Human Footprint, the pressure imposed on the eco-environment by changing ecological processes and natural landscapes, is raising worldwide concerns on biodiversity and ecological conservation. Due to the lack of spatiotemporally consistent datasets of Human Footprint over a long temporal span, many relevant studies on this topic have been limited. Here, we mapped the annual dynamics of the global Human Footprint from 2000 to 2018 using eight variables that reflect different aspects of human pressures. The accuracy assessment revealed a good agreement between our mapped results and the previously developed datasets in different years. We found more than two million km2 of wilderness (i.e., regions with Human Footprint values below one) were lost over the past two decades. The biome dominated by mangroves experienced the most significant loss (i.e., above 5%) of wilderness, likely attributed to intensified human activities in coastal areas. The derived annual and spatiotemporally consistent global Human Footprint can be a fundamental dataset for many relevant studies about human activities and natural resources.

It is of great significance for the efficient utilization of water resources and the construction of the ecological environment in China to fully understand the evolution process of the spatial-temporal pattern of evapotranspiration (ET). With the use of the v2.0 and v2.1 ET data sets combined with the Global Land Data Assimilation System and Noah model, this paper selects pixels as the basic research object to analyse the spatial-temporal variation in ET in China during the 71 years from 1948 to 2018. We first applied the TFPW-MK test to study the annual ET trend in China throughout the 71-year period, including the ET trend of each month from January to December and the annual total ET trend. Moreover, we examined the spatial variation in these trends. In addition, we calculated the variation coefficient of the time series of each pixel’s ET throughout the 71-year period and the variation coefficient of the spatial distribution of ET in each year to analyse the spatial-temporal fluctuations in ET in the study area. Finally, the Hurst index was adopted to evaluate the future ET trend. Based on these analyses, we observed the following novel spatial-temporal characteristics of ET: from 1948 to 2018, (1) the ET in most regions covered by 89.5% of all pixels in China exhibits an increasing trend. (2) The ET trend in China varies greatly with the change in months, and many regions show the most or least obvious increasing trend (or decreasing trend) at different times. (3) The area with an increasing trend is the largest in May and the smallest in December, and more than half of the pixels in all months of a year reveal an increasing trend. (4) In the northeast, west and south regions of China, the monthly fluctuation in the ET trend is relatively large, which indicates that the ET trend in these regions is greatly affected by the month. (5) The fluctuation in ET in China is larger in the north than it is in the south and larger in the west than it is in the east. The most stable fluctuation occurs in East China. (6) The ET trend of almost all the pixels in the study area remains consistent from 1948 to 2018, and there are large areas with a notable continuity. This results in the spatial variation in ET in the study area increasing.

Soil moisture is a comprehensive reflection of soil moisture status and is an important parameter for land surface conditions. It is very important to study the distribution characteristics of soil moisture for ecological environment protection, scientific and rational utilization of soil water resources, and climate research. Using the soil layer humidity data sets of GLDAS-Noah v2.0 and v2.1, we analyzed the spatial-temporal distribution of soil moisture in China in a layer from 0 to 200 cm over 71 years from 1948 to 2018. Firstly, the Mann-Kendall trend test was used to analyze the trend of the changes and the spatial variation characteristics of soil moisture over the 71 years. Secondly, the coefficient of variation was used to analyze the temporal and spatial fluctuation of soil moisture in each layer of the study area over the 71 years. Finally, the Hurst index was used to predict the future trend of soil moisture changes in each layer. In addition, the correlation between soil moisture and the spatial-temporal variation of soil temperature in China was explored. The results show that the annual variation trend of soil moisture in the 0-200 cm soil layer has been consistent, that is, the soil humidity in most parts of east China has been decreasing, especially in northeast China, central China, the area surrounding the Yunnan Guizhou Plateau, and Taiwan Island, while it has been increasing in most of the western regions. Also, the change in soil layer humidity from 0 to 200 cm in southern China was greater than that in the northern region, and the humidity of the soil layer in the Pearl River Delta region was the most unstable. In addition, the spatial variation of soil moisture in the study area was relatively small from 1948 to 2001, but from 2002, the soil moisture throughout the study area became uneven. In the future, the trend of the change in soil moisture in most areas of China will remain consistent with that in the past 71 years, i.e., the soil in most parts of the east will gradually dry out and the soil moisture in most parts of the west will gradually increase; the soil humidity from 0 to 200 cm in most of the study area is inversely related to the soil temperature, and is mainly concentrated in northeast and central China, central and northern Inner Mongolia, the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, and Taiwan Island.

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Human activities have placed significant pressure on the terrestrial biosphere, leading to ecosystem degradation and carbon losses. However, the full impact of these activities on terrestrial biomass carbon remains unexplored. In this study, we examined changes in global human footprint (HFP) and human‐induced aboveground biomass carbon (AGBC) losses from 2000 to 2018. Our findings show an increasing trend in HFP globally, resulting in the conversion of wilderness areas to highly modified regions. These changes have altered global biomes' habitats, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. We also found accelerated AGBC loss driven by HFP expansion, with a total loss of 19.99 ± 0.196 PgC from 2000 to 2018, especially in tropical regions. Additionally, AGBC is more vulnerable in the Global South than in the Global North. Human activities threaten natural habitats, resulting in increasing AGBC loss even in strictly protected areas. Therefore, scientifically guided planning of future human activities is crucial to protect half of Earth through mitigation and adaptation under future risks of climate change and global urbanization.