Back to Search
Start Over
Effects of Cropland Conversion and Climate Change on Agrosystem Carbon Balance of China’s Dryland: A Typical Watershed Study
- Source :
- Sustainability, Vol 10, Iss 12, p 4508 (2018), Sustainability, Volume 10, Issue 12
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Remarkable warm‒wet climate shifts and intensive cropland expansion strongly affected carbon (C) cycle and threaten agricultural sustainability in northwest China. In this study, we integrated a process-based ecosystem model and an empirical C bookkeeping model to investigate the coupled and isolated effects of arable land conversions and climate change (CLM) on regional C balance in a typical watershed of northwest China. Results revealed that the farmland area increased by 3367.31 km2 during 1979–2014. The combined effects of CLM with net cropland expansion enlarged the vegetation C (VEGC) and the soil organic C (SOC) stock by 2.83 and 11.83 Tg, respectively, and were strongest in 2008–2014. The conversions between desert grassland and cropland were the major driving forces for regional C balance. Cropland expansion shared equal effects on VEGC increase with CLM, but its effect on SOC increment was 53 times larger than CLM’s. VEGC was more responsive to CLM, whereas SOC gained more benefits from land management. The C sink from reclamation suffered from high water consumption and is facing great threats due to glaciers and mountain lake shrinking and groundwater overpumping. Water-saving irrigation techniques and environmentally friendly water use strategies are essential for local agricultural sustainability.
- Subjects :
- Irrigation
Watershed
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Geography, Planning and Development
Land management
Climate change
TJ807-830
010501 environmental sciences
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
cropland expansion
TD194-195
01 natural sciences
Renewable energy sources
Land reclamation
GE1-350
AEM model
northwest China
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
carbon balance
Environmental effects of industries and plants
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Vegetation
Environmental sciences
climate change
Environmental science
Arable land
Water resource management
Water use
C bookkeeping model
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20711050
- Volume :
- 10
- Issue :
- 12
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Sustainability
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....772f063f726a105282107172f766f297