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The systematic decline of rural areas in the process of rapid urbanization has become a global trend, creating greater challenges for sustainable rural development. As the spatial projection of socio-economic development and living environment in rural areas, the continuous tracking of rural settlements (RUS) is crucial to quantify the imbalance of rural development. However, consistent information on RUS is highly needed but is quite deficient in current research. In this study, a cost-effective mapping model was proposed to produce an annual RUS dataset in the rapid urbanization region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) in North China during 1990–2020, and the temporal-spatial regularity of RUS changes was further analyzed. The location-based and the area-based comparison verified the effectiveness of our model, with a mean overall accuracy of 85% and a mean correlation value of 0.88, respectively. The total area of RUS in the BTH region increased by 2561 km2 from 1990 to 2020, while the average size of RUS remained stable after 2005. The annual change trends in RUS appeared with increasing and decreasing accounting for 76.33% and 23.67%, respectively. The centroids of RUS in Tianjin and Hebei have moved closer to Beijing, while those in Beijing have moved away from the former. Notably, we have identified 56.3% counties in the BTH region belong to the "Convex-I" change type in RUS. In general, our work can help to consistently quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of RUS in a cost-effective way, providing more explicit spatial information and continuous temporal information for rural residential land management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metropolitan areas, which are considered the most dynamic regions for economic and social development, are undergoing intense evolution within their rural areas. However, few studies have comprehensively explored their functional evolution. This study employed multi-source data and multiple methods to measure the evolution characteristics and mechanism of rural areal functions (RAF) in Xi'an metropolitan area of China from 2000 to 2020. The results indicate that these functions were significantly improved. The spatial pattern presents a multi-functional circle structure extending outward with "economic development, agricultural production, and ecological preservation" as the dominant functions, and emerged in urban-, rural-, and integration-oriented evolution patterns. The relationship among sub-functions become more coordinated, with shifting from an agriculture-centric to a multi-functional development model. Furthermore, it was observed that the external pull mechanism, internal push mechanism, and regulatory mechanism of policies and markets work collectively to drive functions' evolution. Finally, suggestions are proposed based on 3 types of evolution-oriented, to provide reference for other metropolitan rural areas even lagging villages to explore the development path and realize rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing intensive development with biodiversity conservation is critical for ecological sustainability. In the Loess Hilly-Gully region, which has experienced significant environmental changes from 1980 to 2020, land use changes are vital for ecosystem service maintenance. However, these processes are susceptible to environmental stressors such as climate change, land degradation, and inadequate land management. Despite recognizing these stressors, their combined impact on land use and ecosystem services is not well understood. This study addresses this gap by utilizing multi-model land use simulations combined with artificial intelligence to analyze changes over the four-decade period. We focused on identifying ecological nodes essential for landscape connectivity, finding that these nodes significantly enhance regional ecosystem services. We also examined the relationship between land use changes and ecosystem services under various environmental stressors within the specified timeframe. Our analysis indicates that land use changes are a strong indicator of ecosystem evolution in these areas. We observed that under natural conditions, land use and ecosystem services interactions are governed by both stochastic and deterministic factors. Interestingly, multiple stressors intensified the stochastic nature of land use changes and the deterministic aspects of ecosystem services. Specifically, climate change, coupled with suboptimal land management, significantly affects this relationship, with climate change being the most influential factor on land use patterns during the studied period. This research offers important insights for improved environmental management and reducing impacts on aquatic ecosystems amid escalating climate change threats. [Display omitted] • AI-enhanced simulations analyze Loess Hilly-Gully region's land use and ecosystem. • Key ecological nodes identified, vital for sustaining regional ecosystems. • Loess Plateau land use changes driven by stochastic and deterministic factors. • Climate and land management impact land use patterns and ecosystem interactions. • Insights on ecological sustainability link land use changes to ecosystem evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A conceptual framework of coupling relationship between urbanization and ecosystem services was constructed. • Urbanization and ecosystem services were evaluated, and their interactive relationships were explored. • There were significantly negative correlations between urbanization and ecological supply–demand ratio, except for soil conservation. • In 2018, most counties in the Loess Plateau exhibited mild incoordination and basic coordination. • Suitable suggestions were proposed according to different interaction zoning. The interaction between urbanization and ecosystem services (ESs) is a hot topic in the modern human-earth system science. Currently, most studies only focus on the effects of urbanization on ESs supply, few studies have accurately quantified the ESs demand and explored the spatial–temporal coupling interactions between urbanization and ESs supply–demand balance. To address these gaps, this study used process-based modeling to estimate the absolute number of ESs demand. Ecosystem supply–demand ratio (ESDR) is employed to measure the ESs balance. Finally, pearson correlation analysis, coupling coordination degree model, and bivariate local Moran's I method were used to explore the interactive relationship between urbanization and ESs balance in the Loess Plateau (LP). Results indicated that the LP experienced rapid urbanization with characteristics of faster economic urbanization than land and population urbanization from 2000 to 2018. Negative correlations between construction land proportion and ESDR enhanced over time. Although the coupling coordination degree between urbanization and ESDR increased, most counties were mild incoordination and basic coordination. The spatial interaction of urbanization and ESDR was divided into four types: co-promotion type, ecological lag type, urbanization lag type, and co-loss type. This study can contribute to providing a scientific reference and practical guidance for coordinating ecological protection and high-quality development in underdeveloped areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal condition changes largely affect crop phenology, cropping systems and crop field. In this study, we used long‐term (1961–2015) annual accumulated temperature ≥10 °C (AAT10) derived from daily gridded air temperature to investigate the potential implication of AAT10 changes for regional agriculture development in the Loess Plateau (LP). Results showed that an elevation‐dependent spatial pattern of AAT10 was observed. Southeastern LP with low elevation had higher AAT10 and western LP with high elevation had lower AAT10. Across the LP, the start date of 5‐day moving average temperature (T¯) ≥10 °C (SDT10) showed significantly advanced trends (p < 0.05), and length of durations of T¯ ≥ 10 °C (LDT10) and AAT10 both showed significantly increased trends (p < 0.05) in the past 55 years. Yet significantly delayed end date of T¯ ≥ 10 °C (EDT10) was not observed. Compared with EDT10, STD10 contributed more to variations of LDT10 (R2 = 0.76, p < 0.01) and AAT10 (R2 = 0.64, p < 0.01). Besides, this study found that increased temperature in corresponding LDT10 was also responsible for AAT10 increase. Spring temperature contributed more to AAT10 increase relative to autumn and summer temperature. Importantly, area of warm temperate zone (AAT10 ranging 3,400–4,500 °C·day) across LP increased from 21.0% in 1960s to 50.3% in 2000–2015 due to climate change. These findings suggest that most LP, especially in regions with good soil conditions and sufficient water resources, had a large potential to develop new cropping systems with two crops per year, which will be helpful for optimizing regional land use and providing decisions on agricultural management. Location of the LP, as well as its DEM and distribution of cropland in 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The biophysical effect of land use and land cover change (LUCC) on regional climatic regulation is currently of growing interest. However, in water-limited temperate regions, the net biophysical effect of conversion from croplands to grasslands on regional climatic regulation remains poorly understood to date. To answer this concern, a modified land surface model (mEASS) and two different land use scenarios in a typical study area of the Loess Plateau of China were used in this study. We first validated the performances of mEASS model by using observations from six flux tower sites with different land cover and three metrics of the coefficient of determination (R2), the root mean square error (RMSE) and the difference between the simulated and observed data (bias). Subsequently, the biophysical effect of conversion from croplands to grasslands was investigated. Results indicated that mEASS model could well capture the seasonal dynamics of net radiation and latent heat with high R2 and lower RMSE and bias at grassland, forest and cropland sites. In the context of semi-arid and semi-humid climatic conditions, conversion from croplands to grasslands caused the cooling effect (−0.3 W/m2) at the annual scale. Similar cooling effects were found in spring (−0.4 W/m2), autumn (−0.8 ± 0.1 W/m2) and winter (−0.9 ± 0.1 W/m2). The decreased latent heat (inducing warming effects) were completely offset by decreased net radiation (inducing cooling effects), which were responsible for the net cooling effects. However, a warming effect with 1.0 ± 0.1 W/m2 was observed in summer. This is because that magnitude of decreased latent heat is greater than that of decreased net radiation in summer. These findings will enrich our understanding for the biophysical effect of conversion from croplands to grasslands in water-limited temperate regions. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Biophysical effect of Conversion from Croplands to Grasslands (C2G) was analyzed. • C2G resulted in the decrease in net radiation and latent heat. • C2G led to a cooling effect at the annual scale. • A warming effect was however found in summer due to more reduction in latent heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • NDVI change in the farming-pastoral ecotone of northern China (FPEN) was analyzed. • Human activities dominated trends of NDVI in FPEN after 2000. • Human activities were responsible for increased NDVI in southwestern FPEN. Abstract Separating anthropogenic contributions from observed vegetation change is helpful for improving our understanding of the effects of human activities on regional ecosystems. In this study, using 1982–2015 GIMMS3g normal difference vegetation index (observed NDVI), monthly climatic variables and land use data, we investigated anthropogenic contributions on vegetation change in the farming-pastoral ecotone of northern China (FPEN). Specifically, given that large-area ecological engineering was practiced since 1999 and large-area land use changes were recorded after 2000, we assumed that human activities only had little impact before 1999. Based on this assumption, we developed a climate-based NDVI model (also termed as TPR-based NDVI model) by using 1982–1999 observed NDVI and assembled monthly precipitation, temperature and solar radiation. Subsequently, the TPR-based NDVI model as well as the residual analysis method were used to separate anthropogenic contributions from observed NDVI in the period of 2000–2015. Results showed that most FPEN performed a greening trend for the period of 1982–2015. Yet a browning trend was also found in central and northern FPEN. The browning trend was largely related to changes of observed NDVI after 2000. Spatial statistics for the best related climatic variable with observed NDVI displayed that temperature, precipitation and solar radiation separately accounted for 42.45%, 31.05% and 26.50% of FPEN, implying their similar importance for vegetation growth in space. Importantly, this study found that anthropogenic contributions dominated trends of observed NDVI over FPEN. Human activities significantly increased NDVI in western and southeastern FPEN (p < 0.05), but small decreased NDVI was also observed in central and northeastern FPEN. The findings of this study suggest that applications of anthropogenic ecological engineering and associated conservation measures should be suitable for features of eco-climatic zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ERA-Interim has been widely considered as a valid proxy for observations at global and regional scales. However, the verifications of ERA-Interim precipitation and temperature in mainland China have been rarely conducted, especially in the spatial and long-term performances. Therefore, in this study, we employed the interpolated ground station (STA) data to evaluate the spatial and temporal patterns and trends of ERAInterim precipitation and temperature during 1980-2012. The results showed that relatively weaker performances were observed in ERA-Interim precipitation, with the skill score (S index) ranging from 0.41 to 0.50. Interannual ERA-Interim precipitation presented comparable trends with STA precipitation at the annual and seasonal scales. Spatial patterns of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) modes and corresponding principal components were evidently different between annual ERA-Interim and STA precipitation. For temperature, annual and seasonal patterns of ERA-Interim data were in good consistency with those of STA over China with the S index ranging from 0.59 to 0.70. Yet interannual STA temperature recorded stronger warming trends (from 0.37 K decade-1 of wintertime to 0.53 K decade-1 of springtime) at the annual and seasonal scales compared to corresponding periods for ERA-Interim temperature (from 0.03 K decade-1 of wintertime to 0.25 K decade-1 of summertime). Overall, ERA-Interim precipitation and temperature had good agreement with STA data in east China with lower elevation (<1000m above sea level), but good agreements were not observed in west China with higher elevation. The findings suggest that caution should be paid when using ERA-Interim precipitation and temperature in areas with complex orography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing spatiotemporal dynamics of land use and land cover over time is widely recognized as important to better understand and provide solutions for social, economic, and environmental problems, especially in ecologically fragile region. In this paper, a case study was taken in Zhenlai County, which is a part of farming-pastoral ecotone of Northeast China. This study seeks to use multi-temporal satellite images and other data from various sources to analyze spatiotemporal changes from 1932 to 2005, and applied a quantitative methodology named intensity analysis in the time scale of decades at three levels: time interval, category, and transition. The findings of the case study are as follows: 1) the interval level of intensity analysis revealed that the annual rate of overall change was relatively fast in 1932-1954 and 1954-1976 time intervals. 2) The category level showed that arable land experienced less intensively gains and losses if the overall change was to have been distributed uniformly across the landscape while the gains and losses of forest land, grassland, water, settlement, wetland and other unused land were not consistent and stationary across the four time intervals. 3) The transition level illustrated that arable land expanded at the expense of grassland before 2000 while it gained intensively from wetland from 2000 to 2005. Settlement targets arable land and avoids grassland, water, wetland and other unused land. Besides, the loss of grassland was intensively targeted by arable land, forest land and wetland in the study period while the loss of wetland was targeted by water except for the time interval of 1976-2000. 4) During the early reclamation period, land use change of the study area was mainly affected by the policy, institutional and political factors, followed by the natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global warming intensifies, the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other greenhouse gases have attracted great global attention. However, questions regarding whether, how and to what extent demographic factors and processes affect carbon emissions have not yet been fully explained – particularly in China. This study used an improved STIRPAT model to reassess the impact of demographic and income changes on China’s energy-related CO 2 emissions at the national and regional levels using balanced provincial panel data from the 1990–2012 period. Whereas most previous studies of emission–population/income elasticity in China have yielded wide-ranging estimates, this study showed that income rather than demographic change has been the dominant driving force behind China’s growing CO 2 emissions. Urbanisation has increased energy consumption and emissions, except in western China. Changes in the age structure have had a statistically insignificant effect on energy use, but resulted in increased national emissions – particularly in eastern China. Shrinking household size did not reduce energy use and emissions, indicating that improved residential energy efficiency might reduce emissions. Changing the traditional mode of economic growth, reasonable controlling the pace of urbanisation, improving energy efficiency and upgrading industrial structures may yet be necessary to mitigate the environmental impact of human activities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We estimated possible impacts of future land use changes on water supply & demand. • Nearly 90% Yulin would bear endangered water supply–demand risk by 2050. • Water supply–demand risk increased from undersupplied to endangered in 2005–2050. • Mitigation strategies were put forward from agriculture, ecology and urbanization. Water scarcity greatly hinders sustainable development goal agenda and regional agriculture development in dryland regions. As we know, land use and cover changes are strongly responsible for spatial–temporal evolutions of water resource. However, there is little explicit understanding of how spatial patterns of future dryland use will affect the water supply–demand risk. To answer this question, this study took Yulin city of China, a typical dryland region, as a case study area, and firstly estimated its 2020–2050 land use patterns under three different scenarios, covering Natural Increased Scenario (NIS), Food Security Scenario (FSS) and Economic Development Scenario (EDS), with the help of the path-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model as well as Markov-chain model. Furthermore, this study employed InVEST model to explicitly investigate spatial–temporal evolutions of water supply, water demand and water supply–demand risk in all scenarios. The estimated results indicated that the largest expanding/shrinking land use types were grasslands/croplands in NIS, croplands/grasslands in FSS and built-up lands/croplands in EDS during 2020–2050, respectively. By 2050, all projected land use changes only slightly affected regional water supply (the fluctuation of ∼ 5% compared to that in 2020), but greatly increased by ∼ 57% regional water demand. Particularly, strong land use changes would likely put nearly 90% regions of Yulin city at endangered water supply–demand risk in 2020–2050. Ecological land and built-up land would easier suffer from critically endangered water supply–demand risk. In view of these modeled and analyzed results, some potential mitigation strategies of water resource utilization, such as developing water-efficient eco-agriculture, adjusting agricultural structures and enriching revegetation diversity, were suggested to coordinate future areal human-nature relationships. This study could provide some valuable information for dryland agricultural development, water-environment management and regional policy decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has undergone a dramatic transition echoed the unprecedented urbanization and economic growth since the late 1970s. The current research on urbanization has overlooked the transformation consistency between urban and rural areas. Although the Chinese central government has focused on improving rural residents' livelihood, it is still far from achieving coordinated urban–rural development. This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of China's urban–rural development transformation (URDT) based on three indicator systems, namely the urban–rural development level (URDL), the urban–rural structure level (URSL), and the urban–rural coordination level (URCL). Findings from this investigation show that universal and intense URDT has taken place in China over the last two decades. This has been accompanied by growth of URDL and URSL and deterioration of URCL. There are, however, obvious spatial disparities in the different aspects of URDT. The western and northeastern regions of China have experienced slower transformation than other regions between 1990 and 2010. Correlation analysis among the sub-index shows that coordinated urban–rural development needs a certain initial socioeconomic level and moderate changes of URDL and URSL. This paper suggests that more attentions should be paid to rural areas and lagging areas in central and western China. Given the regional disparities of URDT, the most effective way to achieve urban–rural integration in China is by taking the overall considerations of development policies of both region and urban–rural areas aimed at various urban–rural development transformation characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, China has been undergoing a period of rural–urban transformation. The rapid rural–urban development transformation (RUDT) in China has caused an excessive consumption of resources and environmental deterioration. Based on balanced provincial panel data in China gathered from 1990 to 2012, this study used an improved STIRPAT model to investigate the effects of RUDT on energy consumption and CO 2 emissions on the regional and national levels. The empirical results showed that the impact of RUDT on energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in China varied greatly across regions. The demographic transformation (measured by urbanization level) increased energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in China and its eastern and central regions. The impact of employment structural transformation on energy consumption and carbon emissions across China generally was positive and significant but differed considerably across regions. The industrial structural transformation was positively correlated with and had a significant impact on energy consumption and emissions in the eastern and central regions, and that effect declined continuously from the eastern region to the central and western regions. Furthermore, the positive effect of land use transition on energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in the western region was greater than that in the eastern and central regions. These findings can provide policymakers with a sound scientific basis for energy saving and emission reduction decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elucidating the complex mechanism of the impact of demographic changes, economic growth, and technological advance impacts on energy consumption and pollutant emissions is fundamentally necessary to inform effective strategies on energy saving and emission reduction in China. Here, based on a balanced provincial panel dataset in China over the period 1990–2012, we used an extended STIRPAT model to investigate the effects of human activity on energy consumption and three types of industrial pollutant emissions (exhaust gases, waste water and solid waste) at the national and regional levels and tested the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Empirical results show that a higher population density would result in a decrease in energy consumption in China as a whole and in its eastern, central and western regions, but the extent of its effect on the environment depends on the type of pollutants. Higher population density increased wastewater discharge but decreased solid waste production in China and its three regions. The effect of economic development on the environment was heterogeneous across the regions. The proportion of industrial output had a significant and positive influence on energy consumption and pollutant emissions in China and its three regions. Higher industrial energy intensity resulted in higher levels of pollutant emissions. No strong evidence supporting the EKC hypothesis for the three industrial wastes in China was found. Our findings further demonstrated that the impact of population, income and technology on the environment varies at different levels of development. Because of the regional disparities in anthropogenic impact on the environment, formulating specific region-oriented energy saving and emission reduction strategies may provide a more practical and effective approach to achieving sustainable development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainably feeding an increasing population is a grand challenge in the context of climate change and rapid urbanization. Over the past decades, there has been a remarkable trend in paddy expansion into the mid-high latitude regions of Northeast Asia, especially in China. Yet, knowledge on paddy expansion patterns and corresponding responses to climate change and socioeconomic factors are limited. To bridge this gap, satellite-based land use data for 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018 at 30-m resolution, as well as historical and projected climatic data (including ERA5 data for 1982–2019 and GCMs data of CMIP5 for 2006–2050) and diverse socioeconomic data, were utilized to investigate patterns and quality changes of paddy fields across Northeast China. Results showed that the 0 °C isotherm moved northward by 270 km during 1961–2000 and 190.5 km during 2000–2019. Net paddy area expanded by 2.6 × 104 km2 in Northeast China during 1990–2018; in Heilongjiang Province, paddy area dramatically expanded by about 4.0 × 104 km2 during 1958–2018, of which 1.8 × 104 km2 and 2.2 × 104 km2 increment in 1958–2000 and 2000–2018, respectively. Even though climate hiatus occurred around 2010, the expansion rate of paddy area in Northeast China was up to 1.76 × 103 km2/a during 2010–2018. In addition to warming climate, improved agricultural technologies and physical inputs, increasing market demands, and agricultural policy implement were largely responsible for the paddy expansion in Northeast China. However, continuously cultivated paddy fields had generally more suitable natural conditions and better infrastructure than newly cultivated paddy fields. This study provides some potential suggestions for the sustainable development of modern agriculture in Northeast China. • Over the past decades, there has been a remarkable trend in paddy expansion into the mid-high latitude regions of Northeast Asia, especially in Northeast China. • The 0 °C isotherm moved northward by 270 km during 1961–2000 and 190.5 km during 2000–2019. • Net paddy area expanded by 2.6 × 104 km2 in Northeast China during 1990–2018. • The expansion rate of paddy area in Northeast China was up to 1.76 × 103 km2/a during 2010–2018. • Some potential suggestions were proposed for sustainable agricultural development in Northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Loess Plateau is one typical area of serious soil erosion in the world. China has implemented 'Grain for Green' (GFG) project to restore the eco-environment of the Loess Plateau since 1999. With the GFG project subsidy approaching the end, it is concerned that farmers of fewer subsidies may reclaim land again. Thus, 'Gully Land Consolidation Project' (GLCP) was initiated in 2010. The core of the GLCP was to create more land suitable for farming in gullies so as to reduce land reclamation on the slopes which are ecological vulnerable areas. This paper aims to assess the effect of the GLCP on soil erosion problems by studying Wangjiagou project region located in the central part of Anzi valley in the middle of the Loess Plateau, mainly using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) based on GIS. The findings show that the GLCP can help to reduce soil shipment by 9.87% and it creates more terraces and river-nearby land suitable for farming which account for 27.41% of the whole study area. Thus, it is feasible to implement the GLCP in places below gradient 15°, though the GLCP also intensifies soil erosion in certain places such as field ridge, village land, floodplain, natural grassland, and shrub land. In short, the GLCP develops new generation dam land and balances the short-term and long-term interests to ease the conflicts between economic development and environmental protection. Furthermore, the GLCP and the GFG could also be combined preferably. On the one hand, the GFG improves the ecological environment, which could offer certain safety to the GLCP, on the other hand, the GLCP creates more farmland favorable for farming in gullies instead of land reclamation on the slopes, which could indirectly protect the GFG project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The change of rural residential land dominates rural land use transformation. Understanding the dynamic change and spatial pattern and developing targeted macro regulating strategy accordingly can provide guidelines for promoting rural land consolidation, rural development and optimizing distribution pattern of towns and villages. In recent years, some studies use single index method especially the net change scale or net change rate, and many of them are on macro perspective. Such method is difficult to depict the complicated types of change for rural residential land. Based on the comprehensive perspective including km-grid, county and province level, this paper used grid data of rural residential land (1 km×1 km) and put forward a new research framework to analyze the quantitative characteristics and to claβify the regional types of rural residential land change. The comprehensive indicator method consisted of total change rate, net change rate and share modifying. Then the spatial autocorrelation analysis method was used to explore the spatial distribution and agglomeration features. Based on the above analysis, regulating strategies for rural residential land were proposed finally. First, all provinces or counties nationwide were claβified into four regional types by the comprehensive indicator method. The increased active regions included 786 counties and districts which mainly distributed in Huang-Huai-Hai plain, northeast plain, Yangtze River delta, Sichuan basin, etc. The increasing and decreasing balanced active regions consisted of 297 counties which was the least among the four types. The decreased active regions involved 352 counties and districts and mainly concentrated in mountain areas and the transition section between plain and mountain area. The final type was named as the changed slowly regions which had 926 counties and districts, accounting the most in the four types, and almost all of them distributed in the western China. Second, compared with single index method, the comprehensive indicator method was able to identify the special types of increasing and decreasing balanced active regions, and avoided the defect that the change rates of some counties might be overestimated or underestimated due to the regional difference of the original scale of rural residential land by share modifying. Therefore, the new method in this paper was more scientific for claβifying change types. Third, the spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that the four types had significant space correlation. The high-high clusters mainly distributed in plains and areas around large cities, and the low-low clusters concentrated in those regions with poor natural and geographical conditions in central and southwest China and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Fourth, each change type should have targeted regulating strategy. The increasing active regions were the core areas for urbanization and rural-urban development transformation, in which the typical feature of rural residential land was rapidly increased. The key point of regulating strategy in those regions was the exited and revitalized mechanism innovation. The increasing and decreasing balanced active regions were the important areas with fertile arable land for protecting national food security. The regulation of rural residential land in those regions should pay attention to improving living conditions and environment for rural residents and promoting rural space reconstruction by land consolidation. The decreasing active regions were the main areas of rural residential land reclamation. The local governments should guide rural population for centralized residence with a moderate scale and should push forward the obsolete housing land reclamation to arable land or woodland. The changed slowly regions were in the most ecologically vulnerable and under developed rural area. Under the preconditions to strictly protect the ecological environment, these regions should combine land consolidation, rural development and village renovation, and then build typical eco-village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cropland expansion often occurs on grasslands and partial forests. However, there is little quantified understanding of how cropland expansion affected the agricultural productivity and water resource consumption globally. In this study, we used spatially explicit satellite-based data, including land use maps, net primary productivity and evapotranspiration from 2001 to 2018, and the space-for-time substitution technique to investigate the relationships between cropland expansion and agricultural productivity and water resource consumption. Results showed that global cropland area presented a significant net increasing trend with 1.9 × 104 km2/a (p < 0.01) since 2000. Net increased cropland area over the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere occupied 27.1% and 72.9% of global total net increase, respectively. Large-area cropland expansion mainly focused on Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Eastern Europe, Southern America, and Northern America. Particularly, cropland expansion in the Southern America deserved the greatest attention. At the global scale, new expanded croplands caused average NPP decrease and average ET decrease compared to original ecosystems, but performances were evident differences in subregions. Cropland expansion in the Southern America evidently decreased NPP and ET compared to other places. In contrast, new expanded croplands in most subregions of Asia and Northern America performed higher the agriculture productivity, while the increases were done at the expense of more water resource consumption. Although cropland expansion only slightly decreased NPP compared to original ecosystems globally, new expanded croplands often occurred in water-limited or temperature-limited areas according to precipitation and temperature gradations. This study suggests that cropland expansion should more consider sustainable land use and development, and reduce the risks of cropland expansion on natural ecosystems as much as possible. • Global cropland area presents a significant net increasing trend since 2000. • Cropland expansion more located in the Southern Hemisphere. • Expanded croplands decreased averaged NPP and ET compared to original ecosystems. • Cropland expansion in Southern America showed the strongest NPP and ET decreases. • Expanded cropland in most of Asia and Northern America increased both NPP and ET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the current state of rural area development at the county level in the eastern coastal China. An evaluation index system including 18 factors was developed, and a rural development index (RDI) was constructed to evaluate rural development state in 2000, 2004, and 2008. The quantitative evaluation indicated the following results. 1) This study derived four dominating components by means of principal component analysis, which can explain 78.2% of the total information, namely agricultural production input, the basic condition of agriculture, the comparative effectiveness of grain production, and the household's own basic conditions. 2) Since the turn of the new millennium, the rural area in the eastern coastal China has experienced a rapid development in general. Well developed, developed, moderately developed and undeveloped rural areas respectively occupied 29.32%, 22.33%, 21.91%, and 10.51% in 2008. 3) The countryside had maintained a sound momentum of developing trend between 2000 and 2008, while the rural development in the eastern coastal China lacked sustainability. And 4) industrialization, urbanization, original economic basis, and location are four major driving forces of the disparity of rural area development in the eastern coastal China. Given these results, the strategies and policies for the improvement of each rural group were put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study attempts to ascertain the spatiotemporal patterns of de(re)forestation and its causes in Heilongjiang Province, China during the last century. In 1896, there were 308,020 km2 of forest covering 68% of the Province. Forest area was reduced to 247,256 km2 by 1949 at an annual rate of 1146 km2. By 1958 primary forest was reduced to 169,533 km2 while secondary forest remained at 68,801 km2. Thus, 9421 km2 of forest were logged at a rate of 1046 km2 per annum. From 1958 to 1980, forest as a whole was reduced by 22,326 km2 at an annual rate of 1014 km2. The amount of deforestation was reduced to 9211 km2 for dense forest, but sparse forest gained 831 km2 during 1980–2000. The net decrease of 8379 km2 represents an annual loss of 419 km2. Spatially, deforested areas used to be extensive and expansive, but have become fragmented with thousands of patches that have a shrinking mean size. These deforested sites were located in low-lying flat terrains with a close proximity to rivers and roads. Such land was replaced primarily by farmland and secondarily by grassland. Therefore, the causes of deforestation are identified as demand for timber, population-driven land reclamation up to 1980, and urbanisation in the last two decades. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although tropical deforestation bears a close relationship with climate change, its exact contribution to climate warming and its threshold of exerting a noticeable influence remain unknown. This study attempts to bridge this knowledge gap by analyzing deforestation data of Heilongjiang Province, China in relation to climate data. It is found that forest cover was reduced from 238,335 km2 in 1958 to 216,009 km2 in 1980, and further to 207,629 km2 in 2000. During this period the provincial annual temperature rose by 1.68 °C, against the nation-wide warming of 0.99 °C during the same period. At the provincial level the observed deforestation caused a warming in the vicinity of 0.69 °C. This warming does not bear any definite relationship with latitude and elevation. At the local scale, deforestation is related inversely to the rise in decadal temperature in the form of ΔT = −0.013ΔF + 0.4114 (R2 = 0.30). There is a positive relationship between the accuracy (R2 value) of predicting climate warming from deforestation and its severity. The critical threshold for deforestation to exert a noticeable impact on climate warming (e.g., R2 = 50%) appears to be 5 km2. The amount of forest cover at the beginning of a period can inhibit temperature rise, but its exact effect on climate warming is difficult to quantify. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The agricultural land resources of China are relatively limited because of its large population. Therefore, balancing the land use for industrialization, urbanization, and food security is a big challenge. In recent years, rural hollowing in China has resulted in numerous of abandoned rural houses, and the areas with abandoned houses need to be restored into agricultural land with effective land consolidation techniques. This study used the method of benefit-cost analysis and the data collected through field surveys conducted in Yucheng City in the northwest of Shandong Province in March 2009, to examine how hollow villages (HVs) to be created and how to solve the problem. The qualitative and quantitative analyses indicate following results. 1) The situation of HVs is becoming increasingly severe under rapid industrialization and urbanization in Yucheng City. 2) Poor infrastructure in rural areas and incomplete urbanization are the main factors that have led to the rural hollowing in many major rural regions of China. 3) In order to resolve the problem caused by HVs and increase agricultural land, reconstructing rural communities in the countryside is necessary. 4) A new mechanism in the provision of compensation funds by developed regions to the villages in less-developed regions must be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study explores the relationship between climate warming and rice paddy expansion in Heilongjiang Province of China. It is found that paddy fields more than quadrupled from 3479 km2 in 1958 to 14 564 km2 in 1980, and increased further to 21,940 km2 in 2000. The newly gained paddy fields originated chiefly from dry fields (46.35%), swamps (30.22%), and primary forest (nearly 10%) during 1958–1980. During 1980–2000 paddy fields expanded at the expense of dry fields (70.50%), swamp (16.59%), and grassland (10.13%). Analysis of climate data shows a warming of over 2 °C from the 1960s to the 2000s in most places. All 28 meteorological stations except one experienced a warming trend. Spatially, the expansion of paddy fields coincided closely with the spatial distribution of annual temperature. These fields were located mostly between the isolines of 2–3 °C. Sowing area of grain increased at a modest rate during the 1970s and the 1980s when >0 °C area expanded rapidly. However, sowing area of rice rose in the 1990s and 2000s at a rate twice higher than that for sowing area of grain in the preceding decades. Thus, the expansion of paddy fields at the expense of other land covers was made possible owing to climate warming in the preceding decade. On average, it takes about 20 years for agricultural practices to adapt to the warmer climate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: It is very difficult to realistically assess cultivated land quality (CLQ) because its contributing factors cannot be accurately quantified. This study aims at overcoming this difficulty by using information objectively derivable from ETM+ and SPOT images for Hengshan County, Northwest China. This objective approach is able to yield a comprehensive CLQ assessment using five proposed indicators. They are slope gradient, proportion of sandy land, water availability, soil fertility, and land use types organized into three indices of pressure resistance, land state, and land use response. Therefore, this assessment takes into consideration topographic setting, land degradation risk, moisture, vegetation growing condition, and land use response of farmers. The developed CLQ is found to be significantly correlated with the spatial distribution of water resources, suggesting that water availability is a decisive factor influencing land productivity. CLQ is also correlated closely with rural economic level, agricultural infrastructure investment, and the farming system. The whole County was further classified into three cultivated land use zones based on the calculated CLQ value. Each zone is best used for different purposes and requires different strategies of protection. Such assessment outcomes are essential for the prevention of land degradation and adjustment of agricultural structure to promote sustainable use of cultivated land. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Tongyu County in Northeast China is highly prone to land degradation due to its fragile physical settings characterized by a flat topography, a semi-arid climate, and a shallow groundwater table. This study aims to determine the causes of land degradation through detecting the long-term trend of land cover changes. Degraded lands were mapped from satellite images recorded in 1992 and 2002. These land cover maps revealed that the area subject to land degradation in the form of soil salinization, waterlogging and desertification increased from 2400 to 4214km2, in sharp contrast to most severely degraded land that decreased by 122.5km2. Newly degraded land stems from productive farmland (263km2), harvested farmland (551km2), and grassland (468km2). Therefore, the worsened degradation situation is attributed to excessive reclamation of grassland for farming, over cultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation. Mechanical, biological, ecological and engineering means should be adopted to rehabilitate the degraded land. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this study is to compare the role of spectral and spatial resolutions in mapping land degradation from space-borne imagery using Landsat ETM+ and ASTER data as examples. Land degradation in the form of salinization and waterlogging in Tongyu County, western Jilin Province of northeast China was mapped from an ETM+ image of 22 June 2002 and an ASTER image recorded on 24 June 2001 using supervised classification, together with several other land covers. It was found that the mapping accuracy was achieved at 56.8% and higher for moderately degraded (e.g. salinized) farmland, and over 80% for severely degraded land (e.g. barren) from both ASTER and ETM+ data. The spatial resolution of the ASTER data exerts only a negligible effect on the mapping accuracy. The 30 m ETM+ outperforms the ASTER image of both 15 m and 30 m resolution in consistently generating a higher overall accuracy as well as a higher user's accuracy for barren land. The inferiority of ASTER data is attributed to the highly repetitive spectral content of its six shortwave infrared bands. It is concluded that the spectral resolution of an image is not as important as the information content of individual bands in accurately mapping land covers automatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: During the last quarter of the 20th century the agrarian sector in China went through a series of reforms. Changes in government policy on land use led to extensive changes in land cover, culminating in the 1990s. These changes were detected from multi-temporal Landsat TM images of 1990, 1995 and 2000 for Northeast China. Overlay of the mapped land cover in ArcInfo showed that farmland and grassland decreased while water, built-up areas, and woodland increased. More than three-quarters of the detected changes occurred during 1990–1995. Farmland changed mainly to woodland, water, and built-up areas while woodland and grassland were converted chiefly to farmland. Spatially, the change from woodland to farmland adjoined the margin of natural forests while change in the opposite direction was restricted to the agropastoral west. Paradoxically, reclamation of grassland to farmland also took place in the agropastoral west. These conflicting changes were caused primarily by lack of stability and consistency in the government''s land use policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study sought to identify patterns of spatial variations in volumetric soil moisture content (θ) of a portion of the Tsukuba grasslands of Japan. The θ of the topsoil (0–0.15 m profile) of a square, 100 ha plot of grassland was sampled on a roughly rectangular grid, at the rate one sample per hectare. Spatial maps of θ were developed using ordinary kriging methods. The use of a kriging estimator in concert with a Gaussian semivariogram, the measurement error model, and exact interpolation within the grassland were deemed appropriate for the data collected. Estimated autocorrelation values begin at roughly 0.577 and gradually decreased towards zero when the distance between points reached roughly 750 m. Negative but non-significant correlations was noted for inter-sampling point distances ranging from 750 to 800 m. As the distance further increased, the autocorrelation value became alternatively positive and negative, suggesting that the soil and ecosystem system exhibit periodic variations through natural influences. Based on idealized spherical variograms, θ values tended to be dependent for inter-sampling point distances of less than 750 m, but independent for distances beyond 800 m. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Quantification of quality parameters of inland and near shore waters by means of remote sensing has encountered varying degrees of success in spite of the high variability of the parameters under consideration and limitations of remote sensors themselves. This paper comprehensively evaluates the quantification of four types of water quality parameters: inorganic sediment particles, phytoplankton pigments, coloured dissolved organic material and Secchi disk depth. It concentrates on quantification requirements, as well as the options in selecting the most appropriate sensor data for the purpose. Relevant factors, such as quantification implementation and validation of the quantified results are also extensively discussed. This review reveals that the relationship between in situ samples and their corresponding remotely sensed data can be linear or nonlinear, but are nearly always site-specific. The quantification has been attempted from terrestrial satellite data largely for suspended sediments and chlorophyll concentrations. The quantification has been implemented through integration of remotely sensed imagery data, in situ water samples and ancillary data in a geographic information system (GIS). The introduction of GIS makes the quantification feasible for more variables at an increasingly higher accuracy. Affected by the number and quality of in situ samples, accuracy of quantification has been reported in different ways and varies widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The identification and intensity diagnosis model of land use function conflict is built. • The spatial characteristic of ecological, production and living function land are different. • The conflict zone is divided into 8 types, and conflict intensity is divided into 4 stages. • The whole study area is basically at risk of potential land use conflicts. The rapid advancement of urbanization and industrialization has led to the continuous strengthening of multi-functionality of land use. The overlapping, crowding, agglomeration and transformation of various land use functions suggested that there would be fierce competition and conflicts. Based on the widely recognized "ecological-production-living" perspective of sustainable development in the world, we constructed the spatial identification and intensity diagnosis model of potential land use function conflicts (LUFCs), and selected Nan'an City, a typical coastal city in southeast China, as an empirical analysis. On the level of theoretical building, the LUFCs were divided into eight types, the conflict intensity was divided into four stages, and a land use conflict risk index (LUCRI) was constructed to characterize the possibility of potential conflict, which was divided into four ranks. Empirical research showed that the spatial concentration characteristic of ecological function of land use in Nan'an City was not significant and was poor spatial connectivity, while the gradient and band feature of production function was significant and was good spatial connectivity, and living function have formed three core clusters. The controllable conflict zones gathered and formed cold spots in high altitude forest areas, as well as the out-of-control conflict zones gathering and forming hot spots in concentrated areas of social and economic activities. The area proportions of different conflict types respectively were 1.79%, 18.07%, 23.17%, 13.49%, 8.00%, 13.66%, 20.34% and 1.49%. The whole study area was basically at risk of potential conflicts, with the area proportions accounting for 55.28%, 30.19%, 12.30% and 2.23%. Different governance strategies should be adopted according to the spatial distribution, manifestation and conflict degree. The model and index constructed in this paper could accurately reflect the actual situation of land use in fast-growing areas, which would provide reference for land space planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate warming and its corresponding impacts on agriculture system increasingly attach great attentions. Earlier studies more concerned the impacts of the cultivated area expansion under climate change. Yet limited knowledge is about the impacts of climate warming on the cropping index change with the shifts of cropping system border. In this study, we used climatic data (1961–2015) to firstly investigate impacts of warming temperature on potential cropping system border expansion of China, and further used agricultural statistical data and satellite-based land use data to analyze the response of current land system to potential cropping system border expansion. Results of this study indicated that obviously advanced SDT10 and prolonged EDT10 contributed to the 88.4% regions of increased AAT10 at the past half century. Moreover, the northward expansion of the suitable cultivated areas in different cropping systems provided advantages for potential multiple cropping index (PMCI) improvement. Unfortunately, this study found that a significantly declined multiple cropping index (MCI) was observed in the peri-urban regions and the provinces with large out-migration of agriculture labor. The evidently increased MCI was only greatly observed in Xinjiang province. Besides, the potential increment of multiple cropping index (PIMCI) for different cropping system border expansion regions presented a rising trend and reached 53.6% in 2015 due to warming climate. Particularly, the significantly increased PIMCI was observed in the Loess Plateau, the Inner Mongolia, the Middle-lower Yangtze Plain, Northeast China Plain, Southern China and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Region. However, the response of current land system to the changes of PMCI and PIMCI was not timely. Based on the findings of our study, some potential agriculture development strategies were suggested by comprehensively considering regional natural conditions, agricultural production conditions and socioeconomic conditions. We hope these findings of this study could provide some valuable information for agricultural development policy decision-making. Unlabelled Image • The implication of PIMCI for regional agriculture development was explored. • The possible factors impacting the MCI change were uncovered. • The spatial-temporal tendency of hydrothermal conditions was analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive studies have been carried out on the impact of human activities on air pollution, but systematic investigation on the relationship between air pollutant and meteorological conditions is still insufficient, especially in the context of China's site scale and recent comprehensive environmental pollution control. Here, we used a spatial interpolation technology to establish a set of data sets of pollutants and meteorological elements that are spatially matched at 896 stations in China to reveal the air pollutant-meteorological interactions between 2014 and 2019. We found that air pollution and meteorological elements have obvious seasonal and regional characteristics. Over the last few years, the concentration of most air pollutants in China has dropped significantly except for O3. The increase in O3 concentration was closely related to the decrease of particulate matter and NO2 concentration. The concentration of most air pollutants was affected by meteorological conditions, but the level of impact depended on the type of pollutants and varied across regions. The concentration of air pollutants at most stations was significantly negatively correlated with wind speed, precipitation and relative humidity, but positively correlated with atmospheric pressure. As the latitude increases, the impact of temperature on the concentration of air pollutants becomes more obvious. To effectively control air pollution, it is further urgent to reveal the relationship between air pollution and meteorological conditions based on long-term daily or real-time data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantitative identification of land use functions (LUFs) forms the basis of land use planning and management. Based on the widely recognized "ecological-production-living" function in sustainable development, a uniform classification and value evaluation system of LUFs for China's rural land use planning and management is established. To highlight the functions of ecological regulation, product supply and living security, the LUFs were divided into 8 primary functions and 20 subfunctions. LUF value evaluation function groups were established based on the indirect or direct value of land use. For empirical research, Fengzhou Town, a typical rural coastal area in southeastern China, was selected as an example. The results show that the values of the ecological, production and living functions account for 14.31%, 44.54% and 41.15% of the total value, respectively. This finding indicates that the primary direction of land use in the study area is oriented toward pursuing the production and living functions. The spatial distribution of the values of the production and living functions shows obvious consistency, and they are also clearly complementary with the ecological function. More than 90% of the land area is assigned double or triple functions, which indicates that the multifunctional characteristics of land use are significant, while the spatial function zoning is disordered. These findings are consistent with the socioeconomic development of the study area, demonstrating that the established classification and value evaluation system of LUFs can reliably reflect realistic land use and will provide scientific support for the multifunctional utilization and effective management of rural land in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's successful agriculture development has resulted in public concerned environmental problems. However, continuous and detailed data about Chinese agricultural non-point source pollution (ANPSP) loads are lacking. To assess and analyze Chinese ANPSP loads from 1978 to 2017, an inventory analysis was performed, and a socioeconomic and spatiotemporal analysis in the scale of provinces was conducted. The results showed that the pollution loads of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) increased by 91.0%, 196.2% and 244.1%, respectively, and their variation underwent a free development stage, reform promotion stage, market regulation stage and policy incentive stage. The results of the pollution source analysis showed that over the past 40 years, the total percent contribution to COD by livestock and poultry breeding (LPB) and rural household waste (RHW) accounted for 83.1%–96.6%, the total percent contribution to TN by mineral fertilizers (MF) and LPB accounted for 72.3%–80.8%, and the total percent contribution to TP by LPB, RHW and MF accounted for 69.1%–88.6%. In addition, Shandong, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Henan were the top producers of ANPSP loads, and their COD, TN, and TP loads accounted for approximately 32%, 30%, and 35% of the national totals, respectively. The discharge intensity of COD, TN and TP decreased by 79.2%, 67.8%, and 62.6%, respectively. The discharge intensity exhibited a phasic feature that aligned with the national economic plan in the temporal scale and was closely related to the agricultural conditions in the spatial scale. • Agricultural non-point source pollution loads from 1978 to 2017 were estimated. • Total pollution loads increase by 114% and discharge intensity decreases by 70%. • The periodic growth characteristic of pollution loads is divided into four stages. • China's agricultural policies relevantly decreased the discharge intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southeast coastal region of China is a typical frontier region between urbanization and industrialization, where land use is facing the pressure and challenge of continuous expansion of construction land, decreasing agricultural land and accelerated degradation of ecological land. Solving the resulting land use conflicts (LUCs) has become an urgent issue in regional sustainable development. In order to explore LUC status and to guide LUC governance, an empirical model of land use conflict identification and intensity diagnosis was constructed, and a method for simulating sustainable land use scenarios based on conflict management was proposed. Nan'an City was selected as an empirical study area. The empirical model divides the conflict intensity into seven levels, and divides the LUC zones into 16 types according to their "dominant land + conflict intensity". We recommend formulating land use change rules according to the "distribution-land type-performance- intensity" of conflict zones when simulating future sustainable land use scenarios. The empirical results showed that the current land use pattern in Nan'an City has led to fierce competition and conflict. The spatial distribution, land type composition, conflict manifestation and intensity of different LUC zones varied widely; therefore, it is necessary to adopt different governance strategies to achieve a balance between the differential demands of land use and to guide the direction of sustainable development. The constructed empirical model and proposed simulation approach could better reflect the true situation of land use in the economically developed areas of China, and would provide theoretical and methodological support for the prevention and resolution of LUCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article on "Does Anthropogenic Land Use Change Play a Role in Changes of Precipitation Frequency and Intensity over the Loess Plateau of China?" which to be presented on 2018 issue.

Human transformation of landscapes is pervasive and accelerating across the Earth. However, existing studies have not provided a comprehensive picture of how precipitation frequency and intensity respond to vegetation cover change. Therefore, this study took the Loess Plateau as a typical example, and used satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data and daily gridded climatic variables to assess the responses of precipitation dynamics to human-induced vegetation cover change. Results showed that the total precipitation amount exhibited little change at the regional scale, showing an upward but statistically insignificant (p > 0.05) trend of 7.6 mm/decade in the period 1982–2015. However, the frequency of precipitation with different intensities showed large variations over most of the Loess Plateau. The number of rainy days (light, moderate, heavy, very heavy and severe precipitation) increased in response to increased vegetation cover, especially in the central-eastern Loess Plateau. Anthropogenic land cover change is largely responsible for precipitation intensity changes. Additionally, this study also observed high spatially explicit heterogeneity in different precipitation intensities in response to vegetation cover change across the Loess Plateau. These findings provide some reference information for our understanding of precipitation frequency and intensity changes in response to regional vegetation cover change in the Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Sustainable development in impoverished areas is still a global challenge owing to trade-offs between development and conservation. There are large poverty-stricken areas (PSAs) in China, which overlap highly with ecologically sensitive areas. China has made great efforts to alleviate poverty over the years. The coordinated relationship between the social economy and the environment in PSAs, however, remains under-recognized. This study developed a county-level index system encompassing the socioeconomic and environmental sectors of China's PSAs. The integrated indexes of the two sectors were developed to reveal the spatial–temporal socioeconomic and environmental patterns and coupling coordination degree (CCD) levels were calculated to assess the coordinated relationships between them. The CCD indicated the increasingly coordinated development of socioeconomic and environmental conditions in China's PSAs from 2000 to 2020. Meanwhile, although the socioeconomic index achieved considerable growth with a growth rate of 58.4%, the environmental index was mildly improved with a growth rate of 19.6%, instead of a reduction. PSAs still have a large gap in socioeconomic development compared to non-poor areas; however, PSAs perform better in environmental index. Overall, the increased coordinated development between the social economy and the environment from 2000 to 2020 can be attributed to China's long-term, large-scale, and targeted interventions in poverty reduction and environmental conservation. Further, benefiting from the geodiversity of China, we identified four poverty reduction models which include advantageously, sustained, periodic, and limited effective models, on the basis of CCD change patterns. The four models can provide valuable experience for the rest of the world in tackling similar trade-offs of poverty reduction and environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cumulative anomaly analysis, the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), the Bernaola Galvan heuristic segmentation algorithm (BGSA), the Le Page test, the moving t test at different sub-series scales, and the quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) were used to demonstrate the statistical characteristics of the temperature changes in the study area from 1960 to 2015. The results were as follows: the temperatures varied obviously among subregions and seasons and they generally increased; the climate tendency rates of autumn mean temperatures were higher than those of summer and spring; additionally, the temperatures in the three subregions of the Three Rivers' Headstream Region (THRHR) were relatively low in the 1960s, especially in the early 1960s, followed by those in the 1970s, and the annual mean temperature has been increasing since the mid-late 1980s, especially in the middle 1990s. The results of EEMD showed that the QPOs of the annual mean temperature series in the study area were mainly quasi-3 years, quasi-5–8 years, quasi-12–15 years, and quasi-35–38 years. The results of the annual mean temperature series mutational sites showed that a significant warming mutation began in approximately 1997; and the mutational sites of seasonal mean temperature series in the three subregions of the THRHR all began in the middle and late 1990s. The prediction result of the temperature series trend based on multiple methods showed that the warming persistence of annual and seasonal mean temperature series would be stronger, and their seasonal and regional differences were obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding the health status of the poor households and the influence of unhealthy on their income can provide some vital insights into the effectiveness and appropriateness of poverty reduction solutions. Methods: Based on a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 29,712 rural poor households, this study systematically investigated the causes of poverty and health status of Chinese rural poor households, and revealed the relationship between health, income and poverty. Results: The health status of the rural poor in China is not optimistic, with 51.63% attributing their poverty to the illness of household members. NCDs are the biggest health threat to the rural poor in China. Over 60% of all the households have at least one patient and more than a quarter of the households with patients cannot afford expensive medical expenses. Although 98% of all the households participate in China's a rural health insurance system - the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme - 16% are still unable to bear their medical expenses after reimbursement from the scheme. Further, high altitude, ill-health and low-income are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. The per capita net income of poor households was inversely proportional to the altitude of their places of residence, family aging and unhealthy status, but was positively correlated with the number of workforces in their families. Conclusions: Poverty due to illness is one of the root causes of rural poverty in China. With the backward medical infrastructure in high altitude areas, people are more prone to fall into the vicious circle of poverty-unhealthy-low income-poverty. The establishment of effective long-term mechanism of disease prevention and intervention is an important prerequisite to enhance the endogenous development power of the poor and reduce poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Although China is experiencing rapid urbanization process, village is still the basic socio-economic unit in rural China and could be seen as the cell of the rural system. A profound understanding of the nature of village development has important theoretical and practical values. This study aims to explore what makes better village development in traditional agricultural areas of China based on long-term observation and comparison of typical villages. The main findings suggest that rural elites are crucial actors in the transformational development of relatively successful villages. The success of these villages is based on the integration and coordination of internal and external driving forces, the participation, negotiation and cooperation among key actors, and the formation and development of rural networks with these key actors. These actors, interactions and processes could be theorized as a conceptual model for rural development: the bearing model. This study could help better understand the political ecology of rural development during the transition from urban bias to rural priority. Highlights • Influential factors, common features and general mechanism of village development in China were explored. • The success of village mainly depends on the integration and coordination of internal and external driving forces. • Rural elites are crucial actors in village development, especially in the course of integration and coordination. • The actors, interactions and processes could be explained as a conceptual model for rural development—the bearing model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract China has witnessed substantial and surging internal migration over the past three decades, and the ascendant trend of migration will continue within the New Urbanization in China, shaping drastically China's population redistribution, and inducing surge of crowded cities and "hollowing village". This paper analyzed the spatial-temporal patterns of migration at provincial level during 2000–2010, and found: (1) the migration pattern demonstrated increasingly strengthened polarity in migration pool and source regions/provinces and migration flows. (2) The interregional/interprovincial migration population was higher than the intraregional/intra-provincial, and the gap between them strengthened with time. (3) The migration population grew with time, but the migration distance almost kept unchanged. To analyze the determinants of migration, this paper adopted an improved gravity model which introduced environment variables and included five types of variables, and found: (1) the path dependence variable had the most significant impact on migration, and the wages of staff and workers followed in 2000 and 2010. (2) The wages of origin provinces exerted a strong "push" to migrants, larger than the "pull" from the destination provinces in 2000, and the "push" changed to smaller than the "pull" in 2010. (3) Natural environment gradually became an attractive factor that migrants took into consideration, and the obstruction of distance to migration gradually reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Chinese government's emergency emissions reduction strategy which aims to reduce air pollution and mentions topics including a decline in the concentration of particulate matter and a study about the environmental effects of urban and rural development.

A letter to the editor is presented related to a study on geological implications of China's land creation projects, led by researcher Peiyue Li and others.

With the rapid urbanization and industrialization, urban and rural transformation development is inevitable, although rural transformation may suffer from a continuously widening gap. Thus, this paper describes a model to measure the rural transformation development path used to analyze the process more clearly, through measuring rural transformation, detecting influencing factors, and calculating the acting forces of factors. (1) The degree of rural transformation development in Fuping County, which has always been lower than in adjacent counties, gradually improved from 1990 to 2015. This study presents the temporal and spatial influencing factors, including the per capita industrial output value of enterprises above a designated size (x 5 ), the population density (x 8 ), and the per capita water resource (x 12 ) of six counties near to Fuping County. (2) The pull forces in these six counties were larger than the push forces, including society, economy, and resources, which indicates that rural development in Fuping County was mainly dominated by external factors. (3) This paper suggests to increase small scales and to extend large scales to improve the path measurement model by analyzing the test results for Fuping County; furthermore, proposals are presented for realizing rural sustainable development of Fuping County in terms of policy, industry, and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the previous research in loess hilly region of Northern Shaanxi, this paper takes the soil erosion degree as the main measure of soil stability and the soil utility, annual average rainfall in flood season (from June to September), and topography, as the main measure indexes of soil stability. After that, the evaluation system of soil stability in loess hilly region of Northern Shaanxi can be constructed, which can be done by special analysis of GIS. The results illustrate that the soil stability showed a trend of high south‐east and low north‐west. Soil with good stability is mainly distributed in Ganquan County, and Yanchuan County, where vegetation coverage is high, vegetation types are mostly forest land and grassland, ecological environment is good, and precipitation erosion effect is not significant. Soil with intermediate stability is mainly distributed in Baota district and its surrounding areas, where the main vegetation types are bush fallow and grassland, and the terrain is flat and gently rolling. Soil with the worst stability is mainly distributed in Suide County, and Wuqi County. The area is mostly sandy and desert, the terrain is fragmented, soil is loose, vegetation cover is not high, making the soil the worst soil stability, and strong rainfall conditions are prone to soil erosion. The prerequisite of the implementation of soil consolidation projects is having evaluation on soil stability. The research results can be the theoretical evidence, and implement guarantee of regional soil exploitation and reorganization, and the reference to enhancing the assurance of ecological safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain drain has long been a concern. However, little is known about the brain drain within a country. China is a developing country which is experiencing not only overseas brain drain but also a domestic cross-regional and cross-departmental flow. In this study, we investigate the flow of high-level talent (HLT) given the background of constructing world-class universities and disciplines (WCUDs) in China and its dynamic mechanisms, and then we discuss its potential implications. The results show that over the past four decades, eastern China has been a net-inflow area, and the northeastern and midwestern regions saw a net outflow. The eastern region shows more internal regional flow. Furthermore, a large amount of HLT has flowed from scientific research institutes to colleges and universities (CUs). Regional socioeconomic gaps, imperfect systems and inadequate management are the main reasons for the flow of HLT. Regional HLT flow is not as serious as expected, but irrational flow will probably aggravate the already interregional disparity in educational resources and human capital accumulation as well as regional unbalanced development. Therefore, some measures should be taken to fight irrational high-level talent flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the artificial neural network (ANN) model was used to evaluate the degree of intensive urban land use in Nanjing City, China. The construction and application of the ANN model took into account the comprehensive, spatial and complex nature of urban land use. Through a preliminary calculation of the degree of intensive land use of the sample area, representative sample area selection and using the back propagation neural network model to train, the intensive land use level of each evaluation unit is finally determined in the study area. Results show that the method can effectively correct the errors caused by the limitations of the model itself and the determination of the ideal value and weights when the multifactor comprehensive evaluation is used alone. The ANN model can make the evaluation results more objective and practical. The evaluation results show a tendency of decreasing land use intensity from the core urban area to the periphery and the industrial functional area has relatively low land use intensity compared with other functional areas. Based on the evaluation results, some suggestions are put forward, such as transforming the mode of urban spatial expansion, strengthening the integration and potential exploitation of the land in the urban built-up area, and strengthening the control of the construction intensity of protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]