. Some visitors conveyed a sense of anticipated guilt when they saw the hard work of cleaners way up the mountain, which led them to feel anticipated guilt when they dropped litter carelessly. Some visitors indicated that enjoy the beautiful natural sceneries had caused them to feel pride and take more environmentally responsible behaviors. Recommendations are given to improve the environmental attitudes and behaviors of visitors, such as providing high-level environmental related interpretation services, cultivating the emotional factors that promote the environmentally responsible behaviors, strengthening the management of environmental protection, enhancing environmental education and encouraging public supervision and participation. Finally, this study discussed the limitation of this study. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Resource Research Method

Evaluation of Sustainable Capacity of Coal Resources Based on Extension Cloud Theory and Ideal Point Method XUE Li-ming, LIU Bao-kang, ZHENG Zhi-xue, LI Chang-ming, ZHANG Shui-jing, ZHU Lin-long, SU Chao, XU Cui-yun 2018, 33 (9):  1657-1665.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20170789 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (1530KB) ( )   Save Traditional methods of sustainable capacity evaluation of coal resources cannot take account of the incompatibility of multi-indexes and the randomness and fuzziness of the boundary information of classes. A new evaluation model by integrating the extension cloud theory of the matter-element concept and the combined weight of ideal point method is established. The matter-element extension cloud model is constructed by applying the extension cloud theory. Ideal point method is introduced to integrate the subjective weighting approach and the objective weighting approach so that the combination weight of each index can be obtained. The cloud related degree of each sustainable capacity class of coal resources can be calculated by correlation function, and in turn the comprehensive related degree can be obtained by integrating the combination weight with the related degree, and finally the classification of sustainable capacity can be achieved. The evaluation model is applied to evaluate the sustainable capacity of coal resources in Hebei Province in 2015, and the result is in highly consistent with the spot survey results. The value of evaluation grade is 3.069, which is quite close to level Ⅲ. The probability of each grade is calculated through the cloud generator. The evaluation result shows that the sustainable capacity of coal resources in Hebei Province in 2015 is at medium level. Compared with the existing methods, the evaluation method is reasonable and scientific. This model based on the extension theory and ideal point method provides a new reference for those who evaluate the sustainable capacity of natural resources. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Dynamics of Journal of Natural Resources

Analysis of Zero-cited Papers in Journal of Natural Resources HE Chun-e, WANG Qun-ying, FENG Ya-wen 2018, 33 (9):  1666-1674.  doi: 10.31497/zrzyxb.20180835 Abstract ( )   HTML ( )   PDF (574KB) ( )   Save In order to improve the quality and the influence of Journal of Natural Resources (JNR), the authors searched papers published in JNR during 1986-2015 in CNKI as the source data and analyzed the characteristics of zero-cited papers. Changes in the number of published papers and the rate of zero-cited papers, the average download frequency and other related information, such as authors, subjects, funds and paper characteristics, were all taken into consideration. The results are as follows: 1) From quarterly journal to bimonthly and monthly journal, the number of published papers in JNR increased, but the rate of zero-cited papers did not increase. 2) These zero-cited papers were still downloaded, which means they have the possibility of being cited in the future. 3) As far as the information the first authors of the zero-cited papers were concerned, doctoral students take the most proportion, followed by master students, assistant professors and associate professors, and professors take the least proportion, and the authors from colleges/universities and scientific institutes are more than the authors from local departments. Most zero-cited papers were written by single author or authors from single institute. 4) Whether a paper was cited or not had little relation with the number and the type of funds. 5) The subjects of most zero-cited papers are pedology, geoscience, meteorology and environmental biology. Finally, several suggestions are given to reduce the rate of zero-cited papers through the cooperative control of authors, peer reviewers and journal editors. References | Related Articles | Metrics