Ecological Modelling 318 (2015) 14

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Ecological Modelling
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel

Editorial

Integrated ecological modelling for sustainable urban metabolism and

management

1. Background
Human activities, through extensive industrialization and land
use change, play an increasingly salient part in the global environment change. This trend has been accelerated in the 21st century,
thanks to our endeavors of promoting information technology and
lowering the cost for cross-region transportation. In the face of
eco-environmental problems caused by rapid urbanization, solutions incorporating ecological integration have been highlighted
and matured over the last decade. Recently, increasing numbers
of ecologists have collaborated with other scientists, planners, and
engineers to evaluate and even regulate urban ecosystems and the
associated economic activities (Fath and Mller, 2010; Chen and
Chen, 2012, 2014; Chen and Wang, 2014; Chen and Yang, 2013;
Wang et al., 2011; Chen et al., 2014).
Urban ecosystems are characterized with non-isochronous
boundaries and high dependence on their fringe environments.
They are some of the most profoundly-altered ecosystems on the
planet that are organized by diverse human-environment processes and patterns (Collins et al., 2000). Analogous to other
natural parallels, urban ecosystems have their own characteristics
including structures, processes, and functions. Using appropriate
methodologies based on interdisciplinary effect of modeling and
assessment is one of most important paces to do so (Jrgensen,
1996). Herein, ecological integration framework is needed to model
the city as a whole system using concepts and methodologies from
systems ecology constituting the interactive socio-ecological components they encapsulate.
To learn from the insights of global cities, share best practices
internationally, and discuss how cities and regions can be modeled in an integrated way for creating a sustainable society, we
organized International Workshop on Ecological Integration to Meet
the Challenge of Fast Urbanization in Beijing. The objective of this
workshop was to provide a forum to discuss and advance issues
relevant to integration of theories, methodologies and cases of city
sustainability and their relevance to ecological modelling. Meanwhile, to solve the ecological issues of coordinated urban-regional
development, we also invited some research groups to explore the
urban water resource management based on the current research
of observation, experiments, simulation and scenario analysis with
the support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
71573021). By doing this, we can explore the regulation and management measures to optimize the urban metabolism and reshape

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.10.009
0304-3800/ 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.

the water-energy-carbon nexus and sustainable socio-economic

development of cities and regions.
2. Papers in this issue
Framed by the theory-method-case paradigm of sustainability
thinking, this issue can be structured as follows:
2.1. Theories
Javidi and Ahmad (2015) investigated the dynamics of
a time fractional order toxic-phytoplanktonphytoplankton
zooplankton system. The stability analysis of biologically feasible
equilibrium points for the given system in terms of reproduction
numbers associated with ecological as well as disease phenomena was conducted with RouthHurwitz criteria. Local stability
properties of the toxic-phytoplankton-free equilibrium were also
investigated. In addition, numerical simulations are performed for
a hypothetical set of parameter values in support of the analytic
results. Han et al. (2015b) proposed a scheme of a three-scale
inputoutput analysis to investigate the water use prole of urban
economy. Trade ows in and out of the urban economy are
associated with massive water resources, which have essential
implications to relocate urban scale water resources with that in
the domestic and global economies. It can be seen that urban economy with water shortage can draw support via trade activities to
rebalance water resources use and ease urban water scarcity in
the context of globalization. Based on complex network theory,
An et al. (2015) built an embodied exergy ow network between
Chinese industries. The overall features, important industries and
composition structure of the embodied exergy ow network were
analyzed, indicating that the entire network has little impact on a
specic industry but that individual industries have much larger
impacts on each other. A block modeling method was also used to
decompose the network into communities. Ji (2015) combined ecological modeling with systems ecology theory to take the pulse
of urban economy, following the design principle and rules of
ecosystem, especially the autocatalysis feedback design and the
maximum power principle of cosmic emergy, which lowered the
subjectivity and uncertainty to a large degree during the modeling
by integrating the material ows, energy ows, population ows
and information ows into emergy. Xia et al. (2015) provided a
unied framework integrating the value added export and urban

Editorial / Ecological Modelling 318 (2015) 14

energy utilization to evaluate the consequences of downstream

and upstream participation for vertical specialization in global supply chain. The decomposition of value added export technique was
introduced to quantify vertical specialization level for urban energy
consumption by virtue of multi-regional inputoutput (MRIO). It
is strongly suggested that in the steady trends of industrial division and specialization, the role of cities in the economic activities
should be reevaluated with value added analysis of global supply
chain participation effects.
2.2. Methods and metrics
Yang et al. (2015a) set up a multi-regional inputoutput model
to analyze the transferring routes of total suspend particulate matter (TSPM) emissions between urban ecosystem and surrounding
regions through trades. TSPM emission from particulate source
regions and sectors were identied by analyzing the embodied
TSPM ows through inter-regional trade. The track of TSPM from
origin to end via consumption activities was revealed by tracing
the product supply chain associated with the TSPM emissions. In
addition, BeijingTianjinHebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) as the most industrialized district of China was selected for a case study. Colombo
et al. (2015) employed extended exergy to evaluate the economic
and environmental costs of energy system integration, considering
life cycle of supply chains and effect of inefciencies due to offdesign operation of the systems. A case study of an Italian regional
utility was also performed based on both the extended exergy
accounting and the thermo-ecological cost methods. Chen et al.
(2015b) dealt with the demographic and energy issues associated
with Chinas metabolic pat-terns and outlined the challenges that
China would face in the future. The general multi-scale methodology, Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem
Metabolism (MuSIASEM), was used. The metabolic patterns of
China by four of four quadrants-four angles gure were nally presented for the metabolism of secondary and tertiary sectors. Gu
et al. (2015) modied ecological footprint analysis with justied
equivalence and yield factors in context of net primary productivity from the Miami model. Biodiversity reserves were incorporated
using GIS technology and synthetic assessment of attributes to
reect various eco-logical functions. In addition, ecological footprint decit was used to reveal the extent of ecological debt, while
the ecological footprint variation index was proposed to describe
the tradeoffs between real consumption and the carrying capacity of a specic region. Li et al. (2015c) assessed the impacts of
urbanization on water quality for three spatial urban development
zones, i.e., center, inner peri-urban and outer peri-urban of the
eastern coastal municipality of Lianyungang, China. The relationship between urban landscape ecological pattern and water quality
was analyzed in three landscape zones. It can be concluded that
the linkage between landscape ecological changes and water quality is important for both regional water pollution management
and land use planning. Liu et al. (2015b) proposed a three-step
framework considering both species representation and elimination of the negative impact that anthropogenic barriers imposed on
species turnover with emphasis on the identication and construction of multi-species spatially explicit reserve networks in nature
reserves. The results suggested that the core zone in Wuyishan
should be extended by restricting tourism and roads to be out of the
constructed reserves and the direct dispersal pathways between
constructed reserves and corresponding reconnected representative reserves.
On the basis of sectoral energy statistics and a nested provincial and global multi-regional inputoutput model, Liu et al.
(2015d) compared four different system boundaries for Chinas
30 provinces and major cities because emission boundaries could
dramatically affect the achievements of Chinas current regional

mitigation targets. The results highlighted signicant differences

in the level of emissions for the different system boundaries. Moreover, the associated emissions with each system boundary were
found to vary with the regional development level. Yang et al.
(2015b) introduced the dynamic lines of space syntax to simulate
perception and navigation ows in network-congured human settlements, assuming classical graphic notions and variables as new
relationship between other species and eco-network. After mapping continuous functional components among land layout into
free space and then into dynamic lines that inuence bio-ows,
an exploration on functional connectivity of Singapores green network is also done. Zhang et al. (2015) presented a systems analysis
of embodied energy uxes in nal demand and interregional trade
of Chinas four direct-controlled municipalities by multi-regional
inputoutput modeling, addressing direct and indirect energy use
patterns in Chinas megacities. The ndings revealed that nal consumption demands in the four Chinese municipalities not only
triggered a large amount of energy resource extraction within their
own jurisdictional boundaries, but also imposed huge pressure on
other regions via interregional supply chains. Zhou et al. (2015)
developed a conceptual model for analyzing the carbon cycle of the
municipal solid waste management system as a key subsystem of
urban metabolism, which included horizontal uxes, vertical uxes
and carbon stocks of the waste managing processes such as waste
collection, transportation, treatment and disposal. A case study of
Jingmen city was also performed with three scenarios for carbon
cycling of the solid waste management system. White et al. (2015)
applied an integrated MRIO hydro-economic model combined with
the water scarcity index (WSI) to analyze consumption water footprint and embedded or virtual water ows in inter-regional trade in
the Heihe River Basin and their scarcity water footprint. The results
indicated that incorporating the WSI into virtual water analysis can
better understand the dynamics of inter-regional trade ows in
terms of virtual water and scarce water and provide a consistent
and accurate accounting of temporal spatial variability of water
availability in a region.
2.3. Real cases
Chen and Liu (2015) employed remote sensing images to quantify the historical change in the wetland area of the Huangqihai
Lake Basin located in the APIZ in China. The comparison indicated
an agreement between the results from remote sensing images and
historical records for the lake area, which is useful for understanding wetland degradation processes and the hidden driving forces of
wetland degradation. Gao et al. (2015) employed Urban Stormwater Treatment and Analysis Integration (SUSTAIN) model as best
management practices to mitigate oods and reduce pollutants.
A factory in Maanshan was selected as a case study for analyzing
the benets in reducing runoff volume and pollutant load. Li
et al. (2015b) analyzed the rural household energy consumption
associated with the demands on renewable energy systems and
contributions to the reduction of CO2 , total suspended particulate
emissions in Zhangziying town of Beijing, showing that coal was
still the major energy source for heating during winter, which
constituted the largest portion of the household energy consumption. With the development of renewable energy like biogas and
straw gas, the structure of rural household energy consumption
was found to be undergoing a transformation from traditional
low-efciency biomass domination to integrated consumption of
traditional and renewable energy sources. Li et al. (2015a) used the
minimum cumulative resistance model (MCRM) to calculate the
amount of ecological land that meets the demand of socioeconomic
development and ecological protection considering the source
of ecological land and constructed land, ecosystem services, and
the resistance plane. With selected landscape type, engineering

Editorial / Ecological Modelling 318 (2015) 14

geology, vegetation coverage, distance from water bodies, and

the dominant ecosystem service from inherent properties and
additional properties of land, a resistance evaluation system was
set up for a case study of Changzhou to identify suitable land in
coordinating development between the city and its environment.
Chen et al. (2015a) analyzed the temporal-spatial change of the
East Lake as the largest urban lake in China using remote sensing
images during 19902013, showing that the shapes of the urban
lakes have been deeply affected by the rapid urbanization in recent
decades. STIRPAT model was also employed to assess the impact
of human activities as driving force on lake changes, with the
results indicating the increasing population is the most important
driving forces for the morphological change of an urban lake and
the second is the expansion of built-up area.
Tao et al. (2015) also used Changzhou as a case study to estimate biomass and soil carbon stored in land covers using the
InVEST model. The gradient changes in terrestrial carbon stocks
in response to urban land use and cover change along two sample
transects as a function of distance from the urban center were quantied. It was found that carbon densities decreased with increasing
intensity of urban development. Gradient transect analyses also
revealed an overall trend of increasing carbon stocks from the urban
center to peri-urban areas. Based on the pressurestateresponse
model, Han et al. (2015a) constructed the urban ecological security
evaluation index system for 13 cities in the BeijingTianjinHebei
metropolitan region from 2003 to 2014, where integrated development has occurred up to the national strategic level. The fuzzy
synthetic evaluation method was used to analyze and evaluate the
ranks of urban ecological security from 2003 to 2012, implying that
overall regional ecological security of the BeijingTianjinHebei
metropolitan region increased during those 10 years.
2.4. Others
Yan et al. (2015) analyzed the impacts of urbanization on agricultural water use and resulted impacts on crop areas, yield and
production at the regional and national level in China. The change
in agricultural water use due to urbanization was estimated and
its impacts on regional crop production were simulated based on
the China Water Simulation Model (CWSM). A positive mathematical programming was also conducted to optimize water allocation
among crops and between irrigated and rainfed areas in ten river
basins in China. Liu et al. (2015c) evaluated the runoff reduction
effectiveness under various setting sizes of green infrastructures
using a process-based stormwater runoff model, in which the
stormwater runoff generation was sensitive to the pervious area
percentage and soil hydraulic properties. Song et al. (2015) examined the changes in value of the ecosystem services (VES) in the
North China Plain as an agricultural region and estimated the
changes of VES resulting from land-use change. A model based
on net primary productivity and soil erosion amount was developed to assess the VES with spatial heterogeneity in the process
of ecological conservation planning and restoration policies. Wu
et al. (2015) examined the combined impacts of the changes in
land useland cover and economic activity due to urbanization
and in climatic conditions on water resources in the Heihe River
Basin. The integrated framework can be considered as a useful
tool to examine the impact of various development scenarios with
the aim of successfully allocating water resources and maximizing
water use efciency in the Heihe River Basin as well as other basins
elsewhere with similar characteristics. Liu et al. (2015a) reviewed
recent research regarding the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on freshwater ecosystems and the severity of their
undesirable effects on ecosystem processes and services. Then,
a threshold-based management framework as a potential platform for scientists, decision makers and stakeholders of freshwater

ecosystems was put forward to reduce risks from climate change

and the susceptibility of local freshwater ecosystems over thresholds. After the runoff reduction effectiveness under various setting
sizes of green infrastructures was investigated, an optimal combination of green infrastructures was designed and proposed for
a typical community in Beijing. Wang et al. (2015) assessed the
effectiveness of major adaptation policies on farmers adaptive
decisions in the North China Plain. Two kinds of adaptation policies
were emphasized, rst of which was the provision of early warning and prevention information against drought, and the second
was provision of technical, physical and nancial policy support.
By examining how farmers make responses against drought, the
concerned policies derived from quantitative analysis based on
econometric modeling were found to have impacts on farmers
adaptive responses. Zhao et al. (2015) presented a numerical analysis of the response of current, temperature, and algae growth
to thermal discharge in tidal environment. Three-dimensional
distribution of current, temperature, and dimensionless specic
growth rate of N. oceanica was simulated for prediction of algae
growth. Numerical results took the combined action of velocity
and water level into account, demonstrating that a countering vortex pair occurs in the cross section and the dimensionless specic
growth rate of N. oceanica does not change with temperature rise
monotonously. You et al. (2015) reviewed the statistical, empirical, and analytical vegetation models, of which the assumptions,
logic, and typical applicability were examined aiming at selecting the most appropriate model for a given case, and suggested
the development of integrated models for multiple anthropogenic
disturbances and vegetation scales as well.
This special issue is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Rusong
Wang who unexpectedly passed way on November 28, 2014. Over
the course of his career, he made fundamental contributions to the
eld of urban ecology, especially in the theory of Social-EconomicNatural Complex Ecosystem (SENCE).
The Guest Editor would also like to express high appreciation
to the authors and reviewers for their great contribution to this
special issue.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 71573021), Major Research Plan of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91325302),
Fund for Innovative Research Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51421065), and Specialized Research
Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No.
20130003110027).
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Guest Editor
Bin Chen
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental
Simulation and Pollution Control, School of
Environment, Beijing Normal University,
Beijing 100875, China
E-mail address: chenb@bnu.edu.cn