Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A 1000-year history of cropland cover change along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in China

  • Research Articles
  • Published:
Journal of Geographical Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Landscape in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in China has undergone significant changes for thousands of years due to agricultural expansion. Lack of reliable long-term and high-resolution historical cropland data has limited our ability in understanding and quantifying human impacts on regional climate change, carbon and water cycles. In this study, we used a data-driven modeling framework that combined multiple sources of data (historical provincial cropland area, historical coastlines, and satellite data-based maximum cropland extent) with a new gridding allocation model for croplands distribution to reconstruct a historical cropland dataset for the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River at a 10-km resolution for 58 time points ranging from the period 1000 to 1999. The cropland area in the study area increased by 2.3 times from 21.87 million ha in 1000 to 50.64 million ha in 1999. Before 1393, the area of cropland increased slowly and was primarily concentrated in the Weihe and Fenhe plains. From 1393–1820, the area of cropland increased rapidly, particularly on the North China Plain. Since 1820, cropland cover has tended to become saturated. Our newly reconstructed results agreed well with remotely sensed data as well as historical document-based facts regarding cropland distribution.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Buntgen U, Tegel W, Nicolussi K et al., 2011. 2500 years of European climate variability and human susceptibility. Science, 331(6017): 578–582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao B W, Yu L, Li X C et al., 2021. A 1 km global cropland dataset from 10 000 BCE to 2100 CE. Earth System Science Data, 13(11): 5403–5421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Y Z, Syvitski J P, Gao S et al., 2012. Socio-economic impacts on flooding: A 4000-year history of the Yellow River, China. Ambio, 41(7): 682–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas P M, Pagani M, Canuto M A et al., 2015. Drought, agricultural adaptation, and sociopolitical collapse in the Maya Lowlands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(18): 5607–5612.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis E C, 2021. Land use and ecological change: A 12,000-year history. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 46(1): 1–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis E C, Kaplan J O, Fuller D Q et al., 2013. Used planet: A global history. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(20): 7978–7985.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang X Q, He F N, Wu Z L et al., 2021. General characteristics of the agricultural area and fractional cropland cover changes in China for the past 2000 years. Acta Geographica Sinica, 76(7): 1732–1746. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fluet-Chouinard E, Stocker B D, Zhang Z et al., 2023. Extensive global wetland loss over the past three centuries. Nature, 614(7947): 281–286.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Foley J A, Defries R, Asner G P et al., 2005. Global consequences of land use. Science, 309(5734): 570–574.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Friedlingstein P, Jones M W, O’Sullivan M et al., 2022. Global Carbon Budget 2021. Earth System Science Data, 14(4): 1917–2005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs R, Herold M, Verburg P H et al., 2015. Gross changes in reconstructions of historic land cover/use for Europe between 1900 and 2010. Global Change Biology, 21(1): 299–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge Q S, Dai J H, He F N et al., 2004. Spatiotemporal dynamics of reclamation and cultivation and its driving factors in parts of China during the last three centuries. Progress in Natural Science, 14(7): 605–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo R, Liu F G, Chen Q et al., 2021. Reconstruction of cultivated land pattern in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in the late Northern Song Dynasty: Take Hehuang Valley as an example. Journal of Natural Resources, 36(1): 27–37. (in Chinese)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He F N, Li M J, Li S C et al., 2017. Reconstruction of Lu-level cropland areas in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD976–1078). Journal of Geographical Sciences, 27(5): 606–618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He F N, Yang F, Zhao C S et al., 2023. Spatially explicit reconstruction of cropland cover for China over the past millennium. Science China Earth Sciences, 66(1): 111–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton R A, House J I, Pongratz J et al., 2012. Carbon emissions from land use and land-cover change. Biogeosciences, 9(12): 5125–5142.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hurtt G C, Chini L, Sahajpal R et al., 2020. Harmonization of global land use change and management for the period 850–2100 (LUH2) for CMIP6. Geoscientific Model Development, 13(11): 5425–5464.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jin X B, Cao X, Du X D et al., 2015. Farmland dataset reconstruction and farmland change analysis in China during 1661–1985. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 25(9): 1058–1074.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan J O, Ruddiman W F, Crucifix M C et al., 2011. Holocene carbon emissions as a result of anthropogenic land cover change. The Holocene, 21(5): 775–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein Goldewijk K, Beusen A, Doelman J et al., 2017. Anthropogenic land use estimates for the Holocene-HYDE 3.2. Earth System Science Data, 9(2): 927–953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leite C C, Costa M H, Soares-Filho B S et al., 2012. Historical land use change and associated carbon emissions in Brazil from 1940 to 1995. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 26(2): 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li M J, He F N, Li S C et al., 2018a. Reconstruction of the cropland cover changes in eastern China between the 10th century and 13th century using historical documents. Scientific Reports, 8: 13552. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31807-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li M J, He F N, Yang F et al., 2018b. Reconstructing provincial cropland area in eastern China during the early Yuan Dynasty (AD1271–1294). Journal of Geographical Sciences, 28(12): 1994–2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li M J, He F N, Yang F et al., 2020. Reconstruction of provincial cropland area and its spatial-temporal characteristics in the Ming Dynasty. Geographical Research, 39(2): 447–460. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Li S C, He F N, Zhang X Z, 2016. A spatially explicit reconstruction of cropland cover in China from 1661 to 1996. Regional Environmental Change, 16(2): 417–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X Y, Tian H Q, Lu C Q et al., 2023. Four-century history of land transformation by humans in the United States (1630–2020): Annual and 1 km grid data for the HIStory of LAND changes (HISLAND-US). Earth System Science Data, 15(2): 1005–1035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahbub R B, Ahmed N, Rahman S et al., 2019. Human appropriation of net primary production in Bangladesh, 1700–2100. Land Use Policy, 87: 104067. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104067.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendelsohn R, Sohngen B, 2019. The net carbon emissions from historic land use and land use change. Journal of Forest Economics, 34(3–4): 263–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nandlall S D, Millard K, 2020. Quantifying the relative importance of variables and groups of variables in remote sensing classifiers using Shapley values and Game Theory. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 17(1): 42–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nikiel C A, Eltahir E A B, 2019. Summer climate change in the Midwest and Great Plains due to agricultural development during the twentieth century. Journal of Climate, 32(17): 5583–5599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pongratz J, Reick C, Raddatz T et al., 2008. A reconstruction of global agricultural areas and land cover for the last millennium. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 22(3): GB3018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramankutty N, Foley J A, 1999. Estimating historical changes in global land cover: Croplands from 1700 to 1992. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 13(4): 997–1027.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scott C E, Monks S A, Spracklen D V et al., 2018. Impact on short-lived climate forcers increases projected warming due to deforestation. Nature Communications, 9(1): 157.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shi N H, 1985. Changes of Forest and Grassland in the Loess Plateau for China. Xi’an: Shaanxi People’s Press. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephens L, Fuller D, Boivin N et al., 2019. Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use. Science, 365(6456): 897–902.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tan Q X, 1962. Why the Yellow River was in a long period safe and sound condition after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Academic Monthly, (2): 23–35. (in Chinese)

  • Tan Q X, 1982. The Historical Atlas of China. Beijing: SinoMaps Press. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tian H Q, Banger K, Bo T et al., 2014. History of land use in India during 1880–2010: Large-scale land transformations reconstructed from satellite data and historical archives. Global Planet Change, 121: 78–88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2014.07.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vittorio A V D, Mao J, Shi X et al., 2018. Quantifying the effects of historical land cover conversion uncertainty on global carbon and climate estimates. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(2): 974–982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y H, 1980. Some experiences and lessons of historical land use in China. Scientia Agricultura Sinica, (1): 90–96. (in Chinese)

  • Wei X Q, Li Y F, Guo Y et al., 2021. Spatio-temporal analysis of cropland change in the Guanzhong area, China, from 1650 to 2016. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 31(9): 1381–1400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu X, Wang H, Bi N et al., 2020a. Climate and human battle for dominance over the Yellow River’s sediment discharge: From the Mid-Holocene to the Anthropocene. Marine Geology, 425: 9. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2020.106188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu X T, Wei Y, Fu B et al., 2020b. Evolution and effects of the social-ecological system over a millennium in China’s Loess Plateau. Science Advances, 6(41): eabc0276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang F, He F N, Li S C et al., 2023a. A new estimation of carbon emissions from land use and land cover change in China over the past 300 years. Science of the Total Environment, 863: 160963. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160963.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang F, Zhang H, He F N et al., 2023b. A cropland cover dataset for the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River over the past millennium. Zenodo [dataset], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7807784.

  • Yang X H, Jin X B, Guo B B et al., 2015. Research on reconstructing spatial distribution of historical cropland over 300 years in traditional cultivated regions of China. Global and Planetary Change, 128: 90–102. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloPlacha.2015.02.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang X H, Jin X B, Xue Q F et al., 2021. Reconstruction of the spatial distribution of historical farmland in the Taiwan province of China for 1659–1945. Land Use Policy, 114: 105951. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105951.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ye Y, Fang X Q, Ren Y et al., 2009. Cropland cover change in Northeast China during the past 300 years. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences, 52(8): 1172–1182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Dong G P, Wang J F et al., 2023. Understanding and extending the geographical detector model under a linear regression framework. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 37(11): 2437–2453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Fang X, 2017. Temporal and spatial variation of catastrophic river floodings in the Lower Yellow River from AD 960 to 1938. The Holocene, 27(9): 1359–1369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao G, 1996. Environmental Changes in China’s History. Beijing: China Environmental Science Press. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao G, Mu X, Wen Z et al., 2013. Soil erosion, conservation, and eco-environment changes in the Loess Plateau of China. Land Degradation & Development, 24(5): 499–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Z L, Fang X Q, Ye Y et al., 2020. Reconstruction of cropland area in the European part of Tsarist Russia from 1696 to 1914 based on historical documents. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 30(8): 1307–1324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng J Y, Wen Y J, Fang X Q, 2020. Changes of climate and land cover in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River over the past 2000 years. Resources Science, 42(1): 3–19. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zumkehr A, Campbell J E, 2013. Historical U.S. cropland areas and the potential for bioenergy production on abandoned croplands. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(8): 3840–3847.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475001, Henan, China

    Fan Yang, Hang Zhang & Guanpeng Dong

  2. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, China

    Fanneng He, Yafei Wang & Shengnan Zhou

Authors
  1. Fan Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fanneng He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yafei Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shengnan Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Guanpeng Dong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fanneng He.

Additional information

Foundation: National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.42201263; National Key Research and Development Program of China on Global Change, No.2017YFA0603304

Author: Yang Fan (1991–), PhD and Associate Professor, specialized in long-term land use/cover change and their environmental effects.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yang, F., Zhang, H., He, F. et al. A 1000-year history of cropland cover change along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in China. J. Geogr. Sci. 34, 921–941 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-024-2233-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-024-2233-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation