Roles of historical land use/cover and nitrogen fertilizer application changes on ammonia emissions in farmland ecosystem from 1990 to 2020 in China

Abstract

In the past decades, China has witnessed significant changes in its land use/land cover (LULC) pattern. These changes have led to a direct impact on ammonia (NH3) emissions in soil background, and indirectly affected the total nitrogen fertilizer (N-fertilizer) application, crop planting amount and the resulting straw mass through the changes of cropland area. Great changes have also taken place in the amount and structure of fertilizer application in China, which affects the NH3 emissions from farmland ecosystems caused by N-fertilizer application. The aforementioned changes have led to significant alterations in NH3 emissions from China's farmland ecosystems over the past 30 years. The process of these changes remains to be analyzed, and the contributions of LULC changes and N-fertilizer application in this process are yet to be assessed. This study aims to investigate the NH3 emission changes and spatiotemporal variation characteristics from farmland ecosystems during 1990 and 2020 due to the LULC changes. Additionally, the study employs scenario analysis method to discuss the effects of LULC changes and N-fertilizer application changes on NH3 emissions in farmland ecosystems. Results indicate that there is evident spatiotemporal heterogeneity in China's LULC pattern, particularly in eastern China. The southeast region is predominantly characterized by the conversion of cropland into construction land. Moreover, some regions such as Northwest China and Northeast China have experienced the conversion of other land types into cropland, significantly influenced by national development policies. From 1990 to 2020, the national NH3 emissions from farmland ecosystem range from 3294.75 Gg to 4064.20 Gg. NH3 emissions and their interannual variation in farmland ecosystems exhibit significant differences across various regions. The regions with higher contributions to NH3 emissions in farmland ecosystems are East China, Central China, and North China, accounting for 25.32 %–37.26 %, 18.85 %–22.46 % and 11.24 %–18.50 % of the total emissions, respectively. NH3 emissions in each region are influenced by cropland area, N-fertilizer application, and regional development characteristics. Compared to LULC changes, changes in N-fertilizer application have a more pronounced impact on NH3 emission changes in farmland ecosystems. From 1990 to 2020, the contribution (increase or decrease) of N-fertilizer application changes to NH3 emission changes in farmland ecosystems in China ranges from 0.11 % to 16.61 %, while the contribution (increase or decrease) of LULC changes ranges from 0.47 % to 2.38 %. South China demonstrates a unique situation regarding the influence of LULC changes. This region has a relatively small cropland area, and fluctuations in cropland area significantly affect NH3 emissions in farmland ecosystems. The influence of policies is evident. From the changes in cropland area in Northwest China and Northeast China to changes in N-fertilizer application, policy changes have consistently impacted the changes in NH3 emissions in China's farmland ecosystems. From “soft policies” involving encouragement and guidance to “hard policies” encompassing the establishment of necessary targets, the degree of strictness in policy directly affects the timeliness of policies effectiveness. The results of this study indicate that reducing the application of N-fertilizers is the primary approach to reducing NH3 emissions in China's farmland ecosystems. In terms of policy guidance, compared to implementing structural and pathway adjustments, implementing clear total control of fertilizer usage is a timely and effective choice for reducing NH3 emissions.