Spatially Explicit Reconstruction of Anthropogenic Grassland Cover Change in China from 1700 to 2000

Fan Yang, Fanneng He and Shicheng Li
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Fan Yang: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Fanneng He: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Shicheng Li: School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Long-term anthropogenic land use and land cover changes (LULCCs) are regarded as an important component of past global change. The past 300 years have witnessed dramatic changes in LULCC in China, and this has resulted in the large-scale conversion of natural vegetation to agricultural landscapes. Studies of past LULCC in China have mainly focused on cropland and forest; however, estimates of grassland cover remain rare due to the scarcity of grassland-related historical documents. Based on a qualitative analysis of trends in grassland cover in China and their driving forces, we devised different reconstruction methods for grassland cover in eastern and western China and then developed a 10 km database of grassland cover in China for the past 300 years. The grassland area in western China decreased from 295.54 × 10 6 ha in 1700 to 269.78 × 10 6 ha in 2000 due to the increase in population and cropland, especially in northeastern China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning), Gan-Ning, and Xinjiang. In eastern China, grassland is degraded secondary vegetation characterized by shrub grassland and meadow grassland, which is scattered in the hills and mountains; its area increased from 7.30 × 10 6 ha in 1700 to 16.43 × 10 6 ha in 1950 due to the increase in the degraded land caused by deforestation.

Keywords: land use and land cover change; grassland; subregional reconstruction; land reclamation; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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