This article [1] has been retracted at the request of the authors. The work presented in this article was previously published in Chinese [2]. All authors agree to this retraction.

Urban particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) pollution and public health are closely related, and concerns regarding PM2.5 are widespread. Of the underlying factors, the urban morphology is the most manageable. Therefore, investigations of the impact of urban three-dimensional (3D) morphology on PM2.5 concentration have important scientific significance. In this paper, 39 PM2.5 monitoring sites of Beijing

The rapid invasion of the plant Spartina alterniflora in coastal wetland areas can threaten the capacity of their soils to store carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S). In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of C, N and S of both soil and (native and invasive) plants in four typical coastal wetlands in the core area of the Yancheng National Nature Reserve, China

The emergence of rapid transit, primarily represented by high-speed railway (HSR), while reshaping the regional traffic patterns, leads to the reconstruction and redistribution of population and industry. This leads to either shrinkage or expansion of urban scale. However, research on the influence mechanisms of the urban scale has mostly concentrated on historical, economic and social factors. The

The burning of crop residues emits large quantities of atmospheric aerosols. Published studies have developed inventories of emissions from crop residue burning based on statistical data. In contrast, this study used satellite-retrieved land-cover data (1 km × 1 km) as activity data to compile an inventory of atmospheric pollutants emitted from the burning of crop residues in China in {dy2015}. The

Multiple natural and human factors in estuarine wetlands result in complicated land surface characteristics with distinct spatial and temporal heterogeneities, thereby contributing to the difficulty in identifying spatiotemporal variations and influencing factors of plant diversity. A unique estuarine wetland gradient system (UEWGS) consisting of soil, vegetation, heat, distance, landscape, and anthropogenic

The relationship between livelihood diversification of farm households and cultivated land utilization has become a core research topic related to global environmental change. Agro-pastoral ecologically-vulnerable areas face challenges such as insufficient ecosystem conservation, low agricultural production, and weak economies. In this study, 215 farm households from Zhengxiangbai Banner, Taibus Banner

The alpine wetlands in QTP (Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau) have been profoundly impacted along with global climate changes. We employ satellite datasets and climate data to explore the relationships between alpine wetlands and climate changes based on remote sensing data. Results show that: 1) the wetland NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and GPP (Gross Primary Production) were more sensitive

This study analyzed the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of green development efficiency and its influencing factors in the growing Xuzhou Metropolitan Area for the period 2000-2015. The slacks-based measure (SBM) model, spatial autocorrelation, and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model were used to conduct the analysis. The conclusions were as follows: first, the overall efficiency of green

The impact of human carbon emissions on climate has generated widespread global concern. We selected 24 countries as research objects and analysed the changes in carbon emissions in different countries between the establishment of emission reduction actions in 1990 and 2014. Then, we selected 19 factors representing four categories (economy, population, technology and energy) to explore the key factors

The area of land utilized for growing vegetables in greenhouses has expanded rapidly on the Tibetan Plateau over recent decades. However, the effects of greenhouses on soil fertility as well as variations in these effects between the plateau and plain remain unclear on the Tibetan Plateau. This study assessed the effects of vegetable greenhouses in the vicinity of Lhasa, using open field soil as a

Alpine grassland of the Tibetan Plateau has undergone severe degradation, even desertification. However, several questions remain to be answered, especially the response mechanisms of vegetation biomass to soil properties. In this study, an experiment on degradation gradients was conducted in an alpine meadow at the Zoige Plateau in 2017. Both vegetation characteristics and soil properties were observed

Urban agglomeration research has received increasing attention in China’s national development strategies, and has become a hot topic in academic research. This study develops a theoretical framework that explores the formation mechanism and expansion process of urban agglomerations from the perspective of industrial evolution, and identifies the development issues and their causes by taking Yangtze

The cooling and humidifying effects of urban parks are an essential component of city ecosystems in terms of regulating microclimates or mitigating urban heat islands (UHIs). Air temperature and relative humidity are two main factors of thermal environmental comfort and have a critical impact on the urban environmental quality of human settlements. We measured the 2-m height air temperature and relative

Biological invasion poses a huge threat to ecological security. Spartina alterniflora was introduced into China in 1979, and its arrival corresponded with negative effects on native ecosystems. To explore geographical variation of its expansion rate in coastal China, we selected 43 S. alterniflora sites from Tianjin Coastal New Area to Beihai. The area expansion rate, expansion rate paralleling and

The change in land development intensity is an important perspective to reflect the variation in regional social and economic development and spatial differentiation. In this paper, spatial statistical analysis, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), and Geographically weighted regression (GWR) methods are used to systematically analyse the spatial-temporal characteristics and driving forces of land development

Landscape characters in estuarine regions generally controlled by tidal regimes and human activities like road construction. In this work, tidal channels and road construction in the Yellow River Delta (YRD) were extracted by visual interpretation methods so as to decipher impacts of tidal channel development and road construction on landscape patch change during 1989–2016. Spatial distribution history

In this paper, we use factor analysis to evaluate the urban comprehensive quality of each city in the Lanzhou-Xining (Lan-Xi) urban agglomeration. The time distance was obtained by using GIS spatial analysis, and the structure and pattern of the spatial network were analyzed by using the gravity model and social network analysis method. The results show that: 1) The scale effect of the Lan-Xi urban

A thorough understanding of the vegetation succession in relation to both climatic changes and anthropogenic activities is vital for the formulation of adaptation strategies that address potential ecosystem challenges. Various climatic factors such as temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation, as well as anthropogenic factors such as ecological engineering and population migration, will affect

As an important means regulating the relationship between human and natural ecosystem, ecological restoration program plays a key role in restoring ecosystem functions. The Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP, One of the world’s most ambitious ecosystem conservation set-aside programs aims to transfer farmland on steep slopes to forestland or grassland to increase vegetation coverage) has been widely implemented

Regional ecological health, the core of comprehensive ecosystem assessments, is an important foundation for regional exploration, environmental conservation, and sustainable development. The mountainous areas in southwest China are backward in economy, but industrialization and urbanization have been rapid in recent years. This study assessed the ecosystem health of the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces

Using a heterogeneity stochastic frontier model (HSFM), we empirically investigated the economic efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2003 to 2016 and its influencing factors. The key findings of the paper lie in: 1) in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the overall economic and technological efficiency tended to increase in a wavelike manner, economic growth slowed down, and there was an obvious imbalance

In recent years, researchers have devoted considerable attention to identifying the causes of urban environmental pollution. To determine whether migrant populations significantly affect urban environments, we examined the relationship between urban environmental pollutant emissions and migrant populations at the prefectural level using data obtained for 90 Chinese cities evidencing net in-migration

Resource-dependent cities (RCs) are a vulnerable group of urban settlements that often face population shrinkage; however, population changes in RCs in China are not well understood. This study offers new insight into this matter through a robust analysis that features a longer time scale, a larger sample of RCs, and a finer unit of analysis. It finds new evidence that problems of population shrinkage

Stable oxygen isotopes in precipitation contain meaningful environmental information on a synoptic scale and can be applied to diagnose hydrometeorological processes. A series of rainstorms occurred at the southern Tianshan Mountains during the period from May to June 2013, and the event-based precipitation was sampled along the mountain range from west to east. Based on δ18O values in precipitation

The Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (MR-SNWDP) in China, with construction beginning in 2003, diverts water from Danjiangkou Reservoir to North China for residential, agriculture and industrial use. The water source area of the MR-SNWDP is the region that is most sensitive to and most affected by the construction of this water diversion project. In this study, we used Landsat

Reference values of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) are the key to interpret ESR blood test in clinic. The common local reference ESR values are more accuracy in blood test that are established with natural geographical factors by using the multiple linear regression (MLR) model and the artificial neural network (ANN). These knowledge-based methods have limitations since the knowledge domains

The economic transformation of the old industrial bases is a key research topic among geographers in China. In this paper, we propose that the concept of regional economic resilience (RER) has unique theoretical value in analyzing the economic transformation of the old industrial bases. We constructed an analytical framework and an index system and applied the conceptual tools to study the evolution

Climate changes are likely to increase the risk of numerous extreme weather events throughout the world. The objectives of this study were to investigate and analyze the temporal-spatial variability patterns of temperature extremes based on daily maximum (TX) and minimum temperature (TN) data collected from 49 meteorological stations in Xinjiang of China during 1960–2015. These temperature data were

Xinjiang is located in the core China’s ‘Belt and Road’ development, and northern Xinjiang is an important region for economic development. In recent years, due to the strong influence of global climate change and human disturbance, regional climate instability and ecological-economic-social system sensitivity have grown. In this paper, seasonal, interannual, interdecadal, spatial, abrupt, and periodic

As innovation and technological change have become increasingly important for the competitiveness and sustainable growth of firms, cooperative innovation is now crucial for traditional industries in the context of globalization. This paper proposes a framework for analyzing the spatial pattern of cooperative innovation for traditional industries in developing countries. Based on in-depth interviews

This paper aims to examine the effect of agglomeration on firm level productivity in Iran’s food manufacturing by employing a firm level dataset during 1986–2015 among firms for four districts. The empirical results show that agglomeration in north districts are key factors in productivity growth. In this work, we apply a spatial Bayes model that uses hierarchical techniques during the three terms

"This paper, taking Nanhai City of Guangdong Province as an example, focuses on five interrelated aspects of the migrant labour force of China in recent years. Attention is initially paid to the background of the labour migration from inland towards coastal areas. Then, the demographic characteristics of the migrant labour force are analysed before turning to the analysis [of] the reasons for the migration