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Land cover change and eco-environmental quality response of different geomorphic units on the Chinese Loess Plateau

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Abstract

Land cover in the Chinese Loess Plateau has undergone dramatic changes since the late 1980s. Revealing the trend in land cover change and eco-environmental quality response of different geomorphic units in this stage is a realistic requirement for promoting sustainable development of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Based on the data of geomorphic units and land cover in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018 of the Chinese Loess Plateau, we studied the trend of land cover change and eco-environmental quality response of different geomorphic units by using a significance index of land cover change, a proportion index of land cover change and an eco-environmental response model. The results indicated that from 1990 to 2018, the areas of forestland and construction land substantially increased, whereas those of cropland, grassland, wetland and unused land considerably decreased. Land cover change exhibited large geomorphic differences, and the main conversion of land cover was from cropland into other land types. Unstable trend of land cover change in the loess tablelands and sandy loess hills declined, whereas the unstable trends in the other geomorphic units enhanced. Eco-environmental quality varied among different geomorphic units. The expansion of construction land and degradation of forestland, grassland and wetland resulted in the deterioration of eco-environmental quality. The conversion of cropland and unused land into forestland and grassland, and the conversion of grassland into forestland were the main factors that drove the improvement of eco-environmental quality. The findings of this study may provide theoretical reference and support decision making for the optimization of land use structure and the improvement of eco-environmental quality on the Chinese Loess Plateau.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Special Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2014FY210100), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD1100101) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41971204).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710119, China

    Yongyong Song, Dongqian Xue, Lanhai Dai & Xiaogang Huang

  2. School of Tourism & Research Institute of Human Geography, Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an, 710128, China

    Pengtao Wang

  3. School of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Siyou Xia

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  1. Yongyong Song
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  2. Dongqian Xue
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  3. Lanhai Dai
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Correspondence to Dongqian Xue.

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Song, Y., Xue, D., Dai, L. et al. Land cover change and eco-environmental quality response of different geomorphic units on the Chinese Loess Plateau. J. Arid Land 12, 29–43 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-019-0031-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-019-0031-8

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