Spatial and temporal characteristics of soil conservation service in the area of the upper and middle of the Yellow River, China

作者：Mingyong Zhu, Wenming He, Quanfa Zhang, Yongzhu Xiong, Shuduan Tan, Hongming He · 发表于：Heliyon · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02985 · 被引用次数：38 · 研究领域：Soil erosion and sediment transport、Land Use and Ecosystem Services、Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology

Soil erosion is an important environmental problem in the area of the upper and middle of the Yellow River (AUMYR), China, one of the most severe soil erosion areas in the world. It is significantly influences on the ecological security and sustainable development of the region. Soil conservation (SC) service, as one of the most important regulating services provided by ecosystems, can alter soil and water processes and improve ecosystem services that ensure human welfare. Investigations of spatial and temporal characteristics of SC service play important roles in soil erosion control and ecosystem protection in AUMYR. In the past several years, restoration projects (e.g. the Grain-for-Green project) were implemented to improve SC in most of AUMYR. It is needed to evaluate the change of SC service brought about by the projects. This study carries out quantitative spatial analysis of SC services through Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model and geographic information system (GIS) manipulation based on various datasets, such as remote sensing image, digital elevation model (DEM), climate, and land use/cover maps. Soil retention calculated as potential soil erosion (erosion without vegetation cover) minus actual soil erosion was applied as indicator for SC service. The results are like these. (1) The total amount and mean capacity of SC service in AUMYR were 7.22 billion t/a and 142.2 t/hm 2 ·a in 2000 and 10.19 billion t/a and 200.8 t/hm 2 ·a in 2010, respectively. South-ea...