Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China

Various land use and land cover(LULC)products have been produced over the past decade with the development of remote sensing technology.Despite the differences in LULC classification schemes,there is a lack of research on assessing the accuracy of their application to croplands in a unified framework.Thus,this study evaluated the spatial and area accuracies of cropland classification for four commonly used global LULC products(i.e.,MCD12Q1V6,GlobCover2009,FROM-GLC and GlobeLand30)based on the harmonised FAO criterion,and quantified the relationships between four factors(i.e.,slope,elevation,field size and crop system)and cropland classification agreement.The validation results indicated that MCD12Q1 and GlobeLand30 performed well in cropland classification regarding spatial consistency,with overall accuracies of 94.90 and 93.52%,respectively.The FROMGLC showed the worst performance,with an overall accuracy of 83.17%.Overlaying the cropland generated by the four global LULC products,we found the proportions of complete agreement and disagreement were 15.51 and 44.72% for the cropland classification,respectively.High consistency was mainly observed in the Northeast China Plain,the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the northern part of the Middle-lower Yangtze Plain,China.In contrast,low consistency was detected primarily on the eastern edge of the northern and semiarid region,the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and southern China.Field size was the most important factor for mapping cropland.For area accuracy,compared with China Statistical Yearbook data at the provincial scale,the accuracies of different products in descending order were:GlobeLand30,FROM-GLC,MCD12Q1,and GlobCover2009.The cropland classification schemes mainly caused large area deviations among the four products,and they also resulted in the different ranks of spatial accuracy and area accuracy among the four products.Our results can provide valuable suggestions for selecting cropland products at the national or provincial scale and help cropland mapping and reconstruction,which is essential for food security and crop management,so they can also contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals issued by the United Nations.

Slope-climbing of cropland and its effects in China

In recent decades,the spatio-temporal patterns of China’s croplands have been reshaped by disturbances from anthropogenic activities,with complex changes in the topographic characteristics of croplands.Slope-climbing of croplands(SCCL)is an important issue that threatens sustainable agricultural development.While providing land with prominent location advantages,SCCL weakens the water and fertilizer retention capacity for cropland,intensifies various geological disasters,and adversely affects the ecological environment and food yield of these croplands.It is crucial to determine the spatio-temporal variation features and effects of SCCL in China to formulate more accurate cropland protection policies and to maintain food security;however,the current lack of relevant studies is detrimental for capturing trends in cropland resources and sustainable cropland use.In this study,we constructed a multi-scale slope spectrum for cropland and total terrain to explore the spatial differences and trends of SCCL from a three-dimensional view.We evaluated the natural and socioeconomic effects of SCCL in China from multiple perspectives.Results indicate that the proportion of cropland with slopes below 2°,5°,and 6°in China decreased by 0.43%,0.47%,and 0.50%from 1980 to 2020,respectively.SCCL became apparent during 1980-1990 and 2010-2020,especially over the recent decade.The cropland climbing index(CCI)and upper limited slope change(ULSC)to measure the spatio-temporal pattern of SCCL were 0.99%and 1.17°,respectively,during 2010-2020.At the agricultural regional scale,the SCCL was also concentrated in 1980-1990 and 2010-2020,and it is more pronounced in the southern areas.The proportion of provinces and prefecture-level cities with high-intensity SCCL during 1980-2020 were 87.10%and 49.73%,respectively.SCCL was comparatively more pronounced and broader from 2010 to 2020.During this period,17.84%of prefecture-level cities had no SCCL,and the average CCI for all prefecture-level cities peaked at 1.62%.In this study,we also evaluated the pros and cons of SCCL and provided targeted suggestions for decision makers and farmers to refine cropland protection policy systems and further develop the sustainable use of croplands.

Improving model performance in mapping cropland soil organic matter using time-series remote sensing data

Faced with increasing global soil degradation,spatially explicit data on cropland soil organic matter(SOM)provides crucial data for soil carbon pool accounting,cropland quality assessment and the formulation of effective management policies.As a spatial information prediction technique,digital soil mapping(DSM)has been widely used to spatially map soil information at different scales.However,the accuracy of digital SOM maps for cropland is typically lower than for other land cover types due to the inherent difficulty in precisely quantifying human disturbance.To overcome this limitation,this study systematically assessed a framework of“information extractionfeature selection-model averaging”for improving model performance in mapping cropland SOM using 462 cropland soil samples collected in Guangzhou,China in 2021.The results showed that using the framework of dynamic information extraction,feature selection and model averaging could efficiently improve the accuracy of the final predictions(R^(2):0.48 to 0.53)without having obviously negative impacts on uncertainty.Quantifying the dynamic information of the environment was an efficient way to generate covariates that are linearly and nonlinearly related to SOM,which improved the R^(2)of random forest from 0.44 to 0.48 and the R^(2)of extreme gradient boosting from 0.37to 0.43.Forward recursive feature selection(FRFS)is recommended when there are relatively few environmental covariates(<200),whereas Boruta is recommended when there are many environmental covariates(>500).The Granger-Ramanathan model averaging approach could improve the prediction accuracy and average uncertainty.When the structures of initial prediction models are similar,increasing in the number of averaging models did not have significantly positive effects on the final predictions.Given the advantages of these selected strategies over information extraction,feature selection and model averaging have a great potential for high-accuracy soil mapping at any scales,so this approach can provide more reliable references for soil conservation policy-making.

Decoding the inconsistency of six cropland maps in China

Accurate cropland information is critical for agricultural planning and production,especially in foodstressed countries like China.Although widely used medium-to-high-resolution satellite-based cropland maps have been developed from various remotely sensed data sources over the past few decades,considerable discrepancies exist among these products both in total area and in spatial distribution of croplands,impeding further applications of these datasets.The factors influencing their inconsistency are also unknown.In this study,we evaluated the consistency and accuracy of six cropland maps widely used in China in circa 2020,including three state-of-the-art 10-m products(i.e.,Google Dynamic World,ESRI Land Cover,and ESA WorldCover)and three 30-m ones(i.e.,GLC_FCS30,GlobeLand 30,and CLCD).We also investigated the effects of landscape fragmentation,climate,and agricultural management.Validation using a ground-truth sample revealed that the 10-m-resolution WorldCover provided the highest accuracy(92.3%).These maps collectively overestimated Chinese cropland area by up to 56%.Up to 37%of the land showed spatial inconsistency among the maps,concentrated mainly in mountainous regions and attributed to the varying accuracy of cropland maps,cropland fragmentation and management practices such as irrigation.Our work shed light on the promotion of future cropland mapping efforts,especially in highly inconsistent regions.

Uphill or downhill?Cropland use change and its drivers from the perspective of slope spectrum

The continuous decrease of low-slope cropland resources caused by construction land crowding poses huge threat to regional sustainable development and food security.Slope spectrum analysis of topographic and geomorphic features is considered as a digital terrain analysis method which reflects the macro-topographic features by using micro-topographic factors.However,pieces of studies have extended the concept of slope spectrum in the field of geoscience to construction land to explore its expansion law,while research on the slope trend of cropland from that perspective remains rare.To address the gap,in virtue of spatial analysis and geographically weighted regression(GWR)model,the cropland use change in the Yangtze River Basin(YRB)from 2000 to 2020 was analyzed and the driving factors were explored from the perspective of slope spectrum.Results showed that the slope spectrum curves of cropland area-frequency in the YRB showed a first upward then a downward trend.The change curve of the slope spectrum of cropland in each province(municipality)exhibited various distribution patterns.Quantitative analysis of morphological parameters of cropland slope spectrum revealed that the further down the YRB,the stronger the flattening characteristics,the more obvious the concentration.The province experienced the greatest downhill cropland climbing(CLC)was Shannxi,while province experienced the highest uphill CLC was Zhejiang.The most common cropland use change type in the YRB was horizontal expansion type.The factors affecting average cropland climbing index(ACCI)were quite stable in different periods,while population density(POP)changed from negative to positive during the study period.This research is of practical significance for the rational utilization of cropland at the watershed scale.

44%of steep slope cropland in Europe vulnerable to drought

Steep-slope cropland plays a vital role in food production,economic development,ecosystem diversity,and Eu-ropean cultural heritage.However,these systems are susceptible to extreme weather events.The 2022 summer drought significantly impacted European agriculture,but the specific effects on steep-slope crops remain uncer-tain.Clarifying this is essential for comprehending similar future events and for implementing effective water management strategies to ensure the sustainability of steep-slope agriculture and associated ecosystem services.This study quantitatively analyzes the spatial distribution of twelve major European steep-slope(>12%)crops and assesses agricultural drought severity during the 2022 events using open-access spatial data.The satellite-based Vegetation Health Index(VHI)is utilized to identify critical hotspots.Results show that olive grove is the most widespread crop in steep slope agriculture(34%of total area),followed by wheat(24%),maize(16%),and vineyard(11%).Almost half of the steep-slope agriculture in Europe suffered drought during summer 2022.Vineyards were hardest affected at 79%,primarily in northern Portugal,northern Spain,southern France,and central Italy.Sunflowers followed at 62%,mainly in Spain,central Italy,southern France,and northern Roma-nia.Olive groves ranked third at 59%,with the most impact in northern Portugal,southern and central Spain,and southern Italy.Maize was also significantly affected at 54%.In this paper,we therefore highlight the need to increase steep-slope agriculture resilience by improving water management and promoting sustainable land practices.

Coupling Coordination Analysis of Cropland Intensification and Agroecosystem Services:Evidence from Loess Plateau in Shaanxi Province,China

One of the greatest challenges in the agroecosystem is to improve cropland intensification while preserving agroecosystem services.While many studies have investigated the effect of cropland intensification on agroecosystem service,the interactive coupling and coordination among these factors remain largely unexplored.In view of this,this study performed a case study of the Loess Plateau in Shaanxi Province,China and constructed comprehensive evaluation models to quantify the cropland intensification and agroecosystem service in this area.Balance analysis and the coupling coordination degree model were used to evaluate the interactive relationship between cropland intensification and agroecosystem service,and statistical analysis and spatial autocorrelation were used to analyze the spatial characteristics and potential mechanism of the coupling coordination.Results show that both the cropland intensification and agroecosystem service in the study area were relatively low yet gradually increased from 2000 to 2020.Agroecosystem service lag was identified as the dominant unbalanced development type.Improving the supply capacity of agroecosystem services plays a key role in the balanced development of cropland in the Loess Plateau.The coupling coordination degree between cropland intensification and agroecosystem service ranges from basic coordination to serious incoordination.Therefore,cropland intensification practices in the area should be optimized to enhance this coordination degree.An upward trend was also observed in the coupling coordination degree from2000 to 2020.The withdrawal of marginal cropland in the Grain for Green program is one of the most important reasons for this trend,especially for the northern region.Around 83.6%of the high-high clusters are concentrated in the southern region of the Loess Plateau,whereas 70.5%of the low-low clusters are distributed in the northern region.These clustering characteristics are mainly attributed to the environmental suitability of these areas for agriculture and their degree of economic development.

Exploring the rules of cropland elevation uplift in China

Cropland elevation uplift(CLEU) has recently become a new challenge for agricultural modernization,food security,and sustainable cropland use in China.Uncovering the rules of CLEU is of great theoretical and practical significance for China’s sustainable agricultural development and rural revitalization strategy.However,existing studies lack in-depth disclosure of multi-scale CLEU evolution rules,making it difficult to support the formulation of specific cropland protection policies.We analyzed the spatio-temporal evolution and multiscale CLEU in China from 1980 to 2020 using the Lorenz curve,gravity center model,hotspot analysis,and cropland elevation spectrum.The results indicated that the center of gravity of cropland moved to the northeast from 1980 to 2000 and then shifted to the northwest.The spatial distribution of cropland became increasingly imbalanced from 1980 to 2000.The change hotspots clustered in the northwest and the northeast,whereas cold-spots were mainly in southeastern China.The average elevation of cropland increased by 17.38 m,and the elevation uplift rule in different regions differed evidently across scales.From 1980 to 2000,all provinces except Xinjiang,Inner Mongolia,Gansu,and Yunnan exhibited CLEU,with Qinghai,Tibet,Beijing,and Guangdong showing the most noticeable uplifting.The CLEU can alleviate the shortage of cropland to some extent.However,without a planning constraint,the CLEU will lead to the increase of ecological risk and food security risk.

Untangling the increasing elevation of cropland in China from 1980 to 2020

The redistribution of cropland to areas of higher elevation in China has long affected agricultural development and could seriously threaten national food security.However,there is currently little research reported on this phenomenon,which may limit the improvement of cropland protection policies.To fill this gap,we analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of increased cropland elevation in China during the period 1980-2020.The average cropland elevation in China increased by 17.38 m from 1980 to 2020.The gravity center of the cropland area and average cropland elevation in China moved to the northwest by 81.00 km and 51.47 km,respectively.The amount of newly added cropland in eastern China was less than that in occupied regions;however,the average elevation of newly added cropland was greater than that of occupied cropland,though the opposite phenomenon was observed in western China.Slope,temperature,land-use intensity,population,economic density,and distance to main roads were the main factors affecting the redistribution of cropland to areas of higher elevation.The effects of these major driving factors exhibited significant spatial and temporal variations in China.This study has important implications for improving existing cropland protection policies and developing more effective cropland management systems in China.

Effect of Cropland Occupation and Supplement on Light-temperature Potential Productivity in China from 2000 to 2008

There are more people but less land in China,so food safety has always been a most important issue government concerned.With continuous population increase,economic development and environment protection,cropland occupation and supplement are unavoidable.It not only leads to the variation of cropland area,but also makes the light-temperature potential productivity per unit area different due to regional climate differentiation,therefore impacts the total potential productivity and food output eventually.So,it is necessary to analyze the climate differentiation between occupation and supplement cropland areas and to study its impact on total potential productivity,which is significant to reasonably develop natural resources and instruct agricultural arrangement.This study firstly discussed the variation and distribution of occupation and supplement croplands in China from 2000 to 2008,then analyzed the climate differentiation between occupation and supplement cropland areas and its effect on light-temperature potential productivity.The results demonstrate:1) From 2000 to 2008,the cropland variation presented occupation in the south and supplement in the north,but overall decreased.Supplement cropland was mainly from ecological reclamation(77.78%) and was mainly distributed in Northeast China and Northwest China with poor climatic and natural conditions.Occupation cropland was mainly used for construction(52.88%) and ecological restoration(44.78%) purposes,and was mainly distributed in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain,and the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang(Yangtze) River with better climatic and natural conditions.2) The climate conditions were quite different in supplement and occupation cropland areas.The annual precipitation,annual accumulated temperature and average annual temperature were lower in the supplement cropland area,and its average po-tential productivity per unit was only 62% of occupation cropland area,which was the main reason for the decrease of total potential productivity.3) Cropland occupation and supplement led to the variation of total potential productivity and its spatial distribution.The productivity decreased in the south and increased in the north,but had a net loss of 4.38315×107 t in the whole country.The increase of cropland area was at the cost of reclaiming natural forest and grassland resources,and destroying natural ecological environment,while the decrease of cropland area was mainly due to a lot of cropland occupied by urban-rural construction,which threatened the sustainable use of cropland resources.

Management Strategies and Their Evaluation for Carbon Sequestration in Cropland

In order to deal with the global change and to reduce emission of greenhouse gas, a number of countries have strengthened studies on carbon sequestration in cropland. Carbon sequestration in cropland is not only an important component for the global carbon stock, but also is the most active part to sequestrate the carbon in soil from atmosphere. In this sense, it is of necessity and significance to strengthen the study on management of carbon sequestration in cropland. Based on the main factors affecting carbon cycle in agro-ecosystems, this paper summarizes the relevant management measures to strengthen the capacity of reducing emission of carbon and increasing the carbon sequestration in cropland, and evaluates the effects of these measures after being implemented at a regional extent.

Research Progress on Methane Emission from Cropland

Methane is an important greenhouse gas, and farmland is one of the im- portant emission sources of methane. Therefore, it＇s important to study the discharge of methane from cropland. This paper reviewed the methane emission from agricultural ecosystem, the factors controlling CH4 fluxes from soil, such as water regime, the soil characteristics, and the type and amount of applied fertilizers and so on, the management for mitigation of CH4 emission from cropland, especially from paddy field, and put forward some research suggestions on methane emission in the future. The objective of this paper is to provide reference for controlling methane emission in cropland.

Sustainability Analysis of Cropland Use in Cropping-Pastoral Ecotone before and after the Grain-for-Green Policy:A Case Study from Yanchi County in Ningxia

[Objective] This study aimed to analyze the sustainability of cropland use in cropping-pastoral ecotone before and after the Grain-for-Green Policy. [Method] Using Yanchi County in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as a case study area, this investigation used the annual transfer rate of land use types, cropland suitability and emergy analysis to examine the major pressures affecting the sustainable use of cropland before and after the Grain-for-Green Policy. [Result] The expansion of con- struction land onto cropland was significant; the annual cropland area was still larger than the land area suitable for cropping after the policy; agrochemical inputs used for crop production gradually increased and unit crop outputs required more agro- chemical inputs. Cropland use sustainability showed a fluctuating downward trend. [Conclusion] The results imply that the protection of high quality cropland, further im- plementation of the policy and control of agrochemical inputs according to precipita- tion are the main measures needed for sustainable cropland use in cropping-pastoral ecotone.

Estimating cropland carbon mitigation potentials in China affected by three improved cropland practices

Agriculture is a large source of carbon emissions. The cropland practices of fertilizer substitution, crop straw and conservation tillage are beneficial and help to rebuild local soil carbon stocks and reduce soil carbon emissions, in addition to reducing the consumption of fertilizers and fossil fuels. These improved cropland practices can directly and indirectly mitigatecarbon emissions, benefiting the sustainability of croplands. For these three improved practices, we estimated carbon mitigation potentials in rice, wheat and maize croplands in China. The combined contribution of these practices to carbon mitigation was 38.8 Tg C yr-1, with fertilizer substitution, crop straw return, and conservation tillage contributing 26.6, 3.6 and 8.6 Tg C yr-1, respectively. Rice, wheat and maize croplands had potentials to mitigate 13.4, 11.9 and 15.5 Tg C yr-1, respectively, with the combined direct and indirectpotential of 33.8 and 5.0 Tg C yr-1. Because of differences in local climate and specific diets, the regional cropland carbon mitigation potentials differed greatly among provinces in China. In China, 18 provinces had a "target surplus" for which the carbon mitigation from these three practices was larger than the mitigation target set for 2020. At the national level, a net "target surplus"of 4.84 Tg C yr-1 would be attained for Chinese croplands with full implementation of the three improved practices. Regional cooperation must be developed to achieve carbon mitigation targets using such measures as carbon trading, establishing regional associations, and strengthening research programs to improve practices.

Assessment of the cropland classifications in four global land cover datasets： A case study of Shaanxi Province, China

Accurate and reliable cropland surface information is of vital importance for agricultural planning and food security monitoring. As several global land cover datasets have been independently released, an inter-comparison of these data products on the classification of cropland is highly needed. This paper presents an assessment of cropland classifications in four global land cover datasets, i.e., moderate resolution imaging spectrometer （MODIS） land cover product, global land cover map of 2009 （GlobCover2009）, finer resolution observation and monitoring of global cropland （FROM-GC） and 30-m global land cover dataset （GlobeLand30）. The temporal coverage of these four datasets are circa 2010. One of the typical agricultur- al regions of China, Shaanxi Province, was selected as the study area. The assessment proceeded from three aspects： accuracy, spatial agreement and absolute area. In accuracy assessment, 506 validation samples, which consist of 168 cropland samples and 338 non-cropland ones, were automatically and systematically selected, and manually interpreted by referencing high-resolution images dated from 2009 to 2011 on Google Earth. The results show that the overall accuracy （OA） of four datasets ranges from 61.26 to 80.63%. GlobeLand30 dataset, with the highest accuracy, is the most accurate dataset for cropland classification. The cropland spatial agreement （mainly located in the plain ecotope of Shaanxi） and the non-cropland spatial agreement （sparsely distributed in the south and middle of Shaanxi） of the four datasets only makes up 33.96% of the whole province. FIROM-GC and GlobeLand30, obtaining the highest spatial agreement index of 62.40%, have the highest degree of spatial consistency. In terms of the absolute area, MODIS underestimates the cropland area, while GlobCover2009 significantly overestimates it. These findings are of value in revealing to which extent and on which aspect that these global land cover datasets may agree with each other at small scale on each ecotope region. The approaches taken in this study could be used to derive a fused cropland classification dataset.

A Modified Model of Ecological Footprint Accounting and Its Application to Cropland in Jiangsu,China

Based on the theory of emergy analysis,a modified model of ecological footprint accounting,termed emergetic ecological footprint(EMEF)in contrast to the conventional ecological footprint(EF)model,is formulated and applied to a case study of Jiangsu cropland,China.Comparisons between the EF and the EMEF with respect to grain,cotton,and food oil were outlined.Per capita EF and EMEF of cropland were also presented to depict the resources consumption level by comparing the biocapacity(BC)or emergetic biocapacity(EMBC,a new BC calculation by emergy analysis) of the same area.In the meanwhile,the ecological sustainability index(ESI),a new concept initiated by the authors, was established in the modified model to indicate and compare the sustainability of cropland use at different levels and between different regions.The results from conventional EF showed that per capita EF of the cropland has exceeded its per capita BC in Jiangsu since 1986.In contrast,based on the EMBC,the per capita EMEF exceeded the per capita EMBC 5 years earlier.The ESIs of Jiangsu cropland use were between 0.7 and 0.4 by the conventional method,while the numbers were between 0.7 and 0.3 by the modified one.The fact that the results of the two methods were similar showed that the modified model was reasonable and feasible,although some principles of the EF and EMEF were quite different. Also,according to the realities of Jiangsu cropland use,the results from the modified model were more acceptable.

Modeling Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Its Dynamics in Croplands of China

Soil organic carbon （SOC） is one of the centre issues related to not only soil fertility but also environmental safety. Assessing SOC dynamics in croplands has been a challenge in China for long due to the lack of appropriate methodologies and data sources. As an alternative approach for studying SOC dynamics, process-based models are adopted to meet the needs. In this paper, a process-based model, DeNitrification-DeComposition （DNDC）, was applied to quantify the SOC storage and the spatial distribution in croplands of China in 2003, with the support of a newly compiled county-level soil/ climate/land use database. The simulated results showed that the total SOC storage in the top layer （0-30 cm） of the 1.18 × 10^8 ha croplands of China is 4.7-5.2 Pg C in 2003 with an average value of 4.95 Pg C. The SOC storage in the northeastern provinces （1.3 Pg C） accounts for about 1/4 of the whole national totals due to their dominantly fertile soils with high organic matter content. SOC density ranges from 3.9 to 4.4 kg C m 2, with an average of 4.2 kg C m^-2, a level is much lower than the world average level. The model results also indicated that high rates of SOC losses occurred in the croplands with the most common cropping patterns in China as like single soybean 〉 maize 〉 paddy 〉 cotton 〉 winter wheat and corn rotation. The results reported in this paper showed that there was still a great potential for improving SOC status in most croplands of China by adopting proper farming practices and land-use pattern. Therefore, long-term policy to protect SOC is urgently needed.

Spatial Characteristics of Soil Organic Carbon Storage in China's Croplands

The soil organic carbon (SOC) pool is the largest component of terrestrial carbon pools. With the construction of a geographically referenced database taken from the second national general soil survey materials and based on 1546 typical cropland soil profiles, the paddy field and dryland SOC storage among six regions of China were systematically quantified to characterize the spatial pattern of cropland SOC storage in China and to examine the relationship between mean annual temperature, precipitation, soil texture features and SOC content. In all regions, paddy soils had higher SOC storage than dryland soils, and cropland SOC content was the highest in Southwest China. Climate controlled the spatial distribution of SOC in both paddy and dryland soils, with SOC storage increasing with increasing precipitation and decreasing with increasing temperature.

Spatial Interpolation and Sample Size Optimization for Soil Copper(Cu) Investigation in Cropland Soil at County Scale Using Cokriging

Knowledge on spatial distribution and sampling size optimization of soil copper （Cu） could lay solid foundations for environmetal quality survey of agricultural soils at county scale. In this investigation, cokriging method was used to conduct the interpolation of Cu concentraiton in cropland soil in Shuangliu County, Sichuan Province, China. Based on the original 623 physicochmically measured soil samples, 560, 498, and 432 sub-samples were randomly selected as target variable and soil organic matter （SOM） of the whole original samples as auxiliary variable. Interpolation results using Cokriging under different sampling numbers were evaluated for their applicability in estimating the spatial distribution of soil Cu at county sacle. The results showed that the root mean square error （RMSE） produced by Cokriging decreased from 0.9 to 7.77%, correlation coefficient between the predicted values and the measured increased from 1.76 to 9.76% in comparison with the ordinary Kriging under the corresponding sample sizes. The prediction accuracy using Cokriging was still higher than original 623 data using ordinary Kriging even as sample size reduced 10%, and their interpolation maps were highly in agreement. Therefore, Cokriging was proven to be a more accurate and economic method which could provide more information and benefit for the studies on spatial distribution of soil pollutants at county scale.

Factors Affecting Distribution of Vegetation Types on Abandoned Cropland in the Hilly-Gullied Loess Plateau Region of China

A study was conducted in the forest-steppe region of the Loess Plateau to provide insight into the factors affecting the process of vegetation establishment,and to provide recommendations for the selection of indigenous species in order to speed up the succession process and to allow the establishment of vegetation more resistant to soil erosion.Four distinctive vegetation types were identified,and their distribution was affected not only by the time since abandonment but also by other environmental factors,mainly soil water and total P in the upper soil layers.One of the vegetation types,dominated by Artemisia scoparia,formed the early successional stage after abandonment while the other three types formed later successional stages with their distribution determined by the soil water content and total P.It can be concluded that the selection of appropriate species for introduction to accelerate succession should be determined by the local conditions and especially the total P concentration and soil water content.