Effects of agricultural land use on soil nutrients and its variation along altitude gradients in the downstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin, Tibetan Plateau.

Agricultural development in alpine ecosystems can cause significant changes in soil nutrients. With large altitude spans, the combined effect of the two is still unclear in existing research. To answer this problem, this study took the downstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin (YZRB) as the study area, and designed a comparative soil sampling scheme along the altitude gradient. We compared soil nutrient characteristics facility agricultural land (FA) and field cultivated land (FC), using grassland (GL), the main source of agriculture expansion, as a reference. A total of 44 sampling areas were designed within an altitude range of 800-3500 m to reveal the effects of agricultural land development along the altitude gradient on soil nutrients. Research found that the FA significantly improved soil nutrient levels, with most nutrient indicators higher than those of FC and GL (P < 0.05), while the above indicators of FC were only slightly higher than GL. Moreover, the effects of agricultural development decreased with soil depth, and mainly occurred within the 0-30 cm soil layer (P < 0.05). With increasing altitude, most of soil nutrients first decreased and then increased and differences in soil nutrients among different land use modes first expanded and then shrank. This may be related to differences in farmland management methods, vegetation coverage, and temperature under different altitude gradient constraints. Especially in middle-altitude areas, the FA not only breaks through the low-temperature limitations of the plateau, but also has the advantage of large-scale development, which is suggested for future agricultural intensification in the plateau.

Improving the ecological network optimization with landscape connectivity: a case study of Neijiang City, Sichuan Province.

Rapid urbanization intensifies the fragmentation of landscape patches and affects the stability of ecosystems. The construction of an ecological network can effectively promote the connection of important ecological spaces and improve the landscape integrity. However, the landscape connectivity, directly affecting the stability of ecological network, was less considered in the ecological network construction of recent researches, which easily caused the instability of constructed ecological network. Therefore, this study introduced landscape connectivity index to establish a modified ecological network optimization method based on the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model. The results showed that, compared with the traditional model, the modified model focused on the spatially detailed measurement of regional connectivity, and emphasized the impact of human disturbance on ecosystem stability at the landscape scale. The constructed corridors in the optimized ecological network of the modified model not only effectively improved the connection degree between important ecological sources but also avoided the areas with low landscape connectivity and high obstacles to ecological flow, especially in the counties of Zizhong, Dongxing, and Longchang within the focal study area. The ecological network established by the traditional model and modified model generated 19 and 20 ecological corridors with lengths of 334.49 km and 364.35 km, respectively, and the number of ecological nodes was 18 and 22. Evaluated by the Gravity method, the modified model identified the important ecological corridors in the ecological network, and the energy transfer efficiency of the network was improved. This study provided an effective way to improve the structural stability of ecological network construction and can provide scientific support for regional landscape pattern optimization and ecological security construction.

A spatial directivity-based sensitivity analysis to farmland quality evaluation in arid areas.

Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) is an important means for evaluating resources and environment, and sensitivity analysis can enhance understand the robustness of evaluation results. Spatial visualization has been used in sensitivity analysis of MCDM, but the sensitivity results are still generally summarized by presenting traditional statistical measurements that omit the spatial information. To address this issue, this paper proposed a novel spatially measurement approach of sensitivity analysis by introducing the spatial barycenter model (SBM), which overcame the limitations of existing statistical methods and provided the spatial directivity of uncertainty for the MCDM results. According to our proposed method and its application in farmland quality evaluation (FQE) in an arid area of China, the mean of the absolute average change rate (MACR) and the SBM were applied to test the sensitivity of farmland quality to different evaluation factors from both numerical and spatial perspectives. From the numerical perspective, the soil organic matter and irrigation capacity were the most sensitive factors determined by the MACR. From the spatial perspective, the ≥10 °C accumulated temperature (AT) and precipitation were the most sensitive factors measured by the SBM. Based on the SBM, the spatial configuration of farmland quality index was most sensitive to increase of AT in a northwesterly direction. Calculating the SBM is computationally inexpensive and provides a straightforward indication of spatial direction for the changes of FQE results with changes of parameters. This means it can provide improved understandings and new insights into the comprehensive measurement of sensitivity analysis and agricultural production layout.

Information entropy and elasticity analysis of the land use structure change influencing eco-environmental quality in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 1990 to 2015.

Regional land use change affects eco-environmental quality by altering ecosystem structure and function. The primitive ecosystem and environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) occupies a special position in the world, but it is very fragile. Although land use activities on the plateau have increased gradually in past decades, its effects on eco-environmental quality and the underlying mechanisms of regional heterogeneity remain unclear. In this study, an eco-environmental quality assessment index system was established to characterize the QTP, and the information entropy and elasticity methods were introduced to quantify the impact of land use dynamic trajectory on the eco-environmental quality. It provides a statistical measurement of system structure and more information than the traditional methods to reveal the land use change. The area change in land use on QTP was small from 1990 to 2015. The unused land and forest decreased, but those of grassland, water body, built-up land, and cultivated land increased. The overall eco-environmental quality on the QTP was low, and increased at a rate of 9.39% over the past 25 years, presenting a distribution of decreasing from southeast to northwest. The improvement in eco-environmental quality attributed to land use change was mainly due to the conversion of unused land into grassland, and ecological conservation projects also improved the local ecological environment. Conversely, the expansion of built-up land and land degradation contributed to decline in local eco-environmental quality in the Hengduan Mountains, northeastern plateau, and Qaidam Basin. The results indicated that under the influence of climate change, the changes in land use and eco-environmental quality were inconsistent in part regions, mainly including the central and southern Tibet and the border zone. Regions in which eco-environmental quality has been degraded by unreasonable land use are urgent to optimize land use management.

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Regional habitat quality is an important indicator of ecosystem health. Understanding land use change and habitat quality will help protect biodiversity and build an ecological security pattern. We used the InVEST model to quantitatively evaluate the habitat quality of the Xinjiang Corps and Non-corps Region based on land use data of 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018, and further analyzed the similarities and differences of the spatiotemporal distribution. The results showed that from 1990 to 2018, Xinjiang's land use types were generally stable, characterized mainly by the expansion of cultivated land and construction land, and the decrease of grassland and unused land. The main changes were shown as the mutual conversion of grassland and cultivated land, and the conversion of cultivated land to construction land. The cultivated land and construction land of the Corps increased by 8.3% and 0.7%, while the grassland and forest land decreased by 6.7% and 0.3%, respectively. The change in the Non-corps region was relatively small, with a 1.5% reduction of grassland, a 1.2 % increases of cultivated land, and a 0.2% increase of construction land. From 1990 to 2018, the degree of habitat degradation in Xinjiang first decreased and then increased, with the quality of habitats decreasing gradually. The low-quality habitat areas were distributed in cities and towns, which gradually expand. The high-value areas of the Corps were distributed on the edge of the basin, and the patches tend to be fragmented. The high-value areas of the Non-corps Region were located in the mountains, with little change. The habitat quality level of Corps was higher than that of the Non-corps Region, with fast decline. Higher or lower habitat quality grades were easily transferred to medium ones. Compared with the Non-corps region, the transfer rate of the Corps was higher and the habitat damage was more severe. Economic development resulted in rapid expansion of low-level regions, which seriously threatened the quality of regional habitats. The prediction of land use showed that the area of cultivated and construction land in the Crops and the Non-corps Region would gradually increase in 2018-2035, and forest land and grassland would gradually decrease, which may lead to a gradual decline in habitat quality.

Temporal-spatial trends in potentially toxic trace element pollution in farmland soil in the major grain-producing regions of China.

Pollution from potentially toxic trace elements (PTEs) is becoming serious and widespread in farmland soils in China, threatening food security and human health. Few large-scale studies systematically analyzed their temporal-spatial trends over vast spatially elaborate sites. The soil health status of the main grain producing areas was first announced based on a total of 3662 spatially elaborate farmland topsoil sites from the 1980s to the 2000s. Nearly 21.5% of sites were polluted, although only slightly. Pollution from the Cd, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Hg was more serious. Pollution was more extensive in the south than in the north. There was an increasing trend in the PTE concentrations, especially Cd with a growth of 21-25%, and in the proportion of mixed pollution at the sites (19.3%), Cd (21.5%), Pb (3.6%), Zn (5.7%), Cu (7.0%), and Hg (3.1%). Furthermore, temporal variations in severe Cd pollution and mixed-level Hg pollution in the north are severer. This study may provide guidance for policymakers regarding the protection and high-risk area of PTE contamination in the soils.

[Spatial-Temporal Trends and Pollution Source Analysis for Heavy Metal Contamination of Cultivated Soils in Five Major Grain Producing Regions of China].

Heavy metal pollution of farmland soils in China has been identified as a threat to ecosystem safety and human health. A total of 3006 soil samples were analyzed from arable lands in five grain producing regions of China, which included data from published studies from 2000 up to now. An additional 656 historical samples were derived from the 1980s by a digitizing grained point sites map (Cd, Pb, As, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cr, and Hg) from the PRC Atlas of Soil Environmental Background Values. A GIS-based approach and single factor index method were employed to identify the current status and spatial distribution of heavy metal (Cd, Pb, As, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cr, and Hg) contamination in agricultural soils, and these were then compared with historical data to explore contamination trends over time. Then, based on the Igeo method and the effects of the surrounding environment on contamination rates, pollution sources were analyzed. Results showed that 21.49% of the agricultural soil samples exceeded the environmental quality standard set by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The proportions of slight, moderate, and severe pollution were 13.97%, 2.50%, and 5.02%, respectively. Pollution is more extensive in the south compared with the north. Exceedance percentages in the Sichuan Basin (SC), Yangtze River Middle Plain and Jianghuai Plain (CJ), Huang-Huai-Hai Plain (HHH), Songnen Plain (SN), and Sanjiang Plain (SJ), were 43.55%, 30.64%, 12.22%, 9.35%, and 1.67%, respectively. The main pollutants were Cd, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Hg, with exceedance percentages of 17.39%, 8.41%, 4.04%, 2.84%, and 2.56%, respectively. Since the 1980s, heavy metal pollution has increased by 14.91%. The proportion of Cd, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Hg increased by 16.07%, 4.56%, 3.68%, 2.24%, and 1.96%, respectively. Except for SJ, exceedance percentages in cultivated land increased significantly, while the exceedance percentages of Cd, Ni, and Cu in the southern areas were higher than for the northern areas-although the growth rate of Hg and Cr in the south was lower than that in the north. The main sources of Cd and Hg were anthropogenic pollution, while the other six heavy metals were from predominantly natural sources. However, about 20.00% of Pb, Zn, and Cu were affected by anthropogenic activities. Mining, industry, and sewage water were the main sources of pollution. In addition to the larger impact of sewage irrigation in the north, other sources of pollution showed greater influence in the south. Mining mainly caused pollution by Cd, Hg, Ni, Cr, and Cu, while excessive levels of Cd, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Hg was the signature of industrial pollution. Irrigation with sewage effluent causes excessive Cd, Ni, and Zn. Results from this study provide valuable information for agricultural soil management and food safety in China.

An evaluation of the ecological and environmental security on China's terrestrial ecosystems.

With rapid economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization, various ecological and environmental problems occur, which threaten and undermine the sustainable development and domestic survival of China. On the national scale, our progress remains in a state of qualitative or semi-quantitative evaluation, lacking a quantitative evaluation and a spatial visualization of ecological and environmental security. This study collected 14 indictors of water, land, air, and biodiversity securities to compile a spatial evaluation of ecological and environmental security in terrestrial ecosystems of China. With area-weighted normalization and scaling transformations, the veto aggregation (focusing on the limit indicator) and balanced aggregation (measuring balanced performance among different indicators) methods were used to aggregate security evaluation indicators. Results showed that water, land, air, and biodiversity securities presented different spatial distributions. A relatively serious ecological and environmental security crisis was found in China, but presented an obviously spatial variation of security evaluation scores. Hotspot areas at the danger level, which are scattered throughout the entirety of the country, were identified. The spatial diversities and causes of ecological and environmental problems in different regions were analyzed. Spatial integration of regional development and proposals for improving the ecological and environmental security were put forward.

Semi-natural areas of Tarim Basin in northwest China: Linkage to desertification.

Semi-natural lands are not intensively managed lands, which have ecological significance in protecting artificial oasis and preventing desertification in arid regions. The significant shrinkage and degradation of semi-natural lands in the land-use intensification process have caused severe desertification. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the spatio-temporal pattern and detailed classification of semi-natural lands and its quantitative relationship with desertification. Taking the Tarim Basin as an example, we proposed a comprehensive classification system to identify semi-natural lands for 1990, 2000, and 2010, respectively, using multi-source datasets at large scales. Spatio-temporal changes of semi-natural lands were then characterized by map comparisons at decade intervals. Finally, statistical relationships between semi-natural lands and desertification were explored based on 241 watersheds. The area of semi-natural lands in Tarim Basin was 10.77×104km2 in 2010, and desert-vegetation type, native-oasis type, artificial-oasis type, saline type and wetland type accounted for 59.59%, 14.65%, 11.25%, 9.63% and 4.88% of the total area, respectively. A rapid loss of semi-natural lands (9769.05km2) was demonstrated from 1990 to 2010. In the fragile watersheds, the semi-natural lands were mainly converted to desert; while in the watersheds with advanced oasis agriculture, artificial-oasis type reclaimed to arable land was the major change. The occurrence of desertification was closely related to the type, area proportion and combination patterns of semi-natural lands. Desertification was prone to occur in regions abundant in desert-vegetation type and saline type, while less serious desertification was observed in regions with high proportion of artificial-oasis type and wetland type. Policy intervention and reasonable water resource allocation were encouraged to prevent the substantial loss of semi-natural lands, especially for the water-limiting watersheds and periods.

Mining spatial information to investigate the evolution of karst rocky desertification and its human driving forces in Changshun, China.

The processes of karst rocky desertification (KRD) have been found to cause the most severe environmental degradation in southwestern China. Understanding the driving forces that cause KRD is essential for managing and restoring the areas that it impacts. Studies of the human driving forces of KRD are limited to the county level, a specific administrative unit in China; census data are acquired at this scale, which can lead to scale biases. Changshun County is studied here as a representative area and anthropogenic influences in the county are accounted for by using Euclidean distances for the proximity to roads and settlements. We propose a standard coefficient of human influence (SOI) that standardizes the Euclidean distances for different KRD transformations to compare the effects of human activities in different areas. In Changshun County, the individual influences of roads and settlements share similar characteristics. The SOIs of improved KRD transformation types are almost negative, but the SOIs of deteriorated types are nearly positive except for one form of KRD turning to the extremely severe KRD. The results indicated that the distribution and evolution of the KRD areas from 2000 to 2010 in Changshun were affected positively by human activities (e.g., KRD restoration projects) and also negatively (e.g., by intense and irrational land use). Our results demonstrate that the spatial techniques and SOI used in this study can effectively incorporate information concerning human influences and internal KRD transformations. This provides a suitable approach for studying the relationships between human activities and KRD processes at fine scales.