Soil C and N Content Under Evolving Landscapes in an Arid Inland River Basin of Northwest China

The state of a landscape is primarily reflected by its soil nutrients and organic matter status, which in turn are related to the type, size and number of landscape elements or patches. Evolving landscape patterns inevitably cause an evolution in ecosystem functionality. In particular, in arid regions, gained, lost and existing soil N and C pools have important ecological implications. The impacts of evolving landscapes in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin of northwest China on soil organic C and N losses were assessed by both quantitative and computer modelling methods. In the period 1987-1997, patch transitions of the regions evolving landscapes have been predominantly characterized by a farmland expansion of 1.510³ km², and the desertification of 15.12% of existing farmlands into desert. As the result of such changes, alpine steppe and piedmont warm and desert steppe decreased by 43.9% and 2.72% respectively, whereas, plain swamp meadow and gobi and sandy desert increased by 13.2% and 10.77%, respectively. Consequently, soil organic matter and N contents decreased significantly in most landscape patches. In the study region, over these ten years, net soil organic C and N losses reached 5.30 Gg and 0.51 Gg, respectively, a pattern repeated over the entire arid inland region of northwest China, due to similar hydrological resources and patterns of regional development. Large soil C and N losses caused by landscape changes will inevitably result in significant new environmental problems.