Rural settlements serve as central hubs for the concentration of various rural factors and the development of social and economic activities. Exploring their spatial distribution and functional characteristics is crucial for optimizing rural production-living-ecological spaces and achieving high-quality development. This study focuses on the Dongting Lake area in Hunan Province, drawing on raster datasets, most notably, land use data from 2020 to conduct its analysis. By applying Spearman's rank correlation and bivariate local spatial autocorrelation analyses, it examines the trade-off-synergy relationship between the spatial pattern and multifunctionality of rural settlements across different gradients at a 3 km×3 km grid scale. The results indicate that: (1) The spatial pattern of rural settlements in the study area exhibits significant gradient differentiation, with settlement sizes generally small at a 3 km×3 km grid scale. As gradients increase, settlement complexity decreases, and high-value areas are concentrated around the central urban area. The average settlement density first decreases and then increases, with settlements forming a circular distribution along the lakeshore. (2) The multifunctional gradient of rural settlements reveals significant variation, with most high-value areas for production function located in gradients I and Ⅱ. The aggregation of high-value areas for the living function is low, and its spatial distribution closely mirrors that of the production function. The overall level of ecological function is relatively high, with a considerably broader distribution range. (3) The spatial pattern and multifunctionality of rural settlements in the study area generally present synergistic characteristics, with a positive effect. This suggests that larger settlements tend to exhibit more standardized forms and increasingly clustered density distributions, suggesting a positive correlation between settlement size and the level of multifunctional development. This study aims to enrich the research on the spatial characteristics of rural settlements in major grain-producing areas in the new era, while also establishing a reference framework for the optimization of rural settlement layouts in the Dongting Lake area.

Currently, the disregard and lack of regional traditional characteristics becoming increasingly pronounced, which triggers people's reflections on the preservation of places and landscapes. Datong city, with its complex landform, long history and rich cultural heritage, has given rise to many distinctive historical sites and cultivated a colorful cultural landscape. Taking Datong as a case, this paper explores the residents' perception of place meaning and cultural landscape value in the city through literature research, field investigation, questionnaire survey, participatory mapping and statistical analysis, and examines the relationship between them. The results show that: the overall sense of place meaning is good, the four specific dimensions are slightly different, and the residents have a strong sense of identity and dependence on Datong city; residents have a high evaluation of cultural landscape and a good recognition of cultural landscape value and value evaluation has the characteristics of emphasis and singleness. The judgment of cultural landscape value is consistent with the spatial distribution, and there are spatial and individual differences in landscape value cognition. Different landscape values can significantly affect different dimensions of the perception of place meaning.

The data from 61 national meteorological stations in Liaoning province from 1960 to 2023 were selected, covering 64 years of daily minimum air temperature. Based on the characteristics analysis of regional cold waves in Liaoning, evaluation indices for coverage stations, duration days, anomalous daily minimum air temperature, 24-hour dropping amplitude, and process dropping amplitude were established. And a comprehensive cold wave assessment model for the province was constructed. The results indicate that regional cold wave processes are most frequent in winter, followed by autumn, and least in spring. The cold wave processes in the mountainous areas of eastern Liaoning have the most frequency, followed by the northwestern part, while the western and southern parts have relatively low frequency. The frequency of regional cold waves in various seasons has shown a decreasing trend since 1960, while the intensity has significantly weakened. However, in the past 10 years, the frequency and intensity have significantly increased. Verification of the assessment results through historical events, disaster conditions, and practical applications in operations indicates that the established regional cold wave comprehensive intensity index is reasonable and can be applied to the monitoring and evaluating business and decision-making services in Liaoning province.

Population health is a cornerstone of high-quality population development. Standardized mortality rates (SMR) serve as a crucial indicator reflecting regional health status and socio-economic progress. Previous studies have demonstrated that mortality disparities are significantly influenced by socio-economic and environmental factors. However, existing studies often neglects spatial patterns and the spatial autocorrelation of these determinants when investigating variations in mortality rates. This study, utilizing data from the 2000, 2010, and 2020 national population censuses across 325 city-level administrative units in China, aims to elucidate the spatial variations and temporal trends of SMR over the past two decades. By employing exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and spatial panel regression models, this study uncovers the spatial distribution characteristics and key determinants of SMR. Our findings indicate a general declining in SMR and a reduction in regional disparities. The spatial distribution of mortality rates exhibited an east-to-west increasing gradient, which weakened over time. Key factors influencing SMR include per capita GDP, tertiary industry proportion, average years of schooling, PM_2.5 concentration, and green space coverage. The effect of these factors varied significantly across regions and age groups. Specifically, the association between urbanization and SMR shifted from negative to positive over time, while the negative impact of tertiary industry proportion on SMR strengthened from 2010 to 2020. The health risks associated with PM_2.5 pollution escalated in 2000-2010 but declined in 2010-2020, which reflects the effectiveness of recent air pollution control policies. Additionally, greenspace coverage showed an increasingly protective effect on SMR in 2020. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the spatial distribution and determinants of SMR in China, offering valuable insights for targeted public health interventions and policy formulation to reduce regional health disparities and promote population health.

Traditional villages contain rich cultural heritage and landscape resources, and digital technology opens up a new path for the protection and development of traditional villages, which is an important driving force to promote the digital construction of traditional villages. This paper integrates field theory, spatial production theory, and landscape gene theory to construct a spatial logical framework for the digital protection of traditional villages, and analyzes the field transformation, pattern evolution and value realization of traditional villages in the context of digitalization. The results of the study show that: (1) The transformation of spatial field constitutes the logical premise of the digital conservation of traditional villages. The flow of elements in traditional villages gives rise to the development of field capital, and the spatial field of traditional villages is transformed into boundless, virtualized and fluidized under the background of capital globalization, symbolization and network intervention. (2) The evolution of spatial patterns constitutes the logical evidence for the digital preservation of traditional villages. Under the perspective of spatial production, traditional villages are faced with the real dilemma of broken physical space landscape, amnesia of spiritual and cultural space vein and social life space relationship, which urgently need to realize spatial reconstruction, remodeling and reorganization through digital means. (3) Combined with the process of identification, extraction and performance of landscape genes, the optimization logic is summarized from the dimensions of functional integration, original link and time sequence extension, and the logical conclusion of the value realization path of digital protection of traditional villages is extracted. The study aims to explore the internal spatial logic of rural revitalization empowered by digital technology, to provide theoretical logic for the digital protection of traditional villages, and to develop new ideas for the digital protection of traditional villages.

With the increasingly severe global energy crisis, countries are working together to control carbon emissions and develop low-carbon economies. In this context, the new energy vehicle industry has entered a stage of rapid growth. However, how to analyze the interaction between the new energy vehicle production network and local regions has become one of the key issues of academic attention. This article selects BYD, a benchmark enterprise for new energy vehicles in China, and focuses on the strategic coupling mode and driving mechanism between BYD's production network and typical regions by organizing its domestic core suppliers for new energy vehicles in 2022. The study shows that: (1) The overall production layout of different production system components in China has formed a spatial pattern with the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as the cores. Specifically, the production network of batteries and electric drive systems has the largest scale and high degree of agglomeration, while the clustering degree of body and chassis accessories is the lowest, and the high-frequency connections of the production network are mainly concentrated between cities in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. (2) In the process of interaction between production networks and regional development, due to the influence of regional location advantages and enterprise spatial stickiness, a differentiated coupling mode has emerged, mainly manifested as the coexistence of dependent coupling, reciprocal coupling, and absorption coupling. (3) The interactive relationship channel between local production networks and regional development constructed based on "network characteristics-strategic coupling-regional interaction" promotes the transformation of enterprise production from field related space to value related space, providing practical support for the localization of strategic coupling theory in China. This article attempts to divide the production system of new energy vehicles into intelligent electronic and electrical systems, battery and electric drive systems, thermal management systems, and vehicle chassis decoration systems. Based on typical cases, it analyzes the strategic coupling mode and mechanism. On the one hand, it provides practical support for the localization plan of strategic coupling through theoretical construction and deduction, and on the other hand, it provides empirical support for analyzing the interactive relationship between the production network and regional development of domestic leading enterprises in China.

The study of rural innovation systems is a vital supplement to the theoretical research on innovation systems. Establishing a rural innovation system tailored to national conditions is an essential requirement for boosting the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. This paper, under the guidance of innovation system theory, refines and analyzes the connotations and characteristics of rural innovation systems and discusses their formation process and mechanisms. The research proposes that the rural innovation system is a complex socio-economic structure, developed through the collaborative efforts of various entities to drive multi-dimensional innovation in rural regions. Key features of the rural innovation system include regional specificity, complexity, a dual-process nature, multifunctionality, and cross-sectoral interactions. The evolution of the rural innovation system, from its inception, growth, to maturity, is influenced by a combination of factors from governmental, market, and societal sectors. This evolution reflects the integrated effects of quadruple helix mechanisms, vertical transmission processes, and horizontal coupling mechanisms. The rural innovation system is shaped by the interplay of various internal and external factors. Internal factors include geographical location, economic basis, resource and environment endowments, social capital, and human capital. External factors encompass macroeconomic environment, institutional arrangements, market demands, professional techniques, and government support. The general mechanism of village development involves local villagers as the main body, with rural elites as the core element. Based on a systematic insight into local resources, development willingness, market demand, government policy orientation, and external experiences, rural elites stimulate internal motivation and integrate external motivation. These actors jointly build collaborative organizations, learn for innovation, formulate development strategies, carry out division of labor, and participate in market competition, accelerating the optimization of local village's bio-physical, techno-economic, and institutional-social structures, leading to transitional development. In conclusion, the paper proposes strategies and recommendations for enhancing the rural innovation system. These include the establishment of a national framework for rural innovation, advancement of the modern agricultural innovation system, emphasis on institutional innovation benefits, and fortified integration of urban and rural innovation strategies. Future strategic research on rural innovation systems, from an international perspective, is envisioned to focus on scientifically assessing rural innovation systems, investigating practical mechanisms, and studying resilience enhancement. The paper also highlights the importance of urban-rural integration and agricultural technology innovation, suggesting that urban-rural linkages play a crucial role in promoting agricultural technology innovation and sustainable development.

As a novel solution to tackle the issue of uneven allocation of agricultural resources, overseas farmland investment has progressively become a pivotal strategy for global responses to food supply crises and bolstering the resilience of food security systems. This paper uses complex network analysis and core-periphery analysis to examine the topological and spatial structural evolution characteristics of the global overseas farmland investment network from 2000 to 2020. The exponential random graph model (ERGM) is used to comprehensively reveal the influencing factors of the formation and evolution of the global overseas farmland investment network from both endogenous and exogenous perspectives. The results indicate that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, global overseas farmland investment increased by 8.89 times. The main investors were private enterprises, financial institutions, state-owned enterprises, non-profit organizations, etc. Developed countries and emerging developing countries were mostly investing countries, with the focus of investment shifting from Africa and Southeast Asia to Latin America and Eastern Europe. (2) The complexity of the global overseas farmland investment network has increased, and the network expansion mainly depends on the addition of new nodes. However, the overall structure of the network is relatively loose, the network density and reciprocity are low, and the investment links between countries are mostly one-way. The network presents a "core-periphery" structure. The degree of differentiation between core countries and peripheral countries tends to expand, but the coreness of core countries is decreasing, and the overall importance of core countries is weakening. The network presents a cluster structure. The spatial competition between communities at the regional level is intensifying, two major groups were formed with one centering on China and France, the other on the United States and Canada. (3) The evolution of the global overseas farmland investment network does not occur randomly. The endogenous structural effects of the network promote the evolution of the network in the direction of low reciprocity, low cohesion, decentralization and balance. Behaviors such as resource endowment, economic factors, political factors and business environment attributes promote the large-scale development of networks, while exogenous networks such as borders, religion, language, trade agreements, and food trade connections have significant synergistic effects with the evolution of overseas farmland investment networks.

In order to promote cooperation of green development between consumption-based cities and other regions which offer goods, it is significant to clarify the spatial sources of virtual water and embodied carbon in the context of dual circulation. This paper chose Beijing as a case study. Based on a nested multi-region input-output model, the spatial characteristics of Beijing's inflow of virtual water and embodied carbon through domestic and international trade were measured under the dual circulation perspective. In addition, the water-carbon stress of these regions and countries which offer outflow of virtual water and embodied carbon to Beijing was analyzed by the water stress and carbon stress indices. The following results were obtained. (1) Beijing relieved local water-carbon pressures by consuming external water-intensive or carbon-intensive products. Virtual water inflows accounted for 78.08% of the total water consumption from a consumption-based perspective. Similarly, embodied carbon inflows represented 84.96% of the total carbon emissions when viewed from the consumption side. The top five sectors in terms of inflows are those in which virtual water and embodied carbon inflows are concentrated, both within and outside Beijing. (2) Domestic trade was the main source of Beijing's inflow of water-intensive and carbon-intensive products. Domestic inflows of virtual water and embodied carbon accounted for 65.34% and 88.12% of the total inflows of virtual water and embodied carbon, respectively. (3) Beijing had a high concentration of spatial sources from virtual water and embodied carbon inflows through domestic and international trade. It was mainly affected by the spatial distribution of trade flows, trade structure, and water consumption and carbon emissions coefficient. The top ten provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities or countries in terms of virtual water and embodied carbon flows to Beijing accounted for more than 60% of the total domestic and international amount, respectively. (4) Most of the major sources of inflows, whether domestic or international, virtual water or embodied carbon, belong to regions or countries with high water-carbon stress. Based on the above results, this paper puts forward policy recommendations for consumer cities to attach importance to water conservation and carbon reduction governance and strengthen regional cooperation. It further promotes the realization of green and low-carbon development in consumer cities.

Urban vertical growth has dramatically reshaped living spaces, exerting profound influences on the physical and psychological well-being of residents. In the context of the Healthy China Initiative, exploring the relationship between urban vertical growth and health outcomes is of paramount importance. This study dissects the pathways through which urban vertical growth impacts on residents' health, incorporating built environment variables as moderating factors in the dynamic interplay between building height and self-reported health status. Focusing on Hangzhou as a case study, the research uses built environment data and the 2023 urban health examination data set. Employing ordinal logistic regression, threshold analysis, and moderating effect modeling, the study verifies the mechanisms by which residential building height influences residents' self-report health. The study finds that: (1) The building height of Hangzhou is characterized by a "fluctuating decline" from the central area to the outer urban area. Residents' self-report health is low for those living in the area dominated by tall buildings, while that of residents living in the area with more short buildings and fewer tall buildings is high. (2) A significant nonlinear relationship exists between the average building height and residents' self-report health in the residential area, and it varies with the residential floor and building height of residents. When the residential floor or building height is short, the building height is negatively correlated with self-reported health. When the residential floor or building height is high, the building height is positively correlated with self-report health. (3) The built environment of residential area has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between building height and self-report health. For residents living above 3 floors, park square, road connectivity and land use mixed degree strengthened the positive effect of building height on residents' self-report health, while space openness weakened this effect. (4) The self-report health of different groups is affected differently by building height. The self-report health of young and middle-aged people living above the third floor, women, high income, floating population and non-childcare groups are more sensitive to the negative impact of building height, while the self-report health of young and middle-aged people living above the third floor, low income, local people and childcare groups are more sensitive to the positive impact of building height. This research aims to enrich the empirical studies in the field of health geography and provide a scientific basis for urban planning and construction to enhance residents' health.

Various social and ecological problems in the evolution of rural tourism seriously hinder the high-quality development of rural tourism destinations and the overall revitalization of rural areas, however, the research on the mechanism of social-ecological evolution of rural tourism destinations still lacks theoretical and empirical innovation. Based on the theories of Social-Ecological System and “Pressure-State-Response”, this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework for the evolution of social-ecological system in rural tourism areas from aspects of system internal coordination and stress adaptation. By means of diachronic analysis and process-event analysis qualitative analysis, it analyzes the process, characteristics and driving mechanism of high-quality rural tourism development in Xiantan village. The findings are as follows: (1) The high-quality development of social-ecological system in Xiantan village has gone through three stages: capital embeddedness and endogenous growth, outsiders' intervention and exploration, and returnees' return and symbiosis, from the traditional agricultural countryside to the modern residential tourism village, the initial realization of high-quality development of rural tourism. (2) The process of high-quality development of the social-ecological system in Xiantan village is essentially the development of the system from quantitative change to qualitative change, which means that the quality of all elements of the system is improved and its structure is optimized and coordinated, and the most crucial aspect is the comprehensive improvement of the development body and the efficient transformation of ecological value. (3) Elite-driven, market-oriented and policy-driven transformation constitute the core driving force, and the multiple subjects follow the elite logic, market logic and institutional logic to interact with the social and ecological environment and synergize their evolution, and jointly drive the high-quality development of the social-ecological system in Xiantan village. The theoretical framework of this study provides some theoretical reference for the study of high-quality development and evolution of rural tourism destination, the practice of Xiantan village also provides a fresh sample for promoting the high-quality development of rural tourism and the overall revitalization of rural areas.

The relationship between material space and human activities, shaped by their interactions, is a focus of attention in both human geography and urban planning. Research on spatiotemporal behaviors, grounded in the concept of space-time-human coupling, serves as a crucial foundation for revealing and explaining this intricate relationship. This paper systematically reviews the research progress from urban spatial structure to urban spatiotemporal structure, and ultimately to urban spatiotemporal behavior landscapes. It emphasizes the necessity of understanding cities through the lens of space-time-human coupling, advocating for the development of a theoretical and applied research framework for urban spatiotemporal behavior landscapes. Furthermore, the paper delves into the connotation, measurement, mechanisms, and effects of spatiotemporal behavior landscapes. Building on these insights, it also anticipates future research and significant application potentials. These include: firstly, further refine the theory of urban spatiotemporal behavior landscapes and, based on this foundation, develop related classical theories in human geography theoretically; secondly, deepen the methodologies for the collection, integration, and simulation of multi-source spatiotemporal data in the context of time-space-human coupling; thirdly, explore more potential applications, such as urban spatiotemporal behavior landscape planning aimed at creating livable cities, individual spatiotemporal behavior planning focused on promoting healthy lifestyles, and urban spatiotemporal collaborative governance geared towards fostering smart societies. This holistic approach underscores the importance of integrating spatial, temporal, and human factors in urban studies to address contemporary urban challenges effectively.

In the context of increasing geographical mobility, there has been a significant shift in the perspectives and measurement methods employed in urban sociospatial segregation research. Additionally, the imperatives of contemporary social development, which emphasize promoting social equity and enhancing people's well-being, have put forward novel practical requirements for the research of urban sociospatial segregation, as well as its underlying influencing mechanism and social effects. This study adopted an approach integrating quantitative analysis based on CiteSpace and qualitative analysis, to provide a comprehensive review of the evolutionary trends and thematic shifts in urban sociospatial segregation research since 2000. Over the years, the research of urban sociospatial segregation has consistently embraced the perspective of space-time behaviors. The focus of research has broadened from the sole dimension of residential space to multidimensional analysis of space-time behaviors gradually. And it has shifted from a static examination of spatial features to a dynamic exploration of space-time characteristics. In terms of its measurement indices, the advent of multi-source data, such as space-time behavioral big data, has facilitated the diversification of indices and methods continuously. There is a growing trend to shift the focus from space-based to people-based measurements, which is evident in recent research endeavors. Furthermore, the scope and depth of the research content has expanded significantly. It has moved beyond the study of measurements and feature description, to exploring the intricate mechanism which shapes sociospatial segregation and probing into its multifaceted social effects. Starting from the dimensions of space, time, and activity, certain studies reveal the influencing mechanism of urban sociospatial segregation. And several studies explore its extensive social effects in combination with themes such as resources accessibility, environmental health, crime, social integration, and subjective well-being. However, it is worth acknowledging that, there remains considerable room for further refinement and improvement. Current studies necessitate a heightened emphasis on the perspective of space-time integration, as it is helpful to address the complexities of sociospatial segregation. Future research ought to delve deeper into the influencing mechanism and social effects grounded in the consideration of space-time behaviors. Moreover, it is imperative to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and integration across various disciplines and paradigms.

Based on the scholarly background of promoting the concept of people-centered urban development, it is of great academic significance and application value to reconcile the logic tension between people's spatial behavior and subjective well-being in different geographical contexts. Specifically, depicting the interactive mechanism between their environmental perception and subjective well-being is utilized as the basis for urban development towards diversification and personalization, where the employed population can be regarded as the largest stable group of active residents living in the city. This paper initials the research target through the large-scale urban physical examination survey data conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in Jinan city since July 2023 and makes steps further via structural equation modeling to examine the impact of human settlement quality perception on the cognition, behavior, and subjective well-being of the employed population. Our experimental results demonstrate the following four findings. (1) The perception of urban human settlement quality can affect subjective well-being through the mediating role of the cognition and behavior of the employed population. (2) The main factors that positively affect the subjective well-being of the employed population are the perception of the living system and the support system, and the perception of job-housing balance has a negative impact on subjective well-being. (3) The perception of urban safety accident response and emergency infrastructure setting, commuting, and road perception determine the level of perception of the employed population towards urban human settlement quality. (4) The perception of living system dominates the cognition of physical health of the employed population, and the balance between job and housing space helps to increase the frequency of fitness exercise for the employed population. The perception of the support system also increases the confidence of the employed population in commuting. This study expands the theoretical analysis and derivative mechanism of the impact of urban human settlement quality perception on the subjective well-being of the employed population, and provides decision-making basis and scientific support for people-oriented urban management.

Water is an important limiting factor for plant growth in arid and semi-arid areas, and studying the water-use strategies of different types of plants under different water conditions has become a key to ecological protection and vegetation restoration in the Chinese Loess Plateau region. Through the systematic collection and analysis of stable isotopes of typical ecological restoration plants, food crops and water sources with potential water sources of regional plants in the eastern part of the Loess Plateau, this study used the Bayesian mixing model MixSIAR to quantitatively study the water-use strategies of typical plants under four geomorphic types (river valley plain region (RVP), rocky mountain region (EMR), loess hilly region (LH) and loess gully region (LG). The results show that: (1) Significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity was observed in regional soil water content and soil water stable isotopes, with larger fluctuations in soil water isotope values appearing in the EMR region, the relatively stable soil water content and the smallest vertical difference of stable isotopic value of hydrogen and oxygen in soil water observed in the LH landscape. (2) The xylem water stable isotopes of Robinia pseudoacacia and Juniperus chinensis displayed obvious seasonal fluctuations, both tree species fluctuated greatly in April and less in December, whereas Malus pumila and Pyrus spp. had weak seasonal variability. The water isotopes of Artemisia lavandulifolia was enriched in the LH in April and December, and enriched in the gully in June and September. For crops, the range of the water isotopes for T. aestivum was larger than that of Z. mays. (3) In spring and summer, R. Pseudoacacia and J. chinensis mainly use 0-20 cm soil layer in the ERM region, and mainly use precipitation in the LH and LG region, whereas deep layers soil water becomes the main source in the four landform types during the winter. (4) A. Lavandulifolia mainly uses surface soil water, and the proportion of deep soil water utilization increases after September, representing strong ecological plasticity in its water-use strategy. Surface soil water was the main water source for T. aestivum during the overwintering and reviving periods, and Z. mays utilized the largest proportion of surface soil water during the seeding and maturation stages. In summary, the results of this study have important implications for sustainable vegetation protection and the optimal allocation of water resources in the study area.

The disturbed forest system can be restored through a series of succession, where changes in plant species diversity serve as an important indicator for evaluating the successional progress. Meanwhile, the water use efficiency of plants provides a direct measure to understand the impact of soil moisture conditions on forest recovery. Therefore, analyzing the differences in plant diversity and water use efficiency during forest recovery (succession) processes is of significant importance for understanding the controlling factors of forest recovery and the conservation and sustainable development of forest ecosystems. However, most of the relevant studies in China have focused on temperate continental mountainous climatic zones, while the water-thermal conditions in subtropical forest zones are distinctly different, and related research in these areas is still relatively scarce. To address this research gap, we conducted a study in the Xiaozhaizigou Nature Reserve, located in Sichuan, China, an area significantly affected by both human and natural disturbances. We performed traditional vegetation surveys and employed biodiversity indices, including Simpson's index, Berger-Parker index, and Shannon's index, to assess the patterns of species diversity changes in different forest types during vegetation succession. Additionally, we utilized stable carbon isotope analysis of leaf samples to investigate the variations in water use efficiency among three forest types (primary forest, secondary forest, and plantation) at different stages of succession. Our findings revealed distinct stage-specific differences in forest succession among different forest types. The primary forest exhibited the highest stage during succession; however, its vegetation growth was limited by water stress and nitrogen competition. The plantation displayed the lowest species diversity, primarily attributed to the dominance of certain species and nitrogen competition acting as the primary controlling factor for vegetation growth. In contrast, the secondary forest, characterized by a longer recovery time, reached a higher stage of succession, benefiting from sufficient nitrogen and water supply, which resulted in accelerated vegetation growth. This study underscores the significance of analyzing plant diversity dynamics and water use efficiency during forest succession to gain insights into the controlling factors of forest recovery and facilitate effective conservation and sustainable development of subtropical forest ecosystems. Further research in subtropical regions is warranted to enhance our understanding of restoration mechanisms and optimize restoration strategies in these ecologically important areas.

With the introduction of the “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals”, improving city carbon emission efficiency has become a necessary path to achieving economic, social, and environmental coordinated development. This article employs a heterogeneous spatial stochastic frontier model to estimate city carbon emission efficiency and conducts an empirical analysis of the spatiotemporal evolution, convergence, and influencing factors of city carbon emission efficiency. The research findings are as follows: (1) The heterogeneous spatial stochastic frontier model has better applicability in measuring carbon emission efficiency than the traditional stochastic frontier model. (2) Industrial structure, population density, degree of openness to foreign trade, carbon market pilot policies, and green technology innovation all contribute to improving carbon emission efficiency, while resource-based cities tend to reduce carbon emission efficiency. (3) Eastern and central regions of China generally show an upward trend in carbon emission efficiency. First-tier cities, represented by Shenzhen, consistently rank at the forefront of national carbon emission efficiency. In contrast, the northeastern and western regions exhibit a reversed “U”-shaped trend in carbon emission efficiency, and there is no evidence of random convergence at both the national and regional levels. (4) The spatial distribution of carbon emission efficiency exhibits a “north-south divide” and an “east-high, west-low” pattern. City clusters represented by the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are gradually becoming core regions for improving carbon emission efficiency, forming a preliminary “multi-polar agglomeration” low-carbon development pattern. (5) Cities in the western and northeastern regions have higher per capita carbon emissions but lack matching carbon emission efficiency, resulting in an “efficiency mismatch” phenomenon between per capita carbon emissions and carbon emission efficiency.

In recent decades, a series of disaster events caused by climate change have been confirmed by instrumental measurements and experimental records around the world. To deeply explore the characteristics and mechanism of climate change at different spatio-temporal scales is the prerequisite to establish the coupling relationship between climate change and various disaster events. The discipline of geography is mainly concerned with the spatial distribution characteristics of different natural events and their evolutionary mechanisms and therefore has unique advantages in analyzing the spatial and temporal patterns of climate change and various disaster events and their coupling mechanisms. In this paper, we examine the current funding status of climate change-related research in the geographical science discipline of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) from 2010 to 2021, based on the application/funding data. The future development of climate change research from the perspective of geographical science is summarized and prospected. The results show that from 2010 to 2021, the number of applications/grants for youth science funds related to climate change of the geographic science increased year by year, indicating that the scale of talents in this discipline is constantly increasing. On the general program, the application and funding number of projects are relatively stable. Although the number of applications for regional science funds showed an increasing trend, the amount of funding fluctuated greatly. The six research institutes under the Chinese Academy of Sciences are the main research units of climate change-related research in the geographical science. The results show that there are still many problems in the research on climate change of the geographical science, such as uneven regional distribution of research teams, relatively homogeneous research methods and contents, insufficient investigation of mechanisms, and weak linkage between theory and practice. In view of the above problems, it is suggested to further enhance the level of regional research strength, consolidate the research on mechanisms, promote the integration of multiple disciplines, indicators and processes under the theme of climate change, and promote the relevant results to serve the actual production and life. This will provide the relevant basis for better and more adequate response to the human and social development problems brought about by climate change.

With the deepening of regional industrial division, the phenomenon of industrial agglomeration on different spatial scales, especially among different industries, has become obvious. This paper introduces the product dynamic relatedness to construct China's export product space network using Chinese Customs Trade Statistics (CCTS) dataset from 2000 to 2016, and describes the dynamic evolution pattern and network features of China's export product space. On this basis, this paper constructs an econometric model to investigate the influence and changing trend of product relatedness on the geographical coagglomeration of China's export industry. Meanwhile, from the perspective of product heterogeneity, this paper divides all export products into different groups to supplement the relevant empirical evidence. Descriptive analysis found that: (1) China's export product space has a typical "core-edge" structure, and the spatial structure of China's export product space network evolved from loose and flat to complex and compact from 2000 to 2016. (2) Strongly related products are highly geographically copolymerized. (3) China's export product space network shows the characteristics of more agglomeration, closer connection, and more complex network structure among products, forming a dense and complex core of strong correlation. Empirical test shows that: (1) Product relatedness has a significant positive impact on the geographical coagglomeration of China's export industry, but the marginal effect decreases during the study period. (2) Products in the same or different industries and products with high/low technological complexity play differential roles in the impact of product relatedness on industrial coagglomeration. The promotion effect of products in the same industry on geographical proximity is stronger than that of cross-industry products. The relatedness between low-complexity products and any other kind of complexity products can significantly increase the probability of coagglomeration, but high-complexity related products do not show the characteristics of industrial coagglomeration. This paper may have the following policy implications. First, introducing upstream and downstream products or similar products to existing advantageous products in a region makes it more likely to experience knowledge spillovers and share elements, thereby enabling them to survive and gain advantages. Second, while introducing new industries, it is necessary to build a gathering space carrier and knowledge exchange platform for them. Finally, the selection of regional leading industries and the layout of industrial chains should not blindly pursue the quantity of high-tech industries and layout industries that do not match the local industrial structure to meet the needs of high-quality industrial development.

Comprehensively promoting the rural revitalization is an important part of realizing agricultural and rural modernization. The realization of value of lucid waters and lush mountains in rural areas can provide new driving forces for rural revitalization under the combined background of ecological civilization construction and rural revitalization strategy. China's rural areas have diverse types and distinct development levels. It is urgent to carry out the typical model of rural revitalization refining and mechanism analysis from the perspective of lucid waters and lush mountains, which is conducive to the scientific and orderly progress of rural revitalization in light of local conditions and circumstances. The results showed that lucid waters and lush mountains refer to the natural, social and economic community with specific regional characteristics formed by the interactive coupling of natural resources and cultural resources in rural areas. Lucid waters and lush mountains are the important resource for rural transformation and development, the important path for value realization, and the important carrier for comprehensive revitalization. From the perspective of lucid waters and lush mountains, the regional model of rural revitalization shows a “spindle shape” with three types of urban-rural integration, quality and efficiency improvement, relocation and evacuation, and eleven sub-categories, such as central town, communalization, industrial parks, material development, function enhancement, industrial integration, ecological migration, relocation, and village consolidation. Our study suggested the systematic and complexity of China's rural revitalization construction. Regional model database construction can provide model and path reference for regional rural revitalization. More attentions should be paid to the coordination and coupling between lucid waters and lush mountains and rural revitalization, and strive to realize the path of rural revitalization with Chinese characteristics featuring the harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

Urban agglomeration spatial scope identification and structural feature analysis are the hot topic and the basic work of urban agglomeration research. Transportation network is not only a major driving factor for the evolution of regional system of man-land relationship, but also an important support for the spatial form of urban agglomerations. In this paper, we first took cities at the prefecture level in China as the research object, then constructed the traffic comprehensive OD matrix based on the multi-source traffic big data, and further extracted the spatial scope of the urban agglomerations through the principal component iterative decomposition algorithm. Based on the scope, we studied the structural characteristics of urban agglomerations in combination with the city connectivity and influence score. Finally, the internal connectivity and external connectivity of urban agglomerations were calculated and evaluated. The results showed that: (1) there were 21 urban agglomerations in China. (2) Urban agglomerations presented various types of spatial structures, such as single core, double core, multiple core and weak core, with single-core structure type being the main type. (3) Core cities of the urban agglomerations in different regions had different traffic radiation capacity to other cities, and played different driving roles of transportation in the development of the urban agglomerations. (4) Urban agglomerations with different connectivity levels presented a "bow" structure on the map of China, in which urban agglomerations with medium and high connectivity were symmetrically distributed. (5) The external traffic connectivity intensity of urban agglomerations was severely polarized in China. Urban agglomerations in the eastern region accounted for nearly 52% of the inter-city traffic flow, while those in the western region accounted for only 16%. This study concludes that the regional differences in traffic development, as well as the internal differences between cities inside urban agglomerations are more significant, which are also different from the scope and development planning of urban agglomerations. The government should combine the actual situation with development goals to formulate the plans of development cultivation, promoting regional integration and optimizing the structure of urban agglomerations, which will contribute to the coordinated regional development.

As a socio-spatial theory, assemblage thinking provides a unique perspective to investigate spatial relations. Based on object-oriented ontology, assemblage theory claims that agency is not unique to human. It reconstructs the relationship between human and non-human and upholds that the interactions between human and non-human should be discussed in a flat theoretical system. Empirically, this paper provides a new conceptual framework for the interpretation of the relationship between leisure activities and health. This article includes three purposes. First, it demonstrates the relationships between three concepts, agency, desire and relations of exteriority and points out the potential of assemblage theory to study geographies of everyday life and health geography. Second, based on therapeutic landscapes and assemblage theory, this paper reconstructs the conceptual framework of therapeutic assemblage, on the one hand, it attempts to contextualize and concretize the grand and complex assemblage theory into empirical research, and on the other hand, it provides a means of developing therapeutic landscapes from the perspective of anti-anthropocentrism. Last but not least, it takes the Taichi activity of older people as an example, with the conceptual framework of the therapeutic assemblage provided above, to explore how heterogeneous elements in leisure landscape of Taichi activity can form a dynamic relational space through distributed management with therapeutic affect which influences older people′s health. The results show that: (1) The landscape of the therapeutic assemblage can be considered as a dynamic relational space with therapeutic affect generated by the agency of the heterogeneous elements under the promotion of the desire; (2) The therapeutic affect of the therapeutic assemblage is organized and influenced by the dynamics of heterogeneous elements; (3) Therapeutic landscape is suitable for explaining the therapeutic affect of structured and relatively fixed geographical relational space. Nonetheless, it is insufficient to explain when we are faced with uncertainty and instability. In sum, based on object and relational-oriented ontology, assemblage thinking puts the discussion of older people and health into a more flat theoretical system, and at the same time incorporates them into a more complex political, economic, social and cultural context. This may break the traditional health-disease binary hypothesis and interpret the active aging in the Chinese context from a more process, dynamic and multiple way.

With the expansion of the scale of China's outbound tourism safety incidents, the pattern of incidents is showing the characteristics of the cluster. Therefore, it is of great significance to identify China's outbound tourism safety incidents cluster and analyze their influencing factors. This study aims to identify the internal and external structural characteristics, spatial distribution, and contributing factors of China's outbound tourism safety incidents cluster. First, based on the 17746 safety incidents of China's outbound tourism from 2015 to 2019, this study uses the nearest neighbor index to identify China's outbound tourism safety incidents cluster. On this basis, using methods of diversity index, entropy, and spatial autocorrelation to measure and analyze the structure type, scale pressure, and spatial distribution characteristics of China's outbound tourism safety incidents cluster. At the same time, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to discuss the causes of the complex configuration of a cluster. The findings are as follows: (1) A total of 60 destinations in the world have experienced clustered China's outbound tourism safety incidents from 2015 to 2019. Its type structure presents complex characteristics, including five incident categories and 38 incident subcategories, such as accident disaster, natural disaster, public health, social security, and business safety. Moreover, there are multiple consequences, such as personal injury, death, disappearance, detention, and property loss. The external pressure situation is serious. (2) The diversity and scale pressure of China's outbound tourism safety incidents cluster have obvious spatial correlation and unbalanced distribution characteristics. The internal structure type and scale pressure intensity of the tourism safety incidents cluster in Southeast Asia are more prominent. (3) The regional heterogeneity of diversity and scale pressure of China's outbound tourism safety incidents cluster is the result of the differential coupling of multiple risk factors of DPSBR. Among them, the higher industrial development status (S), higher the tourist behavior intensity (B), and lower basic environment drive (D) are the main reasons that lead to the higher complexity of the internal structure of each regional incident cluster. The higher industrial development status (S) and higher tourist behavior intensity (B) are the main reasons that lead to higher scale pressure. Over time, the higher security risk pressure (P) has become the key to form higher cluster diversity and higher scale pressure in various regions.

As an important pool of surface water resources, lakes and reservoirs are the most basic geographical unit and the most important centralized water supply source for large- and medium-sized cities in China, and they have many functions such as water supply, flood control, and biodiversity maintenance, which are closely related to human production and living. Lake sciences act as an important part of geographical sciences, and it is important to strengthen the basic research of lake sciences to help the construction of ecological civilization in China. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is the main channel for funding basic sciences research in China, and the NSFC applications, to a certain extent, reflect the frontiers the frontiers and hot spots in various research fields. The analysis of key words and other information in the applications shows that: (1) The increase in the number of applications for lake sciences was mainly in two periods, i.e. from 2004-2011 and from 2018 to 2022. (2) The number of applications under the two secondary codes of D0105 (landscape geography and integrated physical geography) and D0113 (remote sensing sciences) accounted for 25.0%±8.9% and 19.8%±5.5%, respectively, during 1986-2022. (3) “Lake Poyang”, “Lake Taihu”, “Lake Dongting”, “Tibetan Plateau”, “Three Gorges Reservoir” and other research areas appear more frequently, and “mechanism”, “wetland”, “watershed”, “remote sensing” and other research content and method buzzwords appear more frequently, which is roughly consistent with the search buzzword results on Web of Science and China Knowledge Network and other platforms. (4) The affiliations with the highest number of applicants submitted in the field of lake sciences are Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiangxi Normal University, and Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in order. In the future, geographical sciences will further optimize the disciplinary layout and keyword settings, enhance cross-field interdisciplinary crossover, guide the focus on basic theories and frontier hotspot issues in lake sciences, and promote further high-quality development of lake sciences research in China.