Abstract
Understanding soil erosion responses to cropland expansion/shrinking plays a crucial role in regional agriculture sustainability development in drylands. We selected Inner Mongolia, a typical water resource constraints region with acute cropland expansion, as the study area in China. Spatial cropland evolution and its impact on wind-driven soil erosion were investigated with the help of field sampling data, remotely sensed retrieved data, and the revised wind erosion model (RWEQ). Results showed that the cropland area of Inner Mongolia presented an increased growth trend, with a net increase area of 15,542.9 km2 from 1990 to 2018. Cropland characteristics in Inner Mongolia presented continuous growth in its eastern region, basically constant growth in its central region, and declined in its western region. Most cropland declines occurred after 2000 when the Grain for Green project began, which means that acute cropland expansion happened from 1990 to 2000. The soil wind erosion modulus showed a net increase with cropland expansion. The reclamation of forests and grasslands contributed to an increase of 5.0 million tons of the soil wind erosion modulus, 80% of which was produced in the eastern part of the region. The conversion from croplands to grasslands/forests caused a decrease of approximately 2.7 million tons, 62% of which was in the east and 25% in the west of the region. Considering the constraints of water shortage and over-exploitation of groundwater, we provide a path based on a balance between ”resource-production-ecosystem” to achieve ecologically sustainable agriculture development in the drylands of China.
Highlights
Croplands provide significant provisioning ecosystem services, regulating and cultural services to human communities [1]
The total cropland area of Inner Mongolia was 118,467 km2 in 2018, which accounted for 9.87% of the whole study area
The loss rate of organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus during the soil erosion events was 18–38% in other regions [9,46]; we found that the soil wind erosion modulus increased by 5–15 times on average because of grasslands’ conversion to croplands, especially in the central and western parts of Inner Mongolia
Summary
Croplands provide significant provisioning ecosystem services (e.g., food and fiber), regulating (e.g., flood control and carbon sequestration) and cultural services (e.g., scenic beauty and education) to human communities [1]. The protection and sustainable use of cropland resources is a significant guarantee for global food security, and it is the foundation for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2]. It is an important issue for global development in the Future Earth science plan (ICSU, 2020). Even though dryland farming has its high-risk and economical challenges, it is an essential part of the world’s agriculture food system and will become even more significant because of population growth and the increasing demand for grain [6]. The deterioration of water resources and the trend of a warmer and drier climate pose a serious threat to agricultural production in drylands in the 21st century [7,8]
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