Cultivated Land Use Research Articles

Spatial-temporal change of soil organic carbon in Anhui Province of East China

This paper was oriented to characterise spatio-temporal variation of soil organic carbon (SOC) over a 30-year period and to explore its driving forces in East China. A comparative study was done of data obtained during 1980 and 2010 in Anhui Province. Spatio-temporal changes of SOC density and storage in the surface (0–30 cm) and 0–100 cm layers were analysed using geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis techniques. Relationships between soil erosion, land use change, agricultural management, and changes in SOC are discussed. Results show: (1) over 30 years, the average SOC density decreased by 0.59 kg C m−2 in the surface layer and 1.63 kg C m−2 in 0–100 cm layer. The average SOC density increased in Calcaric Cambisols and Haplic Fluvisols, and decreased in other soil types.The average SOC density in upland increased but decreased as a result of other land use practices. (2) SOC density in the surface layer increased to the north but decreased to the south in Anhui. SOC density in the 0–100 cm layer increased in the central area and decreased to the south. About 59% of all soil increased in SOC density. (3) SOC storage decreased by 117.91 Tg C in the surface layer and decreased by 237.65 Tg C in the 0–100 cm layer. The SOC storage increased mainly in the northern and central areas. (4) Severe soil erosion was a main reason for the large reduction in SOC storage in western and southern Anhui. Cultivated land use that changed to paddy field from upland improved SOC more than changes to other land use types. SOC storage change in farmland was significantly and positively related to organic matter content in crop roots.

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE WESTERN JADWAL SOILS PROPERTIES AND SUITABILITY EVALUATION FOR WHEAT CROP CULTIVATION BY GEOMATICS TECHNOLOGY

The study area was chosen in the district of the western Jadwal in Karbala governorate - Iraq, which is located between E44o05'10'' to E44o13'03'' and N32o38'30'' to N32o27'40'', as 100 locations were identified for the depth of 0-30 cm by auger hole sampling method samples were obtained from each site, and kept laboratory measurements. The results of the study showed that the dominant soil texture is medium clay and silt are the predominant separates in the soil. As for the salinity of the soil represented by electrical conductivity, it was low of the dissolution the salts and the land use for cultivation besides the presence of a drainage network a percentage of the organic matter is good. As for assessing the suitability of the land for cultivation, Results showed the use of the standard addition method of land evaluation for the wheat crop by Sys,1993 is better and more accurate than the standard multiplication method for the wheat crop that was also suggested by Sys, 1980, where the very suitable class S1 and the suitable S2 were the predominant cultivars of the addition method, while the non- suitable class N and the least suitable S5 were classes when the methods of multiplication were used.

Future discourse: Energy and agricultural turnaround in one area? Modeling of future land use with the software 100prosim

The transformation of an energy system is complex and requires not only technical measures, innovation and changes in lifestyle, but also increasing agricultural land use, especially for the construction of wind turbines or solar panels. Land use for biofuel cultivation is also relevant. Participants in transdisciplinary workshops use the simulation tool 100prosim to create and discuss their new energy scenario and learn about the complexity and requirements of the energy transitions regarding land use for renewable energy. The goal is to create an energy system that is supplied completely through renewable energy, while maintaining the balance between consumption and production. The focus is not on economic but on ecological factors and those related to land use. The holistic view of the tool and the visualization make it possible for participants to get an idea of the size and use of the energy production areas planned. Consequently, participants can identify possible conflicts of use, such as feed production and food security, to be discussed as a basic requirement for determining space for opportunities and a desirable optimum.

Cultivated Land Use Zoning Based on Soil Function Evaluation from the Perspective of Black Soil Protection

Given that cultivated land serves as a strategic resource to ensure national food security, blind emphasis on improvement of food production capacity can lead to soil overutilization and impair other soil functions. Therefore, we took Heilongjiang province as an example to conduct a multi-functional evaluation of soil at the provincial scale. A combination of soil, climate, topography, land use, and remote sensing data were used to evaluate the functions of primary productivity, provision and cycling of nutrients, provision of functional and intrinsic biodiversity, water purification and regulation, and carbon sequestration and regulation of cultivated land in 2018. We designed a soil function discriminant matrix, constructed the supply-demand ratio, and evaluated the current status of supply and demand of soil functions. Soil functions demonstrated a distribution pattern of high grade in the northeast and low grade in the southwest, mostly in second-level areas. The actual supply of primary productivity functions in 71.32% of the region cannot meet the current needs of the population. The dominant function of soil in 34.89% of the area is water purification and regulation, and most of the cultivated land belongs to the functional balance region. The results presented herein provide a theoretical basis for optimization of land patterns and improvement of cultivated land use management on a large scale, and is of great significance to the sustainable use of black soil resources and improvement of comprehensive benefits.

Agroecological management at sloping land areas using land resources evaluation approach to achieve sustainable agricultural development (a case study of Gunung Mas Regency, Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia)

The appropriate concept of land use planning is required since the lands have the opportunity to be developed for agricultural purposes. Gunung Mas regency with total areas of 1,084,012 hectares is mainly covered by forest with various slope classes. The objective of study was to allocate the lands to be utilized based on its capabilities and suitability for food and plantation crops. Land evaluation approach was implemented to provide appropriate land use planning especially for food crop farming and plantation. Hierarchically, procedure of land capability evaluation (LCE) was used to classify lands based on their capability to produce common cultivated crops without deteriorating over a long period of time. Therefore, the proper land use for cultivation was further analysis using land suitability evaluation (LSE) procedure to determine fitness of a given type of land for a specific crop. The application of GIS and remote sensing technology were then used to generate additional spatial data as basic planning analysis. The results showed that agricultural system was located and implemented appropriately at arable lands. The use of LCE and LSE procedure can then be implemented to promote proper land use on sustained basis as important part of agroecological management.

Enhancing the Productivity and Quality of Tomato using Magnetized Water and Humic Acid as Bio-stimulant Agents

Background: Humic acid is a natural bio-stimulant, which has a major influence on growth and crop quality. Also, Magnetic water treatment enhances both crop productivity and quality, which leads to the efficient use of cultivated land by using water resources available for crop production. This study aims to determine the effects of magnetized water irrigation and application of humic acid with different concentrations as a bio-stimulation on tomato plants, Solanum Lycopersicon cv. Hybrid “86”.Methods: The experiment was conducted during the tow growing seasons of 2018 and 2019 at the Agricultural Experimental Station Farm at Abies region, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Egypt. The experiment design was split-plot with three replications. Two irrigation water treatments (magnetized and non-magnetic water) were arranged in the main plots and four concentrations of humic acid (0, 1, 2 and 3 g L-1) were distributed over sub-plots.Result: The results showed that irrigation with magnetized water had a positive effect on the vegetative growth traits, yield and its components and the quality of tomato fruits parameters. There was also a clear desirable effect of humic acid addition with different concentrations, as the results indicated that the use of the highest concentration of humic acid (3 g L-1) reflected the highest values for all the studied traits. The results of the interaction between irrigation with magnetized water and application of humic acid showed that the best results and the highest values for all studied characters were recorded when using magnetic water (MW) combined with 3 g L-1 of humic acid (HA), without significant differences from the interaction treatment MW combined with 2 g L-1 HA for most traits. However, the two treatments combinations MW with 2 g L-1 HA and Non-MW with 3 g L-1 HA didn’t significant differ from each other for all studied characters at the two growing seasons. These results indicated that using the magnetic water with humic acid led to the possibility of reducing the amount of humic acid by one-third and enhances both crop productivity and quality of tomato plants. Generally, we can recommend using magnetized water irrigation with humic acid addition at concentration of 3.g L-1 or 2.g L-1 to enhance the productivity and quality of the tomato plant.

Spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of cultivated land use transition in Zhejiang Province

Spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of cultivated land use transition in Zhejiang Province

Cultivated land protection and rational use in China

Cultivated land protection is an important way to ensure food security, social stability and sustainable development. As one of the main causes of cultivated land loss, the spatio-temporal pattern of illegal cultivated land use and driving forces have not been systematically investigated. This study first reviewed the evolution of China’s cultivated land protection policy in the past four decades, then used spatial analysis technology to explore the spatio-temporal patterns of China’s illegal cultivated land use, and finally applied an econometric model to assess the impact of population growth, economic development and rising housing prices on illegal cultivated land use at the national and regional levels based on the balanced provincial panel data from 1999 to 2017. The results show that in the past 40 years, China has attached great importance to the protection of cultivated land, and established a relatively perfect cultivated land protection system. The quantity of cultivated land in China kept a dynamic balance on the whole, but the quality of cultivated land has dropped sharply, and regional human-land conflicts has become prominent. The driving forces of cultivated land loss in China varied across regions. Illegal use of cultivated land was also one of the important driving forces of cultivated land reduction in China. The number of illegal land use cases and the area appropriated have experienced a process of first increase and then decrease over the past two decades. The accumulated cases and area of illegal farmland use in the eastern region were larger than that in the central and western regions, but both showed a rapid downward trend over the past two decades, demonstrating that the illegal use of cultivated land in eastern China has been controlled to a certain extent. Population growth and land urbanization have a significant positive impact on illegal cultivated land use area in China and its three regions, while economic development has not driven but curbed illegal land use. The rise of commercial housing prices has no significant impact on illegal farmland use in rural China. We proposed measures to further control the illegal use of cultivated land, and believed that it is necessary and urgent to stop illegal occupation of cultivated land from the source

Factors Influencing Farmland Abandonment at the Village Scale: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)

As a global issue, farmland abandonment is considered to be one of the most crucial fields in the study of land use change. The clarification of its driving factors plays a vital role in improving the efficiency of rural cultivated land use and ensuring national food security. This paper aims to study the factors influencing farmland abandonment in 49 villages of Ganzhou City by adopting the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). The results show that: (1) Farmland abandonment is the outcome of synergism among many factors, among which the low–level of agricultural mechanization is definitely a necessary condition in Ganzhou, and it contributes a material effect to the abandonment. (2) The path leading to farmland abandonment is not unique to the study area, and can be attributed to five different combinations. These combinations can be enumerated as: A1 (a combination of convenient transportation, complete agricultural facilities, low-level agricultural mechanization, low-level land circulation, and no industrial policy support), A2 (a combination of complete agricultural facilities, low-level agricultural mechanization, low-level land circulation, sufficient agricultural labor, and no industrial policy support), A3 (a combination of convenient transportation, complete agricultural facilities, low-level agricultural mechanization, sufficient agricultural labor, and no industrial policy support), A4 (a combination of convenient transportation, low-level agricultural mechanization, low-level land circulation, sufficient agricultural labor, and industrial policy support), and A5 (a combination of inconvenient transportation, complete agricultural facilities, low-level agricultural mechanization, high-level land circulation, sufficient agricultural labor, and industrial policy support). (3) In the above-mentioned combinations, the core conditions and peripheral conditions conjointly impact on farmland abandonment. Finally, corresponding policy implications are proposed in order to further reveal the mechanism of farmland abandonment. These recommendations provide new ideas and methods for policy makers to use in making decisions and will promote the effective use of farmland.

Spatial Differentiation of Cultivated Land Use Intensification in Village Settings: A Survey of Typical Chinese Villages

The intensified use of cultivated land is essential for optimizing crop planting practices and protecting food security. This study employed a telecoupling framework to evaluate the cultivated land use intensification rates in typical Chinese villages (village cultivated land use intensifications—VCLUIs). The pressure–state–response (PSR) model organizes the VCLUI indexes including the intensity press, output state, and structural response of cultivated land use. Empirical analysis conducted in Baiquan County, China, indicating that the cultivated land use intensification levels of the whole county were low. However, the intensifications of villages influenced by physical and geographic locations and socioeconomic development levels varied significantly. This paper also found that variations in the VCLUIs were mainly dependent on new labor-driven social subsystem differences. Thus, the expanding per capita farmland scales and increasing numbers of new agricultural business entities were critical in improving the VCLUI. Overall, the theoretical framework proposed in this study was demonstrated to be effective in analyzing interactions among the natural, social, and economic subsystems of the VCLUI. The findings obtained in this study potentially have important implications for future regional food security, natural stability, and agricultural land use sustainability.

Effect of Fallowed and Cultivated Land Use Systems on the Composition and Abundance of Soil Macroinvertebrates Assemblage in Uruk Osung Community, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study was to assess the effect of fallowed and cultivated land-use systems on the abundance of soil macroinvertebrates assemblage. Collections of soil samples were carried out fortnightly twice a month for four months. The extraction of soil macroinvertebrates was carried out using Berlese-Tullgren funnel extractor, and elutriation technique. The mean values of 6.93+/-0.25 were recorded for pH, 32.08+/-0.52oC for temperature, 15.60+/-1.22 for moisture content, were recorded for fallowed soil, and 4.43+/-0.16 (pH), 30.95+/-0.19oC (temperature) were recorded for cultivated soil. A total of 17 soil macroinvertebrates species comprising of 11 orders, from four classes were encountered. Out of the 517 individual soil macroinvertebrates encountered, 327 individuals representing four classes were present in the fallow land while 190 individuals representing three classes were present in the cultivated land. The most dominant species in terms of abundance in the fallowed land site included; Cryptotermes sp 67(20.49%) > Blatta sp 56(17.12%) with Hogna sp 1(0.0.30%) the least; while Cryptotermes sp. 79(41.58%) >Lasius sp 30(15.79%) > Lumbricus terrestris 21(11.05%) represents the dominant species in the cultivated soil with Paraponera sp 1(0.53%) the least. Soil temperature showed positive correlation with the abundance of Clitellata (r = 0.851; p < 0.05) and Insecta (r = 0.826; p < 0.05) and Soil pH showed positive correlation with the abundance of Diplopoda (r = 0.911; p ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, it could be deduced from the study that human activities in the cultivated site perturb soil macroinvertebrates community structure which is reflected in the relative abundance of soil macroinvertebrate from the two sampling sites. The results obtained in this study could be a piece of pointing information for the conservation and management of the soil macroinvertebrates giving their functions in balancing agroecosystems.

How humans alter dissolved organic matter composition in freshwater: relevance for the Earth\u2019s biogeochemistry

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is recognized for its importance in freshwater ecosystems, but historical reliance on DOM quantity rather than indicators of DOM composition has led to an incomplete understanding of DOM and an underestimation of its role and importance in biogeochemical processes. A single sample of DOM can be composed of tens of thousands of distinct molecules. Each of these unique DOM molecules has their own chemical properties and reactivity or role in the environment. Human activities can modify DOM composition and recent research has uncovered distinct DOM pools laced with human markers and footprints. Here we review how land use change, climate change, nutrient pollution, browning, wildfires, and dams can change DOM composition which in turn will affect internal processing of freshwater DOM. We then describe how human-modified DOM can affect biogeochemical processes. Drought, wildfires, cultivated land use, eutrophication, climate change driven permafrost thaw, and other human stressors can shift the composition of DOM in freshwater ecosystems increasing the relative contribution of microbial-like and aliphatic components. In contrast, increases in precipitation may shift DOM towards more relatively humic-rich, allochthonous forms of DOM. These shifts in DOM pools will likely have highly contrasting effects on carbon outgassing and burial, nutrient cycles, ecosystem metabolism, metal toxicity, and the treatments needed to produce clean drinking water. A deeper understanding of the links between the chemical properties of DOM and biogeochemical dynamics can help to address important future environmental issues, such as the transfer of organic contaminants through food webs, alterations to nitrogen cycling, impacts on drinking water quality, and biogeochemical effects of global climate change.

Cultivated Land Use Layout Adjustment Based on Crop Planting Suitability: A Case Study of Typical Counties in Northeast China

Cultivated land use layout adjustment (CLULA) based on crop planting suitability is the refinement and deepening of land use transformation, which is of great significance for optimizing the allocation of cultivated land resources and ensuring food security. At present, people rarely consider the land suitability of crops when using cultivated land, resulting in an imbalance between crop distribution and resource conditions such as water, heat, and soil, and adversely affects the ecological security and utilization efficiency of cultivated land. To alleviate China’s grain planting structural imbalance and efficiency loss, this paper based on the planting suitability of main food crops (rice, soybean, and maize) to adjust and optimize the cultivated land use layout (CLUL) in the typical counties of the main grain production area in Northeast China, using the agent-based model for optimal land allocation (AgentLA) and GIS technology. Findings from the study show that: (1) The planting suitability of rice, soybean, and maize in the region is obviously different. Among them, the suitability level of soybean and maize is high, and that of rice is low. The current CLUL of the food crops needs to be further optimized and adjusted. (2) By optimizing the layout of rice, soybean, and maize, the planting suitability level of the food crops and the concentration level of the CLUL spatial pattern have been improved. (3) The plan for CLULA is formulated: The study area is divided into rice stable production area, maize-soybean rotation area, maize dominant area, and soybean dominant area, and town or village is identified as the implementation unit of CLULA. The plan for CLULA will be conducive to the concentrated farming of food crops according to the suitable natural conditions and management level. The research realized the optimization of spatial structure and cultivated land use patterns of different food crops integrating farming with protecting land. The significance of the study is that it provides a scientific basis and guidance for adjusting the regional planting structure and solving the problem of food structural imbalance.

Sustainable Intensification of Cultivated Land Use and Its Influencing Factors at the Farming Household Scale: A Case Study of Shandong Province, China

Promoting the sustainable intensification of cultivated land use (SICL) has become crucial for ensuring a sufficient supply of grain and important agricultural products, as well as for the sustainable use of resources. Taking widely used areas of Shandong Province in China as examples, an analytical scale and level framework for SICL is constructed in this study. It measures the level of SICL through material flow analysis, constructs Tobit models to analyze the influencing factors of SICL at the farming household scale, and analyzes the transition mechanisms of SICL. The results show that the overall level of SICL in Shandong Province is low, and the spatial distribution is uneven. There are relatively more farmers participating in unsustainable intensification than in medium or low levels of SICL, with farmers working at a high level of SICL making up the smallest proportion. The factors that determine the level of SICL at which farmers work vary significantly. More male farmers operate at a low SICL level than female farmers, while females outnumber males at a high SICL level. This is mainly related to the regional distribution of age and population. Meanwhile, with larger cultivated land areas, there is a lower degree of land fragmentation, with a higher level of SICL corresponding to a smaller distance to the nearest town closer within 1–5 km from the town center. We can see the level of SICL and its processes themselves are closely related to time and space scales. Based on the above analysis, it is necessary to clarify the standard processes of SICL to adapt them to local conditions. This includes instructing managers on how to improve resource utilization, increase the sustainable development of cultivated land and establish a comprehensively efficient and functional SICL mechanism. The sustainable intensification of cultivated land use and its specific application in the new era are conducive to enriching the frontier theories and methodology of sustainable development, and are of great significance to the advancement of green agriculture and the decision-making of rural high-quality development.

A typical phenomenon of cultivated land use in China's economically developed areas: Anti-intensification in Jiangsu Province

Cultivated land utilization is related to national food security and sustainable development. The anti-intensification of cultivated land use (ACLU) is a typical phenomenon involving recessive function loss and the potential marginalization process in China's economically developed areas. This paper summarized ACLU using theoretical and empirical research paradigms and revealed the connotation and characteristics of ACLU from the three-dimensional perspective of input-utilization-output. The results confirm ACLU, which includes two connotations of recessive and dominant, is associated with the intensification process and mainly occurs in economically developed areas. As a result of the influence of labor and capital input weakening per unit area caused by the stakeholders' behaviors of cultivated land use, ACLU mainly presents extensive utilization such as agricultural land type conversion and planting system changes. Taking Jiangsu Province as a case, the ACLU trend shows a regular pattern of changing from a rapid rise in the early stage to a gradual decline in the later stage with socioeconomic development. Concurrently, ACLU has significant regional differences, and river network density is an essential factor affecting Jiangsu's provincial ACLU trend. Besides, the natural environment and socioeconomic factors have different performance characteristics in northern, central, and southern Jiangsu, and socioeconomic contributions have gradually increased from north to south. ACLU is mainly affected by human factors such as regional policy implementation and urban-rural dual structure system, leading to regional differences in ACLU's stage and performance characteristics. Overall, this study can offer ideas for exploring the sustainable intensification path of regional agricultural land utilization under the current rural revitalization background. Further, it can provide scientific reference for cultivated land use management, crop planting mode adjustment, and agricultural land consolidation direction in economic development pilot zone.

Budidaya Hidroponik Posyandu Mawar Desa Palioi Kecamatan Kindang Kabupaten Bulukumba

Posyandu (Integrated Service Post) is a form of community self-help activity in the health sector whose existence is expected to bring promotive and preventive efforts closer to the community. Based on the output of the survey conducted at Posyandu Mawar, located in Palioi Village, Kindang District, Bulukumba Regency, it was found that there is still minimal use of posyandu land for vegetable cultivation. One method solution to solving the problem of Posyandu Mawar cadres is conducting hydroponic training. Hydroponics is the cultivation of planting using water without using soil but emphasizes more on meeting nutritional needs for plants. The method used uses interactive lecturing techniques using power point media. The materials provided are: (a) Definition of Hydroponics, (b) Excess Hydroponics, (c) Procurement of Hydroponic planting media, (d) Types of Hydroponic Plants, (e) Maintenance of Hydroponic Plants, (f) Hydroponic Harvesting. Training activities and practice of making hydroponics have been carried out with the output of this Community Partnership Program, namely Posyandu Mawar cadres who understand hydroponic vegetable cultivation and are able to practice it.

Analysis of Temporal and Spatial Evolution and Influence Factors of Cultivated Land in Pearl River Delta Based on GIS

In order to better explore the characteristics of the spatiotemporal changes of cultivated land, this paper comprehensively considers the utilization change of cultivated land in the Pearl River Delta from the multiple dimensions of the dynamic degree of cultivated land quantity change, location entropy, flow change, relative change rate of utilization, center of gravity, spatial characteristics of change rate, etc. from 2000 to 2014, in order to manage land use better and provide references for the protection of cultivated land, food security and sustainable use of land resources. The results show that the cultivated land and per capita cultivated land area in the Pearl River Delta region both showed a rapid decline and decreasing trend at the beginning, and then gradually eased. The degree of arable land use continues to increase and has developed from extensive to intensive. From the perspective of space, the rapid economic development areas such as Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan and Zhongshan have suffered serious loss of cultivated land. The demand for various types of construction land is constantly expanding. The adjustment of agricultural structure has exacerbated the non-agriculturalization of cultivated land. On the whole, the use of cultivated land in the Pearl River Delta has a tendency toward the south.

Prioritizing infill structure indicators in a historical context: in terms of economic sustainability- the vicinity zone of Tabriz historic bazaar

PurposeSustainability is one of the major factors in the way of creating new structures in historical contexts. The economic principle plays a very significant role in sustainability besides the environmental and social components. Tabriz Historic Bazaar that has been inscribed on the World Heritage list has witnessed various developments in its surrounding area over recent years. The purpose of this study is to analyze the infill structure indicators in this region in terms of economic sustainability.Design/methodology/approachFirst, based on related literature reviews and approaches, the indicators that should be considered in the creation of infill structures in historical contexts were collected. Later, by considering the vicinity zone of Tabriz Historic Bazaar, the effect of each indicator on the economic sustainability of the building was gathered by means of AHP questionnaires and in-person interviews with experts and analyzed by the Expert Choice software.FindingsThe findings present a guideline which indicates that the type of materials being used is the most important factor in order to create an economically sustainable infill structure in this setting. Accordance with the Climate of the region ranks second place and the Cultural land-use as the Suitable land use for this site goes for the third. The mentioned guideline includes 25 indicators and can help designers with a clear path.Originality/valueThis paper clarifies the order of indicators' importance for enhancing the design and consequently function of infill structures, being built in this historic context, with the aim of economic sustainability. The prioritization of indicators in this research depends mainly on their relevance to the conditions of the study area, but the methodology can be used helpfully in similar cases.

Green Transition of Cultivated Land Use in the Yellow River Basin: A Perspective of Green Utilization Efficiency Evaluation

Exploring the green transition of cultivated land use from the perspective of green utilization efficiency evaluation has become an important content of deepening the study of cultivated land use transition, which is of great significance to promote food security and ecological civilization construction. At present, there are few studies on the green utilization efficiency of cultivated land (GUECL), which covers the comprehensive benefits of economy, ecology and society, combined with the requirements of ecological civilization and green development. Taking 65 cities (regions and autonomous prefectures) of the Yellow River Basin as the basic evaluation unit, the GUECL of the Yellow River Basin is evaluated with a Super-SBM model. In general, the GUECL of the Yellow River Basin was not high at four time points of 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018, which presents a trend of “rising first and then falling”. Analyzing its temporal and spatial evolution pattern, the GUECL in the upper, middle and lower reaches presented an order of the upper reaches area > the lower reaches area > the middle reaches area; and the spatial variation trend showed a decrease from west to east, and a U-shaped change in the south-north direction. Using spatial correlation analysis, except for the year 2000, the GUECL in the Yellow River Basin presents a general distribution characteristic of spatial agglomeration, which is positively correlated in 2006, 2012 and 2018. The change of spatio-temporal pattern is the result of internal and external factors. The former mainly displays in the main characteristics of farmers, family characteristics and farmers’ cognition, while the latter is reflected in natural, social and policy factors.

Evaluating the sustainable intensification of cultivated land use based on emergy analysis

Sustainable intensification provides a new research paradigm for coordinating the trade-offs between food demand and resource and environmental constraints. The sustainable intensification of cultivated land use can be seen as the material and energy processes required to sustain the land output functions and land use activities. In the present study, we used emergy analysis to describe the input-output flow of Ruijin's cultivated land use processes to assess its level of sustainable intensification. In terms of input and output, the net loss of topsoil through cultivated land use is 1.75 times the resilience of the cultivated land system, which places tremendous pressure on cultivated land protection. In 2017, compared to 2010, the output emergy of agricultural products decreased by 16.52%, and the emergy of waste emissions increased by 4.24%. The continuous increase in agricultural waste discharge requires agricultural managers to improve the input of production factors through soil testing and formula fertilization and to optimize their planting structure to adjust the intensity of cultivated land use. The government's ecological protection requirements can alleviate environmental pressure and waste discharge, and land managers can sustainably intensify cultivated land use by carefully planning the spatial layout of agricultural production.