Lanzhou is one of the major industrial cities in northwest China, the capital of Gansu Province, and located at a northwest-to-southeast oriented valley basin with elevation about 1500-1600-m. Due to topographic and meteorological characteristics, Lanzhou is one of the most polluted cities in China. Meteorological conditions (low winds, stable stratification especially inversion), pollutant sou...

INTRODUCTION Afforestation activities in the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (LMRAV) are currently peaking after the past four decades of extensive deforestation (Allen 1997, King and Keeland 1999, Stanturf and others 1998). Different forces drive the afforestation efforts of public resource agencies, conservation organizations, private corporations, and private landowners. Their intere...

forest canopy rainfall interception loss (i), canopy water storage (s), and the ratio of mean evaporation to mean rainfall intensity () are important components of the water balance in arid and semi-arid climate zones. the goal of this project was to quantify i and s and to evaluate the gash interception model for rainfall interception in a mature semi-arid pinus eldarica medw afforestation pla...

An afforestation project was initiated in the western plain of Taiwan to convert abandoned farming lands into forests to improve the ecological and environmental conditions. This study was conducted to understand the potential impacts of this land cover change on evapotranspiration (ET) and other land surface processes and the differences in the impacts under clear and rainy weather conditions....

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest terrestrial carbon pool and sensitive to land use and cover change; its dynamics are critical for carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. In this study, we combined a modeling approach and field measurements to examine the temporal dynamics of SOC following afforestation (Robinia pseudoacacia) of former arable land at six sites under...

Afforestation of former croplands has been proposed as a promising way to mitigate rising atmospheric CO2 concentration in view of the commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. Central to this C sequestration is the dynamics of soil organic C (SOC) storage and stability with the development of afforested plantations. Our previous study showed that SOC storage was not changed after afforestation except ...

Mangrove forests are one of the most productive and bio-diverse wetlands environments on earth. Yet, these unique coastal tropical forests environment are among the most threatened habitats in the world. Growing in the intertidal areas and estuary mouths between land and sea, mangroves provide critical habitat for a diverse marine and terrestrial flora and fauna. The important need of living be...

An understanding of the processes governing natural afforestation over large spatial scales is vital for enhancing forest carbon sequestration. Models of tree species occurrence probability in non-forest vegetation could potentially identify the primary variables determining natural afforestation. However, inferring processes governing afforestation using tree species occurrence is potentially ...