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Assessing the Drivers and Proximate Causes of Land Change in...
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Assessing the Drivers and Proximate Causes of Land Change in Regional Ecosystems

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Socio-Economic and Political Issues".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (14 July 2023) | Viewed by 3980

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Mark A. Drummond

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
Interests: land cover change; land use; wildlife habitat; ecosystem recovery; climate change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue examines the proximate causes and underlying drivers of historical and emerging trends in regional land use and land cover. Many terrestrial ecological regions, e.g., ecoregions, ecozones, and bioregions, are increasingly pressured and transformed by human activities and climate change. As access to spatial imagery and to climate and anthropogenic data continues to expand, clear methodologies and case studies that link trends, proximate causes, and driving forces are essential. As illustrated by the well-documented historical forest transition, it is equally important to understand the drivers of ecosystem recovery.

The goals of this Special Issue are to highlight the methods, theories, and interacting dynamics of the causes, drivers and trends of change. Investigations should examine land changes affecting regional ecological systems but could include a wide range of approaches and time scales. Regional ecosystems generally have relatively consistent land uses, vegetation, and resources, which can facilitate an assessment of the drivers of change. Example topics could include the role of sustainable development, rural land systems, intensification, urban expansion, habitat loss, conservation, recovery, and land use interactions in climate change.

Dr. Mark A. Drummond
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • land use
  • land cover change
  • driving forces
  • land change science
  • human-dominated ecosystems
  • degradation
  • ecosystem recovery
  • ecological change

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 1091 KiB  
Article
Geographical Detector-Based Research of Spatiotemporal Evolution and Driving Factors of Oasification and Desertification in Manas River Basin, China
by Jinmeng Lee, Xiaojun Yin, Honghui Zhu and Xin Zheng
Land 2023, 12(8), 1487; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12081487 - 27 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1077
Abstract
Oasification and desertification are two essential processes of land use and cover (LULC) change in arid regions. Compared to desertification, which is widely regarded as the most severe global ecological issue, the importance of oasification has not received universal recognition. However, neglecting oasification [...] Read more.
Oasification and desertification are two essential processes of land use and cover (LULC) change in arid regions. Compared to desertification, which is widely regarded as the most severe global ecological issue, the importance of oasification has not received universal recognition. However, neglecting oasification can lead to detrimental outcomes to the effectiveness of ecological governance by affecting the comprehensiveness of environmental policies proposed only based on desertification. Therefore, this study incorporates oasification into the examination of desertification by analyzing land use data for five representative periods spanning from 1980 to 2020, as well as socioeconomic and environmental data from 2000 to 2010. The aim is to evaluate the spatial and temporal dynamics of oasification and desertification in the Manas River Basin and identify the underlying factors driving these processes. The findings indicated that (1) the general trend of oasification and desertification exhibited the expansion of oases and the retreat of deserts. Specifically, the oasification area showed a “decrease-increase-decrease” pattern over time, while the desertification area consistently decreased. (2) In terms of spatial distribution, oasification and desertification displayed a transition from scattered and disordered patterns to an overall more organized pattern, with the hotspot area of desertification shifting from Shawan County to Manas County over time. (3) Population density, average land GDP, soil type and annual precipitation significantly influenced the degree of oasification, with driving force q-values above 0.4, which were the key factors driving oasification. Population density and average land GDP significantly affected the degree of desertification, with driving force q-values above 0.35, which were the key factors driving desertification. The driving force of all factors increased significantly after the interaction, and socioeconomic factors influenced oasification and desertification more than other factors. The study’s findings aim to provide a scientific basis for land resource use, ecological governance and sustainable development in the Manas River basin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Drivers and Proximate Causes of Land Change in Regional Ecosystems)
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17 pages, 3608 KiB  
Article
Ecological Security Assessment and Warning of Cultivated Land Quality in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China
by Ziwei Liu, Mingchang Wang, Xingnan Liu, Fengyan Wang, Xiaoyan Li, Jianguo Wang, Guanglei Hou and Shijun Zhao
Land 2023, 12(5), 1005; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12051005 - 3 May 2023
Viewed by 1171
Abstract
The ecological security of cultivated land critically depends on maintaining the quality of the land under cultivation. For the security of the nation’s grain supply, the evaluation and early warning of cultivated land quality (CLQ) are essential. However, previous studies on the assessment [...] Read more.
The ecological security of cultivated land critically depends on maintaining the quality of the land under cultivation. For the security of the nation’s grain supply, the evaluation and early warning of cultivated land quality (CLQ) are essential. However, previous studies on the assessment of the ecological safety of CLQ only rigidly standardized the assessment indicators and failed to investigate the positive and negative trends and spatiotemporal driving factors of the indicators. The main objective of this study was to develop a drive–pressure–state–response (DPSR) model to identify the hierarchical structure of indicators, using an improved matter–element model to assess the CLQ in the black soil region of northeastern China from 2001 to 2020. A panel data model was employed to explore the crucial drivers of CLQ warnings. The findings reveal that socioeconomic development has a potential impact on the improvement of CLQ. CLQ is generally in a secure state, with 69.71% of cities with no warnings and only 3.46% and 0.13% of cities under serious and extreme warnings, respectively. Compared with 2001, the CLQ in 2020 effectively improved by socioeconomic development and the conservation and reasonable utilization of arable land. According to the early warning results, the cultivated land in the northern regions was of higher quality than that in the southern regions. Moreover, the CLQ was significantly positively correlated with the agricultural GDP growth rate, grain yield per unit of cultivated land area, annual precipitation, and the habitat quality index, and was significantly negatively correlated with land carrying capacity. The findings of this study can provide a scientific and targeted basis for black soil conservation and utilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Drivers and Proximate Causes of Land Change in Regional Ecosystems)
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17 pages, 1508 KiB  
Article
Medium-Term Effect of Organic Amendments on the Chemical Properties of a Soil Used for Vegetable Cultivation with Cereal and Legume Rotation in a Semiarid Climate
by Antonio Sánchez-Navarro, Maria del Carmen Salas-Sanjuan, María Arantzazu Blanco-Bernardeau, Juan Antonio Sánchez-Romero and María José Delgado-Iniesta
Land 2023, 12(4), 897; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12040897 - 17 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1285
Abstract
The response of a Petrocalcic Palexeroll dedicated to the cultivation of vegetables (Apium graveolens L.) with a rotation of a mixture of cereals and legumes when organic amendments are added has been studied; specifically, three fertilization treatments were experimented with: two organic [...] Read more.
The response of a Petrocalcic Palexeroll dedicated to the cultivation of vegetables (Apium graveolens L.) with a rotation of a mixture of cereals and legumes when organic amendments are added has been studied; specifically, three fertilization treatments were experimented with: two organic (LSM and COA) and one with chemical fertilizers (I). The LSM and COA plots were managed according to the regulations governing organic production, while in I, conventional agricultural production practices were used. Over a three-year period, monthly samples were taken from the topsoil and analyzed for organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), C/N ratio, total P (P), electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECext) and extract ions, pH in water (pHw) and 1 M KCl (pHKCl), cation exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable bases (Mg2+, K+, Na+), and assimilable elements (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn). The results obtained indicated significant differences between the treatments for the OC, TN, C/N, and P; specifically, in the case of OC the mean concentrations were 22.2 > 20.1 > 17.5 g kg−1 for the LSM, COA, and I, respectively. The addition of organic amendments also improved the soil function for food production, evidenced by the higher concentrations of K, Mg, and micronutrients. The ECext and extracted ions were also sensitive to the treatments such that the sequence of ECext in the third year was COA = LSM > I, with values of 5.0, 4.8, and 3.3 dSm−1, which forced a rethink of the doses of the amendments applied. These results suggest that the LSM-based agronomic model had a beneficial effect on the soil properties and contributed to its function as a C sink. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing the Drivers and Proximate Causes of Land Change in Regional Ecosystems)
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