scholarly journals Virtual nitrogen and phosphorus flow associated with interprovincial crop trade and its effect on grey water stress in China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Ren ◽  
Wenfeng Liu ◽  
Hong Yang ◽  
La Zhuo ◽  
Yindong Tong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Southern China ◽  
National Level ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
Grey Water ◽  
P Loss ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The grey water footprint (GWF) is defined as freshwater requirements for diluting pollutants in receiving water bodies. It is widely used to measure the impact of pollutant loads on water resources. GWF can be transferred from one area to another through trade. Although pollution flow has previously been investigated at the national level, there has been no explicit study on the extent to which crop trade affects GWF across regions and the associated changes in grey water stress (GWS). This study analyzes pollution flow associated with interprovincial crop trade based on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loss intensity of three major crops, namely, maize, rice and wheat, which is simulated by a grid-based crop model for the period 2008–2012, and evaluates the spatial patterns of GWS across China. The results indicate that the integrated national GWF for N and P was 1,271 billion m3 yr-1, with maize, rice, and wheat contributing 39%, 37%, and 24%, respectively. Through interprovincial crop trade, southern China outsourced substantial N and P losses to the north, leading to a 30% GWS increase in northern China and 66% GWS mitigation in southern China. Specifically, Jilin, Henan, and Heilongjiang Provinces in the north showed increases in GWS by 161%, 114%, and 55%, respectively, while Fujian, Shanghai, and Zhejiang in the south had GWS reductions of 83%, 85%, and 80%, respectively. It was found that the interprovincial crop trade led to reduced national GWF and GWS. Insights into GWF and GWS can form the basis for policy developments on N and P pollution mitigation across regions in China.

A New Integrated Grey Water Footprint Assessment Method

2015 ◽  
Vol 671 ◽  
pp. 412-418
Author(s):  
Lu Lu Xu ◽  
Li Zhu Chen ◽  
Hugh Gong ◽  
Xue Mei Ding
Keyword(s):  
Water Footprint ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Accurate Assessment ◽  
Ambient Water ◽  
Grey Water ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Comprehensive Indicator

Water footprint is a volumetric indicator of freshwater appropriation. The grey water footprint (GWF) provides a tool to assess the water volume needed to assimilate a pollutant. However, evaluating the impact on water environment cannot rely solely on volumetric consumption of freshwater. It demands accurate assessment criteria to reflect its environmental and ecological effects on ambient water resource. In this paper, a new assessment method is proposed: the effluent toxicity and the Potential Eco-toxic Effects Probe (PEEP) index of aquatic environment are taken into consideration. This method provides a comprehensive indicator for evaluating water footprint, specified in effluents’ ecological impact on ambient water sources.

scholarly journals Relative impact of insolation and Warm Pool surface temperature on the East Asia Summer Monsoon during the MIS-13 interglacial

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1025-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Z. Yin ◽  
U. K. Singh ◽  
A. Berger ◽  
Z. T. Guo ◽  
M. Crucifix
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Warm Pool ◽  
Pool Surface ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. During Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 13, an interglacial about 500 000 years ago, the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) was suggested exceptionally strong by different proxies in China. However, MIS-13 is a weak interglacial in marine oxygen isotope records and has relatively low CO2 and CH4 concentrations compared to other interglacials of the last 800 000 years. In the mean time, the sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions show that the Western Pacific Warm Pool was relatively warm during MIS-13. Based on climate modeling experiments, this study aims at investigating whether this Warm Pool warming could explain the exceptionally strong EASM occurring during the relatively cool interglacial MIS-13. The individual contributions of insolation and of the Warm Pool SST as well as their synergism are quantified through experiments with the Hadley Centre atmosphere model, HadAM3 and using the factor separation technique. The SST over the Warm Pool region has been increased based on geological reconstructions. Our results show that the pure impact of a strong summer insolation contributes to strengthen significantly the summer precipitation in northern China but only little in southern China. The pure impact of enhanced Warm Pool SST reduces, slightly, the summer precipitation in both northern and southern China. However, the synergism between insolation and enhanced Warm Pool SST contributes to a large increase of summer precipitation in southern China but to a decrease in northern China. Therefore, the ultimate role of enhanced Warm Pool SST reinforces the impact of insolation in southern China but reduces its impact in northern China. We conclude that enhanced SST over the Warm Pool region does help to explain the strong MIS-13 EASM precipitation in southern China as recorded in proxy data, but other explanation is needed for explaining the exceptionally strong EASM in northern China.

scholarly journals The Challenges and Strategies of Food Security under Rapid Urbanization in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-sheng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Grain Production ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
The Impact

Food security has received wide attention in China for a long time due to the challenges of a huge population and limited farmland area. Under conditions of rapid urbanization, the food scenario has changed, creating major challenges for massive populations in China. This paper intends to reveal the impact of urbanization on food security and to propose strategies for mitigating the threats to it. Total grain production has continuously increased, but most of the grain production has been distributed in the northern region since 2006. Although the per capita rural income has increased significantly since 1980, the agricultural income ratio has consistently declined from 56.13% in 1983 to 26.61% in 2012. A dramatic shift in food consumption away from grain towards meat, poultry, eggs, milk and liquor has been found in both rural and urban areas. The faster agricultural water consumption growth in northern China over southern China helped close the gap. There has been net increase of cultivated land in northern China, whereas southern China has seen a net decrease. The medium- and low-level cultivation ratios of land were 52.84% and 17.69%, respectively, in 2015. This paper concluded that food security in China could be ensured by increasing production and optimizing consumption. It suggested that enhanced grain production capacity, strict water management, and land consolidation engineering as well as agricultural industrialization could be used for maintaining grain production. Food consumption itself can be managed by optimizing resident dietary pattern, reducing food waste, adjusting grain consumption structure and moderating food imports policy.

scholarly journals Temporal Variability of Drought in Nine Agricultural Regions of China and the Influence of Atmospheric Circulation

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 990
Author(s):  
Haowei Sun ◽  
Haiying Hu ◽  
Zhaoli Wang ◽  
Chengguang Lai
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Chinese Mainland ◽  
Subtropical High ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
The Chinese Mainland ◽  
Agricultural Regions ◽  
The Impact

In recent decades, the severe drought across agricultural regions of China has had significant impact on agriculture. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) has been widely used for drought analyses; however, SPEI is prone to be affected by potential evapotranspiration (PET). We thus examined the correlations between soil moisture anomalies and the SPEI calculated by the Thornthwaite, Hargreaves, and Penman–Monteith (PM) equations to select the most suitable for drought research. Additionally, the Mann–Kendall and wavelet analysis were used to investigate drought trends and to analyze and the impact of atmospheric circulation on drought in China from 1961 to 2018. The results showed that (1) PET obtained from the PM equation is the most suitable for SPEI calculation; (2) there were significant wetting trends in Northern China and the whole Chinese mainland and most of the wetting mutation points occurred in the 1970s and 1980s and the significant inter-annual oscillations period in the Chinese mainland was 2–4 years; (3) the Chinese mainland and Northern China are strongly influenced by West Pacific Trade Wind, while Western Pacific Subtropical High Intensity and Pacific Subtropical High Area have primary impact on Southern China.

scholarly journals The Effect of Religious Dietary Cultures on Food Nitrogen and Phosphorus Footprints: A Case Study of India

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1926
Author(s):  
Aurup Ratan Dhar ◽  
Azusa Oita ◽  
Kazuyo Matsubae
Keyword(s):  
National Average ◽  
Food Culture ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
P Loss ◽  
Excessive Consumption ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
The Impact

The excessive consumption of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), two vital nutrients for living organisms, is associated with negative environmental and health impacts. While food production contributes to a large amount of N and P loss to the environment, very little N and P is consumed as food. Food habits are affected by multiple regulations, including the dietary restrictions and dictates of various religions. In this study, religion-sensitive N-Calculator and P-Calculator approaches were used to determine the impact of religious dietary culture on the food N and P footprints of India in the major religious communities. Using 2013 data, the food N footprint of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists was 10.70, 11.45, 11.47, and 7.39 kg-N capita−1 year−1 (10.82 kg-N capita−1 year−1 was the national average), and the food P footprint was 1.46, 1.58, 1.04. 1.58 and 1.58 kg-P capita−1 year−1 (1.48 kg-P capita−1 year−1 was the national average). The findings highlight the impact of individual choice on the N and P food footprints, and the importance of encouraging the followers of religion to follow a diet consistent with the food culture of that religion. The results of this study are a clear indication of the requirement for religion-sensitive analyses in the collecting of data pertinent to a particular country for use in making government policies designed to improve the recycling of food waste and the treatment of wastewater.

Measurement of City Clusters’ Economic Growth Effects and Analysis of the Influencing Factors

2020 ◽  
Vol 08 (01) ◽  
pp. 2050006
Author(s):  
Jing HAN ◽  
Ming GAO ◽  
Yawen SUN
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Southern China ◽  
National Level ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Central Cities ◽  
Dynamic Panel Model ◽  
Growth Effects ◽  
City Cluster ◽  
Surrounding Areas

Based on the panel data of 202 prefecture-level cities within 14 national-level city clusters in China from 2007 to 2016, we established a dynamic panel model to measure the economic growth effects of city clusters and analyzed the main influencing factors. The results show that: (i) Technology has a significant impact on the economic growth of city clusters; the narrowing development gap between regions can help city clusters produce good economic growth effects; the city clusters, if more agglomerated, can help better utilize factors, and thus promote coordinated regional development. (ii) City clusters with multiple central cities boast a stronger engine of economic growth, and the impacts of factors such as technology and clustering degree on their economic growth are more noticeable. (iii) Geographical factors will also affect city clusters’ economic growth. The economic growth of city clusters in Southern China has been more strongly powered by the factors such as technology, clustering degree and human capital than those in Northern China. From the spatial perspective and by using the threshold panel method, we further explored the mechanisms with which the central cities within a city cluster can influence economic growth depending on their accessibility. The results manifest that the more accessible the central cities within a city cluster are, the stronger role they can play in leading and driving the economic growth of surrounding areas. In the future, it is important to promote the transformation of single-core and dual-core city clusters into multi-core city clusters, and give full play to the role of central cities in leading the development of surrounding areas. It is also necessary to vigorously develop technology and transportation to further facilitate the high-quality growth of city clusters.

scholarly journals An Ethical Investigation into the Impact of Mophane Worm Depletion on the Environment in the North-Eastern Part of Botswana: A Case Study of Gungwe and Mbalambi Villages

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-127
Author(s):  
Fatima Selaledi
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Food Supplement ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Local People ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
The North ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
The Impact

Mophane worm is a name given to caterpillars hosted by the Mophane tree. The mophane worm is harvested as food supplement in most of the Southern African countries. For the past few years, there have been some reports indicating that the worm has disappeared in some parts of Botswana. Hence, the aim of this research study has been to investigate from an ethical perspective the impact of mophane worm depletion on the environment. A qualitative approach was used in this study and data was collected from the following target groups of people: villagers, headmen of the stated two villages and the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism (MEWT) officers both at local and national level. The theoretical framework involved traditional theories (i.e., Value Theory and Utilitarianism) and environmental ethical theories (i.e., Social Ecology, Environmental and Intergenerational Justice). The research instruments employed were individual interview schedules, focus group discussions and observation. A fourfold model of analysis was used focusing on the biological, economical, social and political dimensions. From the findings of the study, it emerged that both natural and anthropogenic factors contributed to mophane worm depletion. The natural factors were drought and predation while the anthropogenic factors included massive usage of the host tree, destructive methods of harvesting and demand for more land for agricultural and residential purposes. It also emerged that mophane worm depletion had both negative and positive impacts on the environment. These included lack of money by the local people to buy their daily needs, lack of relish and poor livelihoods, loss of wildlife that fed on mophane worm and tension between government and local people over the regulation of the resource. Ethical evaluation revealed that the dominant value for the local people was utility value to the almost total lack of explicit awareness of intrinsic and inherent value, and that on utilitarian grounds, the overall evil that depletion of the mophane worm brought about outweighed its overall good effects. With regard to justice issues, the findings revealed that unjust social structures and injustices resulting from the unequal distribution of benefits and burdens as well as from the lack of adequate participation by the local communities in decision-making had a greater negative than positive impact. Finally, recommendations were made emphasising the utmost importance of government intervention to mitigate, if not, stop the depletion of the mophane worm.

scholarly journals Stoichiometry of Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Shrub Organs Linked Closely With Mycorrhizal Strategy in Northern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Yang ◽  
Zhaoyong Shi ◽  
Menghan Zhang ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
Jiakai Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Concentration ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Nutrient Cycle ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Phosphorus Concentration ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
Mycorrhizal Status ◽  
N Concentration ◽  
Stems And Leaves ◽  
The Impact

Mycorrhizal strategies include mycorrhizal statuses and mycorrhizal types, which are important reflections of the functional characteristics of ecosystems. The stoichiometry of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in plant organs is an important part of ecosystem functions, which has an important impact on the nutrient cycle of the ecosystem. The concentration of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus played a crucial role in ecosystem functioning and dynamics. The purpose of this study is to provide theoretical basis and data support for improving the properties of global terrestrial ecosystems by exploring the impact of mycorrhizal strategies on the stoichiometry of C, N, and P in different shrub organs. In this study, stoichiometric patterns of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in different shrub organs under different mycorrhizal status or types were analyzed at 725 samples across Northern China. Results showed that in different mycorrhizal status, the highest carbon concentration in shrub organs appeared in the facultatively mycorrhizal (FM) mycorrhizal status, and the highest nitrogen concentration appeared in the Non-mycorrhizal (NM) mycorrhizal status. Under different mycorrhizal types, the nitrogen concentration in the shrub organs under the arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) mycorrhizal type was the highest, and the phosphorus concentration under the ecto-mycorrhiza (ECM) mycorrhizal type was the highest. In the OM or FM mycorrhizal status, the concentrations of C, N, and P in the stems and leaves increase with the increase of the concentrations of C, N, and P in the roots. In the NM mycorrhizal status, the N concentration in the stems and leaves increases with the increase of the N concentration in the roots. Under AM, AM+ECM, and ECM mycorrhizal type, the concentrations of C, N, and P are closely related in roots, stems and leaves. The content of plant nutrients in different organs is closely related. It turned out that mycorrhizal statuses or types are able to alter the allocation of C, N, and P in different organs, and the relationships of C, N, and P among different organs are able to present different trend with the varying of mycorrhizal statuses or types.

scholarly journals Relative impact of insolation and the Indo-Pacific warm pool surface temperature on the East Asia summer monsoon during the MIS-13 interglacial

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1645-1657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Z. Yin ◽  
U. K. Singh ◽  
A. Berger ◽  
Z. T. Guo ◽  
M. Crucifix
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Warm Pool ◽  
Pacific Warm Pool ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. During Marine Isotope Stage (MIS)-13, an interglacial about 500 000 years ago, the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) was suggested exceptionally strong by different proxies in China. However, MIS-13 is a weak interglacial in marine oxygen isotope records and has relatively low CO2 and CH4 concentrations compared to other interglacials of the last 800 000 years. In the meantime, the sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions have shown that the warm pool was relatively warm during MIS-13. Based on climate modeling experiments, this study aims at investigating whether a warmer Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP) can explain the exceptionally strong EASM occurring during the relatively cool interglacial MIS-13. The relative contributions of insolation and of the IPWP SST as well as their synergism are quantified through experiments with the Hadley Centre atmosphere model, HadAM3, and using the factor separation technique. The SST of the IPWP has been increased based on geological reconstructions. Our results show that the pure impact of a strong summer insolation contributes to strengthen significantly the summer precipitation in northern China but only little in southern China. The pure impact of enhanced IPWP SST reduces, slightly, the summer precipitation in both northern and southern China. However, the synergism between insolation and enhanced IPWP SST contributes to a large increase of summer precipitation in southern China but to a slight decrease in northern China. Therefore, the ultimate role of enhanced IPWP SST is to reinforce the impact of insolation in southern China but reduce its impact in northern China. We conclude that a warmer IPWP helps to explain the strong MIS-13 EASM precipitation in southern China as recorded in proxy data, but another explanation is needed for northern China.

scholarly journals The discovery of early pottery in China

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Chi
Keyword(s):  
Southern China ◽  
Russian Far East ◽  
Far East ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Upper Pleistocene ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
The North ◽  
Early Pottery ◽  
The Russian Far East

During the transitional period from the Upper Pleistocene to the onset of the Holocene, there were two different cultural traditions in southern and northern China. The pottery appeared in both cultures. The earliest pottery in southern China might be dated back to 16 000 b.p. The early pottery found in the North is later than the earliest pottery in southern China, the Russian Far East, and Japan, but its character bears some similarity with the early pottery from other areas, especi- ally from the Russian Far East and Japan.

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