Using ArcGIS to analyze the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Yunnan Province in combination with the actual local conditions of traditional villages, the purpose of this study is to determine the development model suitable for their characteristics. The results show several important features of traditional village distribution. (1) The traditional villages in Yunnan Province have spatial structural characteristics of unbalanced cohesive distribution, and they are mainly distributed in the higher-level cities and prefectures such as northwest Yunnan, west Yunnan and south Yunnan. Among them, the traditional villages of Baoshan City have the highest distribution density of 66.33 per 10000 km². This is followed by Dali Prefecture and Honghe Prefecture, where the densities of traditional villages are 44.13 per 10000 km² and 37.66 per 10000 km², respectively. (2) The factors affecting the spatial distribution structure of traditional villages in Yunnan Province are natural geographical factors, humanistic historical factors and transportation factors. Among them, the natural geographical conditions with a large vertical gap in Yunnan Province gave birth to the human settlement environment of traditional villages. The history of a farming civilization that has been passed down from generation to generation has laid a brilliant and splendid humanistic foundation for traditional villages, and the high-altitude areas are relatively primitive. The transportation conditions have delayed the destruction of traditional villages by urbanization and industrialization. In summary, these factors have affected the spatial distribution pattern of traditional villages in Yunnan Province to some extent. (3) According to the law of the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Yunnan Province, it is necessary to explore the activation path of traditional village tourism with regional characteristics and ethnic characteristics, and also to carry out differentiated development according to the different endowment characteristics of local resources, that is to develop a series of activation modes including agricultural tourism, cultural tourism and ecological tourism.

Gross ecosystem product (GEP) is the gross value of all ecosystem products and services provided by ecosystems for human society. In practice, GEP measures the ecosystems' contributions to human well-being and constitutes one of the core issues in the construction of ecological civilization systems. Currently, GEP accounting faces a series of problems, such as the inconsistency of accounting subjects and a lack of accounting standards, the result of which is the non-reproducibility and weak applicability of accounting results. In this paper, mainstream models for ecosystem service valuation are summarized in a systematic manner. On this basis, eight basic principles are established for screening accounting indicators: biological productivity, human benefits, production territoriality, current increment, actual effectiveness, physical metrizability, data availability, and harmlessness. Next, a series of ecosystem service subjects are identified that need to be excluded from accounting, and the detailed reasons for their exclusion are presented. Finally, three ideas for improving GEP accounting are offered from the perspectives of the relationship between biological production and human production, the circulation-transport relationship and spatial differences, and harms to the ecosystem carrying capacity. The purpose is to provide positive considerations aimed at promoting the socio-economic applications of accounting and to contribute to the scientific quantification of the values of ecological products.

Most countries along the route of the “Belt and Road” initiative are faced with a shortage of water resources. However, successful implementation of the initiative depends on water availability to support economic and social development. We designed a water resources carrying capacity evaluation index system, assigned grades and weights to each evaluation index and calculated a water resources carrying index for the 65 countries along the route. We used virtual water theory to analyze China’s net virtual water import from key bulk agricultural products through international trade. For more than half of the countries along the route, their water resources will be unable to support the economic development that will be necessary for fulfilling the goals of the Initiative. As a country with insufficient water resources carrying capacity, China is a net virtual water importer in the virtual water trade. This virtual water trade can improve China’s water resources support capacity, and ensure China’s water and food security for the future.

Green development has become an important concept and an effective way to sustainably develop the tourism industry. Studying tourism green development promotes the construction of regional ecological civilizations and sustainable development. We systematically reviewed research on green development in the tourism industry and divided this body of work it into two stages: a germination exploration stage under the concept of sustainable development; and initial development under the green development concept. In addition, some important green development research methods, conceptualization and connotation of green development, an index system of green development evaluation to measure efficiency and influencing factors, green development models, and regulations and standards of enterprise green development countermeasures are discussed. This review affirms China’s positive exploration and reference meaning to developing countries, and finds that the majority of research is qualitative; quantitative analyses are limited and a relevant theoretical system has not yet formed. Future research should deepen the content, enrich research methods and construct a theoretical system.

In China, the distribution of water resources is incompatible with the development of productivity. The construction of South-to-North Water Diversion Project has achieved inter-basin water diversion, and the project can alleviate the uneven distribution of water resources phenomenon effectively. However, in recent years, the aggregate effects of water pollution and water resource shortages have been serious. Establishing transverse eco-compensation mechanisms becomes the key method to achieve sustainable use of water resources. Based on statistical and questionnaire data, this paper uses the Opportunity Costs Method and Willingness to Pay approach to establish a transverse eco-compensation standard calculation model for the Middle Route Project of the South- to-North Water Diversion. The results show that the upper and lower limits of the transverse eco-compensation standard for the Middle Route Project is $2.52 billion and $2.20 billion every year, respectively. However, the paying and receiving standards varied widely among different compensation payers and compensation receivers. Meanwhile, the significant factors influencing the paying willingness of the receiver area citizens were age, education level, average revenue per month, knowledge about the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and recognition of the importance of eco-environmental integrity. This study began with a theoretical analysis, then analysed related problems related to calculating transverse eco-compensation standards for the Middle Route Project of the South-to-North Water Diversion by an empirical study. This empirical study helps to establish effective transverse eco-compensation mechanisma and promotea the development of effective policies and legislation.

In 2015 China’s Ministry of Agriculture introduced two Actions that seek to achieve zero growth in the use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides by 2020. Success in reaching these targets will help control agricultural non-point source pollution, increase cost efficiency, energy conservation and emission reductions, help to ensure the safety and quality of the national grain supply and agricultural products and the safety of the ecological environment, and realize the sustainable development of agriculture. However, successful implementation will be crucial. This article considers the main contents of the Actions and analyzes their feasibility from the perspectives of policy formulation, local practices, technical support and achievements. We identify problems and challenges and suggest that zero growth of chemical fertilizer and pesticide use can be achieved by undertaking basic research on the factors that shape the use of farm chemicals, making improvements to the monitoring and statistical system for chemical fertilizer and pesticide use, setting up demonstration projects and enhancing policies formulated to reduce chemical fertilizer and pesticide use.

Terrestrial arthropods are extremely important ecosystem components. The choice of best approaches to collect the wide range of terrestrial arthropods has been a topic of long-lasting debates. This article provides a brief overview of common sampling methods for terrestrial arthropod assemblages. We divide sampling methods into three main categories: passive sampling methods without any “activity density” bias, passive sampling methods with an “activity density” bias, and active sampling methods with inherent “activity density” and often further species-dependent biases, discussing their individual advantages and shortcomings as basis for biodiversity studies and pest control management. The selection of the optimal sampling methods depends strongly on the purpose of individual studies and the ecology and behavior of the arthropod groups targeted. A combination of different suitable methods is highly recommended in many cases.

As an emerging mountain vacation tourism product, ski tourism is becoming increasingly important in the domestic tourism market. As an important theory for studying the quality of consumer experience, perceived value has been widely employed in tourism research in recent years, and improving the ski tourism experience value has become the focus of competition among ski tourism destinations. Taking the ski tourists in Chongli District of Zhangjiakou as an example, 305 valid questionnaires were collected by using online and offline methods. Based on the theory of perceived value, this paper adopted principal component analysis and cluster analysis to conduct a preliminary study of ski tourism experience and market segmentation. In addition, this paper examined the differences in demographic and behavioral characteristics of different types of ski tourists. This study finds that: (1) The perceived value of ski tourism experience includes four dimensions: facility value, perceived price, safety value and service value. (2) Using the perceived value to segment ski tourists, three different customer segments are identified: comfort-pursuant, price-sensitive and safety-oriented. (3) There are significant differences in key metrics, such as number of visits and stay time, among different types of ski tourists according to their demographic characteristics such as gender, age, monthly income, and behavioral characteristics. These results reveal the different dimensions of the perceived value of ski tourism experience and determine the market segments and characteristics of ski tourists. Developing a corresponding marketing strategy based on the different market segments can better promote the perceived value of ski tourists, and ultimately strengthen the competitiveness of the enterprises.

Root system architecture (RSA) refers to the spatial distribution and extended morphology of plant root systems in soil. RSA not only determines the ability of plants to obtain water and nutrients but also affects other ecological functions. Hence, it plays a dominant role in the overall health of plants. The study of RSA can provide insight into plant absorption of water and fertilizers, the relationship between above- and belowground plant parts, and the physiological health and ecological functions of plants. Therefore, this paper summarizes research on the morphology, functionality, plasticity and research methods of RSA. We first review the basic structure, physiology, and ecological functions of root systems. Then the soil factors that shape RSA—including soil moisture, nutrients, temperature, aeration, and others—are summarized. After that, research methods for studying RSA are described in detail, including harvesting, two-dimensional morphological observation, and three-dimensional image reconstruction. Finally, future research developments and innovations are discussed to provide a theoretical basis for further investigations in this field.

Land fallow is of great significance for undertaking land reclamation, safeguarding national food security, promoting environmental improvements and ensuring the sustainable use of land resources. This paper reviews the important achievements in three areas of research on the land fallow system. It reviews and compares the land fallow system in different countries and regions of the world; it examines the response of farmers to the land fallow system and ecological environment; and it looks at the economic effects of the land fallow system. Based on China's rotation system for cultivated land, some relevant policy implications are put forward. Based on the different degrees of land damage, the evaluation system and the subsidy accounting standard for fallow land are formulated, and the compulsory fallow and voluntary participation of the niche fallow are targeting. The land fallow system should improve both the regulatory and the restraint mechanisms, improve the environmental awareness and environmental protection skills of farmers, change the production behaviors of farmers, and encourage farmers to change to high coverage crops to protect the land. In view of the negative effects produced by implementation of the fallow system should take corresponding management and compensation measures.

The traditional tea-grass integrated system in Shizuoka is the first example of a Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems (GIAHS) site in Japan that was proposed by a local government. In this paper, we report the background and circumstances leading to the recognition of this system, its registration as a GIAHS, and its current use after registration. Although semi-natural grasslands have decreased considerably in Japan, we found unique semi-natural grasslands with no pest insects and a rich biodiversity around the tea fields. These grasslands and the farming method employed are known as “Chagusaba”, which was registered as a GIAHS in 2013. However, the registration process for GIAHS was not easy, as many local farmers do not understand the value of their traditional farming methods or the GIAHS honor. After registering Chagusaba as a GIAHS, our main agenda was branding. Traditional farming, with time and effort, produces high-quality tea. As labor saving technologies in agriculture have progressed in Japan, the price of high-quality tea has declined, and consequently, the numbers of farmers performing the inefficient traditional farming methods are decreasing. It is necessary to correctly brand the Chagusaba-grown tea and reflect the value of the traditional farming method in the price. The local government of the Shizuoka Prefecture is currently working on implementing a certification system, which includes scientific evaluation using GPS, and the introduction of biodiversity indicators.

In this paper, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used to evaluate and quantify the energy consumption and environmental impacts of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) plastic packaging from the five stages of raw material acquisition, raw material transportation, product production, products use and final disposal. Seven impact categories were selected for the impact analysis: abiotic depletion potential fossil fuels (ADP), global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone formation potential (POCP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (TETP). The results of the LCA are discussed and the results show that production of products is the highest stage of the environmental impact. Meanwhile, in the entire life cycle, the top three environmental impact categories are GWP, ADP and HTP, which account for 32.63%, 24.83% and 14.01%, respectively. The LCA results show that the environmental impact can be reduced in several ways: reducing the consumption of electricity, increasing the input of new energy, increasing the conversion rate of materials in the production process, using organic and water-soluble fertilizers instead of conventional fertilizers, using environment-friendly fuels and establishing a sound recycling system.

Human-wildlife conflict is one of the biggest conservation challenges throughout the world. Various conservation strategies have been employed to limit these impacts, but often they are not adequately monitored and their effectiveness assessed. Recently, electric fencing has been constructed as a means to mitigate human-wildlife conflict surrounding many Nepalese protected areas. To date, there are no other studies analyzing the cost effectiveness and efficacy of fencing for conservation. This study aims to examine the cost effectiveness of electric fencing in the eastern sector of Chitwan National Park, Nepal, where the fencing has recently been constructed. Great Indian one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), wild boar (Sus scrofa), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), and tiger (Panthera tigris) were the main wildlife species involved in human-wildlife conflict in the buffer zone area surrounding the park, where the fencing was deployed. Electric fencing was significantly effective in reducing crop damage by 78% and livestock depredation by 30%-60%. Human mortality was not reduced significantly in the study areas and continued at low levels. Our analysis suggested that total net present value of the cost of electric fence in Kagendramalli User Committee (KMUC) and Mrigakunja User Committee (MKUC) was 1 517 959 NPR (Nepalese Rupees, 21 685 USD) and 3 530 075 NPR (50 429 USD) respectively up to the fiscal year 2009/10. Net present benefit in KMUC and MKUC was 16 301 105 NPR (232 872 USD) and 38 304 602 NPR (547 208 USD) respectively up to 2009/10. The cost-benefit ratio of electric fence up to base fiscal year 2009/10 in KMUC is 10.73, whereas MKUC is 10.85. These results illustrate that the electric fencing program is economically and socially beneficial in reducing human-wildlife conflict (crop damage and livestock depredation) around the protected areas where large mammals occur.

Process mechanisms of carbon storage and carbon cycle in earth system are the scientific foundation for analyzing the cause of climate change, forecasting the climate change trend, and making mitigation and adaptation countermeasures, which have attracted great attention from the scientific community and international community. Since the late 1980s, Chinese scientists have carried out a great deal of research on the terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle, and have made great progress in many fields. In this paper, we review the history of the research on the terrestrial carbon cycle in China, summarize the results of the carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems and its spatial patterns, evaluate the uncertainties of the research, and put forward important scientific issues which are needed to be addressed urgently. Overall, the research on the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems in China consists of four stages of development, i.e., the early carbon cycle research, the comprehensive study on the carbon cycle at regional scale, the experimental research on the adaptation of ecosystem carbon cycle to climate change, and the coupling cycles of C-N-H2O and the regional regulation and control. Most studies indicate that carbon storage of terrestrial ecosystems in China and its spatial pattern are controlled by temperature and precipitation. About 97.95–118.93 Pg carbon is stored in soil, forest and grassland in China. Since the mid 1970s, many management measures such as afforestation and forest management, grassland protection, farming system reformation and conservation tillage, have played important roles in carbon sequestration. However, large uncertainty exists among the evaluation results with various methods. In the future we should focus on the integrated monitoring system of the dynamics of carbon storage and carbon sink, foresight studies on the coupling cycles of ecosystem C-N-H2O and its regional regulation and control, quantitative assessment on the carbon budget and the potential of carbon sink of ecosystems in China, the evaluation of the economic benefit of various technologies for increasing carbon sink of typical ecosystems, and the measurable, reportable and verifiable scientific data and technical supports for establishing the policy framework of greenhouse gas management and carbon trading at national scale.

The Angstrom-Prescott formula is commonly used in climatological calculation methods of solar radiation simulation. Fitting the coefficients is carried out using linear regression and in recent years it has been found that these coefficients have obvious spatial variability. A common solution is to divide the study area into several subregions and fit the coefficients one by one. Here, we use ground observation data for sunshine hours and solar radiation from 1961 to 2010. Adopting extraterrestrial radiation as the initial value, Angstrom-Prescott coefficients are obtained by Geographically Weighted Regression at a national scale. The surfaces of solar radiation are obtained on the basis of the surfaces of sunshine hours interpolated by high accuracy surface modeling and astronomical radiation; results from spatially nonstationary and error comparison tests show that Angstrom-Prescott coefficients have significant spatial nonstationarity. Compared to existing research methods, the method presented here achieves a better simulation effect.

Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVM) are powerful tools for studying complicated ecosystem processes and global changes. This review article synthesizes the developments and applications of the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS), a DGVM, over the past two decades. IBIS has been used to evaluate carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation changes, land-atmosphere interactions, land-aquatic system integration, and climate change impacts. Here we summarize model development work since IBIS v2.5, covering hydrology (evapotranspiration, groundwater, lateral routing), vegetation dynamics (plant functional type, land cover change), plant physiology (phenology, photosynthesis, carbon allocation, growth), biogeochemistry (soil carbon and nitrogen processes, greenhouse gas emissions), impacts of natural disturbances (drought, insect damage, fire) and human induced land use changes, and computational improvements. We also summarize IBIS model applications around the world in evaluating ecosystem productivity, carbon and water budgets, water use efficiency, natural disturbance effects, and impacts of climate change and land use change on the carbon cycle. Based on this review, visions of future cross-scale, cross-landscape and cross-system model development and applications are discussed.

The paper analyzes the distribution pattern of resources, ecological environment, society and economy, and holds that it is conducive to Silk Road countries to carry out Omni-directional and multi-level economic cooperation. Then the article puts forth main modes and paths of sustainable economic development for the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB): ecological civilization mode, regional economic integration mode, transportation economic belt mode and international tourism economic zone mode. Finally, the article summarizes the key scientific issues for the sustainable development in the SREB and puts forward several action projects which include establishing International Scientists League and Think Tanks, establishing international information sharing platform and scientific policy-making system of ecological environment and sustainable development of the SREB, starting international science cooperation and technology traineeship program of the SREB, founding the international cooperation committee in the SREB and founding transnational construction and win-win cooperation mechanism of coping with climate change and ecological environment.

The cushion plant Androsace tapete is an endemic species that is widely distributed in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and also predominant in the alpine grassland that is locally degraded due to overgrazing and other reasons. As an ecosystem engineer cushion plant, its ability to facilitate the restoration of degraded alpine grassland was studied in a degraded alpine grassland at an elevation of 4500 m on the southern slope of the Nyainqentanglha Mountains in Damxung. The species diversity, soil nutrients and water content underneath and outside the cushion plant A. tapete were investigated. The results showed that soil nutrients underneath the A. tapete cushion were significantly increased by about 16%-48% compared to outside the cushion, of which the organic matter and total N were increased by 16.2% and 18.9% respectively, and the soil water content was increased about 12%. The index of species diversity of richness (S), Shannon-Wiener’s H and Simpson’s D all increased with the coverage of cushion plant A. tapete. Our results suggested that this cushion plant can facilitate restoration of the degraded alpine grassland by modifying the local soil environment and increasing the community diversity, so it should be conserved for the restoration of degraded alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have promoted the rapid development of ice-snow tourism in China, which contributes to achieving the goal of having “300 million people participate in ice-snow sports”. This paper analyzes the status quo and problems associated with the growth of ice-snow tourism in China based on the methods of documentation and field investigation. The results indicate that China’s efforts have born abundant fruits. Notwithstanding, there are still some problems due to the limited time and hastened process of ice-snow tourism development, including unreasonable exploitation, low-quality products and services, imperfect investment and financing system, inadequate management, a single marketing mode, and insufficient talent teams. Compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, ice-snow tourism in China is in the stage of rapid development. To achieve the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, this paper proposes actions from eight aspects which involve policy, products and services, marketing, safety management and control, talent teams, standardization construction, science and technology, and community participation. This study can provide references for the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, as well as perfecting Chinese theoretical research on ice-snow tourism.

With the development of tourism, the number of tourists and the scope of tourism activities are increasing, and the impact of tourism on the ecological environment is gradually revealed. The ecological environment is the foundation of sustainable tourism development. Some tourist destinations lack systematic and scientific evaluation and the proper planning of tourism resources, which makes it difficult for local areas to cope with the influx of a large number of people. In these destinations, the internal system is perturbed by a series of disturbances, which leads to bad effects on the local ecological environment. In addition to endangering the development of tourism, the quality of life of local residents is also threatened. Consequently, the issues between tourism and environment have become a hot topic in the field of tourism research. Through the collection of domestic and foreign tourism literature related to ecological theories since 1990 to 2020, the status of the application of various ecological theories in the field of tourism is revealed, such as life cycle theory, landscape ecology theory, carrying capacity theory, biodiversity, ecological niche theory and ecological footprint theory. This analysis found that the application of these theories to tourism mainly focuses on empirical research, and there are few studies on the basic theories related to it. In the empirical research, innovation of the research methods is basically absent. Therefore, future research should pay more attention to the theoretical research of ecological theory in the field of tourism, and combine modern science and technology in the practical application to strengthen the innovation of research methods. In addition, the prospect of applying ecological theories in future tourism research is discussed.

The duration of travel climate comfort degree is an important factor that influences the length of the tourism season and the development of a tourism destination. In this study, we used the monthly average meteorological data for the last 10 years from 46 weather stations in Heilongjiang Province (China) and Primorsky Krai (Russia) to calculate the temperature-humidity index (THI) and wind chill index (WCI) based on ArcGIS software interpolation technology. We obtained the climate comfort charts of the study area with a grid size a 1 km ² grid size, and analyzed the spatial distribution of comfort for each month. The results show the following: 1) The THI and WCI of the cross-border region gradually decrease from south to north and from low altitude to high altitude. The annual comfortable climate period is longer when analyzed in terms of the WCI rather \than the THI. 2) The travel climate comfortable period of the study area shows significant regional difference and the length of the comfortable period in Heilongjiang Province is 4 to 5 months. Meanwhile, the period in Primorsky Krai decreases from south to north and the length of the comfortable period length in its southern region can reach 7 months. 3) The predominant length of the climate comfortable period in the cross-border area is 5 months per year, and it covers 46.6% of the total area, while areas that have a climate comfortable period of 2 months are the most limited, covering less than 0.3% of the area. The results provide a scientific basis for the utilization and development of a meteorological tourism resources and touring arrangements for tourists in the cross-border region between China and Russia.

Ecosystem services have rapidly changed at the global and regional scales in recent years. Exploring the driving mechanisms of ecosystem services change and projecting future change are of increasing importance to inform policy and decision-making options for ecosystem conservation and sustainable use. Although some research has analyzed the influences of land use or climate changes on ecosystem services, a systematic review on the mechanisms of ecosystem services change has not been carried out so far. This work elaborated on the mechanisms of ecosystem services change based on a literature review, and reached four main conclusions. (1) Climate change and land use jointly determine the ecosystem services change through complex and interacting pathways. (2) Whereas the present research progresses mainly focus on the identification of a single influencing factor, they fail in the determination of multiple influencing factors. (3) Although multi-scenario simulations based on remote sensing and climate models are the main means used to predict future changes in ecosystem services, clarifying the interactive mechanisms of multiple factors is the precondition for future projection of ecosystem services change; (4) Therefore, future research should strengthen the analysis and simulation of the effects of human activities on ecosystem services, especially the development of technology to detect the dynamic responses of ecosystem services to major ecological projects, which is crucial to the selection of restoration measures and the regional arrangement of ecosystem conservation projects.

As a concept to describe development restrictions, resources and environment carrying capacity (RECC) research has developed over more than 100 years since it was first proposed at the beginning of the 20^th century. It is now regarded as a significant factor in evaluating the level of cooperation between regional population, resources, and environment; and it is currently used as an effective and operational tool to guide regional sustainable development. This article first reviews the origin of RECC and its early headway. It then reviews the historical development of RECC from single factors, such as land resources carrying capacity, water resources carrying capacity and environmental carrying capacity (environmental capacity), to more comprehensive research, such as comprehensive evaluation, emergy analysis, and ecological footprint analysis. In general, it appears that comprehensive research will become increasingly important in RECC research. However, there are several deficiencies in the current state of comprehensive research. Firstly, comprehensive RECC research lacks a common measurement standard, though some scholars have attempted to create one. Secondly, the RECC evaluation of open systems and dynamic studies should be strengthened. Thirdly, more attention should be paid to standardization, digitalization, and systematization to promote the applicability of RECC research to national practical demands.

Rapid economic development, industrialization, and urbanization aggravates the tense relationship between human beings and the land. With multiple demands for food security, ecological protection and economic development, frequent conflicts and competition occur between multiple different functional land types. The current land use classification system focuses on the productive and living functions of land, but gives little consideration to ecological functions. This study builds a national Ecological-Living-Productive Land Classification System based on land functions emphasizing the concept and position of ecological land. So-called ecological land uses are types of land use regulating, maintaining and protecting ecological security. The new land classification is more flexible for overall planning purposes and for making arrangements for ecological, living and productive land spaces. The Ecological-Living-Productive Land Classification System includes three levels. The first level has four major types: ecological land, ecological-productive land, productive-ecological land, and living-productive land. The second level subdivides the major types into 15 functional land categories, including major ecological regulation land, common ecological regulation land, and ecological conservation land for ecological lands; pasture land, timber land and aquaculture land for ecological-productive lands; arable land and orchard for productive-ecological lands; and urban built-up area, rural living land, and industrial land for living-productive lands. The third level is based on land cover types. Based on multiple data sources, and using a strategy of zoning and re-classification, we extracted the spatial distribution of ecological-living-productive lands on a national scale. The areas of ecological land, ecological-productive land, productive land, and living-productive land area are 6,037,000 km², 1,353,800 km², 2,001,900 km² and 207,300 km², respectively; accounting for 62.89%, 14.10%, 20.85% and 2.16% of total area, respectively. For the second-level classification, the area of ecological conservation land is the largest, accounting for 20.17% of the total area. Ecological land is located mainly in central and western China. Ecological-productive land is distributed in various areas throughout the country, and productive-ecological land and living-productive land are concentrated in eastern China.

The community forest program in Nepal is one of the successful conservation initiatives. Tree species in a forest ecosystem have a fundamental role in maintaining the vegetation structure, complexity, and heterogeneity. This study analyzes the composition and regeneration of tree species in five community forests (CFs) of the sub-tropical region, Lamjung district, Nepal for preparing baseline data for long-term research projects and helps the community to manage their CFs scientifically. Tree species data were generated by stratified random sampling using 35 quadrate plots (size: 20 m x 20 m). The density of adult trees in the forests ranged from 575 Ind ha ^-1 (Tilahar CF) to 1196 Ind/ha (Deurali Thadopakha CF). The sapling ranged from 2533 Ind ha ^-1 (Tilahar CF) to 4000 Ind ha ^-1 (Thuliban CF) and seedling from 19583 Ind ha ^-1 (Tilahar CF) to 37500 Ind ha ^-1 (Thuliban CF). Similarly, the adult tree basal area varied from 28.34 m ² ha ^-1 (Tilahar CF) to 49 m ²ha ^-1 (Deurali CF). The adult tree diversity index (Shannon-Weiner’s H) also ranged from 1.08 (Thuliban CF) to 1.88 (Tilahar CF). The tree species such as Sapium insigne, Ficus benghalensis, Lagerstroemia parviflore, Albizia sp. and Pinus roxburghii were weak regeneration. In general, the forests have good regeneration status except for Tilahar Community Forest, but based on the DBH size class distribution diagram, there is no sustainable regeneration. Among the five community forests the DBH size of adults was significantly different, and the DBH of Deurali Thadopakha was the lowest. But only few species have good regeneration and most of the species have weak, poor to no regeneration. The dominancy of fewer species like Shorea robusta, Castanopsis indica, and Schima wallichii accordingly maintain the overall regeneration of tree of CFs, so further plantation needs to be done inside the CF by triage accordingly those species whose regeneration has poor.

The alpine treeline ecotone is defined as a forest-grassland or forest-tundra transition boundary either between subalpine forest and treeless grassland, or between subalpine forest and treeless tundra. The alpine treeline ecotone serves irreplaceable ecological functions and provides various ecosystem services. There are three lines associated with the alpine treeline ecotone, the tree species line (i.e., the highest elevational limit of individual tree establishment and growth), the treeline (i.e., the transition line between tree islands and isolated individual trees) and the timber line (i.e., the upper boundary of the closed subalpine forest). The alpine treeline ecotone is the belt region between the tree species line and the timber line of the closed forest. The treeline is very sensitive to climate change and is often used as an indicator for the response of vegetation to global warming. However, there is currently no comprehensive review in the field of alpine treeline advance under global warming. Therefore, this review summarizes the literature and discusses the theoretical bases and challenges in the study of alpine treeline dynamics from the following four aspects: (1) Ecological functions and issues of treeline dynamics; (2) Methodology for monitoring treeline dynamics; (3) Treeline shifts in different climate zones; (4) Driving factors for treeline upward shifting.

Analysis of the nexus between vegetation dynamics and climatic parameters like surface temperature is essential in environmental and ecological studies and for monitoring of the natural resources. This study explored the spatio-temporal distribution of land surface temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the relationship between them in the Andassa watershed from 1986 to 2016 periods using Landsat data. Monthly average air temperature data of three meteorological sites were used for validating the results. The findings of the study showed that the LST of the Andassa watershed has increased during the study periods. Overall, average LST has been rising with an increasing rate of 0.081°C per year. Other results of this study also showed that there has been a dynamic change in vegetation cover of the watershed in all seasons. There was also a negative correlation between LST and NDVI in all the studied years. From this study we can understand that there has been degradation of vegetation and intensification of LST from 1986 to 2016.

In recent years, rapid global urbanization accompanied by rapid economic growth has resulted in increasingly serious eco-environmental problems such as land degradation and pollution. As a society, we are gradually realizing the role of environmental protection and ecologically-focused construction in promoting sustainable development. As an important method for assessing sustainable development, ecological carrying capacity (ECC) has become a powerful tool for investigating sustainable development and assessing eco-environmental problems. Based on results from a large number of previous studies in this discipline, we summarized and generalized the implications, main assessment methods, and key research domains of ECC. Deficiencies and future trends in ECC research are identified. In terms of implications, ECC can be roughly defined into the perspectives of environmental change, human effects on ecological systems, and holistic ecological systems. The primary assessment methods and models can be classified in accordance with these three perspectives, including ecological footprint method, ecosystem-services-based method, net primary productivity method, situation space method, energetic ecological footprint model, system dynamics model, and coupling model. We compared the advantages and disadvantage of different methods and analyzed their applicable conditions. As ECC research has advanced, related studies have gradually extend to land systems, watershed systems, ecologically vulnerable areas, tourism systems, and urban comprehensive systems, which have solved relevant eco-environmental problems based on ECC assessments. Currently, ECC research lacks a standard definition for the ECC index threshold, research related to dynamic monitoring and early warning, sufficient consideration of scientific and technological drivers, and spatial pattern analyses. Future trends in ECC-related research should provide a large-scale assessment of cross-border areas and ecological vulnerable areas, construct an ecological warning platform, and consistently analyze ECC and regional leading industries.

Agricultural heritage has potential significance far beyond its common representation as the “traditional” system of “traditional peoples”. The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) program is an important designation that treats heritage agro-ecosystems as living systems, rather than cultural relics. In order for the GIAHS designation to achieve its full potential, however, the role of human knowledge within the continuous cultural and ecological evolution of GIAHS requires much closer examination and appreciation. This paper explores the limits of contemporary nature and cultural conservation, and draws on a coevolutionary theoretical framework in order to better conceptualize the dynamism of such complex agro-ecological systems. In such a view, GIAHS can be seen as evolving systems of sustainable agriculture of great potentail relevance to contemporary society-environment challenges, rather than as relics of the past.

This study used remote sensing and GIS to analyze the landscape pattern changes in the Yancheng Nature Reserve from 1983 to 2018, established an evaluation index system based on the regional natu-ral-socio-economic complex ecosystem security pattern, and then analyzed the spatial characteristics of eco-logical security changes and discusses reasons for these changes. The results show that the landscape pattern changed dramatically from natural landscape to a mixture of natural landscape and artificial landscape from 1983 to 2018 due to the intensification of human activities. At present, the ecological security status of the protected areas is not optimistic. From the perspective of the survival status of red-crowned cranes, the protected areas are suitable. However, due to the increase of human activities and policy adjustments, the habitat of red-crowned cranes is fragmented. The red-crowned crane currently gathers in localized areas such as the core area and the buffer zone. We should pay more attention to management, policy development and the environmental awareness of local residents. At the same time, it is necessary to reduce the intensity of human activities within the reserve.