Changes in the area and pattern of farmland in China's eastern Loess Plateau

Li, Jinchang; Zhao, Yanfang; Liu, Haixia; Su, Zhizhu

doi:10.1016/j.chnaes.2016.03.002

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Additionally, the high transpiration losses via forest canopies can facilitate the formation of dry soil layers in this region ( Yang & Tian, 2004 ). With regard to the causes of dry soil layers in the Loess Plateau region, it is proposed that when the original soil water conditions reach a certain level of desiccation, continuous tree and shrub planting results in further soil water depletion, which could worsen soil water conditions ( Cao et al, 2012 ; Li et al, 2008 ). Consequently, planting fruit trees in Weibei is thought to pose risks with regard to water resource availability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil water depletion patterns in rainfed apple orchards and wheat fields

Zhang

Wang

Sun

2023

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Agricultural production in the Weibei rainfed highland, Northwest China, is challenged by severe drought and water shortages. While the land use pattern has shifted gradually from crop production to orchard farming in Weibei, little is known about the influence of fruit industry development on regional water resources and the rationality of planting orchards. Here, we characterized soil water depletion patterns in rainfed orchards and farmlands to evaluate the occurrence of soil desiccation under land use conversion from farmlands to orchards in Weibei. Soil moisture dynamics were monitored in the 0–150 cm soil profiles of different aged Red Fuji apple orchards (young: 7 years, mature: 13 years, old: 22 years) and long-term cultivated winter wheat fields. We measured soil moisture content by oven-drying method in the middle of each month during the growing season of apple trees (March–September 2019). The over-depletion and depletion of soil water were analyzed to evaluate water stress and differential water depletion by distinct vegetation, respectively. The soil desiccation index was used to determine the occurrence of dry soil layers. Water stress was only observed at the 0–70-cm soil depths in the old orchards (mid-June) and farmlands (mid-May–mid-July). Water depletion took place at deeper depths for longer periods in the older orchards than in the younger orchards. Soil desiccation was absent in the young orchards, with mild desiccation at the 0–80-cm soil depths in the mature and old orchards in mid-June. The desiccation intensity was mild at the 0–60-cm soil depths in mid-April–mid-May, intense at the 0–150-cm soil depths in mid-June, and moderate at the 20–150-cm soil depths in mid-July. Results of this study demonstrate the mitigation of water stress and soil desiccation following conversion from wheat fields to apple orchards, which verifies the rationality of planting orchards in the rainfed highland area. Our findings provide strong support for developing a novel model of agro-industrial development, ecological construction, and sustainable economy in the vast arid and semi-arid areas of Northwest China.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil water depletion patterns in rainfed apple orchards and wheat fields

Zhang

Wang

Sun

2023

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As the situation of food security becomes increasingly serious, the marginalisation of cultivated land has become one of the most concerning research hotspots amongst scholars (H. Li, Wu, et al, 2017; Y. H. Wang, Li, et al, 2020). Some scholars believe that the marginalisation of cultivated land refers to the process in which cultivated land in a specific region stops its agricultural farming activities, or the net benefit of cultivated land utilisation decreases, driven by social, economic, political and environmental factors (S. Li & Li, 2016); some studies also state that marginalised cultivated land refers to cultivated land that has been damaged by human activities, cultivated land that is no longer suitable for growing food crops and cultivated land that is neglected but not utilised (Guan et al, 2022); this definition can also be extended to cultivated land that is ecologically and environmentally unsuitable for growing food crops but can be cultivated with perennial energy crops with soil and water conservation (Niblick et al, 2013; Patel et al, 2021). For the purpose of this paper, marginalised cultivated lands are mainly cultivated lands with more fragile ecological environments, poorer natural endowments and weaker basic conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is marginalised cultivated land on the Tibetan Plateau suitable for production or ecology? An example from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Wang,

Zhou,

et al. 2024

Land Degrad Dev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the ecologically fragile alpine area of the Tibetan Plateau, some marginalised cultivated lands have more serious conflicts related to agricultural production and ecological protection than others; thus, it is of practical significance to explore the rational use of marginalised cultivated lands. In this study, Xining City and Haidong City in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau were taken as the study area. Marginalised cultivated land was identified, and the vegetation photosynthesis model was used to evaluate its production function. Ecological function was evaluated in terms of soil retention, landscape connectivity and habitat maintenance. The rational use pathways of marginalised cultivated land were derived through statistical analysis and aggregation model analysis. The results showed that there were 183,489.19 ha of marginalised cultivated land in the study area; the average value of production function of marginalised cultivated land was approximately 70% of that of nonmarginalised cultivated land, and its various ecological functions reached 93.64%–117.98% of that of nonmarginalised cultivated land. In general, the distribution of production functions decreases from northwest to southeast, and the ecological functions are high in the middle and low in the surroundings. A comprehensive analysis of the production and ecological functions of marginalised cultivated land can provide a reference basis for the rational formulation of cultivated land protection policies and ecological protection policies.

show abstract

“…Increased industrialization and urbanization have decreased the rural population, with much of the rural labour force transferring from agricultural to non‐agricultural sectors (Li & Li, 2016; Wang, Ma, Xu, Wan, et al, 2019). In addition, the low yields of agricultural products, broken topography, and low degree of mechanization have resulted in the abandonment of many tillage terraces (Wang, Ma, Xu, Dong, et al, 2019), impacting national food security, regional ecological environments, and agricultural and economic development (Jiang et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The number, area, and distribution of tillage terraces and abandoned terraces of China mainly come from manual investigations and incomplete statistics. Because the limitation of the extraction methods of abandoned land, many researches have conducted a large number of separate studies on the terraces and abandoned land in mountainous areas, but the studies on the abandoned terraces are still scarce, which not only limits the research on the driving factors of abandoned land and the spatial–temporal change rules, but also affects quantitative research on the impact and extent of abandoned terraces on soil and water conservation (Gumma et al, 2020; Li & Li, 2016; Zhang et al, 2020). Therefore, exploring the spatial distribution of abandoned terraces is necessary to lay a foundation for the management and maintenance of regional terraces, ecological environment protection, and economic development (Chen et al, 2016; Zhang, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abandoned terrace recognition based on deep learning and change detection on the Loess Plateau in China

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Terraces are an important cultivated land resource. Terrace abandonment affects the soil quality, soil and water conservation benefits, and biodiversity of terraces. Therefore, it is important to quantify the number and spatial distribution of abandoned terraces to protect cultivated land and food security. However, the traditional remote sensing method cannot identify small plots and make accurate assessment of abandoned farmland quickly in mountainous areas. To accurately identifying abandoned terraces, this study used semantic segmentation based on deep learning and change detection to identify abandoned terraces and their spatial distribution in a small watershed on the Loess Plateau in 2021. A comparative analysis of the accuracy of three deep learning models revealed that RefineNet is superior to DeepLabv3+ and DeepLabv3 for identifying abandoned terraces. The user's accuracy, producer's accuracy, overall accuracy, and appa values for RefineNet were 0.817, 0.894, 0.800, and 0.539, respectively. For change detection, the corresponding values were 0.821, 0.753, 0.731, and 0.426, respectively. In addition, semantic segmentation produced better recognition results than change detection in complex terrain and geomorphological areas. The abandoned terraces in the study area were mainly distributed in mountainous areas far from residential areas and more likely at high elevations with large slopes. This study provides a new method for recognizing abandoned terraces and spatial distribution information for managing and utilizing abandoned terraces.

show abstract

Changes in the area and pattern of farmland in China's eastern Loess Plateau

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Soil water depletion patterns in rainfed apple orchards and wheat fields

Soil water depletion patterns in rainfed apple orchards and wheat fields

Is marginalised cultivated land on the Tibetan Plateau suitable for production or ecology? An example from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Abandoned terrace recognition based on deep learning and change detection on the Loess Plateau in China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About