水生态一、二级分区技术框架

水生态功能分区是流域水环境分类、分级、分区、分期管理的基础。回顾总结国内外水生态功能分区工作的基础上,针对我国流域水生态功能一、二级分区工作,提出了一个可供参考的分区指标体系,探讨了流域尺度水生态分区技术框架的构建以及可能存在的问题。该技术框架主要由3部分内容组成:环境要素对水生态因子的驱动机制、分区指标体系和分区技术。作为技术框架的理论依据,驱动机制分析首先以水-陆生态水文耦合模型为框架对环境要素如何影响水生态系统功能进行阐述。指标体系是技术框架的基础部分,主要包括水生态因子和环境要素两大类,其中一级分区指标包括气候、水文和地貌等要素,二级分区指标包括水质、水生动植物、藻类、土壤、植被、土地利用和社会经济要素。针对一、二级水生态功能区采用"自上而下"和"自下而上"的分区方法,为技术框架付诸现实提供了保障。为正在进行的各大流域水生态功能分区工作提供一定的参考依据,同时也希望在这些具体分区工作的基础上能进一步完善本分区技术框架。     

水生态功能分区研究中的基本问题

重点流域水生态功能一级二级分区研究是当前我国正在开展的一项重要工作,如何进行科学、合理的分区是值得深入探讨且亟待回答的重要问题。从水生态功能分区与水生态区划的关系、水生生物在分区中的应用、以及如何选取合适的定量分析方法等方面入手,阐述了对分区目的、指标体系和技术方法等关键问题的理解。并建议:(1)统一选用流域水生态系统结构、功能空间差异的环境驱动因子作为分区指标体系;(2)用生境尺度的水环境、水生生物指标来验证分区结果;(3)尽可能统一定量分析方法,以便为不同流域间分区结果的比较,以及为将来在全国尺度上开展分区工作奠定基础。     

基于陆地-水生态系统耦合的海河流域水生态功能分区

水生态功能分区是针对水生态系统特征的陆地生态系统划分,是为流域水生态管理提供生态背景和基本单元。陆地-水生态系统的耦合是水生态功能分区的核心,但多停留在个别小流域进行理论探讨,大型流域的实际案例较少。针对海河流域独特的气候、地貌、水文和人类活动特征,提出了水生态功能分区的三级指标体系。一级二级区针对气候、地貌、水文背景进行"自上而下"的分区,三级区针对人类活动对水资源、水环境、生境影响,采用"自下而上"的分区方法。最终,海河流域划分了6个一级区、16个二级区和73个三级区。研究充分体现了"以水定陆、以陆控水"的基本原则,以及"自下而上"和"自上而下"分区方法的优点,结果可为海河流域水生态管理提供科学依据,为水资源空间调配与合理利用、产业结构布局与区域协调等服务。     

中国中东部平原亚热带湿润区湖泊营养物生态分区

湖泊营养物生态分区是实现湖泊分区控制的前提和基础。以中国中东部平原亚热带湿润区为案例区,根据区域特点,从自然地理要素、生态系统和人类活动三方面建立指标体系,对各指标进行归一化得到各指标数据的分值;采用AHP方法确定各指标的权重值,结合各指标分值计算栅格尺度上湖泊营养物生态分区综合评价分值;根据研究区域DEM数据划分小流域,将栅格尺度的湖泊营养物生态分区综合评价分值投影到小流域尺度上,采用双约束空间聚类算法对小流域尺度上湖泊营养物生态分区评价分值进行聚类得到湖泊营养物生态分区结果。结果表明:(1)AHP可以用来确定复杂指标体系中各指标的权重,适合用于确定湖泊营养物生态分区指标体系中各指标的权重;(2)采用双约束空间聚类进行湖泊营养物生态分区,保证了分区结果在空间上的连续性和评价分值上的接近性;(3)根据自然地理条件、土地利用和人类活动强度的不同,可以将中东部平原亚热带湿润区划分为长江中下游平原湖区、湘赣平原丘陵湖区、湘渝山地湖区、四川盆地湖区、川西—大巴山山地湖区5个营养物生态区。     

基于生态系统多维特征的粤港澳大湾区国土空间生态保护修复分区研究

我国国土空间生态保护修复已进入“山水林田湖草”系统治理和建设阶段。开展生态保护修复的分区研究，正确认识生态系统的地域组合特征及其分异规律，可以为落实系统治理理念提供空间指导。当前生态保护修复分区研究逐渐重视生态系统的完整性，但对于生态系统表征维度相对单一，导致对国土空间系统性综合认知受限。基于此，基于生态安全理论以及生态系统综合评估框架，构建生态保护修复分区的多维度指标体系，以提升对国土空间的系统性综合认知。以流域为基本单元，在评估粤港澳大湾区生态现状本底和退化特征的基础上，采用空间聚类方法划分两级生态保护修复分区。结果表明：(1)各流域生态现状质量和退化程度空间分异较为明显。生态现状质量呈现出外部高、中部低的圈层式分异特征。而生态退化空间分布则相对分散。(2)以生态现状综合指数与一级分区指标数据的空间异质性为基础，可将研究区划分为5个在空间上连续的生态保护修复一级区。以生态退化综合指数与二级分区指标数据的空间异质性为基础，可在一级区内部划分出11类29个生态保护修复二级区。研究方案可为国土空间的“山水林田湖草”系统治理提供生态分区优化路径。同时也为研究区生态保护修复提供了空间决策支持...     

区域尺度生态修复空间辨识研究进展

区域尺度辨识生态修复空间是进行生态恢复与重建的重要前提,对区域生态文明建设和可持续发展具有重要作用。如何构建科学合理、面向政策和民众需求的生态修复空间辨识指标体系,目前已成为生态学研究的热点问题之一。系统梳理生态空间评价理论,综合构建生态修复空间辨识框架,包括评价对象的选择、评价指标筛选的原则、指标体系构建的主要方法和评价指标权重设定等方面,在区域生态评价的基础上,强调政策目标、民众需求,构建了生态质量、生态系统服务、生态系统健康3个方面18个指标,能够较全面反映区域生态空间主要特征,以期为构建区域尺度生态修复空间辨识指标体系提供参考,为生态恢复和重建提供科学依据。研究还展望了区域尺度下生态修复空间辨识的重点发展方向,即加强复合生态系统理论的应用,统筹社会、经济、自然因子开展综合评价,并推动多尺度评价结果的融合与应用。     

三峡库区流域水环境保护分区

流域内不同地域的社会经济发展水平、土地利用状况、植被覆盖程度、与水域的相对位置均对水环境质量存在显著影响.围绕水体保护的核心需求,面向流域空间范围开展水环境保护分区十分必要.本文以三峡库区为研究区,着眼于区域生态环境特征、水体压力-响应特征的空间差异性,基于生态因子叠置法、生态敏感性分析等方法,研究三峡库区水环境保护分区.分区综合考虑了水热条件、地势地貌、生态敏感性等因素,将库区划分为:1)红区,即严格保护区,总面积2924 km2,占库区的5.1%;2)黄区,即一级防护区,总面积10477 km2,占库区的18.4%;3)蓝区,即二级防护区,总面积43599 km2,占库区的76.5%.辨识了红区、黄区和蓝区不同分区的关键环境问题,并有针对性地提出各区的发展方向和水环境保护定位.     

基于要素-结构-功能的生态功能分区——以大理白族自治州为例

生态功能分区综合反映了区域自然生态功能的特征差异,是自然资源开发和生态环境保护空间差异化管治的重要依据。针对以往生态功能分区分析框架复杂多样、权重设定人为主观等问题,本文以云南省大理白族自治州为例,基于要素-结构-功能系统分析框架,从基底要素-干扰结构-主导服务三方面构建指标体系,运用自组织特征映射(SOFM)神经网络依次进行流域主导生态系统服务分区、基底要素分区、干扰结构分区和生态功能综合分区,最终将大理州划分为4个生态功能区和10个生态功能亚区。不同要素分区对比结果表明,大理州生态功能综合分区主要受主导生态系统服务制约,二者重叠率达79.98%。本研究基于要素-结构-功能分析框架,系统刻画了区域生态系统结构与功能特征及其空间差异,为生态功能分区提供了新的方法指引。     

辽河保护区水生态功能分区研究

流域水生态功能区是管理流域水生态系统的基本单元,其特点是统筹陆地和河流生态系统,更好、更全面反应流域水生态系统的整体特征。通过对流域内重要生境的识别,可以为区域内生物保护目标、生态安全目标、流域管理等方案的制定和实施提供重要的科学依据。该文以辽河保护区为例,从分区理论、划分方法、指标体系建立和划分结果四个方面详细介绍了分区过程,最终以保护区内主要自然影响和人类干扰作为主要分区指标,将辽河保护区划分为8 个水生态功能三级区,并总结了各功能区的地貌、河段特征和土地利用特征等。研究结果将有助于对辽河保护区的内生态环境状况进行修复与改良。     

基于基尼系数的中国水生态分区研究

提出了反映水生态系统空间分布规律和特征差异的水生态分区方案,并与国家现有的水资源分区、生态功能区划、水功能区划等相关区划成果相互衔接,为水资源综合利用、流域生态保护和经济社会发展规划提供实用的自然基础。以我国自然地理特征的空间变异与地域关联为依据,以流域为基本单元,进行水生态区划的初步研究,提出了分区的指标体系、步骤和区划方法,形成了两级的全国水生态分区体系。首先,划分为东部区、中部区、西北区和西南区4个水生态一级区;进行水生态二级区划时选取水资源量、降雨量、人口密度、NDVI作为分区的评价因子,根据洛伦茨曲线和基尼系数对分区合理性进行了检验。验证结果表明,各个水生态二级区的水资源量与降雨量、人口密度和NDVI值之间的基尼系数均不超过0.4,分区方案比较合理,从而形成34个水生态二级区,分布在东部13个,中部10个,西北6个,西南5个。     

A freshwater ecoregion delineation approach based on freshwater macroinvertebrate community features and spatial environmental data in Taizi River Basin, northeastern China

The ecoregion is currently widely used as the basic geospatial unit in freshwater biodiversity conservation. The popularly used delineation is usually based on the assumption that attributes of aquatic ecosystems are influenced by landscape-scale environmental variables. However, few ecoregion delineations attempt to establish the local validity of this assumption prior to delineation, and few studies check the correspondence of the derived ecoregion boundaries with the distributions of attributes of aquatic biota. In this study, we established an approach to overcome these shortcomings. The notable features of the approach are: (1) the delineation variables were filtered through a series of analytical steps to select those that best represented the aquatic community traits, and which avoided redundancy in the data; (2) the method was quantitative and repeatable; and (3) the derived ecoregion boundaries were checked for consistency with the spatial attributes of aquatic biota. The approach was applied in the Taizi River Basin, northeast China. The procedure proposed here filtered out altitude and annual precipitation as the best variables to include in the freshwater ecoregion delineation. Then, using the quantitative ISODATA classification method, the basin was classified into three ecoregions. A test of accuracy indicated that freshwater ecoregions matched well with the spatial distribution pattern of macroinvertebrate community attributes. Statistical analysis showed that natural geographical attributes and river attributes were different in the three ecoregions, and indices representing macroinvertebrate community attributes are significantly different as a whole among the three ecoregions. The case study proved this approach effective on ecoregion delineation.     

渭河底栖动物性状和功能对空间尺度环境变量响应的生态区差异性

以我国中部渭河南部流域山区和平原生态区的底栖动物为研究对象,通过计算29个生物性状类别和7个功能多样性指数,比较了不同生态区的生物性状组成和功能与性状多样性指数差异性;应用综合RLQ和fourth-corner方法探索底栖动物生物性状组成与土地利用和理化变量的关系;通过广义线性模型(GLM)比较不同空间尺度环境变量对底栖动物功能与性状多样性指数影响的生态区差异性。研究发现,共18个底栖动物性状组成在山区和平原间存在显著差异性,其中具有无庇护所和以叶片为庇护所材料、外骨骼轻微骨化和骨化良好、草食性、捕食性等生物性状的底栖动物栖息于栖境状况较好的山区,体壁呼吸、虫体柔软、集食者等生物性状更多的集中在人类活动较严重的平原区。除了功能均匀度指数外,山区的性状和功能多样性指数均显著高于平原,说明平原环境干扰显著降低了底栖动物性状和功能多样性。综合RLQ和fourth-corner方法表明底栖动物生物性状对环境胁迫的响应存在可预测性。GLM模型结果表明,山区和平原生物性状和功能多样性指数受到不同空间尺度土地利用和理化环境变量的影响:流域尺度城镇用地、水温和TN含量是影响山区功能和性状多样性指数模型的重要环境变量,但平原区河段尺度农业用地面积百分比和平均水深是影响功能和性状多样性的主要因子。     

基于小波变换的NDVI与地形因子多尺度空间相关分析

以西藏高原生态系统的NDVI（Normalized Difference Vegetation Index）及其地形影响因子为分析对象,使用小波变换揭示了其多尺度空间格局。通过小波方差尺度图可以辨识出,在研究区域内NDVI及其地形因子存在着4、12km和25km等多尺度变异格局。小波多尺度相关分析是对普通相关的一种拓展,使用小波系数分尺度计算了NDVI及其影响因素的相关系数,并与普通相关进行了比较。结果表明,4种地形因子（海拔高度、坡度、坡向和CTI）不论是正相关还是负相关,在较小尺度上与NDVI的相关系数都比较小,一般情况是尺度增大,相关性增大。这反映了地形因子作为大的宏观制约因素对NDVI起作用。实践证明,小波分析对于揭示自然要素的多尺度空间结构和各向异性是一种强有力的工具。     

The greening and browning of Alaska based on 1982–2003 satellite data

Aim To examine the trends of 1982–2003 satellite‐derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values at several spatial scales within tundra and boreal forest areas of Alaska. Location Arctic and subarctic Alaska. Methods Annual maximum NDVI data from the twice monthly Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) NDVI 1982–2003 data set with 64‐km² pixels were extracted from a spatial hierarchy including three large regions: ecoregion polygons within regions, ecozone polygons within boreal ecoregions and 100‐km climate station buffers. The 1982–2003 trends of mean annual maximum NDVI values within each area, and within individual pixels, were computed using simple linear regression. The relationship between NDVI and temperature and precipitation was investigated within climate station buffers. Results At the largest spatial scale of polar, boreal and maritime regions, the strongest trend was a negative trend in NDVI within the boreal region. At a finer scale of ecoregion polygons, there was a strong positive NDVI trend in cold arctic tundra areas, and a strong negative trend in interior boreal forest areas. Within boreal ecozone polygons, the weakest negative trends were from areas with a maritime climate or colder mountainous ecozones, while the strongest negative trends were from warmer basin ecozones. The trends from climate station buffers were similar to ecoregion trends, with no significant trends from Bering tundra buffers, significant increasing trends among arctic tundra buffers and significant decreasing trends among interior boreal forest buffers. The interannual variability of NDVI among the arctic tundra buffers was related to the previous summer warmth index. The spatial pattern of increasing tundra NDVI at the pixel level was related to the west‐to‐east spatial pattern in changing climate across arctic Alaska. There was no significant relationship between interannual NDVI and precipitation or temperature among the boreal forest buffers. The decreasing NDVI trend in interior boreal forests may be due to several factors including increased insect/disease infestations, reduced photosynthesis and a change in root/leaf carbon allocation in response to warmer and drier growing season climate. Main conclusions There was a contrast in trends of 1982–2003 annual maximum NDVI, with cold arctic tundra significantly increasing in NDVI and relatively warm and dry interior boreal forest areas consistently decreasing in NDVI. The annual maximum NDVI from arctic tundra areas was strongly related to a summer warmth index, while there were no significant relationships in boreal areas between annual maximum NDVI and precipitation or temperature. Annual maximum NDVI was not related to spring NDVI in either arctic tundra or boreal buffers.     

Ecoregions as predictors of lotic assemblages of blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae)

Local ecological attributes of streams are known to have strong influences on community membership for many aquatic insects. Differences in aquatic insect assemblages, therefore, should be clearly detectable across large scale ecological "units", such as ecoregions. Many studies of aquatic invertebrates however, have suffered from a lack of species level identifications. In addition, many previous studies that examined the influence of ecoregion on aquatic assemblages have the implicit assumption that members of different taxa are responding in the same manner. Our study, therefore, was restricted to an ecologically (lotic) and functionally (mostly filter-feeding) homogenous group, the Simuliidae. In the current study, we examine the relationship between species assemblages of preimaginal blackflies and the landscape through which their stream habitats flow. Accordingly, the larval simuliid faunas from South Carolina, USA, are compared among three ecoregions established a priori: Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, and Sandhills. Using discriminant function analysis, we show that each ecoregion produces a distinct stream habitat; factors responsible for regionalization are quantified. We also show that streams can be assigned correctly to ecoregion of origin 85% of the time on the basis of the simuliid assemblage. We suggest that our results can be interpreted most readily by considering the distribution of individual species.     

Additive Partitioning of Coral Reef Fish Diversity across Hierarchical Spatial Scales throughout the Caribbean

There is an increasing need to examine regional patterns of diversity in coral-reef systems since their biodiversity is declining globally. In this sense, additive partitioning might be useful since it quantifies the contribution of alpha and beta to total diversity across different scales. We applied this approach using an unbalanced design across four hierarchical scales (80 sites, 22 subregions, six ecoregions, and the Caribbean basin). Reef-fish species were compiled from the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) database and distributions were confirmed with published data. Permutation tests were used to compare observed values to those expected by chance. The primary objective was to identify patterns of reef-fish diversity across multiple spatial scales under different scenarios, examining factors such as fisheries and demographic connectivity. Total diversity at the Caribbean scale was attributed to β-diversity (nearly 62% of the species), with the highest β-diversity at the site scale. α¯-diversity was higher than expected by chance in all scenarios and at all studied scales. This suggests that fish assemblages are more homogenous than expected, particularly at the ecoregion scale. Within each ecoregion, diversity was mainly attributed to alpha, except for the Southern ecoregion where there was a greater difference in species among sites. β-components were lower than expected in all ecoregions, indicating that fishes within each ecoregion are a subsample of the same species pool. The scenario involving the effects of fisheries showed a shift in dominance for β-diversity from regions to subregions, with no major changes to the diversity patterns. In contrast, demographic connectivity partially explained the diversity pattern. β-components were low within connectivity regions and higher than expected by chance when comparing between them. Our results highlight the importance of ecoregions as a spatial scale to conserve local and regional coral reef-fish diversity.     

Hierarchical partitioning of ant diversity: implications for conservation of biogeographical diversity in arid and semi‐arid areas

Aim The scale of observation is important in detecting the spatial variation of biological assemblages, which should be taken into consideration for an appropriate plan of biogeographical conservation. We investigated whether (1) World Wildlife Fund’s ecoregion units are the appropriate scale for conserving ant diversity in Iran, (2) each ecoregion represents a distinct ant community composition and (3) patterns of diversity partitioning differ among four ecoregions. Location Iran, a sampling transect along four arid and semi‐arid ecoregions. Methods We applied hierarchical partitioning to data collected from a nested sampling design including four hierarchical levels: ‘local’, ‘landscape’, ‘ecoregional’ and ‘whole‐region’. Observed alpha and beta diversity components were compared with values of null distributions. Hierarchical cluster analysis was applied to evaluate similarity of ant species composition among ecoregions. Results Partitioning of whole‐region species richness showed that 85% of the species richness was generated by beta diversity among ecoregions and landscapes. The highest value of diversity was generated by beta diversity among ecoregions. Unlike whole‐region partitioning, separate partitioning within each ecoregion revealed that beta component among localities contributed to species richness of each ecoregion. Ecoregions showed different patterns of diversity partitioning. The alpha component contributed largely to the total diversity of two ecoregions, but for two other ecoregions, beta component contributed more than alpha component. Cluster analysis identified four discrete ant species compositions; however, it split landscapes of one ecoregion into two distinct groups. Main conclusions Whole‐region diversity partitioning indicates that ecoregions represent the appropriate scale for conserving ant diversity and that each ecoregion has a distinct ant fauna. However, different conservation strategies should be considered for different ecoregions owing to the differing scales of variation within them. Boundaries of ecoregions remain a subject for further studies. The influence of climate change on ecoregional boundaries should be considered and should be predicted with respect to future conservation maps.     

Predicting aquatic vertebrate assemblages from environmental variables at three multistate geographic extents of the western USA

Variables for predicting assemblage differences change as the geographic extent of studies change, hindering development of useful predictive models where study data are limited, or where the chief predictive variables available are fish zones, river size, physiographic regions, ecoregions, hydrologic units, and river basins. In addition, some studies have shown that site-scale predictor metrics have accounted for more of the variation in fish assemblage response metrics than catchment-scale metrics and other studies have shown the reverse. We used cluster analysis on a 780-site database to determine 12–15 aquatic vertebrate clusters at three geographic extents (all 12 conterminous western U.S. states, all western mountain ecoregions, Pacific Northwest mountain ecoregions). Next, we determined predictor variables for those assemblage clusters through use of stepwise discriminant function analysis. Site longitude, site latitude, and catchment dam count were the most significant predictors at the three geographic extents. Site-scale variables represented most of the significant predictors for all three geographic extents, but explained only slightly more aquatic vertebrate assemblage variance than catchment or pure spatial variables. Catchment- and site-scale classification variables accounted for less than half the mean within-cluster similarity demonstrated by the aquatic vertebrate assemblage clusters. We conclude that (a) the large geographic extent of the analysis did not result in catchment-scale predictor variables being more important than site-scale predictors, (b) both catchment- and site-scale variables are important predictors, and (c) existing river basin and ecoregion classifications are useful but insufficient predictors of aquatic vertebrate assemblages.     

Spatial pattern of non-stationarity and scale-dependent relationships between NDVI and climatic factors—A case study in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China

Spatial non-stationarity and scale-dependence are important characteristics of the relationship between NDVI and climatic factors. To improve the reliability of model prediction, it is necessary to find the scales and spatial heterogeneity in which a stationary relationship is reached. In this paper, a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was developed to define spatial non-stationarity and scale-dependent relationships between NDVI and climatic factors. The results indicate that the spatial scale of the stationary relationship for NDVI and both temperature and precipitation is 156 km over the whole Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Both modeling performance and the spatial pattern of the GWR model are significantly better than global regression models such as OLS. Significant spatial heterogeneity of regression relationships between NDVI and climatic factors is revealed within the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We conclude that the dominant climatic factor influencing NDVI is not the same for all ecoregions within the study area. There are also different key scales of interaction between NDVI and the dominant climatic factor in these various ecoregions. Finally, model performance is different in the each eco-region. Therefore, this finding can provide a scientific basis for choosing a suitable scale and reliable models to solve scale-dependent problems in geography and ecology.