[Temporal and spatial variations of carbon storage and carbon sink improvement strategy at the district and county level based on PLUS-InVEST model: Taking Yanqing District as an example].

Under the background of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, the evolution of the spatiotemporal pattern of carbon storage has recently emerged as a research hotspot. The change in land use and land cover (LULC) is the primary driver of carbon storage changes. Understanding the spatiotemporal variations of LULC and carbon storage at the small scale of district and county level and proposing strategies to improve carbon sink, will contribute to the ecological conservation, restoration and sustainable development of districts or counties.

Construction of ecological network based on MSPA-Conefor-MCR at the county scale: A case study in Yanqing District, Beijing, China.

The acceleration of urbanization and the frequent occurrence of natural disasters have led to increasingly fragmented habitats and decreased ecological connectivity, which in turn hinder rural sustainable development. Constructing ecological networks is a key direction in the spatial planning. By strengthening source protection, corridor construction, and ecological control, it can effectively alleviate the contradiction between regional ecological and economic development imbalance and promote biodiversity enhancement.

[Effects of landscape complexity and local management on bee pollinator diversity in apple orchards in Changping District, Beijing, China.].

Pollinators provide important ecosystem services for crop production and food security. With the development of agricultural economy and the increasing intensity of land-use, a large number of natural or semi-natural habitats have been converted to croplands. Landscape homogenization and intensive management lead to the decline of wild bee diversity and threaten the sustainable agricultural production.

[Spider diversity and community characteristics in cropland and two kinds of recovery habitats in Bashang area, China].

Spiders are important natural enemies in agricultural ecosystems. The biodiversity and community characteristics of spider directly determine the quality of ecosystem services such as pest control in cropland. Cropland and its surrounding recovery habitats are important for spiders.

[Spatio-temporal distribution of carabids and spiders between semi-natural field margin and the adjacent crop fields in agricultural landscape].

This study was conducted before and after harvesting of wheat and maize in a typical agricultural landscape of the North China Plain. We investigated the diversity of two important natural enemy groups, carabids and spiders, using pitfall traps at crop field margin with different vegetation structures and their neighboring crop field. Throughout the comparison of the spatial and temporal distribution of the diversity of carabids and spiders in field margin and neighboring field, and the investigation of the relationship between arthropod communities and vegetation structure, this study aimed to understand the role of semi-natural field margin in biodiversity conservation of different natural enemy taxa.

[Simulation on PM detention service of green space in Haidian District, Beijing, China].

Green space plays an important role in reducing PM, since it can efficiently absorb suspended particles in the air. A quantificational method of dust detention service of green space was proposed in this study, based on the mechanism of PM reduction by plant. Daily, summer, winter and whole year cumulative dust amounts reduced by green space with different landscape types of Haidian District, Beijing, were quantified.

[Cooperative relations between non-cropped habitats and soil animals in suburban farmland Landscape: A case in Shenbei New District in Shenyang, China].

Non-cropped habitat in farm landscape plays a significant role in biodiversity, the functions of arable land and crop yields. This study focused on Shenbei New District in Shenyang City of Liaoning Province in Northeast China, which was a typical area with contradiction between biodiversity conservation and the high demand of agricultural production in the process of urbanization. Information entropy model, hand-picking and Baermann method were used for survey and identification of arthropods and nematodes in soils in urban suburban (US), urban fringe area (UFA) and rural area ( RA).

[Landscape character assessment framework in rural area: A case study in Qiaokou, Chang-sha, China].

Based on the concept and methods of landscape character assessment (LCA) in England, this paper applied a complete process of landscape character assessment with a case study in Qiaokou Town, which is located in a typical southern paddy fields area in Changsha City. We drew the landscape character map of Qiaokou Town through desk classification and field survey, identified and compared the key characters of each character area, and proposed suggestions on the improvement and stewardship of landscape characters. The results showed that Qiaokou could be divided into 2 landscape character types and 7 landscape character areas with the main differences in cropland and vegetation pattern as well as aesthetic characters.

[Spatial distribution pattern of carabid assemblage in agricultural landscape of Miyun County, Beijing].

By the method of pitfall trap sampling, an investigation was conducted on the carabid assemblage in four typical habitats (maize field, peanut field, orchard, and semi-natural woodland) in the agricultural landscape in Xitiange Village of Miyun County, Beijing. Among the four habitats, orchard had the highest alpha-diversity of carabid assemblage, followed by woodland and maize field, and peanut field had the lowest one. The species composition of the assemblage in woodland, peanut field, and orchard had evident difference, but was similar to that in maize field to some extent.

[Diversity of geometrid moth (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in cropland and reforested semi-natural habitats at different altitudes of Bashang Plateau, Hebei Province of China].

In order to understand the effects of landscape heterogeneity induced by habitat restoration and landform change on the biodiversity in degraded landscapes, an investigation by using light trap was conducted on the geometrid moth (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) diversity in the cropland and reforested semi-natural habitats in three villages at different altitudes of Bashang Plateau in 2006 and 2007. There existed significant differences in the species richness and individual number of geometrid moth between cropland and reforested semi-natural habitats and in the species richness of geometrid moth between the villages at different altitudes, but no significant differences in the individual number of geometrid moth between the villages at different altitudes and in the standardized sparseness index and Fisher' s alpha index between the villages and between the cropland and reforested semi-natural habitats within each village. The non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) indicated that the community structure of geometrid moth in different habitats and at different altitudes differed significantly.

[Spatial evaluation on ecological and aesthetic quality of Beijing agricultural landscape].

A total of ten single indices mainly reflecting the ecological and aesthetic quality of agricultural landscape, including ecosystem function, naturalness, openness and diversity, contamination probability, and orderliness were selected, their different weights were given based on field survey and expert system, and an integrated evaluation index system of agricultural landscape quality was constructed. In the meantime, the land use data provided by GIS and the remote sensing data of vegetation index were used to evaluate the Beijing agricultural landscape quality and its spatial variation. There was a great spatial variation in the agricultural landscape quality of Beijing, being worse at the edges of urban area and towns, but better in suburbs.

[Landscape planning approaches for biodiversity conservation in agriculture].

Biodiversity conservation in agriculture not only relates to the sustainable development of agriculture, but also is an essential part of species conservation. In recent years, the landscape planning approach for biodiversity was highlighted instead of species-focused approach. In this paper, the landscape factors affecting the biodiversity in agriculture were reviewed, and the possible landscape approaches at three different scales for more efficient conservation of biodiversity in agro-landscape were suggested, including: (1) the increase of the proportion of natural or semi-natural habitats in agriculture, diversification of land use or crop pattern, and protection or construction of corridor at landscape level; (2) the establishment of non-cropping elements such as field margin at between-field level; and (3) the application of reasonable crop density, crop distribution pattern and rotation, and intercrop etc.

[Winter wheat yield gap between field blocks based on comparative performance analysis].

Based on a two-year household survey data, the yield gap of winter wheat in Quzhou County of Hebei Province, China in 2003-2004 was studied through comparative performance analysis (CPA). The results showed that there was a greater yield gap (from 4.2 to 7.

[Spatial-temporal dynamic change of land resource degradation in China].

Large scale spatial and temporal land use survey data were used to study the dynamics of land use change in China recently. With the aid of GIS, the spatial-temporal dynamic change of land resource degradation at the national level was investigated using authoritative datasets from detailed land use surveys (early 1990s approximately 2003). As a result, seven major types of land degradation processes were identified, including sandy desertification, rocky desertification, secondary salinification, non-agricultural land occupation, deforestation, natural grassland degradation and wetlands shrinking.