Estimating the impact of mountain landscape on hydrology or water balance is essential for the sustainable development strategies of water resources. Specifically, understanding how the change of each landscape influences hydrological components will greatly improve the predictability of hydrological responses to mountain landscape changes and thus can help the government make sounder decisions. In the paper, we used the VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity) model to conduct hydrological modeling in the upper Heihe River watershed, along with a frozen-soil module and a glacier melting module to improve the simulation. The improved model performed satisfactorily. We concluded that there are differences in the runoff generation of mountain landscape both in space and time. About 50% of the total runoff at the catchment outlet were generated in mid-mountain zone (2,900-4,000 m asl), and water was mainly consumed in low mountain region (1,700-2,900 m asl) because of the higher requirements of trees and grasses. The runoff coefficient was 0.37 in the upper Heihe River watershed. Barren landscape produced the largest runoff yields (52.46% of the total runoff) in the upper Heihe River watershed, followed by grassland (34.15%), shrub (9.02%), glacier (3.57%), and forest (0.49%). In order to simulate the impact of landscape change on hydrological components, three landscape change scenarios were designed in the study. Scenario 1, 2 and 3 were to convert all shady slope landscapes at 2,000-3,300 m, 2,000-3,700 m, and 2,000-4,000 m asl respectively to forest lands, with forest coverage rate increased to 12.4%, 28.5% and 42.0%, respectively. The runoff at the catchment outlet correspondingly declined by 3.5%, 13.1% and 24.2% under the three scenarios. The forest landscape is very important in water conservation as it reduced the flood peak and increased the base flow. The mountains as "water towers" play important roles in water resources generation and the impact of mountain landscapes on hydrology is significant.

Abstract:The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NX region) of Northwestern China is threatened by increased meteorological drought induced by climate change (CC) and constraints on water supply from the Yellow River. Thus, the NX region is representative of attempts to adapt to CC and variability in China's arid regions. Field visits, a questionnaire and in situ inspections were conducted in 2012-2014 to understand people's perception and awareness of drought and its impact, particularly with respect to adaptation strategies. We mainly focused on drought adaptation actions and planning implemented at the government level under the double pressures of drought and allocation. We described a suitable adaptation pathway for socio-economic sustainable development and discussed existing adaptation barriers. Construction of modern efficient water-saving agriculture lies at the core of drought adaptation, with socio-economic sustainable development being the ultimate goal. To achieve this, policies and institutional, engineering, technological, structural and social initiatives and measures-classified into macro adaptation strategies and specific coping measures-are implemented. Adaptation often encounters obstacles, e.g., policy issues from household contract responsibility systems, funding difficulties of low-income farmers, traditional behavioral habits and low education and literacy levels among farmers. The adaptation pathway involves the construction of modern efficient OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 15030 water-saving agriculture. Agricultural water savings are then transferred to developed industries, which back-feed socio-economic sustainable development in the NX region.

Initially, cryohydrology was referred to as hydrology involving low temperatures, for example, the hydrological study of snow, ice, frozen ground, and cold water. This discipline broadened with the development of cryospheric science and now involves hydrological processes of various cryosphere elements systematically coupled with river basin hydrological processes. However, limited studies have introduced the characteristics and discipline connotations of cryohydrology from a perspective of cryospheric science. Here, we reviewed the evolution of the connotations of cryohydrology and analyzed its hydrological basis and discipline system. Three major conclusions were drawn. (1) Cryohydrology was developed based on traditional hydrology for a single element of the cryosphere and focuses on the hydrological functions of the cryosphere and its impact on the water cycle and water supply to other spheres. (2) The hydrological basis of cryohydrology can be summarized as water conservation, runoff recharge, and hydrological regulation. In detail, the water conservation function is primarily expressed as “source of freshwater” and “cold and wet islands,” the runoff recharge function is concerned with water supply, and the regulation function is effective at intra- and inter-annual scales. (3) The core research issues of cryohydrology are research methods, hydrological processes, watershed functions, and regional impact. The important characteristics of cryohydrology are frequent water phase transitions and high variability across spatial and temporal scales. Cryohydrology aims to deepen the understanding of the theoretical and cognitive levels of its mechanisms and processes, accurately quantify the hydrological functions of the basin, and promote understanding of the ecological and environmental impacts of the cryosphere.

High myopia is a common ocular genetic disease in the world. The study sought to investigate the effect of the Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) genes polymorphisms on high myopia in a Han population of China. This study recruited 216 unrelated Han Chinese subjects, including 103 cases with high myopia and 113 controls. Four tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IGF-1 and MMP-9 genes were genotyped using the Sequenom MassARRAY method. The chi-square test showed that the family history was significantly correlated with myopia. The SNP genotypes were all in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05). Among the four SNPs, there were statistically significant differences in the genotype and allele frequencies of rs2236416 between the groups (P = 0.024). The significant associations of rs2236416 between cases and controls also appeared after Bonferroni multiple correction (P = 0.024). Then, there were significant differences in the genotypes dominant model and codominant model of rs2236416 between groups (P = 0.007 and P = 0.004, respectively). rs5742632 showed a significant difference between the cases and the controls in the recessive model (P = 0.037). Our findings indicated that rs2236416 of MMP-9 was associated with myopia in the population. The result suggested MMP-9 gene locus may play a role in myopia.

Inhomogeneity is the inherent attribute of precipitation and is usually an important factor affecting the occurrence of hydrological disasters such as floods and debris flows. Based on the monthly precipitation data of 27 national meteorological stations in the past 50 years, the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of precipitation concentration degree (PCD) and precipitation concentration period (PCP) in Gansu Province were assessed in this study. The results indicated that: (a) the annual precipitation had distinct regional differences (annual average values were between 43.3-605.4 mm) and strong inter-annual fluctuations (coefficient of variation was usually above 0.20, some up to 0.40-0.45); (b) the main range of PCD was from 0.52 to 0.67, with significantly reduced inter-annual fluctuation and a long-term trend of gradual decrease; (c) the spatial-temporal variation of PCP was generally small, mainly concentrated in 192.8°-205.0°(mid-late July), and showed a slightly advanced variation tendency. Under the overall background of warming and wetting, Gansu Province presents evolution characteristics of PCD weakening and PCP advancing, and the formation mechanism and potential effects of this phenomenon require further attention.