Impacts of land-use changes on soil erosion in water-wind crisscross erosion region of China

Abstract

Soil erosion affects food production, biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, hydrology, and climate. Land-use changes accelerated by intensive human activities are a dominant anthropogenic factor inducing soil erosion globally. However, the impacts of land-use-type changes on soil erosion dynamics over a continuous period for constructing a sustainable ecological environment has not been systematically quantified. This study investigates the spatial-temporal dynamics of land-use change and soil erosion across a specific area in China with water-wind crisscross erosion during three periods: 1995-1999, 2000-2005, and 2005-2010. We analyzed the impacts of each land-use-type conversion on the intensity changes of soil erosion caused by water and wind, respectively. The major findings include: (1) land-use change in the water-wind crisscross erosion region of China was characterized as cultivated land expansion at the main cost of grassland during 1995-2010; (2) the strongest land-use change moved westward in space from the central Loess Plateau area in 1995-2005 to the western piedmont alluvial area in 2005-2010; (3) soil erosion area is continuously increasing, but the trend is declining from the late 1990s to the late 2000s; (4) the soil conservation capability of land-use types in water-wind crisscross erosion regions could be compiled from high to low as high coverage grasslands, medium coverage grasslands, paddy, drylands, low coverage grasslands, built-up lands, unused land of sandy lands, the Gobi Desert, and bare soil. These findings could provide some insights for executing reasonable land-use approaches to balance human demands and environment sustainability.