Progress on the Integrity Protection in the Natural World Heritage Site and Agroforestry Development in the Buffer Zone: An Implications for the World Heritage Karst

In the face of increasing development pressure, how to fulfill the obligations under the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Convention and maintain the integrity of the Natural World Heritage Site (NWHS) is a major problem to be solved at present. Agroforestry (AF) development in the buffer zone maintains the integrity of NWHS and promotes sustainable ecological and economic development in the buffer zone. Still, few studies on the knowledge system of integrity protection of NWHS and AF development in the buffer zone research have been conducted. To fill this gap, this study conducts a systematic literature review based on 128 related articles retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. Firstly, quantitative studies were conducted to analyze the annual numbers, content and study regions of the published literature. Secondly, the main research progress and achievements of integrity protection of WNHS and AF development in the buffer zone are classified and summarized. On this basis, this paper proposed key scientific issues that remain to be addressed in future, as well as exploring the implications for the World Heritage (WH) karst. This study is a scientific reference for the balanced development of NWHS integrity protection and AF in the buffer zone.

Response of macroinvertebrate communities to land use and water quality in Wudalianchi Lake

Macroinvertebrate assemblages are structured by a number of abiotic and biotic factors interacting simultaneously. We investigated macroinvertebrate assemblages along gradients of human disturbance and morphometric characteristics in five lakes connected by the same stream. We aimed to assess the relative effects of environmental gradients on macroinvertebrate assemblages and to investigate whether water quality effects on the assemblages were correlated with buffer land use. There were significant differences in macroinvertebrate community compositions among lakes, and our results indicated that oligochaetes (mainly Limnodrilus) and insects (mainly Chironomus) contributed highly to the differences. We used redundancy analysis with variation partitioning to quantify the independent and combined anthropogenic effects of water quality and land use gradients on the macroinvertebrate community. The independent effect of water quality was responsible for 17% of the total variance in macroinvertebrate community composition, the independent effect of buffer land use accounted for 6% of variation, and the combined variation between land use change and water quality accounted for 12%. Our study indicated that both the independent effects of land use and within-lake water quality can explain the influence in macroinvertebrate assemblages, with significant interactions between the two. This is rather important to notice that changes in buffer land use generally may alter nutrient inputs and thus severely affect abiotic conditions encountered by macroinvertebrate. Our study demonstrates that considering buffer zone effects explicitly may be significant in the selection and application of conservation and management strategies.

[Spatial Response of River Water Quality to Watershed Land Use Type and Pattern Under Different Rainfall Intensities]

Qixiang River watershed, as a typical case study area, was divided into five types of buffer zones according to elevation and slope. Based on the remote sensing images, DEM and real-time monitoring data in April, May, June 2015, the relationship between land use type and pattern in all buffer zones and water quality under different rainfall intensities was explored. The results showed that land use type and pattern in different buffer zones had obvious discrepancies. The proportion of construction land was the highest in low flat area, secondary flat area and high flat area. The main land use type of moderately steep area and high steep area was forest land. Secondly, the low flat area appeared to have the greatest influence on the water quality. Thirdly, construction land had a greater influence on water quality than other land use types in low flat area. In addition, in secondary flat area, wetland was the key factor under small rainfall intensity. However, construction land was the key factor under moderate rainfall intensity and large rainfall intensity. In moderately steep area and high buffer zones, construction land influenced the water quality most under small rainfall intensity but forest land was the greatest factor under moderate rainfall intensity and large rainfall intensity. Fourthly, the relationship between the land use pattern and water quality was complicated. SH-MN had the greatest influence on water quality and the influence increased with increasing rainfall intensity in low flat area. Furthermore, PD, SH-MN and SHDI were the key factors in secondary flat area while SH-MN, SHDI and PD were the key factors in high flat area under all the three types of rainfall intensity. SH-MN and CONTAG influenced the water quality most in moderately steep area and high steep area under small and high rainfall intensity. CONTAG influenced the water quality most in moderately steep area and SHDI was the key factor in high steep area under moderate rainfall intensity.