Decrease In Arable Land Research Articles

The impact of land use change on food security under the background of rapid urbanization - a case study of Xiamen city

Abstract China has undergone a long period of rapid urbanization from 2000 to 2020, resulted in huge conversion of arable land into built-up areas. This situation has raised concerns regarding food security, including issues like reduced food supply and challenges to achieving food self-sufficiency, particularly in certain regions and during special period. To address these issues, this study focuses on Xiamen, a rapidly urbanizing coastal city in China, and examined both the food supply and demand. On hand of the supply, this study mainly analyzed the attributes of the food availability, indicators like the food production (FP) of the ecosystem service value (ESV), per capita grain production, imports and exports along with food price were calculated. The findings revealed a significant expansion of built-up areas in Xiamen, mostly at the expense of arable land. The declining arable land coupled with population growth due to rapid urbanization contributed to a decrease in per capita grain production, drop to 6 kg in 2018, which is merely 1% of China’s average. A comparison of per capita grain production across various regions, as well as changes in China’s grain import and export, highlighted a notable discrepancy between urbanization rates and food security in Xiamen. It has become challenging for Xiamen to rely on outside for sustained food import. Therefore, it is imperative for Xiamen to implement a range of measures and policy interventions to ensure a certain level of food self-sufficiency and protect basic arable land.

Spatio-temporal Pattern of Ecosystem Service Value Evolution in the Yihe River Basin in the Context of Land Use Change

In this study, the modified equivalent factor method was applied to account for the long time series ecosystem service value （ESV） of the Yihe River Basin from 1975 to 2020 in the context of land use change, and the cold hot spot analysis and topographic position analysis methods were introduced to explore the characteristics of its spatial pattern. The results showed that： ① From 1975 to 2020, the land use type of the Yihe River Basin was dominated by arable land, and the land use changes were characterized by the rapid decrease of arable land and the continuous expansion of construction land, a slight increase in the area of forest land and grassland, a contraction of the water body area, and little change in the area of unused land. ② The modified equivalent factor method was more suitable for accounting for the ESV in the basin. From 1975 to 2020, the overall ESV of the basin showed an upward spiral trend （33.369-33.816 billion CNY）, dominated by the regulating services. The ESV of arable land was the highest with a decreasing trend, whereas the ESV of unused land was the lowest. ③ In the horizontal spatial pattern, the hot spot of ESV was near mountains and reservoirs, and the cold spot of ESV was near urban areas. In terms of vertical spatial patterns, with growing topographic gradient, vertical changes in ESV for all land use types showed an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend. The results of the study revealed the spatial and temporal patterns of ecosystem service values in the Yihe River Basin in the context of land use change and provide a scientific basis for optimizing the land use structure and spatial pattern and enhancing ecosystem services.

A Coupled InVEST-PLUS Model for the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Multi-Scenario Prediction Analysis

In investigating the spatiotemporal patterns and spatial attributes of carbon storage across terrestrial ecosystems, there is a significant focus on improving regional carbon sequestration capabilities. Such endeavors are crucial for balancing land development with ecological preservation and promoting sustainable, low-carbon urban growth. This study employs the integrated InVEST-PLUS model to assess and predict changes in ecosystem carbon storage under various land use scenarios within the Chengdu urban cluster, a vital region in Central and Western China, by 2050. The results indicate the following. (1) A linkage between land use dynamics and ecosystem carbon storage changes: over two decades, a 7.5% decrease in arable land was observed alongside a 12.3% increase in urban areas, leading to an 8.2% net reduction in ecosystem carbon storage, equating to a loss of 1.6 million tons of carbon. (2) Carbon storage variations under four scenarios—natural development (NDS), urban development (UDS), farmland protection (FPS), and ecological protection (EPS)—highlight the impact of differing developmental and conservation policies on Chengdu’s carbon reserves. Projections until 2050 suggest a further 5% reduction in carbon storage under NDS without intervention, while EPS could potentially decrease carbon storage loss by 3%, emphasizing the importance of strategic land use planning and policy. This research provides a solid theoretical foundation for exploring the relationship between land use and carbon storage dynamics further. In summary, the findings highlight the necessity of incorporating ecological considerations into urban planning strategies. The InVEST-PLUS model not only sheds light on current challenges but also presents a method for forecasting and mitigating urbanization effects on ecosystem services, thus supporting sustainable development goals.

Оценка состояния почвенно-растительного покрова бассейна реки на основе данных дистанционного зондирования

The aim of this work was to summarize the studies devoted to the soil and vegetation cover assessment of the river basin on the example of the Klyazma River catchment using remote data for a 17-year period. The remote data from the MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Cover Land Cover, Landsat ETM+ and Meteor with different spatial resolutions were used in the work. The assessment of land use structure dynamics was carried out for the Klyazma River basin as a whole, as well as for individual landscapes. According to MODIS data there is a common trend towards an increase (about 9%) in the area of forest vegetation and a decrease in arable land and pastures for most of the basin. The exception is the interfluve of the Lukh River, where there is a decrease in forest lands and their transition to wetlands. Different landscapes of the Klyazma Rivers basin vary in both the rate and intensity of organic matter accumulation in the form of gross and net primary production as well as respond differently to climatic changes and land use change. However, the unified ecosystem of an entire river basin is more stable compared to its constituent landscapes. The remote sensing data allowed us to establish that the deep valley of the Rpen River (a tributary of the Klyazma River) forms an air flow that carries atmospheric pollution out of the Vladimir industrial zone.

The spatiotemporal changes and trade-off synergistic effects of ecosystem services in the Jianghan Plain of China under different scenarios

Disturbance from human activities has intensified the evolution of ecosystem structure in the Jianghan Plain of China, leading to intensified conflicts between ecosystem services. It is essential to clarify the trade-off synergies between ecosystem services in the Jianghan Plain of China to better coordinate the economic and social development and ecological protection of the region. Based on historical data and scenario predictions using the GeoSOS-FLUS model, the InVEST model was applied to five key ecosystem services: Carbon storage, crop production, habitat quality, soil conservation and water yield from 2000 to 2020. Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the trade-off synergies between different ecosystem services in space and time. The results showed that arable land and water land areas are the most important land types in the Jianghan Plain of China. From 2000 to 2020, the increase in build-up land and water land areas was accompanied by a decrease in arable land, forest land and unused land, and an increase in forest land. The natural development scenario in 2035 continues this trend except forest land reduction, while the ecological protection scenario reverses this trend. From 2000 to 2020, crop production, water yield, and soil conservation increased in the Jianghan Plain of China, while carbon storage and habitat quality declined significantly, showing a spatial distribution pattern of higher in the northwest and lower in the southeast. The comprehensive ecosystem services simulated in 2035 showed a downward trend compared with 2020, and the ecological protection scenario has the smallest decrease. There is an overall synergistic relationship between the five ecosystem services in the Jianghan Plain of China, and the strongest synergistic relationship is between soil conservation and water yield. The spatiotemporal relationship between the ecosystems in the Jianghan Plain of China is dynamic and requires sustainable management. Thus, it is necessary to rationally utilize land resources and enhance the ecological functions of the area to minimize trade-offs based on scientific land and spatial planning to maximize synergy.

Predictive Model to Evaluate Water and Nutrient Uptake in Vertically Grown Lettuce under Mediterranean Greenhouse Conditions

The decrease in arable land, water scarcity, and climate change increase the pressure on natural resources and agricultural production systems. In this context, agriculture must ensure food production for the rapidly growing and increasingly urban population of the world. Efforts must be made to obtain the highest yield from the unit area and promote the transition to more sustainable production systems Hydroponics is a modern growing technology mainly applied in greenhouses, which has developed rapidly over the past 30–40 years. Substrate-free hydroponic vertical crops (VC) can reduce the pressure conventional agriculture exerts on resources, saving water and nutrients, and increasing crop yields per unit area. Therefore, this study aimed to validate a proposed predictive model (PM) to simulate water and nutrient uptake in vertical crops under greenhouse conditions. On the basis of the Penman–Monteith equation, the PM estimates transpiration, while nutrient uptake was estimated using the Carmassi–Sonneveld submodel. The PM was experimentally evaluated for vertically grown lettuce under Mediterranean greenhouse conditions during spring 2023. The irrigation technique was a closed-loop fertigation circuit. The experiment consisted of testing two densities (50 and 80 plants·m−2) and three plant positions (low, medium, and upper). ANOVA (p < 0.05) and R2 were used to evaluate the PM performance and crop behavior. The low density and the upper position had significantly higher mass values. The results suggest a high degree of performance for the PM, as the R2 ranged from 0.7 to 0.9 for water and nutrient uptake. Both densities had a yield 17–20 times higher than conventional lettuce production and significant savings in water, about 85–88%. In this sense, the PM has great potential to intelligently manage VC fertigation, saving water and nutrients, which represents an advance toward reaching SDG 6 and SDG 12 within the 2030 Agenda.

Spatio-Temporal Relationship between Land Use Carbon Emissions and Ecosystem Service Value in Guanzhong, China

In the context of escalating global concerns for “carbon neutrality and peak carbon” and the urgent need for ecological conservation, deciphering the spatiotemporal interactions between carbon emissions and the ecosystem service value (ESV) in relation to land use changes becomes critically significant. Identifying areas to bolster ecosystem services and curtail carbon emissions, especially within the Guanzhong urban agglomeration, is crucial for advancing sustainable and low-carbon regional development. The study focuses on the urban agglomeration of Guanzhong, using land use and socio-economic data from three periods between 2010 and 2020. Methods such as grid analysis and bivariate spatial autocorrelation models are employed to explore the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics and interaction patterns of carbon emissions and ESV in relation to land use. The findings reveal: (1) during 2010–2020, the Guanzhong urban agglomeration experienced varied transitions in land use types, marked by a significant net decrease in arable land and net increases in grasslands and urban construction areas. (2) The ESV in the Guanzhong urban agglomeration witnessed a consistent rise, exhibiting a spatial distribution pattern with higher values in the southwest and lower in the northeast. Among the categorized ecosystem service functions, services related to hydrological and climate regulation stood out. (3) The Guanzhong urban agglomeration observed an average annual growth rate of 5.03% in carbon emissions due to land use, with a spatial trend that was higher in the center and tapered towards the periphery. Predominant carbon sources included arable lands and urban construction areas, while forests accounted for 94% of carbon sequestration. (4) A pronounced negative correlation between the ESV and carbon emissions was discerned in Guanzhong. Regions with a stronger correlation were primarily centered in Guanzhong, notably around Xi’an and Baoji. The results emphasize the pivotal role of the primary sector’s qualitative development in harmonizing the ESV and carbon emission dynamics in the Guanzhong urban agglomeration. This research provides valuable insights for optimizing land resource management, aligned with the rural revitalization strategy, streamlining carbon dynamics, bolstering ESV, augmenting carbon sequestration efficiency, and guiding ecological spatial planning.

Characterization of Ecosystem Services and Their Trade-Off and Synergistic Relationships under Different Land-Use Scenarios on the Loess Plateau

The Loess Plateau is one of the most fragile ecological regions in China due to its shortage of water resources and severe soil erosion. The rapid development of urbanization and the implementation of the project of returning farmland to forest (grass) have caused the ecological environment of the region to be strongly impacted by human activities. It is necessary to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of ecosystem services and trade-off/synergy relationships on the Loess Plateau, to achieve scientific management of ecological services and sustainable development of the region. This study quantitatively assesses three ecosystem services of water yield (WY), carbon storage (CS), and soil conservation (SC) on the Loess Plateau under different scenarios from 2000 to 2030 by using the InVEST and PLUS models. Further, the trade-off and synergistic relationships among the ecosystem services have been investigated by Spearman correlation analysis. The results showed that the land-use differences are more obvious under different policy scenarios, with a sharp expansion of constructed land, a gradual increase of forest land, and a continuous decrease of arable land in the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2020; the water yield and soil conservation increase from 2000 to 2020, and the carbon storage shows an opposite trend. The soil conservation and carbon storage scenarios are the best under the ecological conservation scenario in 2030, while the water yield service is the best under the economic development scenario. There is a synergistic relationship between CS and SC, while there is a trade-off relationship between CS and WY. In addition, there are significant trade-off effects between SC and WY. These results can support guiding land-use management and ecological restoration.

The Impact of Land Use Change on The Ecosystem Service Value of The Agricultural Pastoral Ecotone

Understanding the dynamics and relationships among ecosystem services value (ESV) and land use change (LUCC) has great importance to achieve sustainable development. In this study, taking Jishishan County as the research area, based on land use and socio-economic data from 2010 to 2020, estimate the ESV and explore the impact of LUCC on the ESV at the grid scale. The results indicate that:(1) From 2010 to 2020, Jishishan County was deeply affected by urbanization, resulting in a continuous decrease in arable land and forest land. (2) The Ecosystem Service Value (ESV) of Jishishan County showed a trend of decreasing firstily and then increasing over the past 10 years; Grassland is the main contributor to ESV.(3) The spatial differentiation of ESV is obvious, showing a pattern of low in the middle and high in the periphery. (4) The growth of ESV during the research period comes from the increase of grassland and water area, and the loss of ESV and the impact of urbanization expansion are related to the reduction of forest area.

Research on Rural Population/Arable Land/Rural Settlements Association Model and Coordinated Development Path: A Case Analysis of the Yellow River Basin (Henan Section).

The countryside is a complex regional system with population and land as the core elements, and it is of great significance to study the coordination of the rural human-land relationship for promoting rural ecological protection and high-quality development. The Yellow River Basin (Henan section) is an important grain-producing area with dense population, fertile soil, and rich water resources. Based on the rate of change index and Tapio decoupling model, this study took county-level administrative region as the evaluation unit to explore the characteristics of the spatio-temporal correlation model of rural population/arable land/rural settlements in the Yellow River Basin (Henan section) from 2009 to 2018 and the optimal path of coordinated development. The results show the following: (1) The decrease of rural population, the increase of arable land in a relatively large part of non-central cities, the decrease of arable land in central cities, and the general increase in the area of rural settlements are the most important characteristics of the Yellow River Basin (Henan section) for the change of rural population/arable land/rural settlements. (2) There are spatial agglomeration characteristics of rural population changes, arable land changes, and rural settlements changes. Areas with a high degree of change in arable land have a certain degree of spatial consistency with areas with a high degree of change in rural settlements. (3) The type of T3 (rural population and arable land)/T3 (rural population and rural settlement) is the most important temporal and spatial combination mode, and rural population outflow is serious. In general, the spatio-temporal correlation model of rural population/arable land/rural settlements in the eastern and western sections of the Yellow River Basin (Henan section) is better than that in the middle section. The research results are helpful to deeply understand the relationship between rural population and land in the period of rapid urbanization and can provide reference for the classification and sub-standard policies of rural revitalization. It is urgent to establish sustainable rural development strategies for improving the human-land relationship, narrowing the rural-urban disparity, innovating rural residential land area policies, and revitalizing the rural area.

Development of a model of combination of solar concentrators and agricultural fields

We have developed several prototypes of solar concentrators that are compact, light, and inexpensive. As an example of solar concentrators, we selected parabolic solar concentrators with plane mirrors that approximate the parabolic surface. The green energy is very important in modern world because of global climate change, which has caused disproportion in the ecological balance, population growth rates, an increase in demand for food and electricity against the backdrop of a decrease in arable land. They are now the main challenges to the development of agriculture and ensuring sustainable food security of many countries. In this paper, as one of the ways to address these challenges, the problems of combining crops with agrivoltaics are studied using the example of two countries – Mexico and Azerbaijan. The economy of both countries is based on oil production, relief and climate have many common features, which are expressed particularly in the abundance of solar radiation, the predominance of mountainous regions with remote and hard-to-reach settlements that need to create autonomous life support systems. A methodology is proposed for the evaluation of the impact of combinations of solar concentrators together with certain agricultural crops. The proposed mathematical model is simple and applicable for different cases of combination of solar concentrators and agricultural fields. The main problem for proposed solar concentrators is the automatization of the assembly process of these solar concentrators. We proposed two methods of assembly that is, using a parabolic rule and using a robotic arm with a stereoscopic vision system. Both methods are described in this article. The simulation of these processes was made with using software of SolidWorks

Influences of land use changes on the dynamics of water quantity and quality in the German lowland catchment of the Stör

Abstract. Understanding the impacts of land use changes (LUCCs) on the dynamics of water quantity and quality is necessary for the identification of mitigation measures favorable for sustainable watershed management. Lowland catchments are characterized by a strong interaction of streamflow and near-surface groundwater that intensifies the risk of nutrient pollution. In this study, we investigated the effects of long-term changes in individual land use classes on the water and nutrient balance in the lowland catchment of the upper Stör in northern Germany. To this end, the hydrological model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) were used. The SWAT model runs for three different land use maps (1987, 2010, and 2019) were conducted, and the outputs were compared to derive changes in water quantity (i.e., evapotranspiration – ET; surface runoff – SQ; base flow – BF; water yield – WYLD) and quality variables (i.e., sediment yield – SED; load of total phosphorus – TP; load of total nitrogen – TN). These changes were related to land use changes at the subbasin scale using PLSR. The major land use changes that significantly affected water quantity and quality variables were related to a decrease in arable land and a respective increase in pasture and urban land during the period of 1987–2019. Changes in landscape indictors such as area size, shape, dominance, and aggregation of each land use class accounted for as much as 61 %–88 % (75 % on average) of the respective variations in water quantity and quality variables. The aggregation, contiguity degrees, and area extent of arable land were found to be most important for controlling the variations in most water quantity variables. Increases in arable (PLANDa) and urban land percent (PLANDu) led to more TP and TN pollution, sediment export, and surface runoff. The cause–effect results of this study can provide a quantitative basis for targeting the most influential change in landscape composition and configuration to mitigate adverse impacts on water quality in the future.

Spatiotemporal Pattern Evolution of Urban Ecosystem Resilience Based on “Resistance-Adaptation-Vitality”: A Case Study of Nanchang City

With the rapid development of the economy and society in recent years, the ecological environment has deteriorated significantly. The governments at all levels, departments, and relevant scholars have begun to pay attention to urban ecological construction and research on urban disaster prevention and mitigation. The concept of resilience has gained widespread attention in this context. However, at present, urban ecological resilience research is still in its infancy, and there are many qualitative but few quantitative studies in terms of assessment methods. This study explores the complex dynamic evolution mechanism of urban ecosystem resilience based on the three resilience characteristics and selects Nanchang, an important ecological barrier in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and a model area for integrated management of the Great Lakes basin, as an assessment target. This study establishes a quantitative measurement and evaluation framework for urban ecological resilience in three dimensions (resistance, adaptation, and vitality) and conducts a comprehensive evaluation of urban ecosystem resilience. The results show that the trend of land-use change from 1990 to 2020 is mainly characterized by the continuous decrease in arable land and ecological land (forestland, grassland, and water) and the continuous increase in construction land, among which the land-use dynamic attitude of construction land is the largest, reaching 5.33% from 1990 to 2005. During the study period, the overall ecosystem resilience of Nanchang showed a gradual decline and was always at a moderate-to-low level, with a long-term distribution pattern of “low in the middle and high in the surrounding areas” and clear spatial heterogeneity. This study helps clarify the security status of the regional ecosystem and provides a reference for exploring the complex dynamic evolution mechanism of ecological resilience.

The expansion of olive groves is reducing habitat suitability for the Great Bustard Otis tarda and the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax in Southern Spain: could Important Bird Areas (IBAs) reduce this expansion?

AbstractOlive groves in the Mediterranean basin have undergone a tremendous increase during the last two decades, with most of the new olive groves being planted on arable land. This conversion may affect habitat suitability for steppe birds, which are associated with arable land and other open-land habitats, such as natural pastures. In this work, we evaluate the presence of new olive groves in the distribution of the Great Bustard Otis tarda and the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax in Southern Spain (the largest olive oil production zone in the world), and we compare the percentage of different land uses in 2000 and 2018 using data provided by the Corine Land Cover. From 2000 to 2018, new olive groves occupied 2.14 and 2.61% of the distribution areas of the Great Bustard and the Little Bustard, respectively. The decrease in arable land and the increase in permanent crops were the main drivers of the landscape composition changes during the study period. The fragmentation index of arable land was higher in 2018 than 2000. These changes in the landscape suggest a decrease in habitat availability and suitability for steppe birds that could affect the distribution and abundance of their populations. Moreover, there were no differences in the proportion of new olive groves planted inside and outside the limits of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) from 2000 to 2018, which were created to protect these steppe birds, thus suggesting that the management policy of the IBAs should be reviewed to prevent harmful land-use changes.

Unveiling the Bioactive Potential of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Waste in Human Health from a Consumer Perspective

Food supply disruption and shortage verified during the current pandemic events are a scenario that many anticipate for the near future. The impact of climate changes on food production, the continuous decrease in arable land, and the exponential growth of the human population are important drivers for this problem. In this context, adding value to food waste is an obvious strategy to mitigate food shortages, but there is a long way to go in this field. Globally, it is estimated that one-third of all food produced is lost. This is certainly due to many different factors, but the lack of awareness of the consumer about the nutritional value of certain foods parts, namely peels and seeds, is certainly among them. In this review, we will unveil the nutritional and bioactive value of the waste discarded from the most important fresh fruit and vegetables consumed worldwide as a strategy to decrease food waste. This will span the characterization of the bioactive composition of selected waste from fruits and vegetables, particularly their seeds and peels, and their possible uses, whether in our diet or recycled to other ends.

Trends in Lakeshore Zone Development: A Comparison of Polish and Hungarian Lakes over 30-Year Period.

(1) Background: This paper presents the land use and land cover change processes in the lakeshore zone in Poland and Hungary during 30 years. (2) Methods: Land use and land cover (LU/LC) maps were prepared using topographic maps and orthophotograph maps scaled 1:10,000. The study based on GIS data and field research. (3) Results: A significant increase in the area occupied by tourist and recreational infrastructure and forests in the lake shore zone was found in both countries. In Poland, this increase occurred mainly at the expense of arable land, which was a positive phenomenon. In Hungary, however, the main threat to the lakeshore zone was the increase of built-up area at the expense of semi-natural area. While the decrease in arable land was positive from an environmental point of view, the main threat to the Hungarian lake shore zone was the increase in built-up areas at the expense of semi-natural land. The results showed a positive correlation between the area of urbanized land and the area occupied by tourist and recreational buildings on the Polish lakes. There was no such correlation at the Hungarian lakes. (4) Conclusions: The most beneficial change in land cover for the lakes was the increase in forest area in the lake shore zone in both countries studied. Taking into account the results of previous studies, three main trends of changes in land cover and land use in the lakeshore zone were identified. These results shed new light on the problem of land use around lakeshores.

Towards Self-Sufficient High-Rises

Population growth and urbanisation trends bring many consequences related to the increase in global energy consumption, CO2 emissions and a decrease in arable land per person. High‑rises have been one of the inevitable buildings of metropoles to provide extra floor space since the early examples in the 19th century. Therefore, optimisation of high-rise buildings has been the focus of researchers because of significant performance enhancement, mainly in energy consumption and generation. Based on the facts of the 21st century, optimising high-rise buildings for multiple vital resources (such as energy, food, and water) is necessary for a sustainable future. This research suggests “self-sufficient high-rise buildings” that can generate and efficiently consume vital resources in addition to dense habitation for sustainable living in metropoles. The complexity of self-sufficient high-rise building optimisation is more challenging than optimising regular high-rises that have not been addressed in the literature. The main challenge behind the research is the integration of multiple performance aspects of self-sufficiency related to the vital resources of human beings (energy, food, and water) and consideration of large numbers of design parameters related to these multiple performance aspects. Therefore, the dissertation presents a framework for performance optimisation of self-sufficient high-rise buildings using artificial intelligence focusing on the conceptual phase of the design process. The output of this dissertation supports decision-makers to suggest well-performing high-rise buildings involving the aspects of self-sufficiency in a reasonable timeframe.

Landscape Painting in the Research of Landscape Changes

Abstract The article analyses possibilities of using landscape paintings in the studies of land cover changes. It examines 112 paintings from 1728 till 1976 and compares them with existing topographic maps. It compares land cover depicted in the paintings with present landscape and it studies changes of landscape derived from topographic maps from several periods, ranging from 1764 till 2006. In order to make the analyses, all paintings had to be localised as precisely as possible. This was done with the help of present map and by field work. Field work was also necessary for identifying main land use/cover changes in comparison to landscape painting. A TopoLandUse database, consisting of land use vector data from five periods, based on vectorisation of topographical maps, was used for analysing land use/land cover changes, their rates and main trends. Comparison of landscape paintings with topographic maps showed overall agreement between both types of sources. Paintings often capture details that cannot be found in the maps, thus enriching gained data. They can also serve as a source for periods from which no maps and other cartographic sources exist. However, paintings are as reliable as the painter makes them. Comparison of landscape in the paintings with the present landscape showed general extensification and abandonment of the landscape, which manifested mainly in the increase of woody vegetation and decrease of arable land. Analyses of land cover changes in the surrounding cadastres in several periods confirmed general trends that can be seen in not only the Czech Republic but also elsewhere in Europe. These are mainly spread of both woody vegetation and permanent grassland at the detriment of arable land but also increase in built-up and recreational area in the settlements.

동아시아(한⋅중) 전통사회의 재해 DB 구축과 의의

This academic research presentation is an experiment to find out a priori how the disaster DB prepared by this research team can be utilized. Although a full-scale disaster DB has not yet been established, it can be said to be an effort to find out the significance by presenting some of the internal discussions. This academic research presentation was made up of five topics. These topics will serve as a starting point for this research team to find a methodology for future disaster research. Therefore, the future research prospects of this research team can be summarized as follows： First, we will trace the homogeneity and heterogeneity of the East Asian disaster DB. Disaster-related records vary according to times and regions. For example, there are very few records of the ancient Korean society, but related records gradually increase through the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. This is a difference caused by whether there are records, not the occurrence of a disaster. Also, there are quantitative differences as well as differences in perception and expression in the records of China and the Korean Peninsula in the traditional era. In order to accurately understand the quantitative and qualitative differences in records, it is necessary to review data to check the trends and meanings of long-term disaster phenomena and to summarize terms and cases. In addition to short-term and local phenomena, disasters occur repeatedly over a long period of time, so it is necessary to systematically summarize, compare, and review them within a long-term view. Second, promotion of interdisciplinary exchanges and joint research with various adjacent disciplines. Comprehensive summary of disaster data and standardization of terms can help all disciplines related to disasters. In order to understand disaster data in various academic fields, it is necessary to understand the records of traditional societies and their scalability. In addition to the occurrence and damage of disaster data, the political and social context of disaster data is linked to population and decrease in arable land, decline in agricultural productivity, and infectious diseases. Therefore, disaster is a research topic that connects from political and socioeconomic issues to the fields of natural science and medicine. Third, development of new research methodologies. As disaster-related research spans the fields of natural sciences such as astronomy, meteorology, geology, and ecology, a new research direction can be suggested through interdisciplinary exchanges. In previous studies, we traced changes in the natural environment of traditional societies and the resulting socioeconomic changes through limited topics such as solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, comet, drought, flood, and abnormal temperature. However, it is now necessary to strive to develop a research methodology that can create a virtuous cycle between disciplines as a new field of study as well as individual disciplines. Comprehensive summarization of data on traditional societies and definition of terminology should be performed through group research. Furthermore, if various disciplines related to natural disasters have a structural research system and approach them from multiple perspectives, a new research methodology can be created. In addition, providing our society with a traditional understanding of changes in climate and environment today will arouse public interest as well as emerging researchers.

<italic>De novo</italic> domestication of polyploid rice: a novel breeding strategy and future prospects

World food security is still facing severe challenges owing to the increase of world population, the decrease of arable land and more frequent extreme weather events. One of the effective strategies to meet these challenges is to select wild polyploid rice with large biomass, strong resistance ability and high nutrition efficiency, so that new crops with super yield, high quality, multi-resistance and strong environmental adaptability can be bred through de novo domestication. In this review, we provide a systematical overview of the development of breeding techniques, the advantages of polyploid crops and the diversity of Oryza genus, and introduce a novel breeding strategy of de novo domestication from the aspects of germplasm selection, technological breakthrough and feasibility. We also provide the prospect for the new breeding strategy for future crops.