Abstract
A recent conversion of the grasslands to cropland degrading the soil quality (SQ), and impacting the soil erosion and crop productivity in the West Corn Belt (WCB) of the USA. The current study was conducted to estimate the spatial distribution of soil erosion at Big Sioux River (BSR) watershed scale using the Geographical Information System (GIS)-enabled Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). Spatial data such as weather, a digital elevation model (DEM), land use maps and soils were used for assessment of soil erosion was downloaded from the easily available online sources. Data showed that about 7% of grassland acreage reduced from 2008 (24%) to 2015 (17%), whereas, about 7.4% of cropland acreage increased from 2008 (64.6%) to 2015 (72%) in the BSR watershed. This grassland conversion to cropland increased the soil erosion (estimated using the RUSLE model) from 12.2 T ha−1 year−1 in 2008 to 14.8 T ha−1 year−1 in 2015. The present study concludes that grassland conversion to cropland in the BSR watershed increased the soil erosion, therefore, management practices essential to be applied to reduce the erosion risk and various other ecosystem services.
Highlights
A recent land use change (LUC) in the West Corn Belt (WCB) region of USA poses a threat to grasslands [1] that play a significant role in climate regulation, water and soil conservation, and biodiversity maintenance
712 MJ mm ha−1 h−1 year−1 with the highest value occurred in the southern part of the region and the lowest in the northern region (Figure 4)
The results showed that a decrease in the percentage of forested land has generally led to an increase in the area of farmland vulnerable to erosion. de Hipt et al [52] investigated the effect of land use/land cover and climate change on soil erosion in south-western Burkina Faso
Summary
A recent land use change (LUC) in the West Corn Belt (WCB) region of USA poses a threat to grasslands [1] that play a significant role in climate regulation, water and soil conservation, and biodiversity maintenance. Soil erosion has been identified as one of the biggest challenges to the environment globally [2,3] It degrades soil structure and increases the loss of organic matter, reduces soil depth and nutrient elements [4,5]. 2019, 3, 43 increase in the return prices of soybean (Glycine max) and corn (Zea mays), as the demand of biofuel feedstock has been increased in the WCB region of USA [1]. These row crops (corn and soybean), converted from grasslands require intensive soil disturbance which led to the highest amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil losses. The cropland change affects carbon dynamics [7]
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