Abstract
Abstract. A spatially explicit cropland distribution time-series dataset is the basis for the accurate assessment of biogeochemical processes in terrestrial ecosystems and their feedback to the climate system; however, this type of dataset is lacking in China. Existing cropland maps have a coarse resolution, are intermittently covered, or the data are inconsistent. We reconstructed a continuously covered cropland distribution dataset in China spanning from 1900 to 2016 by assimilating multiple data sources. In total, national cropland acreage expanded from 77.72 Mha in 1900 to a peak of 151.00 Mha in 1979, but it consistently decreased thereafter to 134.92 Mha in 2016. The cropland was primarily distributed in three historically cultivated plains in China: the Sichuan Plain, the Northern China Plain, and the Northeast China Plain. Cropland abandonment was approximately 43.12 Mha: it was mainly concentrated in the Northern China Plain and the Sichuan Plain and occurred during the 1990–2010 period. Cropland expansion was over 74.37 Mha: it was primarily found in the southeast, northern central, and northeast regions of China and occurred before 1950. In comparison, the national total and spatial distribution of cropland in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) were distorted during the period from 1960 to 1980 due to the biased signal from the Chinese Agricultural Yearbook. We advocate that newly reconstructed cropland data, in which the bias has been corrected, should be used as the updated data for regional and global assessments, such as greenhouse gas emission accounting studies and food production simulations. The cropland dataset is available via an open-data repository (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13356680; Yu et al., 2020).
Highlights
Land use and cover change (LUCC) has transformed over one-third of the planet’s surface, altering regional and global climate via changes in biogeochemical and biogeophysical processes (Foley et al, 2005; Klein Goldewijk et al, 2017)
The History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) trends are inconsistent with our reconstructed data and other intermittently reported studies from 1960 to 1990
It is noteworthy that abnormal cropland augments were found in the time-series data of FAO and HYDE in the 1980s, the National Land and Resources Bulletin (NLRB) in 2009, and FAO in 2015 (Fig. 2)
Summary
Land use and cover change (LUCC) has transformed over one-third of the planet’s surface, altering regional and global climate via changes in biogeochemical and biogeophysical processes (Foley et al, 2005; Klein Goldewijk et al, 2017). As the dominant drivers of LUCC, agricultural activities that produce food, fiber, and livestock have triggered far-ranging consequences, such as soil erosion, nutrient depletion, desertification, salinization, and acidification (FAO and ITPS, 2015; Keesstra et al, 2016; Sanderman et al, 2017). Agricultural plants have unique biophysical characteristics that are different from natural vegetation, directly influencing local, regional, and global climate systems. Human domination of croplands has transformed the hydrologic and nutrient cycles through drainage, irrigation, and fertilization (Carlson et al, 2017; Castellano et al, 2019). A better understanding of spatial–temporal conversions in cropland will greatly benefit the quantification
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