Large scale changes in land use pattern such as deforestation and machine-intensive farming process have increased carbon concentrations in atmosphere which negatively affects agricultural sector. Cross-disciplinary approaches were applied to investigate the land use changes and their impacts on the soil properties over Kanshi watershed. The results revealed that vegetation cover has been declined over the Kanshi catchment area during the last two decades. The deforestation and urbanization are the basic reasons for the fall of water tables in the Kanshi catchment area. Furthermore, the decreasing trend of rainfall and increasing trend of temperature was estimated during the last two decades. While the water discharge was decreased by 44.15 % during the last two decades in the Kanshi watershed. This substantial and significant change resultant due to climate change or increased intercession of anthropogenic activities on the earth surface. The highest stream flow was found in 1992 in the Kanshi catchment due to heavy rainfall. But in 2019, flow was on its peak value. Such variations in flow of stream increase due to fluctuations in rainfall pattern and vegetation cover resulted land degradation. 85% of local community is agreed that extensive agricultural practices, population growth, settlement patterns and brick industry have significant negative impact on vegetative cover and water discharge.

Tropical forest and swidden agriculture are declining, while commercial plantation is continuously expanding. However, little is known about the mechanisms, processes and trends of the tropical forest-swidden-plantation (FSP) nexus. Global ongoing initiatives including the UN-REDD Programme, not only have repeatedly emphasized the significance of conserving forests, reforestation and afforestation, but re-pushed swidden agriculture to the forefront of a long-standing international debate of climate changes and biodiversity. Many facets limit our understanding of swidden agriculture. The lack of geographic and demographic data and their dynamics across the tropics undoubtedly further aggravate this situation since the first appeal of eradication of shifting cultivation by the FAO. Although recent studies have enriched significantly our knowledge of forest loss and plantation expansion, previous research has proceeded separately and has yet to be integrated under the umbrella of sustainable swidden agriculture. Efforts are needed to investigate the dynamics of the FSP nexus for sake of a synergetic goal of climate mitigation and poverty alleviation.

A comprehensive evaluation indicator system is needed to provide a integrated assessment of the degree of sloped cropland degradation. We employed bibliometrics to perform statistical analysis on research studies involving cropland degradation. Frequency analysis was then used to identify high-frequency indicators with which to construct a total index set (TIS) for evaluation of the degree of sloped cropland degradation in black soil region. In addition, soil measurement data from sloped cropland in Baiquan and Keshan Counties, Heilongjiang province, China, were used as a basis to construct a minimum index set (MIS). The TIS included A-horizon thickness, clay content, organic matter content, pH, slope gradient, ridge-slope angle, gully density, bulk density, large water-stable aggregate content, soil cation exchange capacity, and crop yield. The first six of these were included in the MIS. In the studied area, undegraded soil, mildly degraded soil, and moderately degraded soil and above accounted for 7%, 48% and 45% of investigated sloped croplands, respectively. Slope gradient is one of the main factors affecting soil degradation. Soil degradation mainly presented as worsening of soil physicochemical characteristics. In addition, downslope and small-angle ridge cultivation are benefit for soil organic matter maintenance and the soil structure and nutrient retention capacity is better than soil with contour or large-angle ridge cultivation. The reason might be that downslope and small-angle ridge cultivation are usually employed on soil with small slope. The study results provide a scientific basis for improving the quality and productivity of sloped cropland in black soil region.

Araucaria araucana is an iconic long-lived endangered tree species exclusively distributed in Southern Chile and Argentina. Araucaria forest ecosystems provide a myriad of ecosystem benefits to local aboriginal Mapuche-Pehuenche communities. Among the main current threats for Araucaria forests are the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires and overgrazing. This study evaluates the effect of uncontrolled livestock grazing on soil quality indicators linked to critical functions relevant to forest regeneration and ecosystem service provision. We also aim to determine a set of soil quality indicators that are sensitive enough to grazing pressure, so they are useful as early indicators of degradation or the effectiveness of restoration practices. This study evaluated twenty soil quality indicators in two contiguous degraded forest areas with contrasting grazing pressure. We observed a substantial shift in forest structure, a reduction in tree coverage on the overgrazed sites. Overgrazing has produced significant deterioration of most soil physical, chemical, and biological quality indicators making soil conditions less suitable for seed germination and sapling establishment. We also observed an alteration in C, N, and P biogeochemical pools. Besides, soil physical indicators alterations suggest changes in these soils' hydrological behavior, potentially reducing water storage, availability, and increasing runoff. We show that uncontrolled grazing in native protected areas degrades soils and forest health, restricting forest regeneration and potentially accelerating erosive processes. Our results emphasized the need for an improved conservation plan for these forests that systematically evaluates and monitors livestock grazing and all its direct and indirect effects, including soil quality.

Forest transition theory posits that socioeconomic development in a country or region may cause its forestland to shift from net loss to net gain. However, forest transition may also occur under various policies, resulting in forest gains in some regions but deforestation in other regions. We used the telecoupling framework to address this crucially important issue that has rarely been examined. Using time series satellite images and statistical yearbook data from 2000 to 2020, this study seeks to understand land use change patterns, the corresponding regional spillover effects, and driving forces behind such patterns in Zhejiang Province, China. The results show that large-scale continuous deforestation has taken place since 2000, causing a total loss of forestland by 186,014 ha. In parallel with this forest loss and a slight decrease in arable land, urban construction land has soared by 169.45%. We found that developed municipalities such as Hangzhou witnessed increases in urban land at the expense of large-scale deforestation in underdeveloped municipalities such as Lishui. We believe that this cross-region land change pattern may arise from the Balance of Arable Land System (BALS) policy that seeks to achieve a goal of no net loss of cropland. Whatever land use policy—such as the BALS policy—must strike a good balance between competitive land uses that have different objectives such as residents’ living, ecology, and production. In addition to enriching the forest transition theory, this study provides a solid basis for future land use decisions in developing regions or countries.

Afforestation; Soil ecoenzymatic C: N: P; Specific enzyme activities; Soil C and N contents.

Clear-cutting means forest removing (stem only) and is the most common type of forest harvesting but undoubtedly has a negative impact on the C budget in soils. This work aimed to describe responses of soil organic matter in the forest soils to forest removing under temperate climate conditions of lowland and mountain regions in south-western Poland. Using advanced instrumental analysis, like EPR, 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy it has been found that clear-cutting, alters C cycling and accelerates decomposition in the forest floor leading to loss of humic fractions in the investigated soils. In the mountain forests the more labile, low-molecular fulvic fraction decreased as the effect of harvesting practice. The transformation of organic matter after clear-cutting resulted in the loss of less humified organic matter containing humic substances of less polymerised molecules. Analysis of the semiquinone radical structures and concentrations showed a decrease in radical concentration observed for HA from mountain clear-cut areas compare to the undisturbed forest. Results presented in this paper have proved less aliphatic character of humic acid molecules from the lowlands, compared to the mountain forest as the effect of clear-cutting. Harvesting practices in mountain regions should be approached with particular care due to the risk of erosion of exposed surfaces and soils containing less humified and less stable organic matter than in the lowlands. Humic fractions of higher solubility, less stability and tendency to migrate through the soil profile may favour the leaching of nutrients and consequently cause the eutrophication of waters.

A four-year field experiment was carried out to evaluate an integrated use of saline water for the saline soil reclamation in Hebei Province of North China. A landscape shrub (Caryopteris × clandonensis ‘Worcester Gold’) was cultivated using drip irrigation scheduled by rootzone soil matric potential control at five levels of water salinity (ECi): 0.8, 3.1, 4.7, 6.3, and 7.8 dS·m−1. Soil matric potential control was applied using a threshold of −5, −10, −15, and −20 kPa in the first, second, third, and fourth year, respectively. After four growing seasons, the saline soil (initial ECe value of 27.8 dS·m−1) was reclaimed to slightly saline soil for 0–1 m depth (4.1–7.2 dS·m−1) under drip irrigation with saline water of ECi < 7.8 dS·m−1. The salt leaching efficiency of root zone soil was highest in the first year and lowered year-by-year. The plants strongly responded to the different soil water and salinity regime. Significant decreases in survival rate, plant growth, and shoot dry weight in response to increasing ECi were found. To achieve a relative survival rate of >50%, the threshold salinity of irrigation water for ‘Worcester Gold’ cultivation was 7.8, 7.0, 5.6, and 5.3 dS·m–1, for the first, second, third, and fourth growing season, respectively. It is recommended to use an inter-seasonal evolving matric potential threshold of −10 kPa for dry season of the third year, −15 kPa for rainy season of the third year and dry season of the fourth year, and −20 kPa for rainy season of the fourth year.

Sustainable agronomic practices are tried all over the world to promote safe and eco-friendly crop production. Therefore, in the present study, the effect of seed endophytic bacteria and its consortia on soil biochemical property, soil nutrient, and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under field and pot conditions are investigated. Both the experimental results proved a significant increase in total soil organic carbon (OC), electric conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), soil nutrient like available N, P and K content and important soil enzymes like dehydrogenase (DHA), beta glucosidase, alkaline phosphate, and urease was observed under the Enterobacter hormaechei BHUJPCS-15 (T1), Enterobacter cloacae BHUJPCS-21 (T2) and combined T3 (consortia of T1 and T2) treatments. Similarly, a significant increase in the grain yield (27-45% and 57-73%) in microbial treatment was found in pot and field experiments, respectively than control. In addition, whereas the higher plant biomass (14-38% and 42-78%) was recorded in the treated plant over the control plant. Similarly, the plant photosynthetic pigment (Chl a, b, total Chl) were also increased in the microbial treated plant than the control untreated chickpea plant. Our present study highlights the significance of sustainable agronomic practices for improving the soil quality and agricultural yield while reducing adverse impacts of chemicals by the use of seed endophytic microbes and their consortia.

Despite many studies explored the effect of livestock grazing on plant communities, the response of species composition and diversity to livestock grazing in arid rangelands remain ambiguous. This study examined the effects of livestock grazing on plant communities in arid steppe rangelands of North Africa. Plant diversity of annual species, perennial species and all species combined was measured and compared between grazed and grazing-excluded areas. We also examined the relative importance of species turnover and community nestedness. Moreover, the effects of livestock grazing on beta diversity at local among transects and landscape among sites scales were examined using the multiplicative diversity partitioning. Results revealed that livestock grazing significantly decreased the alpha diversity of all species combined and the diversity of annual plants. Livestock grazing induced a shift in plant community composition where most of species composition variation (~74%) was due to infrequent species replacement ‘turnover’ between the two management types rather than nestedness (~26%). Results revealed also that among transects, beta diversity was higher in grazed steppes than in grazing-excluded steppes. Whereas, among sites, beta diversity was lower in grazed steppes compared to grazing-excluded steppes. These findings suggest that livestock grazing in arid steppe rangelands increases the variation in plant species composition at a local spatial scale and engenders vegetation homogeneity at landscape spatial scale. Therefore, the implementation of appropriate management practices such as short-term grazing exclusion is mandatory to prevent these ecosystems from large scale biotic homogenization.

Quantifying how multiple ecosystem services and functions are affected by different drivers of Global Change is challenging. Particularly in African savanna regions, highly integrated land-use activities created a landscape mosaic with flows of multiple resources between land use types. A framework is needed that quantifies the effects of climate change, management and policy interventions on ecosystem services that are most relevant for rural communities, such as provision of food, feed, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling and natural pest control. In spite of progress made in ecosystem modelling, data availability and stakeholder interactions, these elements have neither been brought together in an integrated framework, nor evaluated in the context of real-world problems. Here, we propose and outline such framework as developed by a multi-disciplinary research network, the Southern African Limpopo Landscapes network (SALLnet). Components of the framework such as the crop model APSIM and the vegetation model aDGVM2 had already been parameterized and evaluated using data sets from savanna regions of eastern, western and southern Africa, and were fine-tuned using novel data sets from Limpopo. A prototype of an agent-based farm household model was developed using comprehensive farm survey information from the Limpopo Province of South Africa. A first test of the functionality of the integrated framework has been performed for alternative policy interventions on smallholder crop-livestock systems. We discuss the versatile applicability of the framework, with a focus on smallholder landscapes in the savanna regions of southern Africa that are considered hotspots of global change impacts.

Using a household and plot-level survey conducted in 2016/17 in ten districts of Ethiopia, this study explores whether there is a difference in farmers’ adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) practices between their rainfed and irrigated plots. The paper also investigates the varying influence of different types of irrigation water management systems and associated irrigation technologies on the adoption of SLM practices in irrigated plots. Our findings show only a small difference in the average number of SLM practices between rainfed and irrigated plots, even though significant differences are observed between many of the practices applied individually among these plots. The econometric estimation shows that the role of the combined effect of irrigation water management system and irrigation technology on adoption of SLM practices is quite varied and very significant. The evidence highlights that farmers adopt more SLM practices in their plots with pump irrigation compared to those plots where gravity irrigation is applied. This finding implies that pump irrigation systems enhance complementarities with SLM practices. Furthermore, the results indicate that the type of irrigation water management and the technology applied could play an important role in restoring degraded lands and maintaining soil fertility, even when farmers’ adoption of irrigation were not explicitly triggered by concerns for soil health.

Reforestation is widely used to restore degraded infertile soils in the coastal area. Substantial attention has been paid to the functioning of AMF in vegetation restoration because arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are considered beneficial to this process. However, little is known about the effect of AMF product, glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration during the forest restoration. We conducted a study in a tropical region where the native forest has been seriously deforested with only a few grasses and then a series of restoration approaches have been made to restore the forest ecosystem. The study sites include a barren land (BL), a Eucalyptus exserta planted forest (EF), a mixed broadleaved forest (MF) and a secondary natural forest (SF), which represents the un-, early-, middle- and late-restoration stage, respectively. The results showed that the restoration increased EE-GRSP and T-GRSP by 3.9-12.3 times and 1.9-4.6 times compared with the barren land, respectively. The proportion of GRSP in SOC is 1.6-2.0% (EE-GRSP/SOC) and 6.5-15.8% (T-GRSP/SOC), respectively. Also, a significantly positive relationship was found between the proportion of GRSP in SOC and recalcitrant SOC composition percentage (aromatic C), as well as between GRSP and soil aggregate stability. These results together suggest that the restoration of the degraded tropical forest is beneficial to soil C sequestration with the accumulation of GRSP, most likely, through an improvement of the soil aggregate stability and increase of the proportion of recalcitrant soil C chemical composition.

The soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamic was usually considered as a minor change based on a static process in the sealed soil under decades of impervious surface (IS). However, no systematic studies concerning the soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) dynamic were conducted under IS in contrast with urban vegetation (i.e., forest, grass). Here we utilized fractional distillation of soils as well as stable isotopic analysis to examine soil C&N cycles after 20 and 30 years of vegetation planting and IS construction in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Pearl River Delta, China. Soil samples including bare soil (CK) and four land use treatments were split into different chemical fractions. Then we analyzed the C&N content, C/N ratio, δ13C, δ15N, C&N recalcitrant indices (RIC, RIN), and the mean residence time (MRT). We found that the soil C&N increased first (i.e., 20 years) because of enhanced C&N stocks in both labile (LP) and recalcitrant pool (RP), and then stabilized or decreased (i.e., 30 years) with the IS ages in both cities. IS had a lower SOC decomposition rate and thus resulted in the five to ten times longer MRT (about 259–465 years) than that in vegetated soils (about 39–55 years). Moreover, the SOC&SON always showed a decoupling relation in labile pools (i.e., LC and LN) in forests in both cities. The study showed the IS remarkably altered the soil C&N dynamics, showing a great difference in SOC&SON fractions composition and turnover compared with vegetation.

Mollisols are of major importance for food security worldwide but are increasingly degraded by soil erosion. Mollisols in Northeast China have been converted into agricultural use only since the nineteenth century, but gullies are widely distributed. Gully erosion history, rates and causes in this region remained unclear. We chose a study area with landforms and land-use history typical for the central Mollisol region of Northeast China to estimate the initiation years and rates of gully erosion from 1968 to 2018 by using aerial and satellite imageries. The outlet fan deposits of a large gully system were dated by Caesium-137 (137Cs) and artefacts. Local farmers were interviewed to verify the results. Gully volumes were measured by structure-from-motion technique using photos taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle. Our results showed that gully systems had already appeared on the steep slopes and along unpaved roads in 1968. They had become larger and more complex in 2018 by upslope retreat of the main gullies and side gully formation. Gully incision started in the 1950s and 1960s, when the original grassland and forest were completely converted into arable land. From 1968 to 2018, the gully density increased from 1.2 to 2.3 km km-2 and the gully heads retreated at speeds from 1.5 to 2.5 m yr-1. The soil loss from gully erosion ranged from 25.7 to 44.7 Mg yr-1 ha-1. These data demonstrate the severity of gully erosion in the Mollisol region of Northeast China and underline the importance of appropriate countermeasures.

Understanding the interactions among soil microbial species and how they respond to land reclamation is essential to evaluate the success of ecological restoration actions in disturbed mining soil. In this study, we strived to reveal the interactions among soil bacterial communities along the reclamation timeline of a coal mine in Zoucheng, China. To do so, we investigated changes in the composition of soil bacterial over time and constructed molecular ecological networks (i.e. microbial network) following mining soil reclamation into agricultural land. The relationships between microbial networks and selected soil attributes (i.e. soil pH, electric conductivity, organic matter, soil nutrients and enzymatic activities) were also analyzed. The results showed that the composition of soil bacteria changed significantly along the reclamation timeline. The microbial network profile revealed that Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes and Proteobacteria were the key microbial populations. Soil pH, soil organic matter content, soil dehydrogenase and urease activities were significantly correlated (0.001 ≤ P < 0.05) with the microbial network structure, suggesting that the microbial networks found influenced the provision of relevant soil ecological functions after reclamation. The variation in complexity of the microbial networks along the reclamation timeline revealed that microbial development was promoted by the shift in land use from mining into agriculture. Overall, our findings shed light on how soil microbial communities and networks change following mine reclamation into agricultural land. The results presented herein will undoubtedly aid in the establishment of success indicators of ecological restoration activities in disturbed mining soil.

Natural wetland along the coasts of Yellow and Bohai seas provided key stopover sites for migratory waterbirds. However, these wetlands are facing land loss. Understanding how natural wetlands loss influence habitat is an important step for habitat management. Using species distribution model to report changes in area of suitable habitat, and the effects of natural wetland loss on habitat for 80 waterbird species attributed to four functional categories (shorebird, duck, heron, gull), between 2000 and 2015 in the Yellow and Bohai seas. Of 1794.8 km2 of coastal wetland lost to development between 2000 and 2015, most represented tidal flats converted into aquaculture and salt pan habitat, or for construction. Consequently, habitat for 73 of these 80 species has decreased in area over this time period. Generally, the proportional decline in habitat suitable for species of duck was less than it was shorebirds, herons and gulls. The proportional loss of tidal flat habitat that formerly represented suitable habitat for shorebirds, herons and gulls was also significantly higher than it was for ducks. Because more species of duck exploit aquaculture and salt pan habitat converted from tidal flats than do shorebird, heron and gull species, such conversion of tidal flats pose a greater threat to shorebirds, herons and gulls than they do to ducks. Preventing further reclamation of tidal flats and managing artificial wetlands are priorities for waterbirds conservation, especially for the species ducks.

Vehicle traffic induced soil compaction has negative effects on soil functions and ecosystems which may cause the degradation of farmland. This study investigated the magnitude and distribution of soil stress under the tracked and tired vehicles to explore the penitential of using rubber track instead of tire to reduce the subsoil compaction. The field experiment in this study included three replicates and was conducted on a sandy loam soil. Vertical and horizontal soil stress were measured under the centerlines of the rubber track and tire at a depth of 0.35m by using embedded transducers. The SoilFlex model was applied to simulate vertical and horizontal stress in the soil profile. Unevenly distributed vertical and horizontal stress were observed under the tire and rubber track. The vertical stress was characterized by one peak under the tire and several peaks under each of track wheels and rollers. The horizontal stress exhibited peaks before and after the tire and each of track wheels and rollers. The measured maximum stress was significantly higher under the tire than under the rubber track: that is, vertical and horizontal stress were approximately 3.4 and 2.0 times higher, respectively. This finding indicated that using rubber track maybe an effective method to reduce soil stress when compared with the tire, and was more effective in reducing the vertical stress than horizontal stress. Improving the uniformity of stress distribution under the track is the key to improve the ability of tracked vehicle to mitigate soil compaction.