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Burning in agricultural landscapes: an emerging natural and human issue in China

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Abstract

Burning is one of the most widely used methods for removing crop residues during harvest seasons. It cleans fields faster and costs less in comparison to other residue removal methods. Agricultural burning, however, has been recently limited or banned during harvest seasons in China, mainly due to the air quality and human health concerns raised from its use. This paper reviews recent studies on the burning of agricultural landscapes in China to understand the natural (environmental and ecological) and human (economic and social) impacts and identifies uncertainties, gaps, and future research needs. The total annual crop straw output in China is more than 600 billon kg, with about 110, 130, and 230 billion kg coming from rice, wheat, and corn, respectively. Agricultural burning removes about one-fourth of total crop straw and emits about 140–240, 1.6–2.2, and 0.5–0.14 billion kg of CO2, PM2.5, and black carbon, respectively. Agricultural burning accounts for upto half of the total PM10 concentrations in the major burning regions during harvesting periods. Burning emissions contribute to regional haze and smog events. Therefore, limiting or banning agricultural burning is a necessary measure for reducing air pollution in China. The estimations of total burned crop straw amounts and emission factors are the major uncertainty sources for emission estimates. More studies are needed to better describe the smoke plume rise, dispersion, and interactions with weather and climate and to simulate the ecological impacts of agricultural burning. Effective alternatives need to be explored in order to provide solutions for farmers to remove agricultural residues in the wake of the burning ban.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the reviewers and editor for their valuable comments and suggestions and Lisa Delp Taylor for English editing. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41105112, 41105077) and the International Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment (IceMe).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology, International Center for Ecology, Meteorology and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Tingting Shi, Libo Zhang, Lu Hao & Zhiqiu Gao

  2. Center for Forest Disturbance Science, USDA Forest Service, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Yongqiang Liu

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  1. Tingting Shi
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Correspondence to Yongqiang Liu.

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Shi, T., Liu, Y., Zhang, L. et al. Burning in agricultural landscapes: an emerging natural and human issue in China. Landscape Ecol 29, 1785–1798 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-014-0060-9

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