Urban Ecological Security Research Articles

Spatial-temporal dynamics and associated driving forces of urban ecological land: A case study in Shenzhen City, China

Ecological land is an important component of urban ecosystems. Detecting the change of urban ecological land and its driving forces will offer scientific basis for the optimization of urban landscape patterns. The rapid urbanization in Shenzhen City has brought the serious conflicts between socio-economic development and ecological protection. In this study, we characterized ecological land dynamics in Shenzhen City and quantified the driving forces using multivariate logistic regression, and subsequently mapped the transition probability of ecological land. The results showed that in Shenzhen City, urban ecological land had changed dramatically during 1990–2010 in terms of its quantity, quality, and spatial distribution. Land use change matrix between ecological and non-ecological land showed that the area of ecological land decreased more fast during 1990–2000, compared with that during 2000–2010. There was a decrease in area equivalents calculated by the adjustment coefficient of ecosystem services, although the quality per unit was improved. Furthermore, the gravity center of ecological land gradually moved to the southeast. The driving force analysis suggested that the slope, the minimum distance to construction land, and the growth rate of construction land were the vital factors determining the change of urban ecological land. Finally, the transition probability mapping showed that the water body, wetland and grassland near the city center had a higher transition probability to construction land. This study illustrated the change characteristics of urban ecological land, as a result of rapid urbanization. The transition probability can serve as the basis for decision making on constructing urban landscape ecological security pattern.

Coupling ecosystem services supply and human ecological demand to identify landscape ecological security pattern: A case study in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, China

Landscape ecological security pattern (LESP) can effectively safeguard urban ecological security, which is vital for urban sustainable development. Previous studies have not adequately considered the ability to fulfill people’s demand for ecosystem services when identifying sources of LESP. To address this gap, we sought to develop a more comprehensive approach coupling ecosystem services supply and human ecological demand to construct LESP for Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. We proposed a new evaluation framework integrating ecosystem services importance assessment and landscape connectivity analysis with human ecological demand importance assessment to identify ecological sources. Afterwards, ecological corridors were identified using Minimum Cumulative Resistance model based on sources and resistance surface modified through nighttime light data. Combined with ecological sources and corridors, LESP for Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region can be constructed. The ecological sources are mainly located in western Beijing and southwestern Chengde. The ecological source area totals 36,245.50 km2, accounting for 21.26% of the ecological land in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. The ecological corridors cross the whole region, from northeast to southwest, similar to the direction of the Yanshan–Taihang Mountain Chain. All the national nature reserves and 91.4% of the provincial nature reserves are distributed within the LESP. The validity of our methodology is confirmed by the distribution of the nature reserves. This study adds new insights into the methodology of LESP construction, and its results provide information about local ecological characteristics that can provide an important reference for decision-making concerning urban planning and ecological conservation.

Integrating Future Land Use Scenarios to Evaluate the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Landscape Ecological Security

Urban ecological security is the basic principle of national ecological security. However, analyses of the spatial and temporal dynamics of ecological security remain limited, especially those that consider different scenarios of urban development. In this study, an integrated method is proposed that combines the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects (CLUE-S) model with the Pressure–State–Response (P-S-R) framework to assess landscape ecological security (LES) in Huangshan City, China under two scenarios. Our results suggest the following conclusions: (1) the spatial and temporal dynamics of ecological security are closely related to the urbanization process; (2) although the average values of landscape ecological security are similar under different scenarios, the areas of relatively high security levels vary considerably; and (3) spatial heterogeneity in ecological security exists between different districts and counties, and the city center and its vicinity may face relatively serious declines in ecological security in the future. Overall, the proposed method not only illustrates the spatio-temporal dynamics of landscape ecological security under different scenarios but also reveals the anthropogenic effects on ecosystems by differentiating between causes, effects, and human responses at the landscape scale. This information is of great significance to decision-makers for future urban planning and management.

Urban water security evaluation based on similarity measure model of Vague sets

The urban water security is an important part of urban ecological security, which is directly related to the sustainable development of urban society and economy. A comprehensive evaluation of the urban water security is a complex, vague and multi-level evaluation process. This paper presents a Vague set-based water security evaluation method and establishes a similarity measure model of Vague sets. AHP and Delphi methods are used to conduct index weighting in order to evaluate the level of urban water security assurance. The empirical study is done on the case study of Chengdu, China. Among the nine indexes of the city water security evaluation, the index values for socio-economic environment and socio-economic pressure are 0.24 and 0.41 respectively, which indicates that there is a relatively greater pressure on the city's social, economic and environmental pillars. The WSAI values of water resource index and water environment pressure are 0.94 and 0.96 respectively. These relatively higher values show that the city's water resources are relatively fully exploited and its environment is relatively well-protected. The similarity measure evaluation model of Vague sets can be used to quantitatively evaluate the degree of urban water security support.

A model of urban ecological security in ordinary cities: evidences from the Milan case

In the last decade, cities has clearly emerged as the places where the challenge posed by climate change and constraints on energy and environmental resources will be won or lost. According to Hodson and Marvin (2009), world cities tend to conform their visions, strategies and policies around a common paradigm of environmental security and sustainability, named Secure Urbanism and Resilient Infrastructure (SURI), based on the strategic protection of cities, a new autarky and the development of global urban agglomerations. What about ordinary cities? This case study on Milan offers a very interesting test field to provide how the SURI model does not fit ordinary cities. Results show that Milan still lacks of a recognized and legitimized subject, capable of coordinating a process of urban visioning and narrative building; at the same time an alternative paradigm emerges, based on bottom-up initiatives.

鄱阳湖流域土地利用生态风险格局

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 鄱阳湖流域土地利用生态风险格局 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201512152507 作者: 作者单位: 江西师范大学地理与环境学院,江西师范大学地理与环境学院,江西师范大学地理与环境学院,江西师范大学地理与环境学院,江西师范大学地理与环境学院 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金资助项目（41561025）；江西省重大生态安全问题监控协同创新中心资助项目（JXS-EW-00） Ecological risk pattern of Poyang Lake basin based on land use Author: Affiliation: School of Geography and Environment,School of Geography and Environment,School of Geography and Environment,School of Geography and Environment, Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:以鄱阳湖流域土地利用数据为基础，定量分析2005年以来鄱阳湖流域土地利用变化特征；借助空间自相关、地统计分析等方法，揭示了鄱阳湖流域土地利用变化下生态风险时空演变特征。结果表明：2005-2013年，鄱阳湖流域土地利用转移非农化趋势明显；土地利用生态风险呈小幅上升趋势，在空间分布上具有显著相关性，生态风险“北热南冷”空间分异及等级扩散特征明显；依据空间差值结果可将研究区划分为低生态风险区（ERI < 0.15）、较低生态风险区（0.15≤ERI < 0.25）、中等生态风险区（0.25≤ERI < 0.35）、较高生态风险区（0.35≤ERI < 0.45）、高生态风险区（ERI≥0.45）5类；高风险区域主要分布在滨湖区、南昌、九江及赣中部分地区。生态风险等级分布与地形存在显著相关性，随着生态风险等级提高，分布区域表现出明显的地形指向性。以土地利用结构对生态风险进行表征，尝试从宏观上把握大尺度区域生态安全格局，为鄱阳湖流域土地利用格局优化提供了相关借鉴及建议。 Abstract:The ecological impact of different land use types and intensity could reveal on regional ecosystem structure changes directly, and the changes of structure and function of land ecosystem would profoundly affect regional ecosystem health. Therefore, ecological risk assessment in terms of landscape structure is an effective method to study regional ecological risk pattern. Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, plays an essential role in biodiversity protection and water ecological security in Yangtze River basin. However, irrational development and construction activities have resulted in significant landscape changes in recent years, which may aggravate regional ecological risk. This study takes Poyang Lake basin as a case study to explore the impact of land use change on ecological risk. Based on an ecological risk assessment model derived from land use structure, the study tries to explore ecological security pattern and provide a scientific reference for optimizing land utilization in Poyang Lake basin. The characteristics of land use changes in Poyang Lake watershed were analyzed quantitatively based on land use data during 2005-2013. Then, the spatial-temporal variation of the ecological risk and the relationship between ecological risk and terrain factors were investigated by GIS techniques. The result shows that about 9.2% of the total areas experienced land use changes, which 68.5% occurred among farmland, construction land and forests. The major types of land transformation are mutual conversion between forests and farmland, and the conversion of farmland to construction land, showing a remarkable trend of non-agricultural transformation. The average ecological risk index (ERI) increased from 0.237 in 2005 to 0.246 in 2013, probably as the consequence of farmland reduction and rapid expansion of construction land. The ERI showed a positive spatial autocorrelation and obvious local spatial clustering, and generally decreased significantly from north to south. Based on the spatial interpolation of ERI, the study area was divided into five grades:low risk region (ERI < 0.15), inferior risk region (0.15≤ERI < 0.25), mediate risk region (0.25≤ERI < 0.35), relatively high risk region (0.35≤ERI < 0.45), high risk region (ERI≥0.45). The high risk and relatively high risk region expanded rapidly, mainly located in Poyang Lake area, Nanchang, Jiujiang and central Jiangxi province, with the area proportion increasing from 9.08% in 2005 to 11.68% in 2013. The spatial distribution of ERI grades was significantly related to topographic characteristics, i.e. 99% of the high risk regions and 98% of the relatively high risk regions were concentrated in lowlands or slightly hilly areas (with an altitude of 0-150 m); high, relatively high and mediate risk regions were mostly distributed in flat areas with a slope of 0°-3°. To promote the sustainable utilization status of regional land resource and optimize the land use pattern, several suggestions are given as follows:(1) reform the inefficient way of land use and encourage intensive land utilization; (2) implement strict land use control, especially protect farmland, and transfer industries and urbanization to hilly areas according to local conditions for mitigating ecological risk in lowland areas; and (3) strengthen urban ecological security management while paying more attention to rural environment protection. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Assessing Growth Scenarios for Their Landscape Ecological Security Impact Using the SLEUTH Urban Growth Model

Rapid urban population growth and the associated expansion of urban areas in China (as elsewhere) present significant environmental challenges, and threaten urban and regional ecological security. Modeling land use changes is one way to aid the management of cities. Using remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) software platforms, land use data for the years 1989, 1996, 2004, and 2010 for the area inside the Jinan third ring-road were interpreted. An urban green space network was developed, as a core strategy to ensure landscape ecological security, and subjected to ecological sensitivity analysis. The green space network and the result of the ecological sensitivity analysis were integrated into the exclusion/attraction layer of an existing cellular automaton model, SLEUTH (Slope, Land use, Exclusion/attraction, Urban extent, Transportation, and Hillshade). A development scenario for land use change was constructed that integrates these Landscape Ecological Security Development (LESD) strategies and reveals trends in urban growth for the different development scenarios between 2011 and 2040. The results of the LESD scenario were compared with those from two other development scenarios: the Historical Trend Development (HTD) and the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). The study revealed three significant findings. First, change in the urban area in the study will be dominated by urban edge growth and transit-oriented development, while spontaneous and cluster growth were not obvious. Second, the growth rate of built-up land in the urban area in all three scenarios exhibits emerging trends. The growth rate, according to the LESD scenario, is significantly lower than that for the HTD and TOD scenarios, and encroachment into natural ecological space (such as woodlands, water, and agricultural land) is less than that in the other two scenarios. This result indicates that the LESD scenario can protect natural ecological spaces effectively and can significantly reduce the ecological security risk. This aligns with the integration of smart growth and smart conservation. Third, integrating LESD into the SLEUTH model results in the ability to evaluate urban development policies and can help characterize development strategies for urban landscape ecological security. The results of this study provide reference data and a basis for decision-making for the future management of urban growth, urban planning, and land use planning.

Analysis of Regional Cooperative Game in Government Environmental Regulations and Haze Transboundary Pollutions in China

Compound air pollution is becoming one of three major problems of urban ecological security in China which is experiencing a rapid growth. This paper examined how to establish the "10 Portions Force" model so as to build up the promoting mechanism of government environmental regulation behaviors’ ability, which based on the time and spatial effects of China's haze pollution.

Urban ecological security assessment for cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei metropolitan region based on fuzzy and entropy methods

Based on the pressure–state–response conceptual model, we constructed the urban ecological security evaluation index system for 13 cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei metropolitan region from 2003 to 2014, where integrated development has occurred up to the national strategic level. The entropy-weight method was used to calculate the index weights to eliminate subjectivity. After the perfection and detailing of the increased half-ladder membership function and the confirmation of the membership standard of urban ecological security evaluation, the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method was used to calculate, analyze and evaluate the ranks of urban ecological security from 2003 to 2012. The overall regional ecological security of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei metropolitan region increased during those 10 years. However, as expected for the obvious increase in the ecological state security level, neither the ecological pressure security nor the response security level significantly changed. In addition, urban social and economic indicators contributed more to the ecological security assessment than did the natural resource indicators and environmental indicators.

A new species of Ischiolepta Lioy (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) from China

A new dipteran Ischiolepta paradraskovitsae sp. nov. from Zheziang, China is described. A key to the species of the genus Ischiolepta from China is also given. The voucher material is deposited with Liaoning Key Laboratory of Urban Integrated Pest Management and Ecological Security, Shenyang University, China (LKLSU).

Remote Sensing Image Interpretation for Urban Environment Analysis: Methods, System and Examples

Remote sensing imagery has been widely used in urban growth and environment analysis with many effective and advanced strategies being developed. However, most of these approaches are separated from each other. There is an urgent need to combine different modules into some practical processing chains. Firstly, we present a comprehensive analysis of key processing chains in applying remote sensing images to urban environment analysis from such aspects as Land Use/Land Cover (LULC), urban landscape ecology, Urban Heat Islands (UHIs), vegetation and water monitoring, change detection, urban ecological security assessment and urban environmental mapping. Secondly, an integrated system, namely Urban Environment Analysis System (UEAS), is implemented based on the aforementioned processing chains to analyze urban environment using multi-temporal and multi-source remotely sensed data. Several case studies are demonstrated to confirm the effectiveness of the integrated system and the combined processing chains. The contributions of this paper lie in introducing ensemble learning to urban environment remote sensing, combining remote sensing derived information with thematic models for urban environment assessment, and developing an integrated system for urban environment analysis.

Land ecological security evaluation of Guangzhou, China.

As the land ecosystem provides the necessary basic material resources for human development, land ecological security (LES) plays an increasingly important role in sustainable development. Given the degradation of land ecological security under rapid urbanization and the urgent LES requirements of urban populations, a comprehensive evaluation method, named Double Land Ecological Security (DLES), has been introduced with the city of Guangzhou, China, as a case study, which evaluates the LES in regional and unit scales for reasonable and specific urban planning. In the evaluation process with this method, we have combined the material security with the spiritual security that is inevitably associated with LES. Some new coefficients of land-security supply/demand distribution and technology contribution for LES evaluation have also been introduced for different spatial scales, including the regional and the unit scales. The results for Guangzhou indicated that, temporally, the LES supply indices were 0.77, 0.84 and 0.77 in 2000, 2006 and 2009 respectively, while LES demand indices for the city increased in 2000, 2006 and 2009 from 0.57 to 0.95, which made the LES level decreased slowly in this period. Spatially, at the regional scale, the urban land ecological security (ULES) level decreased from 0.2 (marginal security) to −0.18 (marginal insecurity) as a whole; in unit scale, areas in the north and in parts of the east were relatively secure and the security area was shrinking with time, but the central and southern areas turned to be marginal insecurity, especially in 2006 and 2009. This study proposes that DLES evaluation should be conducted for targeted and efficient urban planning and management, which can reflect the LES level of study area in general and in detail.

Evaluation of Urban Eco-Security—A Case Study of Mianyang City, China

Currently, a series of ecological environmental problems have been brought about by high-intensity intervention of human beings, and ecological security is regarded as one of the most important national survival strategies. A methodology of urban eco-security evaluation has been introduced, including a conceptual framework of pressure-state-response (PSR) model, setting-up of the indicator system of urban eco-security evaluation (ISUESE) and empirical research. By virtue of the mean-deviation method, the weight coefficient of every indicator is confirmed. It has been found that the top three indicators are: per capita area of paved road, per capita area of cultivated land and green coverage rate of built-up area, which has a relatively prominent status in he urban ecological security. A calculation procedure of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) method is applied in empirical research. The Mianyang statistical data during the period of 2005–2012 shows that eco-security keeps a favorable trend, but criticality security and slight insecurity are dominant. It has also been found that insecurity membership degree (MD) of environment pressure accounts for a very large proportion of total pressure. Membership degrees of criticality security and security in environment state are increasing gradually, and as far as environment response is concerned, security is significantly increased.

基于有害干扰的中国省域森林生态安全评价研究

Due to the rapid development of economy and society,the forest ecosystem has been threatened by various harmful interferences in recent years. With the aim of "Sustainable Development"and the background of " Construction of Ecological City,Promotion of Urban Forest Construction,and Assurance of Urban Ecological Security",researches on the conditions of forest ecological security has become an urgent issue,which concerns the healthy development of cities in all provinces( provincial-level administrative regions),China. In this contribution,based on the analyses of the concepts of"forest ecosystem security"and"forest health",a novel forest ecological security assessment index system including 16specific three-level indicators has been proposed from the perspective of detrimental disturbances. This new index system is comparatively integrated,comprehensive,objective and highly applicable. The research was performed by combining the theoretical and empirical analysis,and by combining qualitative and quantitative analysis,and the macro data were investigated with the help of data processing software such as SPSS,Stata,and Matlab etc. And the forest ecological security standards of 31 provinces in China are empirically analyzed and evaluated based on the data in 2011,by using principal component analysis,cluster analysis,indistinct assessment methods and so on. The results indicated that amongthe 31 involved provinces,the forest ecological security standard of 16 provinces was in good condition with less detrimental interferences. Therefore,the overall forest ecological security standards are optimistic for the following 16 provinces:Hainan and Tibet have the highest security level of forest ecosystem nationwide and fall into the supreme safety category,with 6 provinces( Inner Mongolia,Jilin,Heilongjiang,Guangxi,Yunnan and Qinghai) being general security level,other8 provinces( Beijing,Jiangxi,Zhejiang,Guangdong,Sichuan,Chongqing,Shaanxi,and Gansu) being relatively security state. Whereas,there are still nearly half of the 31 provinces have insecure forest ecosystem. Among them,12 provinces including Hebei,Shanxi,Liaoning,Shanghai,Jiangsu,Anhui,Fujian,Hubei,Hunan,Guizhou,Ningxia,Xinjiang were in relative less severe insecure state; Henan was in medium unsafe state; and Tianjin and Shandong were in extremely insecure state. Based on a thorough discussion of the obtained results and a careful investigation of the main disturbing factors of forest ecological security in China,some targeted recommendations on how to maintain the forest ecological security in China was suggested in this work. For instance,the work for preventing forest disease and pest hazard should be strengthened in Tianjin,Shandong,and Henan provinces; the work for preventing forest fire should be strictly enforced in Fujian,Shanxi,Hunan,Hebei,and Guizhou provinces; a comprehensive prevention and control to deal with harmful interferences should be enhanced in Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Ningxia, and Xinjiang provinces. To sum up,each province should take corresponding measures according to its own practical situation and principal interference factors. In addition,the prevention work for other detrimental interference factors should be performed as well in order to avoid these ones evolving to be principal factors in the near future,especially for those provinces who were interfered by various detrimental factors.

城市扩张对北京市城乡结合部自然和农业景观的影响——以昌平区三镇为例

Natural and agricultural landscape at the urban-rural interface is the important foundation to ensure the urban ecological security. Studying the spatio-temporal evolution of natural and agricultural landscape and its driving forces at the urban-rural interface in the context of the rapid urbanization can provide scientific support for some protection policies formulation and implementation. This paper investigates the spatial pattern of land use / land cover( LULC) in three typical townships at the urban-rural interface of Beijng by interpreting the 1999,2004 and 2010 SPOT images. One this basis,with Arc GIS spatial overlay function and land use transition matrix,this paper tries to further investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of LULC in the study area. At the same time,the spatial autocorrelation of build land and the landscape connectivity of natural and agricultural land are measured to analysis the impact of urban sprawl on the pattern and stabilityof natural and agricultural ecosystems. Finally,using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods,the driving forces of the change of natural and agricultural landscape in the study area are analyzed. The results show that,from 1999 to2010,the town experienced a dramatic process of LUCC; build land,woodland and grassland substantially increased,accompanied by a sharp reduction of agricultural land and water area. There is dramatic mutual transfer between the various land use types,especially from agricultural land to build land,woodland,grassland,and from woodland to build land. Most of the new build land located in the neighbourhood of the existing build land,implying that the existing built-up areas have a greater influence on urban expansion. The rapid expansion of build land caused the sharp decline of the landscape connectivity of natural and agricultural land,and endangering the structural integrity and the functional stability of ecosystem in the study area. Socio-economic development,land use planning and public policy which jointly determined the LUCC structure,size and spatial distribution,were the main driving forces of pattern evolution of natural and agricultural landscape in the three towns.

A new sphaerocerid Eulimosina prominulatasp. nov. (Diptera) from China

Eulimosina prominulata Su sp. nov., a species from Guangxi, China, is described. The type specimens are deposited with the Liaoning Key Laboratory of Urban Integrated Pest Management and Ecological Security, Shenyang University, China.

Urban Responses to Climate Change: Theories and Governance Practice in Cities of the Global South

AbstractCities around the world have recently started to become ‘proactive’ initiators of climate strategies containing both mitigation and adaptation elements. The experience of these first movers has been studied and documented both empirically and, to a lesser extent, theoretically, primarily for cities in the global North. This symposium addresses related knowledge gaps by exploring case studies of urban regions in the global South confronting their projected climate change challenges, showcasing the experiences of Delhi, Santiago de Chile and Bogotá. Its specific aim is to explore the urban social response to nature change, the adaptation challenges faced by cities across the world and current practices of urban adaptation. Further, the symposium seeks to understand to what extent and in what respect current conceptual frameworks — which highlight urban ecological security and vulnerability — provide a useful context/framing to assist cities in confronting their challenges and to explain their actions. This introductory article examines current knowledge of the theory and practice of urban climate response. It introduces the concepts of ecological security and vulnerability and discusses the adaptive capacity of cities and how they are starting to respond to the emerging challenges of climate change. It concludes with a synthesis of the case articles and highlights some of the findings.

Strategic Bundling of Development Policies with Adaptation: An Examination of Delhi's Climate Change Action Plan

AbstractA growing number of cities in the global South are taking proactive action on climate change. Their plans provide insights into the potential for strategically bundling long‐term development policymaking with the climate agenda. In this article I study the case of Delhi, the first city in India to adopt a climate change action plan. Drawing on the literature on urban ecological security, I examine: (1) the adaptation challenges that Delhi faces; (2) the multiple motivations that underlie early action; (3) the key actors, strategies, and associated action domains outlined in the plan; and (4) the extent to which the plan seeks to bring about systemic change. Proactive action at the city level serves multiple strategic goals. Delhi's case is significant in illustrating how it has leveraged emergent opportunities to advance its short‐term development agenda, given the tight fiscal constraints and governance challenges it faces. The plan has been strategically formulated to enhance competiveness, facilitate image‐building, garner support for pet projects and access alternative sources of funding. But the short‐term orientation of the plan and its limited mechanisms for citizen engagement have severely restrained its capacity to address underlying social vulnerabilities or bring about transformative change.

Development and Application of a New Grey Dynamic Hierarchy Analysis System (GDHAS) for Evaluating Urban Ecological Security

Selecting indicators based on the characteristics and development trends of a given study area is essential for building a framework for assessing urban ecological security. However, few studies have focused on how to select the representative indicators systematically, and quantitative research is lacking. We developed an innovative quantitative modeling approach called the grey dynamic hierarchy analytic system (GDHAS) for both the procedures of indicator selection and quantitative assessment of urban ecological security. Next, a systematic methodology based on the GDHAS is developed to assess urban ecological security comprehensively and dynamically. This assessment includes indicator selection, driving force-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework building, and quantitative evaluation. We applied this systematic methodology to assess the urban ecological security of Tianjin, which is a typical coastal super megalopolis and the industry base in China. This case study highlights the key features of our approach. First, 39 representative indicators are selected for the evaluation index system from 62 alternative ones available through the GDHAS. Second, the DPSIR framework is established based on the indicators selected, and the quantitative assessment of the eco-security of Tianjin is conducted. The results illustrate the following: urban ecological security of Tianjin in 2008 was in alert level but not very stable; the driving force and pressure subsystems were in good condition, but the eco-security levels of the remainder of the subsystems were relatively low; the pressure subsystem was the key to urban ecological security; and 10 indicators are defined as the key indicators for five subsystems. These results can be used as the basis for urban eco-environmental management.

The genus Minilimosina (Svarciella) (Sphaeroceridae: Diptera) from China with description of a new species

The dipteran genus Minilimosina (Svarciella) from China reviewed with description of a new species Minilimosina (S.) obtusispina sp. nov. Three species namely M. (S.) fanta Roháček and Marshall, M. (S.) vitripennis (Zetterstedt) and M. (S.) luteola Su are redescribed. A key to the four known species is given. Voucher specimens including different types are deposited with the collection of Liaoning Key Laboratory of Urban Integrated Pest Management and Ecological Security, Shenyang University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.