Search

A marginal land definition is a contemporary scientific term that is constantly changing and unstoppable. There are many ways in which marginal lands are referred to, unproductive lands, including waste lands, unutilized lands, idle lands, abandoned lands, or degraded land. In the present research, we tried to collect all Scopus-based publications in English from 1979 to 2022 years using crucial keywords: Marginal lands, Land degradation, and Agricultural land. We analyzed the most popular journals, top authors, top-cited papers, top countries, top-cited years, etc. A common way to identify ML is to use biophysical constraints related to agricultural productivity or bioenergy. For instance, using a multi-criteria decision approach based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing, combined data on land use/land cover (LULC), slope, soil depth, erosion, moisture, water holding capacity, texture, and availability of nutrient to study the land suitability for agriculture in hilly zones. There is a high potential for applying remote sensing (RS) and geographical information systems (GIS) for the mapping and monitoring of marginal lands. In addition, the role of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) in other disciplines around the world is significantly high. In contrast, in this research work, we find out that the usage scale of RS and GIS technologies is not common all around the world on the given marginal land issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the paper is to analyze the land use as cultivated area and grasslands for producing animal feed in Romania in the interval 2013-2022 utilizing the data from National Institute of Statistics (NIS) and Eurostat. The dynamics was highlighted as graphical trend lines, regression equations and R square, fixed basis and structural indices reflecting the changes across the time. The results showed that the surface with green forages in arable land was 847,978 ha in 2022 representing 10.59% of the total cultivated area and also reflected a reduction by 1.26% versus 2013. The perennial forages covered 675,207 ha in 2022 (+3.7% vs. 2013). Alfalfa accounted for a larger surface with a share of 62.52% in 2022(vs. 52.39% in 2013), while the clover area decreased its weight from 18.5% to 14.2%. In 2022, annual green forages covered 179,952 ha, by 13.35% less than in 2023. Fodder maize was cultivated on only 48,634 ha in 2022 (-13.36% vs. 2013) and root crops on only 3,033 ha, a surface smaller by 79.32% in 2022. The declined is justify by the negative influence of climate change which reduced forage production and also by the decreasing trend in livestock. Romania has also 5,172,800 ha grasslands, coming on the 3rd position in the EU after France and Germany. This area plays an important role in animal nutrition at a lower cost, in soil conservation, mitigating the effects of climate change, preserving biodiversity and the beauty of the landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"European Green Architecture" refers to the implementation of sustainable agriculture that provides sufficient food and ecosystem services for both present and future generations. The conditions contained in eco-scheme PD-04 "Environmentally friendly practices for arable land" refer to the introduction of agricultural practices that have a positive impact on the environment and are aimed at farms with an area of more than 10.01 ha. The data was provided by the Agency for Payments and Interventions in Agriculture in Romania. The method of analysis was the comparative method, as well as the analysis of the structure of the cultivated and non-cultivated areas, the average for each county of Romania, the situation of the structure of the crops and the presence of nitrogen-fixing crops and protein crops, relevant indicators for the farms that applied for the PD-0 eco-scheme. The results of the analysis show that in 2023, the number of farms in Romania that have applied for the PD-04 eco-scheme is 46,608, with a total area of 5,789,746.35 ha, of which 2,934 were declared as uncultivated land, corresponding to 26,829.82 ha. According to the general agronomic rules, the crop rotation for field crops aims at an optimal crop structure as follows: 25% cereal straw, 25% maize, 25% legumes (soybeans, peas, beans, etc.) and sunflowers, 25% forage crops (alfalfa, clover, peas, etc.) necessary to increase soil fertilization. The paper presents the culture preferences of Romanian farmers in the year 2023, regarding the implementation of the eco-scheme PD-04 "Environmentally beneficial practices applicable to arable land". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper was to assess the production capacity of the lands in Periam, Timiș County, in wheat, barley, corn, and sunflower. We chose 17 more important and better determining indicators and, based on them, we established, for each crop, the credit ratings, after which we classified the soils in the studied area into fertility classes. In accordance with the methodology for developing pedological studies, the degree of suitability was determined for each of the four crops: 91.73% of the area of this locality is represented by agricultural land, of which arable land represents 79.22%. and 0.41% is forested land. Following the evaluation of arable land (4,663 ha), it was found that 45.38% fall into the first class, 33.63% in Class II, 20.10% in Class III, and 0.89% in Class IV, with an average grade of 75. This makes these lands highly productive. As a general conclusion, each farmer should periodically evaluate the fertility of the farm soils, make a balance of the nutrient requirements for each crop by considering the plants' requirements according to the vegetation phase, the technology applied, the local soil land climate conditions based on realistic forecasts. In this way, a series of costs with fertilizers and soil work are reduced, the excess is eliminated, and the deficiency of nutrients is corrected, the recommended doses are fractionated and applied differently depending on the needs of the plant, the humidity, the reaction and the texture of the soil. Following the results obtained, it appears that these lands have a high production capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants in agricultural crops begin to develop rapidly in the spring and need the food supplement provided by fertilizers. Carrying out the basic fertilization is necessary together with the works for the preparation of the germinal bed in view of the spring sowing. On pastures, especially those that are to be used for both grazing and forage, it is also important to apply fertilizers in early spring. According to the Code of Good Agricultural Practices, starting from March 15, the spreading of solid organic fertilizers on arable land and pastures is also allowed. Liquid, semiliquid and solid manures from animal farms as well as effluents from silos contain large amounts of nutrients. For this reason, the application of fertilizers derived from them have, in addition to the positive effects of increasing the fertility of the land and increasing the organic matter content of the soil, and a very important negative one, namely the acceleration of the eutrophication of surface waters in the case of their penetration into the bodies of water, even small amounts of these substances. The paper analyses these aspects of soil fertilization with fertilizers from animal manure, respectively the influence of this process on hydric soil erosion on watershed hillslopes. The Water Erosion Prediction Project software, developed by USDA-ARS, USA, was used for the soil loss study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the imbalance in the supply and demand of agricultural land, there is an increasing trend of land resources being remoted utilized across regions. Within the context of regional trade, changes in the agroecosystem service value (ESV) can be used to assess consumer responsibility. However, the embodied flow of ESV and its driving factors have been largely unexplored. This paper, utilizing the latest Chinese multi-regional input-output tables and the equivalence factor method, explores the spatiotemporal characteristics of embodied agricultural land and ESV flow between Guangdong and 30 other provinces, and further seeks to construct three types of embodied ESV models to reveal the driving factors. The findings reveal that during the process of domestic trade in goods and services, Guangdong Province has an inflow of 2.10 × 107 hm2 of land from other provinces, with arable land, forestland, and grassland accounting for 25, 61, and 14%, respectively. Guangdong's utilization of ESV is mainly dependent on external inflows, with minimal local consumption and outflows. The embodied ESV between Guangdong and other provinces is 1626.10 billion yuan, with an outflow of 325.32 billion yuan. The "Y"-shaped region consisting of the northwest, northeast, southwest, and Hainan bears significant potential ESV losses for Guangdong Province. Population growth and the intensity of ESV loss will promote the flow of cropland and forestland ESV, while economic development has a certain inhibitory effect on ESV transfer. This paper provides a new analytical perspective on issues such as the spatial distribution mismatch of land resources and ecologically unequal exchange. These insights are pivotal for promoting sustainable utilization of land resources and regional equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the carbon emission pattern of "peak carbon and carbon neutrality", the policy of crop rotation and fallow system (CRFS) is regarded as an important initiative to promote the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of agriculture. Focusing on balanced panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2021, this paper empirically examines the impact of CRFS on agricultural carbon emissions (ACEI) and its internal mechanism using a multi-temporal difference-in-differences model. The benchmark regression results show that CRFS can significantly reduce ACEI, and the results remain robust after validation by multiple methods. Mechanism results show that CRFS is able to reduce ACEI by reducing factor mismatch and promoting the level of agricultural services. Heterogeneity analysis results show that the arable land fallow rotation system is more conducive to promoting the reduction in agricultural carbon emission intensity in the main grain producing areas, main grain marketing areas, high land transfer areas, and plantation areas than in the grain production and marketing balanced areas, low land transfer, and animal husbandry areas. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the CRFS policy implementation, provides a doctrinal basis for expanding the scope of CRFS implementation, and provides policy recommendations for relevant departments to improve the CRFS policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of societal development, forest land categories often conflict with other land use types, leading to impacts on the ecological environment. Therefore, research on changes in forest land categories has increasingly become a globally focused topic. To anticipate potential forest ecological security issues under urbanization trends, studies on regional land use simulation become more important. This paper, based on land use data from the Ganjiang River basin, analyzes the distribution characteristics and changing trends of land use types from 2000 to 2020. Using the CA-Markov model, it predicts the land use pattern of the basin in 2040 and analyzes the transfer characteristics of forest land categories. The conclusions indicate that, between 2000 and 2020, the most significant trend in land use evolution was the transfer between various subcategories of forest land, especially frequent in the high-altitude mountainous areas in the southern and western parts of the basin. The land use pattern prediction model constructed in this paper has a kappa index of 0.92, indicating high accuracy and reliability of the predictions. In 2040, the most significant land evolution phenomenon would be from forest land to arable land to construction land, particularly pronounced around large cities. Over the next 20 years, the focus of land use evolution may shift from the southern part of the basin to the central and northern parts, with urban expansion possibly becoming the main driving force of land use changes during this period. Forest land restoration work is an effective method to compensate for the loss of forest land area in the Ganjiang River basin, with key areas for such work including Longnan, Yudu, Xingguo, Ningdu, Lianhua, and Yongxin counties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid unprecedented challenges to protect arable land, China's permanent capital farmland (PCF) has played a crucial role in grain production. However, a clear legal and physical boundary between PCF and arable land seems to be unable to stop the spread of non-grain production. To address it, an analysis framework for PCF non-grain production was developed to examine the state and drivers of village-scale PCF non-grain production based on the logical relationship between PCF and arable land in the rapid urbanization of Liyang. The results suggested that PCF comprised approximately 70% arable land and 30% adjustable land. Meanwhile, forest land and aquaculture ponds occupied over 25% of PCF, while nearly 20% of PCF is unsuitable for the resumption of crop cultivation. The transition state (scenario SR) offered a realistic representation of PCF non-grain production, with an average non-grain production of 48.88%. This is 14.00% lower than the current state (scenario SD) and 9.65% higher than the future state (scenario ST). Furthermore, PCF area and agricultural income per capita significantly encouraged PCF non-grain production, with explanatory powers of 51.60% and 42.40%, respectively. In contrast, urbanization rate (with an explanatory power of 35.30%) significantly discouraged it. Therefore, this paper proposed PCF redefinition, flexible PCF, and diversified economic incentives to mitigate PCF non-grain production at the village scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alluvial fans have been proven to have great utilisation potential in QTP, but to what extent they are suitable for agricultural development is unknown. Therefore, using the alluvial fan in the Lhasa River Basin (LRB) as a case study, this paper established an evaluation system of land suitability for agriculture (LSA). Principal component analysis (PCA) and the exhaustive method (EM) were used to define the minimum dataset (MDS) and then the LSA of the alluvial fan in the LRB was evaluated using a comprehensive index of LSA. Two scientific approaches were implemented to improve the LSA using a scenario simulation. The results showed that the MDS assessed by the EA was more representative compared to the PCA. Alluvial fans with suitable grades are mainly distributed in the Lhasa River's middle and lower reaches. Developing facility agriculture and repairing roads accessing the alluvial fans are effective approaches to improve the LSA, which can increase the suitable-grade area from 58.62% to 97.82% and 63.85%, respectively. Therefore, most alluvial fans in the LRB are suitable for developing agriculture, and under the influence of human activities, there will be more alluvial fans suitable for developing agriculture. Our research provides scientific methods for the sustainable development of land in alpine regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Economic Belt, relying on the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, serves not only as a vital industrial and urban stronghold in China but also bears the significant responsibility of the Yangtze River's major conservation efforts. The implementation of the main functional zones within the economic belt can provide regional synergies for development and protection through the optimization and organization of spatial structures, which is conducive to promoting the green and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in accordance with local conditions. In pursuit of these objectives, this paper utilizes multi-source data and selects corresponding indicators based on the main form of functional zoning to analyze the land protection and development patterns of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and to assess the effectiveness of the main functional zone planning implementation. The findings reveal that the enactment of main functional area planning has incrementally enhanced the level of land development and conservation in terms of certain aspects across the Yangtze River Economic Belt. This is evidenced by the burgeoning expansion of construction land in areas earmarked for optimization and pivotal development, bolstered by robust population and economic concentration capabilities, alongside a surge in per capita output. Moreover, ecological lands within critical ecological function zones exhibited signs of rejuvenation. Nonetheless, the outcomes are not universally aligned with the anticipated goals: the expanse of arable land in primary agricultural production zones has contracted, accompanied by a downturn in the proportion of grain output; the proliferation of construction land within key ecological function zones continues unabated, and ecological lands have experienced reductions over various intervals. The main functional zones have yet to fully embrace and enact protective strategies, highlighting an urgent need for more formidable institutional frameworks to guarantee their rigorous enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper quantifies the annual dynamics of the shortwave radiation reflected from bare arable land as a result of smoothing previously plowed land located in three different agricultural subregions of the European Union and associated countries. This estimate takes into account the annual variation of the bare arable land area, obtained from Sentinel 2 satellite imagery; the spatial variability of soil units within croplands, obtained from digital soil and land-cover maps; and the laboratory spectral reflectance characteristics of these units, obtained from soil samples stored in the LUCAS soil database. The properties of the soil units, which cover an area of at least 4% of each subregion, were characterized. The highest amounts of shortwave radiation reflected under clear-sky conditions from air-dried, bare arable land surfaces—approximately 850 PJ day−1 and 1.10 EJ day−1 for land shaped by a plow (Pd) and smoothing harrow (Hs), respectively—were found in the summer around 8 August in the western subregion. However, the lowest radiation occurred in the spring on 10 April at 340 PJ day−1 for Pd and 430 PJ day−1 for Hs in the central subregion. The largest and the smallest amounts of this radiation throughout the year—only as a result of smoothing, by Hs, land that was previously treated by Pd—was estimated at 42 EJ for the western and southern subregions and 19 EJ for the central subregion, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a context marked by the intensification of climate change as well as an increase in the frequency and intensity of violent conflicts in Africa, this paper analyses the effects of vulnerability to climate change on conflict through the channel of migratory movements. Given the complex causal relationships between the variables, and to distinguish between their direct and indirect effects on conflicts, we employ structural equation modeling on a sample of 37 African countries observed between 1995 and 2017. The results show that vulnerability to climate change has both direct and indirect negative effects on internal conflict in Africa. An increase in vulnerability to climate change reduces the net stock of international migrants; while the net stock of migrants increases internal conflict. These effects are robust regardless of the components of the climate change vulnerability index considered and vary, however, according to the official language spoken and the level of development. In English-speaking and low-developing countries, the effects of climate change vulnerability on conflict remain negative, while in French- and Arabic-speaking as well as in more developed African countries, climate change vulnerability indirectly increases conflict through migration.In a given territory, the implementation of specific adaptation measures helps to reduce the level of vulnerability to climate change. Furthermore, the increase in conflicts caused by a reduction in vulnerability to climate change can be mitigated by a decrease in migratory movements through a better allocation of natural resources such as arable land and an increase in gross domestic product per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Green Deal assumes a significant reduction in chemicals in agriculture production. Unfortunately, the problem of crop contamination due to the presence of pesticide residues in crops may be related to, among others, inappropriate techniques and conditions for performing chemical protection treatments by non-organic producers whose fields border on organic fields. Comparatively, in organic crops provided with simple plant cover, the average crop losses due to this pest were 19%, while in traditional crops free of any type of plant cover, the crop losses were 23% of the harvest [[3]]. Reducing the use of chemical plant protection products, increasing the area of organic crops in the EU and actions to protect biodiversity are currently the biggest challenge for agriculture, but also for Member States of the EU, which must take a number of economic and strategic actions [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]

Arable land protection is essential for Zero hunger the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations, and the arable land protection includes two aspects, non-farming and non-grain. We try to monitor the arable land protection in Zhejiang with domestic satellite imagery. Satellite remote technology has become an essential way to monitor the land cover change (for non-farming) and grain crops (for non-grain). However, current monitoring frequency and scale were unable to satisfy the needs for non-farming monitoring. The low-resolution image cannot satisfy the feature of land fragmentation of Zhejiang for non-grain monitoring. To address the above problem, this paper proposes a land cover change method to monitor non-farming purposes based on deeplabv3+ with monthly coverage 2 meters resolution images. By focusing on rebuilding training data set and improving training strategy with hard example training, the difficulty of the spurious change caused by the adjustment of farming structure is solved. At the same time, this paper builds three training processes (Initial training, Fine training, Retraining for promotion) based on Fully Convolutional Neural Network FCN-8S to monitor the main grain crops in Zhejiang. The phenological features are added into the process of training to further improve the accuracy. At present, land cover change method of this paper has been applied in Zhejiang province and the monitoring of grain crops has been carried out in some regions according to the specific requirements. The result shows that both the two methods exhibit good accuracy and generalization ability at the time and space scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the characteristics of the agricultural sector in Romania, through the lens of the land grabbing phenomena. It is one of the latest additions to an already full agenda of challenges that rural development must address. Land grabbing deprives the population of the ability to make decisions about the national land (what is cultivated, what agricultural practices are used, what is the purpose of the land), nullifying food sovereignty. Also, the possibility of young people to choose agriculture as a field of activity is restricted by the privatization of land, although they receive subsidies for establishing themselves as young farmers. The analysis carried out in the period 2015-2021 indicated that approximately 40% of Romanian agricultural land is owned by foreign owners, while 46% of the population lives in the countryside and 1.6 million people are employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing. The results showed that the largest areas are owned by Italy, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. The main fields of activity are the following: agriculture, forestry, conservation and renewable energy. At the same time, subsidies can represent significant income for large areas of land. For the studied period, an increase in the prices of arable land in Romania was found, although they are lower than in other European countries. The biggest increases in arable land prices were recorded in the West, South-East and South-West Oltenia Regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is facing development challenges, such as the red line of arable land, resource shortage, and tightening ecological and environmental constraints. In this context, improving land green utilization efficiency (LGUE) is not only an important undertaking to optimize the spatial layout of the country and improve resource carrying capacity but also an inevitable choice for the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. China's energy-consuming right trading (ECRT) is an important energy transition demonstration policy; however, its effect on LGUE has yet to be scientifically evaluated in academic research. Using panel data of 260 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2021, this study first uses a difference-in-difference model to test the effect of ECRT on LGUE, analyze its transmission mechanism, and further examine the impact of urban characteristic heterogeneity on policy effects from multiple perspectives. Results show the following: (1) The pilot policy of ECRT significantly improves urban LGUE, as confirmed by robustness tests. (2) The ECRT pilot policy enhances urban technological innovation, promotes the upgrading of industrial structure, and thereby improves LGUE. (3) The ECRT has a more significant enhancement effect on the central and western cities, large-scale cities, and resource-based cities. (4) Government environmental protection assessment can have a positive moderating effect, that is, further amplifying the effect of ECRT on improving urban LGUE. In conclusion, we should solidly promote the construction of a unified national ECRT market, formulate policy implementation plans tailored to local conditions, and steadily improve LGUE. To a certain extent, this paper reveals the inherent logic of how ECRT affects LGUE, which provides opportunities for cities to improve LGUE through ECRT, and provides reference for promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Strategy" is one of China's three major national development strategies. Enhancing the protection and quality of arable land in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YEB) is pivotal for fostering regional growth. In this study, land use data spanning the years 1980 to 2020 in the YEB were extracted from the national land use database maintained by the Resource and Environment Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial analysis techniques and arable land change metrics, the study delineated the spatiotemporal characteristics of arable land alterations across the YEB for the period. Additionally, using grain output data at the prefecture level from 2011 to 2020, the paper calculated provincial grain output to analyze the impact of arable land changes over the last four decades on grain output. The findings revealed that: (1) From 1980 to 2020, the total arable land area in the YEB decreased by approximately 41,775 square kilometers, with the most significant decrease occurring in the downstream region. (2) From 1980 to 1990, the primary factor contributing to the decrease in arable land area was the expansion of water bodies, while from 1990 to 2020, the principal reason for the reduction in arable land area was the expansion of construction land. (3) From 1980 to 2020, the decrease in arable land area resulted in a net reduction of approximately 25.12 million tons in total grain output, with the largest decline observed in the downstream regions and the smallest decline in the upstream regions. (4) Consistent with the trends in arable land area reduction, the main reason for the decline in grain output from 1980 to 1990 was the expansion of water bodies encroaching upon arable land, whereas from 2000 to 2010, the primary cause of arable land reduction was the expansion of construction land areas. In conclusion, the research suggested that over the past four decades, the primary driver behind the reduction in arable land within the YEB has been the expansion of construction land areas. Particularly noteworthy was the period from 2000 to 2010, during which the impact of arable land reduction on grain output was most pronounced. This period coincided with the rapid economic development and accelerated urbanization process within the YEB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China's pursuit of modernization, the government has introduced the rural revitalization strategy to combat rural decline, foster balanced urban–rural development, and reduce the urban–rural gap. Rural human settlements, as key components of this strategy, play a vital role. This paper examines the types and characteristics of human–earth relationships within rural settlements, emphasizing their significance. Using national land use and population census data, we analyze the spatiotemporal evolution of rural settlements at the county level, investigating landscape pattern changes, assessing the degree of coupling coordination between rural population and settlements, categorizing relationship types and features, and estimating the potential for remediation. Our findings reveal a growing trend in the scale of rural human settlements, particularly sourced from arable land, with significant expansions observed in the North China Plain and Northeast Plain, indicating potential for farmland reclamation and village consolidation. Landscape patterns of rural human settlements exhibit increased fragmentation, complex shapes, and aggregation. We categorize the utilization of rural human settlements into two types, each with four distinct features: human–land coordination is observed in regions characterized by either a higher rural population and larger rural settlement areas, or lower rural population and smaller rural settlement areas. Human–land trade-offs are evident in areas where there is either a higher rural population and smaller rural settlement areas, or lower rural population and larger rural settlement areas. This provides valuable insights for the Chinese government's context-specific implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. It also serves as an experiential reference for the governance of rural human settlements in other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proper fallowing of soil maintains or even improves its yield potential. The aim of this research was to compare five methods of soil protection with high production potential on the yield and quality of strategic plants. The tested methods consisted of five variants: bare fallow—BF; natural fallow—NF; fodder galega (Galega orientalis Lam.)—FG; a mixture of fodder galega (Galega orientalis Lam.) with smooth brome (Bromus inermis)—FG+SB; and smooth brome (Bromus inermis)—SB. The soil had been set aside for 9 years, after which time the fallows were terminated and the fields were cropped with winter oilseed rape, winter wheat, and spring wheat in three consecutive years. After the end of fallowing, the content of Nog. and Ctot., pH, and forms of available macro- and microelements in the soil were determined. The influence of each type of fallow on the yield of seeds/grain, straw, total protein, crude fat, and the content of macronutrients in the seeds/grain and straw of the grown crops was determined. Regarding the yields of the crops, the best solution was long-term soil protection via sowing fodder galega or a mixture of fodder galega and smooth brome. A field previously maintained as a fallow with these plants (singly or in combination) could produce over twice-as-high yields of wheat and oilseed rape as those harvested from a field established on bare fallow. The yields of the cereals and oilseed rape obtained in this study prove that food security and environmental protection issues can be reconciled. The methods for protecting farmland temporarily excluded from agricultural production presented in this paper correspond perfectly to the framework of the Green Deal for Europe. Arable land excluded from cultivation can be used to overcome new challenges facing modern agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optimized spectroscopic method combining quantitative evolved gas analysis via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-EGA) and qualitative in situ thermal reaction monitoring via diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (in situT DRIFTS) is being proposed to rapidly characterize soil organic matter (SOM) to study its dynamics and stability. A thermal reaction chamber coupled with an infrared gas cell was used to study the pattern of thermal evolution of carbon dioxide (CO2) in order to relate evolved gas to different qualities of soil organic matter (SOM). Soil samples were from three different sites, i.e. (I) the Static Fertilization Experiment, Bad Lauchstädt (Chernozem) from treatments of farmyard manure (FYM), mineral fertilizer (NPK), combination (FYM+NPK) and control without fertilizer inputs, and cropped soils from the (ii) Kraichgau and (iii) Swabian Alb (Cambisols) areas, Southwest Germany. Soils from Kraichgau and Swabian Alb were further fractionated into particulate organic matter (POM), sand and stable aggregates (Sa+A), silt and clay (Si+C), and NaOCl oxidized Si+C (rSOC) to gain OM of different inferred stabilities. Fresh soil samples from the Kraichgau and Swabian Alb were incubated at 20°C and 50% water holding capacity for 490 days in order to measure soil respiration under controlled conditions. A variable long path length gas cell was used to record the mid-infrared absorbance intensity of carbon dioxide (2400 to 2200 cm-1) being evolved during soil heating from 25 to 700°C with a heating rate of 68°Cmin-1 during an initial ramping time of 10min and holding time of 10min. Separately the heating chamber was placed in a diffuse reflectance chamber (DRIFTS) for measuring the mid-infrared absorption of the soil sample during heating. Thermal stability of the bulk soils and fractions was measured via the temperature of maximum CO2 (2400 to 2200 cm-1) evolution (CO2max). Results indicated that the FYM+NPK and FYM treatments of the Chernozem soils of Bad Lauchstädt had a lower CO2max as compared to both NPK and CON treatments. On average CO2max in Bad Lauchstädt was much higher (447°C) as compared to the Kraichgau (392°C) and Swabian Alb (384°C) sites. The POM fraction had the highest CO2 (477°C), while rSOC had a first peak at 265°C at both sites and a second peak at 392°C for the Swabian Alb and 482°C for the Kraichgau. The CO2max was found to increase after 490 day incubation, while the C lost during incubation was derived from the whole temperature range but a relatively higher proportion from 200 to 350°C. In situT DRIFTS measurements indicated decreases in vibrational intensities in the order of C-OH=unknown C vibration 2 thermogram from the FTIR-EGA measurements to have a semi-quantitative measure of the quality of evolved C during the heating experiment, lending more evidence that different qualities of SOM are being evolved at different temperatures from 200 to 700°C. The CO2max was influenced by long-term farmyard manure input and also by 490 days of laboratory incubation, indicating that this measurement can be an indicator for the relative overall SOM stability. The combination of FTIR-EGA and in situT DRIFTS was shown to be useful for monitoring the rate of thermal decomposition of different soils and SOM fractions which were related to their relative stability. This knowledge was used for a peak fitting procedure for assigning proportions of evolved CO2 to different thermal stability components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with the research results of water microplastics, soil microplastics have been of concern for a shorter time, and the research started later. As a whole, they are still in the initial stage of development, and the problems of arable land and food security caused by them have attracted close attention from scholars around the world, but have not been effectively solved. To reveal the research status, development and change process and future trend, this paper is based on the data in the Web of Science (WOS) databases from 2016 to November 2021, with the help of Citespace software. The number of articles published, source countries and degree of cooperation, research institutions and teams, keyword clustering and change trend are sorted out. The results showed that: (1) the research results of soil microplastics has experienced a slow-rapid growth stage. In terms of the number of articles published, China occupies the first place in the world, with 55 articles. In terms of the number of publications, Free Univ Berlin ranks first, followed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Berlin Brandenburg Inst Adv Biodivers Res, and Wageningen Univ&Res. (2) In terms of content, environmental pollution and exposure, the function and health of soil-associated media, the common shape characteristics of microplastics and their influencing factors, and the combined pollution caused by microplastics are all covered, and can be divided into eight main categories: soil, ingestion, heavy meals, fiber, marine environment, microplastic, metals, and plants. (3) The migration behavior and ecotoxicological effects of microplastics in soil media are still the focus of attention at present. (4) In the future, "regression process and mechanism", "detection method and evaluation standard", "risk assessment model", "removal technology and control means" are undoubtedly worthy of attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the modelling of suspended sediment yield in a plains region in the European part of Russia (EPR) and its prediction for ungauged catchments. The studied plains area, excluding the Caucasus and Ural Mountains, covers 3.5 × 106 km2 of the total area of about 3.8 × 106 km2. Multiple regression methods, such as a generalized linear model (GLM) and a generalized additive model (GAM), are used to construct the models. The research methodology is based on a catchment approach. There are 49,516 river basins with an average area of about 75 km2 in the plain regions. The suspended sediment yield geodatabase contains data from 385 gauging stations. The linear GLM model of suspended sediment yield explains about 50% and the GAM model about 65% of the data variability (R-squared adjusted). The models include mean slope steepness, percentage of arable land, runoff per unit area, catchment area, soil rank and catchment soil erodibility as significant predictors. They also include a zonal-sectoral gradient (the sum of active temperatures and the standard deviation of air temperature, or directly by geographic coordinates). A GAM model is trained to predict suspended sediment yields for unexplored areas of the area. The paper presents the results of extrapolating suspended sediment yield values to ungauged river basins in a plains region of the EPR. For the first time for such a large area, the models built and the use of the basin approach made it possible to predict runoff values for hydrologically unexplored river basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the accelerating urbanization process in China, the problem of urban infrastructure layout has become increasingly prominent. The high density of buildings and the extremely unreasonable distribution of infrastructure make the development face great resistance. This paper reveals the problems in the layout of garden infrastructure by studying and analyzing the theoretical foundations of federal learning and distributed learning and provides an in-depth analysis and elaboration of the problem. The paper uses the shape index and landscape index of green infrastructure (green space, arable land, and water bodies), the average width of roads, road network density, and weighted buildings to conduct a comparative study through the differences in ventilation speed and temperature at different layout garden scales. According to the problems existing in the garden layout in the experimental results, corresponding improvement measures are targeted, and the infrastructure layout of the garden is combined with ecology to make the layout within the garden more suitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural settlement consolidation (RSC) is an important tool for improving rural habitat environments, and the potential evaluation of RSC is the premise for rural settlement planning. This paper identified the potential sources of RSC in different reconstruction modes and built an influencing factor system for RSC. We analyzed the spatial differentiation patterns of the theoretical potential and the realistic potential, and we identified the factors influencing the potential realization based on an empirical investigation in China. Influenced by multiple constraints, the potential transition from theoretical to realistic was spatially differentiated and showed a spatial agglomeration at the village level. Rural depopulation had a direct impact on the theoretical potential of RSC, while the distance to the downtown, rural population, per capita GDP, and production and living conditions played an important role in the realistic potential. Particularly, rural settlement basic conditions, rural population, and arable land resources profoundly affected farmer exit willingness and the potential transition from theoretical to realistic. Four optimization paths for rural settlement reconstruction linking to land use policies were proposed, which could provide valuable information for rural settlement planning in socioeconomic transformation regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines feature selection with machine learning algorithms to achieve object-oriented classification of crops in Gaofen-6 remote sensing images. The study provides technical support and methodological references for research on regional monitoring of food crops and precision agriculture management. "Staple-food-shifting" refers to the planting of other cash crops on cultivated land that should have been planted with staple crops such as wheat, rice, and maize, resulting in a change in the type of arable land cultivated. An accurate grasp of the spatial and temporal patterns of "staple-food-shifting" on arable land is an important basis for rationalizing land use and protecting food security. In this study, the Shihezi Reclamation Area in Xinjiang is selected as the study area, and Gaofen-6 satellite images are used to study the changes in the cultivated area of staple food crops and their regional distribution. Firstly, the images are segmented at multiple scales and four types of features are extracted, totaling sixty-five feature variables. Secondly, six feature selection algorithms are used to optimize the feature variables, and a total of nine feature combinations are designed. Finally, k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Random Forest (RF), and Decision Tree (DT) are used as the basic models of image classification to explore the best combination of feature selection method and machine learning model suitable for wheat, maize, and cotton classification. The results show that our proposed optimal feature selection method (OFSM) can significantly improve the classification accuracy by up to 15.02% compared to the Random Forest Feature Importance Selection (RF-FI), Random Forest Recursive Feature Elimination (RF-RFE), and XGBoost Feature Importance Selection (XGBoost-FI) methods. Among them, the OF-RF-RFE model constructed based on KNN performs the best, with the overall accuracy, average user accuracy, average producer accuracy, and kappa coefficient reaching 90.68%, 87.86%, 86.68%, and 0.84, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous potential socioeconomic benefits provided by ginkgo resources have been identified but these have been threatened due to insufficient conservation over recent decades. Economic compensation is essential to induce enthusiasm for conservation. This paper examines the farmers' willingness to accept ginkgo conservation compensation as well as other influencing factors based on survey data from 208 households. The results show that: first, the compensation amounts for the three different ginkgo conservation values are 820.86, 249.03, and 71.29 yuan per tree, respectively. Second, the overall compensation value is 388.17 yuan per tree with an average of 8430.83 yuan per household. Third, factors that influence the conservation compensation values are size-specific. Specifically, for large ginkgoes, a given respondent's age, gender, job, household income, the number of large ginkgoes and arable land area are the most important factors. For medium ginkgoes, the area of arable land and farmers' willingness to protect ginkgo trees are the key determining factors. By contrast, the requisite factors are different for small size ginkgo trees. A given respondent's job, the arable land area and farmers' perception of the importance of conducting conservation for local development are found to have significant impacts. These findings provide a useful base for assessing the conservation value for this endangered and valuable forest resource. Furthermore, the results also indicate that a size-based payment for farmers' ginkgo conservation behaviors can be a useful economic tool to induce and deepen the latter's conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cereal is an essential source of calories and protein for the global population. Accurately predicting cereal quality before harvest is highly desirable in order to optimise management for farmers, grading harvest and categorised storage for enterprises, future trading prices, and policy planning. The use of remote sensing data with extensive spatial coverage demonstrates some potential in predicting crop quality traits. Many studies have also proposed models and methods for predicting such traits based on multiplatform remote sensing data. In this paper, the key quality traits that are of interest to producers and consumers are introduced. The literature related to grain quality prediction was analyzed in detail, and a review was conducted on remote sensing platforms, commonly used methods, potential gaps, and future trends in crop quality prediction. This review recommends new research directions that go beyond the traditional methods and discusses grain quality retrieval and the associated challenges from the perspective of remote sensing data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archaeologia Historica is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Farming areas are made up of diverse land use types, such as arable lands, grasslands, woodlands, water bodies, and other surrounding agricultural architectures. They possess imperative economic value, and are considerably valued in terms of farmers' livelihoods and society's flourishment. Meanwhile, detecting crops in farming areas, such as wheat and corn, allows for more direct monitoring of farming area production and is significant for practical production and management. However, existing image segmentation methods are relatively homogeneous, with insufficient ability to segment multiple objects around the agricultural environment and small-scale objects such as corn and wheat. Motivated by these issues, this paper proposed a global-transformer segmentation network based on the morphological correction method. In addition, we applied the dilated convolution technique to the backbone of the model and the transformer technique to the branches. This innovation of integrating the above-mentioned techniques has an active impact on the segmentation of small-scale objects. Subsequently, the backbone improved by this method was applied to an object detection network based on a corn and wheat ears dataset. Experimental results reveal that our model can effectively detect wheat ears in a complicated environment. For two particular segmentation objects in farming areas, namely water bodies and roads, we notably proposed a morphological correction method, which effectively reduces the number of connected domains in the segmentation results with different parameters of dilation and erosion operations. The segmentation results of water bodies and roads were thereby improved. The proposed method achieved 0.903 and 13 for m I o U and continuity. This result reveals a remarkable improvement compared with the comparison model, and the continuity has risen by 408%. These comparative results demonstrate that the proposed method is eminent and robust enough to provide preliminary preparations and viable strategies for managing farming area resources and detecting crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of global urbanization, the continuous expansion and extensive utilization of urban and rural construction land has caused a large amount of arable land to be occupied, which seriously threatens national food security. This paper describes the spatio-temporal patterns of urban and rural construction land expansion and its occupation of arable land by using the urban and rural construction land expansion intensity, the urban and rural construction land expansion intensity difference index, and geo-detector model. It also explores the mechanisms through which the arable land was occupied. Results showed that construction land in both urban and rural areas expanded over the period 2009–2018 despite a large number of rural and urban migrants, and the major contributor to the rapid urbanization in China. This dual expansion could mainly be attributed to the tendency of these migrants to keep or even enlarge their rural construction land, which also resulted in a severer arable land loss than that caused by the expansion of urban construction land. Second, the rate of arable land occupied by urban and rural construction land in Henan province has been gradually slowing down, whereas the expansion of rural construction land is most dependent on arable land occupation. Third, according to the geo-detector model, the relationship between urbanization level and arable land occupied by urban and rural construction was the strongest, followed by the growth rate of fixed asset investment and the proportion of secondary and tertiary industries in GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource depletion, land-use change, and population growth triggered by the industrial revolution represent serious issues shared globally that have altered the structure, processes, and functions of ecosystems and had significant impacts on human well-being and survival security. This paper assesses changes in ecosystem service values (ESVs) in karst areas based on the perspective of land-use change. Guizhou province, which is typical of the South China Karst (SCK) ecologically fragile areas, was taken as a research subject. The past, current, and future spatial-temporal evolution of karst ESVs were assessed, using equivalence factors and CA-Markov modelling methods. The results show that: (1) from 1980 to 2040, arable land, woodland, and grassland occupy the main land types in the study area; at the same time, the water and built-up areas show a steady growth trend, with dramatic land use shifts occurring in the western, middle, and northern parts. (2) The overall ESVs increased by US$ 31.12 million during the study period, showing a temporal change trend of first decreasing and then increasing; forest land, grassland, and arable land area shift are the main factors of ESVs change; soil conservation, biodiversity conservation, and gas regulation functions are enhanced and play a vital role in the single ESVs increase; ESVs show a basin-type spatial distribution pattern. (3) The sensitivity index is <1, the ESV is inelastic to the VC factor adjustment, and the results are true and valid. This paper found that using quantitative methods to predict land use change of the South China Karst can provide accurate assessment of the differences in supply and demand for natural and social ecosystem services (ES) in a region, clarifying the trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem service functions, contributing to the achievement of sustainable development, and providing a practical reference for global land landscape optimization and land resource planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous modeling efforts document divergent responses of microbial explicit soil biogeochemistry models when compared to traditional models that implicitly simulate microbial activity, particularly following environmental perturbations. However, microbial models are needed that capture current soil biogeochemical theories emphasizing the relationships between litter quality, functional differences in microbial physiology, and the physical protection of microbial byproducts in forming stable soil organic matter (SOM). To address these limitations we introduce the MIcrobial-MIneral Carbon Stabilization (MIMICS) model. In MIMICS, the turnover of litter and SOM pools are governed by temperature sensitive Michaelis-Menten kinetics and the activity of two physiologically distinct microbial functional types. The production of microbial residues through microbial turnover provides inputs to SOM pools that are considered physically or chemically protected. Soil clay content determines the physical protection of SOM in different soil environments. MIMICS adequately simulates the mean rate of leaf litter decomposition observed at a temperate and boreal forest sites, and captures observed effects of litter quality on decomposition rates. Initial results from MIMICS suggest that soil C storage can be maximized in sandy soils with low-quality litter inputs, whereas high-quality litter inputs may maximize SOM accumulation in finely textured soils that physically stabilize microbial products. Assumptions in MIMICS about the degree to which microbial functional types differ in the production, turnover, and stabilization of microbial residues provides a mechanism by which microbial communities may influence SOM dynamics in mineral soils. Although further analyses are needed to validate model results, MIMICS allows us to begin exploring theoretical interactions between substrate quality, microbial community abundance, and the formation of stable SOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency is a key indicator to measure the level of regional sustainable development. The county is the basic spatial unit of socio-economic activities and sustainable policy implementation in China. Hence, this paper conducts eco-efficiency analysis at the county scale in order to provide reference for the central and local governments to formulate differentiated eco-efficiency enhancement policies, further promote Chinese ecological sustainable development, and advance the construction of ecological civilization with high quality. Based on the Super-Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model and the Malmquist index, the paper constructed an eco-efficiency measurement method and analyzed the variation characteristics, influencing factors, spatial pattern of eco-efficiency in Chinese counties from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) The eco-efficiency of the county unit was generally low in China and was roughly distributed in a pyramid. The county-level eco-efficiency had a spatial distribution pattern of being high in the west and low in the east, and high in the south and low in the north, with significant non-equilibrium. There was a positive correlation between eco-efficiency of neighboring counties in China. (2) The per-capita GDP has a significant positive correlation with eco-efficiency, while energy consumption, arable land area and eco-efficiency have a negative correlation. The redundancy rate of input indicators was high in Chinese counties. (3) During the study period, the eco-efficiency of most counties displayed a fluctuating growth trend. The growth was mainly driven by technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]