Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Linking wind erosion to ecosystem services in drylands: a landscape ecological approach

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

Wind erosion is a widespread environmental problem in the world’s arid landscapes, which threatens the sustainability of ecosystem services in these regions.

Objectives

We investigated how wind erosion and key ecosystem services changed concurrently and what major biophysical and socioeconomic factors were responsible for these changes in a dryland area of China.

Methods

Based on remote sensing data, field measurements, and modeling, we quantified the spatiotemporal patterns of both wind erosion and four key ecosystem services (soil conservation, crop production, meat production, and carbon storage) in the Mu Us Sandy Land in northern China during 2000–2013. Linear regression was used to explore possible relationships between wind erosion and ecosystem services.

Results

From 2000 to 2013, wind erosion decreased by as much as 60% and the four ecosystem services all increased substantially. These trends were attributable to vegetation recovery due mainly to government-aided ecological restoration projects and, to a lesser degree, slightly increasing precipitation and decreasing wind speed during the second half of the study period. The maximum soil loss dropped an order of magnitude when vegetation cover increased from 10% to 30%, halved again when vegetation increased from 30 to 40%, and showed little change when vegetation increased beyond 60%.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that vegetation cover has nonlinear and threshold effects on wind erosion through constraining the maximum soil loss, which further affects dryland ecosystem services. These findings have important implications for ecological restoration and ecosystem management in dryland landscapes in China and beyond.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adhikari K, Hartemink AE (2016) Linking soils to ecosystem services—a global review. Geoderma 262:101–111

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bagstad KJ, Semmens DJ, Ancona ZH, Sherrouse BC (2017) Evaluating alternative methods for biophysical and cultural ecosystem services hotspot mapping in natural resource planning. Landscape Ecol 32:77–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blum WEH (2005) Functions of soil for society and the environment. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 4:75–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borrelli P, Lugato E, Montanarella L, Panagos P (2016) A new assessment of soil loss due to wind erosion in European agricultural soils using a quantitative spatially distributed modelling approach. Land Degrad Dev. doi:10.1002/ldr.2588

    Google Scholar 

  • Buschiazzo DE, Zobeck TM (2008) Validation of WEQ, RWEQ and WEPS wind erosion for different arable land management systems in the Argentinean Pampas. Earth Surf Proc Land 33:1839–1850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buschiazzo DE, Zobeck TM, Abascal SA (2007) Wind erosion quantity and quality of an Entic Haplustoll of the semi-arid pampas of Argentina. J Arid Environ 69:29–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler JRA, Wong GY, Metcalfe DJ, Honzak M, Pert PL, Rao N, van Grieken ME, Lawson T, Bruce C, Kroon FJ, Brodie JE (2013) An analysis of trade-offs between multiple ecosystem services and stakeholders linked to land use and water quality management in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Agric Ecosyst Environ 180:176–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrd KB, Flint LE, Alvarez P, Casey CF, Sleeter BM, Soulard CE, Flint AL, Sohl TL (2015) Integrated climate and land use change scenarios for California rangeland ecosystem services: wildlife habitat, soil carbon, and water supply. Landscape Ecol 30:729–750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calzolari C, Ungaro F, Filippi N, Guermandi M, Malucelli F, Marchi N, Staffilani F, Tarocco P (2016) A methodological framework to assess the multiple contributions of soils to ecosystem services delivery at regional scale. Geoderma 261:190–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Rouw A, Rajot JL (2004) Soil organic matter, surface crusting and erosion in Sahelian farming systems based on manuring or fallowing. Agric Ecosyst Environ 104:263–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dominati E, Patterson M, Mackay A (2010) A framework for classifying and quantifying the natural capital and ecosystem services of soils. Ecol Econ 69:1858–1868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong Z, Chen W, Chen G, Li Z, Yang Z (1996) Influences of vegetation cover on the wind erosion of sandy soil. Acta Sci Circum 16:437–443 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Durán Zuazo VH, Rodríguez Pleguezuelo CR (2008) Soil-erosion and runoff prevention by plant covers. A review. Agron Sustain Dev 28:65–86. doi:10.1051/agro:2007062

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang J, Bai Y, Wu J (2015) Towards a better understanding of landscape patterns and ecosystem processes of the Mongolian Plateau (Special Issue). Landscape Ecol 30:1573–1578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang J, Guo Z, Piao S, Chen A (2007) Terrestrial vegetation carbon sinks in China, 1981-2000. Sci China Ser D 50:1341–1350

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer G, Nachtergaele F, Prieler S, van Velthuizen HT, Verelst L, Wiberg D (2008) Global Agro-ecological Zones Assessment for Agriculture (GAEZ 2008). IIASA, FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Fryrear DW, Bilbro JD, Saleh A, Schomberg H, Stout JE, Zobeck TM (2000) RWEQ: improved wind erosion technology. J Soil Water Conserv 55:183–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu B, Wang S, Su C, Forsius M (2013) Linking ecosystem processes and ecosystem services. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 5:4–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao S, Zhang C, Zou X, Wu Y, Wei X, Huang Y, Shi S, Li H (2012) Assessment on the Beijing and Tianjin sandstorm source control project, 2nd edn. Science Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner RH, Milne BT, Turner MG, O’Neill RV (1987) Neutral models for the analysis of broad-scale landscape pattern. Landscape Ecol 1:19–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gómez-Baggethun E, de Groot R, Lomas PL, Montes C (2010) The history of ecosystem services in economic theory and practice: from early notions to markets and payment schemes. Ecol Econ 69:1209–1218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong G, Liu J, Shao Q (2014a) Wind erosion in Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia since the 1990s using the Revised Wind Erosion Equation. Prog Geogr 33(6):825–834 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gong G, Liu J, Shao Q, Zhai J (2014b) Sand-fixing function under the change of vegetation coverage in a wind erosion area in Northern China. J Resour Ecol 5:105–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guerra CA, Metzger MJ, Maes J, Pinto-Correia T (2016) Policy impacts on regulating ecosystem services: looking at the implications of 60 years of landscape change on soil erosion prevention in a Mediterranean silvo-pastoral system. Landscape Ecol 31:271–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Q, Brown JH, Enquist BJ (1998) Using constraint lines to characterize plant performance. Oikos 83:237–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Z, Zobeck TM, Zhang K, Li F (2013) Estimating potential wind erosion of agricultural lands in northern China using the Revised Wind Erosion Equation and geographic information systems. J Soil Water Conserv 68:13–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutman G, Ignatov A (1998) The derivation of the green vegetation fraction from NOAA/AVHRR data for use in numerical weather prediction models. Int J Remote Sens 19:1533–1543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harper RJ, Gilkes RJ, Hill MJ, Carter DJ (2010) Wind erosion and soil carbon dynamics in south-western Australia. Aeolian Res 1:129–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann C, Funk R, Reiche M, Li Y (2011) Assessment of extreme wind erosion and its impacts in Inner Mongolia, China. Aeolian Res 3:343–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu H, Fu B, Lu Y, Zheng Z (2015) SAORES: a spatially explicit assessment and optimization tool for regional ecosystem services. Landscape Ecol 30:547–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John R, Chen J, Kim Y, Ou-yang Z, Xiao J, Park H, Shao C, Zhang Y, Amarjargal A, Batkhshig O, Qi J (2016) Differentiating anthropogenic modification and precipitation-driven change on vegetation productivity on the Mongolian Plateau. Landscape Ecol 31:547–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karnieli A, Qin Z, Wu B, Panov N, Yan F (2014) Spatio-temporal dynamics of land-use and land-cover in the Mu Us Sandy Land, China, using the change vector analysis technique. Remote Sens 6:9316–9339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kukkala AS, Moilanen A (2017) Ecosystem services and connectivity in spatial conservation prioritization. Landscape Ecol 32:5–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lal R (2003) Soil erosion and the global carbon budget. Environ Int 29:437–450

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster N, Baas A (1998) Influence of vegetation cover on sand transport by wind: field studies at Owens Lake, California. Earth Surf Proc Land 23:69–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larney FJ, Bullock MS, Janzen HH, Ellert BH, Olson EC (1998) Wind erosion effects on nutrient redistribution and soil productivity. J Soil Water Conserv 53:133–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Leenders JK, Sterk G, Van Boxel JH (2011) Modelling wind-blown sediment transport around single vegetation elements. Earth Surf Proc Land 36:1218–1229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lei J, Wu F, Wang J, Guo J (2008) Effects of conservation tillage on soil physical properties and corn yield. Transactions of the CSAE 24(10):40–45 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Li F, Kang LF, Zhang H, Zhao LY, Shirato Y, Taniyama I (2005) Changes in intensity of wind erosion at different stages of degradation development in grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China. J Arid Environ 62:567–585

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Okin GS, Alvarez L, Epstein H (2007) Quantitative effects of vegetation cover on wind erosion and soil nutrient loss in a desert grassland of southern New Mexico, USA. Biogeochemistry 85:317–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li F, Zhao W, Liu J, Huang Z (2009) Degraded vegetation and wind erosion influence soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation in sandy grasslands. Plant Soil 317:79–92

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu D, Chen Y, Cai W, Dong W, Xiao J, Chen J, Zhang H, Xia J, Yuan W (2014a) The contribution of China’s Grain to Green Program to carbon sequestration. Landscape Ecol 29:1675–1688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Kuang W, Zhang Z, Xu X, Qin Y, Ning J, Zhou W, Zhang S, Li R, Yan C, Wu S, Shi X, Jiang N, Yu D, Pan X, Chi W (2014b) Spatiotemporal characteristics, patterns, and causes of land-use changes in China since the late 1980s. J Geogr Sci 24:195–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma Q, He C, Wu J (2016) Behind the rapid expansion of urban impervious surfaces in China: major influencing factors revealed by a hierarchical multiscale analysis. Land Use Policy 59:434–445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mckenna Neuman C (2003) Effects of temperature and humidity upon the entrainment of sedimentary particles by wind. Bound-Layer Meteorol 108(1):61–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MEA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends. Island Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Munson SM, Belnap J, Okin GS (2011) Responses of wind erosion to climate-induced vegetation changes on the Colorado Plateau. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:3854–3859

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Olson JS, Watts JA, Allison LJ (1983) Carbon in live vegetation of major world ecosystems. In Report ORNL-5862. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee

  • Piao S, Fang J, He J, Xiao Y (2004) Spatial distribution of grassland biomass in China. Acta Phytoecol Sin 28(4):491–498 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds JF, Smith DMS, Lambin EF, Turner B, Mortimore M, Batterbury SP, Downing TE, Dowlatabadi H, Fernández RJ, Herrick JE (2007) Global desertification: building a science for dryland development. Science 316:847–851

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rezaei M, Sameni A, Shamsi SRF, Bartholomeus H (2016) Remote sensing of land use/cover changes and its effect on wind erosion potential in southern Iran. Peerj. doi:10.7717/peerj.1948

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shao Y (2008) Physics and modelling of wind erosion. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi P, Yan P, Yuan Y, Nearing MA (2004) Wind erosion research in China past present and future. Prog Phys Geogr 28:366–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Editorial Committee of Vegetation Map of China of CAS (2007) Vegetation Map of The People’s Republic of China (1:1000 000). Geological Publishing House, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson JD, Weiblen G, Thomson BA, Alfaro S, Legendre P (1996) Untangling multiple factors in spatial distributions: lilies, gophers, and rocks. Ecology 77:1698–1715

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner MG, Gardner RH, O’Neill RV (2001) Landscape ecology in theory and practice: pattern and process. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanacker V, Bellin N, Molina A, Kubik PW (2014) Erosion regulation as a function of human disturbances to vegetation cover: a conceptual model. Landscape Ecol 29:293–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XB, Enema O, Hoogmed WB, Perdok UD, Cai D (2006) Dust storm erosion and its impact on soil carbon and nitrogen losses in northern China. CATENA 66:221–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang T, Feng L, Mou P, Wu J, Smith JL, Xiao W, Yang H, Dou H, Zhao X, Cheng Y (2016) Amur tigers and leopards returning to China: direct evidence and a landscape conservation plan. Landscape Ecol 31:491–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wasson R, Nanninga P (1986) Estimating wind transport of sand on vegetated surfaces. Earth Surf Proc Land 11:505–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb NP, Strong CL (2011) Soil erodibility dynamics and its representation for wind erosion and dust emission models. Aeolian Res 3(2):165–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J (2013) Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes. Landscape Ecol 28:999–1023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Li H, Jones KB, Loucks OL (2006) Scaling with known uncertainty: A synthesis. In: Wu J, Jones KB, Li HB, Loucks OL (eds) Scaling and uncertainty analysis in ecology. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 329–346

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Loucks OL (1992) The Xilingol Grassland. In: National Research Council (ed) Grasslands and Grassland Sciences in Northern China. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 67–84

  • Wu J, Zhang Q, Li A, Liang C (2015) Historical landscape dynamics of Inner Mongolia: patterns, drivers, and impacts. Landscape Ecol 30:1579–1598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan H, Wang S, Wang C, Zhang G, Patel N (2005) Losses of soil organic carbon under wind erosion in China. Global Change Biol 11:828–840

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan F, Wu B, Wang Y (2015) Estimating spatiotemporal patterns of aboveground biomass using Landsat TM and MODIS images in the Mu Us Sandy Land, China. Agric For Meteorol 200:119–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan Y, Xin X, Xu X, Wang X, Yang G, Yan R, Chen B (2013) Quantitative effects of wind erosion on the soil texture and soil nutrients under different vegetation coverage in a semiarid steppe of northern China. Plant Soil 369:585–598

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yan Y, Xu X, Xin X, Yang G, Wang X, Yan R, Chen B (2011) Effect of vegetation coverage on aeolian dust accumulation in a semiarid steppe of northern China. CATENA 87:351–356

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yue Y, Shi P, Zou X, Ye X, Zhu A, Wang J (2015) The measurement of wind erosion through field survey and remote sensing: a case study of the Mu Us Desert, China. Nat Hazards 76:1497–1514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang L, Fu B, Lu Y, Zeng Y (2015) Balancing multiple ecosystem services in conservation priority setting. Landscape Ecol 30:535–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Niu J, Buyantuev A, Wu J (2014) A multilevel analysis of effects of land use policy on land-cover change and local land use decisions. J Arid Environ 108:19–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao X, Hu H, Shen H, Zhou D, Zhou L, Myneni RB, Fang J (2015) Satellite-indicated long-term vegetation changes and their drivers on the Mongolian Plateau. Landscape Ecol 30:1599–1611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou D, Zhao X, Hu H, Shen H, Fang J (2015) Long-term vegetation changes in the four mega-sandy lands in Inner Mongolia, China. Landscape Ecol 30:1613–1626

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. This work was supported by the National Basic Research Programs of China (2014CB954302 and 2014CB954303) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41401095).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yanchi Research Station, School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yuanyuan Zhao & Guodong Ding

  2. Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yuanyuan Zhao & Guodong Ding

  3. Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability (CHESS), State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Jianguo Wu & Chunyang He

  4. School of Life Sciences and School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Jianguo Wu

  5. School of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Chunyang He

Authors
  1. Yuanyuan Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jianguo Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chunyang He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guodong Ding
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chunyang He.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhao, Y., Wu, J., He, C. et al. Linking wind erosion to ecosystem services in drylands: a landscape ecological approach. Landscape Ecol 32, 2399–2417 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0585-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0585-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation