Sustainability has become an important discussion topic across the world since the late 1980s. However, there is still lack of knowledge about the landscape sustainability and its quantitative evaluation, especially at local and regional scale levels. The sustainable development of the Chinese Loess Plateau has always been a focus in China mainly because of the occurring severe soil erosion. This study investigates the changes of the landscape pattern and the changes of the ecological sustainability of the agricultural landscapes in Ansai County between 1980 and 2000, which is located in the northern part of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Using a landscape typology as a spatial reference framework, the concept of hemeroby was used, in a multidisciplinary approach, for the assessment of the ecological aspect of agricultural landscape sustainability. We combined expert judgement with a regression model and a Geographic Information System. Fourteen variables describing the landscape structure were chosen as predictors for hemeroby. The research showed that the major changes in the agricultural landscape pattern were caused not only by socio-economic factors but also by the government policies over the past two decades, such as the large-scale eco-environment conservation programmes starting in the late of the 20th century. One of these programmes is known as the Grain-for-Green Programme (initiated in 1999). Between 1980 and 2000, the proportion of cropland-dominated landscape sharply decreased while the percentage of the mixed farmland-grassland landscape and the mixed farmland-woodland-grassland landscape increased. Meanwhile, the ecological sustainability of the agricultural landscape as a whole tended to become more sustainable, except a few landscape types. Among variables describing landscape pattern, patch size standard deviation (PSSD), total edge (TE), mean shape index (MSI), landscape shape index (LSI) and Shannon's evenness index (SEI) were shown to be the significant predicators for hemeroby. Although some data limitation, landscape structure turned out to be a good predicator for land use intensity and ecological sustainability of agricultural landscape estimated by hemeroby. As a highly integrative indicator, the concept of hemeroby provides a framework for the comparison of different land use pattern. #
A comprehensive understanding of the spatial distribution and dynamic changes of soil properties are the basis for sustainable land management. Topography and land use types are key factors affecting soil property variability. This study analyzed the effects of land use types and landscape locations on soil properties, based on data from 111 points of surface soil (0–20 cm) in the Zhujiagou catchment on the Loess Plateau of Northwest China. Soil properties include clay, silt, bulk density (BD), soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP). Land use types include slope farmland (SFL), terrace farmland (TFL), check-dam farmland (CDL), woodland (WL), shrub land (SL) and grassland (GL). Landscape locations include crest (CT), upper slope (US), middle slope (MS), lower slope (LS) and flat valley (FV). Topographical attributes were divided into primary and secondary (or compound) attributes. Correlation analyses were carried out between soil properties and terrain attribute, and multiple-linear regression models were established to estimate soil properties using land use types and topographic attributes as independents. Results indicated that significant differences in soil properties existed between six land use types, except for bulk density. Higher values of clay, silt, SOM and TN occurred in soils from check-dam farmland, but lower values in soils from shrub land. Significant differences among landscape positions were observed for clay, BD, SOM and TN. Clay, SOM and TN contents on flat valley (FV) positions were higher than those of other positions. Different correlations were found between soil properties and terrain attributes. The regression models explained 13% to 63% of the variability of the measured soil properties, and the model for Clay had the highest R2 value, followed by TN, silt, BD, SOM and TP. Validation results of the regression models showed that the model was precise for soil bulk density, but the variation was large and a high smoothing effect existed for predicted values of other soil properties. For TP, the predicted result was poor. Further observations suggested that land use was the dominant factor affecting soil chemical properties. But for soil physical properties, especially for BD, topography was the dominant factor.
Land-use zoning provides an effective tool for designing and implementing differentiated farmland-protection policies. Despite the exponential increase in research on farmland zoning in recent years, little research has comprehensively explored the supply, demand and relationships of the diverse functions of farmland. In this study, multi-sourced datasets and diverse methods, along with GIS, were combined to spatially evaluate the supply, demand and relationship patterns among the production, ecological and landscape-cultural functions of the farmland of Hangzhou City in China, to construct farmland zoning. The results indicate that high production supply was mostly concentrated in flat plains, whereas highly ecological farmland was frequently observed in mountains. Both urban and rural areas had the capacity to provide aesthetics and recreation. Regarding demand, high values were mainly observed near the downtown area. Additionally, supply-and-demand matching (SDM) and multi-functional coupling and coordination degree (MCCD) were evaluated. Among the four basic zones acquired by SDM analysis, two zones dominated by more than one function were further divided into four sub-regions, according to the MCCD values. Ultimately, six farmland-use zones were determined. By considering the supply, demand and relationships of multiple functions, this farmland-zoning program offers new insights into differentiated farmland protection.
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