Marshland conversion to cropland in northeast China from 1950 to 2000 reduced the greenhouse effect

It has been well recognized that converting wetlands to cropland results in loss of soil organic carbon (SOC), while less attention was paid to concomitant changes in methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions. Using datasets from the literature and field measurements, we investigated loss of SOC and emissions of CH₄ and N₂O due to marshland conversion in northeast China. Analysis of the documented crop cultivation area indicated that 2.91 Mha of marshland were converted to cropland over the period 1950–2000. Marshland conversion resulted in SOC loss of ～240 Tg and introduced ～1.4 Tg CH₄ and ～138 Gg N₂O emissions in the cropland, while CH₄ emissions reduced greatly in the marshland, cumulatively ～28 Tg over the 50 years. Taking into account the loss of SOC and emissions of CH₄ and N₂O, the global warming potential (GWP) at a 20‐year time horizon was estimated to be ～180 Tg CO₂_eq. yr^?1 in the 1950s and ～120 Tg CO₂_eq. yr^?1 in the 1990s, with a ～33% reduction. When calculated at 100‐year time horizon, the GWP was ～73 Tg CO₂ _eq. yr^?1 in the 1950s and ～58 Tg CO₂_eq. yr^?1 in the 1990s, with a ～21% reduction. It was concluded that marshland conversion to cropland in northeast China reduced the greenhouse effect as far as GWP is concerned. This reduction was attributed to a substantial decrease in CH₄ emissions from the marshland. An extended inference is that the declining growth rate of atmospheric CH₄ since the 1980s might be related to global loss of wetlands, but this connection needs to be confirmed.     

不同耕作方式对内蒙古旱作农田土壤侵蚀的影响

研究黄河流域内蒙古黄土高原丘陵区农田土壤侵蚀状况,对本区域生态农业建设具有重要的意义。试验于2006年在内蒙古呼和浩特市清水河县进行,设免耕(NT)、免耕覆盖(NS)和传统耕作(CT)3种耕作处理方式,种植作物为胡麻和燕麦,观测了全年降雨量和地表水径流量及土壤流失量。结果表明:免耕覆盖及免耕能显著减少降雨对土壤的侵蚀,与传统耕作相比,免耕覆盖处理的燕麦地地表水径流量和土壤的流失量分别减少21.9%和88.3%;3种耕作方式的土壤侵蚀量均受到坡度的影响,并随着坡度的增大而增大,相同环境条件下,不同作物存在一定差异;通过对3种耕作方式下,胡麻和燕麦田土壤侵蚀量与降雨量的关系符合幂函数,且拟合优度良好,均>0.9。     

Mind the gap: how do climate and agricultural management explain the ‘yield gap’ of croplands around the world?

Aim As the demands for food, feed and fuel increase in coming decades, society will be pressed to increase agricultural production – whether by increasing yields on already cultivated lands or by cultivating currently natural areas – or to change current crop consumption patterns. In this analysis, we consider where yields might be increased on existing croplands, and how crop yields are constrained by biophysical (e.g. climate) versus management factors. Location This study was conducted at the global scale. Methods Using spatial datasets, we compare yield patterns for the 18 most dominant crops within regions of similar climate. We use this comparison to evaluate the potential yield obtainable for each crop in different climates around the world. We then compare the actual yields currently being achieved for each crop with their ‘climatic potential yield’ to estimate the ‘yield gap’. Results We present spatial datasets of both the climatic potential yields and yield gap patterns for 18 crops around the year 2000. These datasets depict the regions of the world that meet their climatic potential, and highlight places where yields might potentially be raised. Most often, low yield gaps are concentrated in developed countries or in regions with relatively high‐input agriculture. Main conclusions While biophysical factors like climate are key drivers of global crop yield patterns, controlling for them demonstrates that there are still considerable ranges in yields attributable to other factors, like land management practices. With conventional practices, bringing crop yields up to their climatic potential would probably require more chemical, nutrient and water inputs. These intensive land management practices can adversely affect ecosystem goods and services, and in turn human welfare. Until society develops more sustainable high‐yielding cropping practices, the trade‐offs between increased crop productivity and social and ecological factors need to be made explicit when future food scenarios are formulated.     

Greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture

Agricultural lands occupy 37% of the earth's land surface. Agriculture accounts for 52 and 84% of global anthropogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Agricultural soils may also act as a sink or source for CO2, but the net flux is small. Many agricultural practices can potentially mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most prominent of which are improved cropland and grazing land management and restoration of degraded lands and cultivated organic soils. Lower, but still significant mitigation potential is provided by water and rice management, set-aside, land use change and agroforestry, livestock management and manure management. The global technical mitigation potential from agriculture (excluding fossil fuel offsets from biomass) by 2030, considering all gases, is estimated to be approximately 5500-6000Mt CO2-eq.yr-1, with economic potentials of approximately 1500-1600, 2500-2700 and 4000-4300Mt CO2-eq.yr-1 at carbon prices of up to 20, up to 50 and up to 100 US$ t CO2-eq.-1, respectively. In addition, GHG emissions could be reduced by substitution of fossil fuels for energy production by agricultural feedstocks (e.g. crop residues, dung and dedicated energy crops). The economic mitigation potential of biomass energy from agriculture is estimated to be 640, 2240 and 16 000Mt CO2-eq.yr-1 at 0-20, 0-50 and 0-100 US$ t CO2-eq.-1, respectively.     

退耕政策下小流域景观格局变化研究

在景观生态学理论指导下 ,对陕北纸坊沟流域 2 0世纪末景观变化进行了综合分析。研究表明 ,该流域在退耕还林还草政策的影响下 ,形成了以草地和林地为主体的景观格局 ,景观结构趋于简化 ,斑块复杂性和景观异质性程度降低 ,景观要素的空间联系得以加强 ,总体生态环境明显改善。     

土壤呼吸组分分离技术研究进展

分离土壤呼吸组分是理解陆地生态系统碳循环的重要步骤,研究农田生态系统土壤呼吸组分的呼吸过程和机理对促进农业温室气体减排和碳汇增加、气候变化适应、保障粮食安全以及推动农业可持续发展都具有积极意义。本文综述了近年来土壤呼吸组分分离的理论依据、主要技术及分类,系统比较了现有技术优势、劣势和应用领域,并总结了土壤呼吸组分分离技术在国内外农田生态系统中的应用情况。由于多数分离技术在森林生态系统的相关研究中发展而来,它们在农田生态系统的应用十分有限,目前应用以同位素法、根分离法和回归法为主。由于土壤呼吸理论划分和分离方法的差异,不同研究结果之间往往难以比较。分离技术的发展有赖于土壤呼吸源分离理论的进一步发展,未来土壤呼吸组分分离研究的主要方向在于：（1）利用现有观测技术促进组分集成分析法和根分离法在农田生态系统中的应用,强化土壤呼吸组分和环境因子的同步观测,准确评估农田碳收支;（2）利用定位观测数据开展大尺度模型研究,改进和重构现有全球碳模型的碳氮过程,并在其中考虑重要的土壤呼吸过程;（3）利用FACE试验评估气候变化对土壤呼吸组分的影响和土壤-植物碳循环的适应机制;（4）分析呼吸组分与植物-土壤-养分的交互作用,评估农田管理措施的综合影响。     

间套作种植提升农田生态系统服务功能

间套作是指在同一块土地上同时种植两种或两种以上的作物,能够充分利用有限资源,提升单位面积物质产出,同时还具有多重其他生态效益,是一种基于生物多样性的可持续农业发展范式.生态系统服务是评价生态系统功能的重要突破口,也是当前生态学领域研究的热点问题.从生态系统服务的角度论述间套作种植提升农田生态系统服务功能,并从物质产出、土壤肥力维持、生物多样性保护、水土保持、病虫草害和有害污染物控制等方面论述了间套作种植提升农田生态系统功能的实践及机制.在此基础上,构建了间套作农田生态系统服务功能评价的理论框架和指标体系,并提出了间套作种植农田生态系统未来应加强的研究方向.     

阴山北麓农牧交错区退耕地草地生态系统碳交换及水分利用效率

内蒙古阴山北麓农牧交错区由于长期不合理的开垦造成了荒漠草地生态系统碳交换等生态功能的显著丧失。我国20世纪末开始实施的退耕还林还草工程产生了大量退耕地,随着自然恢复演替,这些退耕地的生态功能得到了有效的修复,其巨大的碳汇潜力成为了荒漠草地生态系统碳循环研究的热点。研究通过空间代替时间的方法,对内蒙古阴山北麓典型区域——武川县周边无干扰的荒漠草原以及3个退耕恢复阶段草地的生态系统CO₂交换(NEE、GEP和ER)、水分利用效率(WUE)以及生物量等指标进行了实地测量。结果表明：(1)随着退耕恢复演替时间的推移,生态系统CO₂交换呈显著上升趋势,演替晚期植被NEE与未受干扰的荒漠草地无明显差异;(2)生态系统水分利用效率的变化趋势与生态系统CO₂交换基本一致,但已退耕17年后的退耕地WUE仍没有恢复至未受干扰荒漠草地的水平;(3)导致以上结果的原因主要与退耕地地上植被生物量的恢复以及一、二年生植物和多年生植物比例的演替变化有关。结果表明荒漠草地退耕地恢复过程中生态系统功能的恢复可能并非是同时的,而是分阶段有选择进行的。     

Largely underestimated carbon emission from land use and land cover change in the conterminous United States

Carbon (C) emission and uptake due to land use and land cover change (LULCC) are the most uncertain term in the global carbon budget primarily due to limited LULCC data and inadequate model capability (e.g., underrepresented agricultural managements). We take the commonly used FAOSTAT‐based global Land Use Harmonization data (LUH2) and a new high‐resolution multisource harmonized national LULCC database (YLmap) to drive a land ecosystem model (DLEM) in the conterminous United States. We found that recent cropland abandonment and forest recovery may have been overestimated in the LUH2 data derived from national statistics, causing previously reported C emissions from land use have been underestimated due to the definition of cropland and aggregated LULCC signals at coarse resolution. This overestimation leads to a strong C sink (30.3 ± 2.5 Tg C/year) in model simulations driven by LUH2 in the United States during the 1980–2016 period, while we find a moderate C source (13.6 ± 3.5 Tg C/year) when using YLmap. This divergence implies that previous C budget analyses based on the global LUH2 dataset have underestimated C emission in the United States owing to the delineation of suitable cropland and aggregated land conversion signals at coarse resolution which YLmap overcomes. Thus, to obtain more accurate quantification of LULCC‐induced C emission and better serve global C budget accounting, it is urgently needed to develop fine‐scale country‐specific LULCC data to characterize the details of land conversion.