Traditional villages have received widespread attention from all walks of life based on important carriers of Chinese rural culture. The mutual superposition of natural and cultural factors may exacerbate the evolution of traditional village geographical patterns. To understand such relationships and effects, factors and degrees influencing traditional villages need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data of 724 traditional villages in Guizhou recognised by relevant national ministries and commissions in China using average nearest neighbour analysis, Tyson polygon analysis, nuclear density analysis and Geodector. The geographic pattern feature revealed that traditional villages, in general, are highly clustered regionally and have significant edge effects on administrative units. Different substrate environments result in significant spatial heterogeneity in village spatial density, clustering, surface undulation, sun exposure, and waterfront. The geographic pattern of traditional villages is mostly affected by the closest distance to river valleys, the types and number of intangible cultural heritage resources in the county, river gorge density, edge effect index, degree of county ethnic language use, and proportion of paddy fields to the regional area; and their combined effects influence and control the community structure. The results highlight the impact of nature and culture on the distribution of traditional villages, which helps traditional village conservation and scientific exploration of human-land relationship issues in the mountainous areas of Southwest China.

To evaluate the long-term security of water resources in Guizhou, this paper presents an evaluation index that incorporates the driving force–pressure–state–impact–response–management (DPSIRM) framework, the gray correlation method, and matter–element analysis. For the period of 2005–2012, our results show that water resources were within the “generally safe” limits for all years except 2006 and 2011, which were characterized by drought conditions. In karst regions, drought has a relatively large impact on water security and is compounded in Guizhou by rapid economic development, nonpoint-source agricultural pollution, and inadequate sewage treatment. Nonetheless, recent efforts to return farmland to forest and grassland and to control desertification have led to increased forest cover and higher levels of soil and water conservation, while systems have been implemented to foster the effective management of water resources in karst areas. In this study, we used both gray matter–element analysis and a DPSIRM framework to assess the state of water resources in Guizhou, the results of which were compared and verified by the gray set pair method, and to provide a reference for evaluating other karst areas.

An important basis to achieve a sustainable balance between water availability and demand is effectively identifying the factors affecting water resource security and evaluating the effectiveness of existing water resource management measures. To reasonably evaluate water resource security in Guizhou Province, this study combined the water resource security features, selected the indicator system based on the Press–Status–Effect–Response (PSER) framework, and used Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and grey correlation analysis for the province from 2001 to 2015. This allowed us to identify the main driving factors affecting water resource security. The results showed that: (1) Water resource security in Guizhou Province showed an overall trend of improvement from 2001 to 2015 and reached a maximum index of 0.57 in 2015. This amelioration in water security was mainly due to the continuous improvement of the response and effect subgroup as a result of improvements in its existing subgroup factors (policies), such as water consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), the proportion of water conservancy investment, and the proportion of the tertiary industry. Increased water stress due to rapid economic development, such as water supply for the reservoir, and the instability of the status subgroup, were the main factors negatively affecting water resource security. (2) Reduction of water consumption per USD of industrial value added, the control force of water and soil erosion being strengthened, and investment in water resources being increased, are the key factors for achieving water resource security in Guizhou during this period of rapid social and economic development. This indicates that the existing water resource management measures have been improving water resource security. The management measures need to be further improved in the future to protect water resource.

This paper constructs a water resources security evaluation model from the “man (human activity intensity)-land (geological and geomorphological features)-water (water resources background conditions)” perspective, which accounts for the characteristics of hydrology and water resources in karst areas. A water resources security evaluation index system is established from three aspects (i.e., the background conditions of water resources, human activity intensity and geological and geomorphological features). The evaluation standard threshold is determined in accordance with relevant standards and domestic/foreign development experience. Both the comprehensive weights obtained by the Lagrange coefficient and the multi-objective fuzzy membership functions are used to comprehensively evaluate the spatial and temporal evolution of water resources security in Guizhou Province from 2001 to 2015. The results show that the water resources security comprehensive index of Guizhou Province was between 0.6 and 0.8 during this time (relatively safe type) and the safety was trending upwards. However, the comprehensive index of water resources security of each city in Guizhou Province demonstrates significant spatiotemporal variation. Whilst the comprehensive index was low in the Western part and high in the Eastern part of the province, it generally improved over time for the entire province. Moreover, the criteria layer indexes of water resources security in Guizhou Province and all cities also showed different degrees of variation and regional consistency across space and time. The interaction among these three aspects promoted the spatiotemporal variation of the Water Resources Security Comprehensive Index. In order to safeguard and improve water resources security, it is important to strengthen ecological and environmental management, promote the efficient use of water resources, establish sound management measures and security system related institutions and ensure water resources security.

The formation of mineral-protected organic carbon (MPOC) is a vital process for soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and stabilization, influenced by factors such as exogenous carbon (C) input and soil microorganisms. However, the dynamics of MPOC and soil microorganisms following exogenous C input, and the key microorganisms driving MPOC formation, remain poorly understood. To address this, we conducted exogenous C addition culture experiments to investigate changes in MPOC and soil microorganisms and identify the primary microorganisms influencing MPOC formation. We observed that the MPOC content in treated soils increased over time, ranging from 0.43 to 2.06 g kg⁻¹. MPOC showed a significant positive correlation with soil bacterial diversity and a significant negative correlation with fungal diversity. Soil samples contained 248 bacterial families and 189 fungal genera, with Oxalobacteraceae (7.42%) and unclassified_k__Fungi (24.82%) being the most abundant, respectively. Using FAPROTAX and FunGuild ecological function prediction methods, we analyzed soil bacteria and fungi functional profiles and abundances. We identified the main bacterial families influencing MPOC formation as Microbacteriaceae, Mycobacteriaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Streptomycetaceae, and Xanthomonadaceae. The primary fungal genera were Cylindrocarpon, Leohumicola, Metarhizium, Neobulgaria, Neopestalotiopsis, Olpidium, and Tetracladium. These findings provide theoretical support for understanding microbial regulation mechanisms in soil C sequestration and emission reduction.