Desertification in arid and semiarid areas of Northwest China is a major current environmental issue for the country, caused by the interaction of a naturally dry climate, recurrent periods of prolonged droughts, anthropogenic factors over long periods of time, and specific topographic and…

Land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) is an important step in urban development. As one of the ‘externalities of development’, LAR conflicts have affected social stability and development in rural areas of China. With social conflict research shifting from value identity to resource allocation…

Farmland protection is the most important land science research issue in developing countries, especially in China, due to serious land degradation. This paper aimed to reveal the causal chain among driving factors, farmers’ land protection perceptions, behavioral responses, and land quality…

Overuse of chemical fertilizer has led to severe land degradation and environmental pollution in China. Switching to organic fertilizer may improve soil quality and reduce pollution, which is meaningful to the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. This study examines how farmers’…

In modern sustainable agriculture, green manuring is increasingly emphasized for a reasonable land use management. However, the expansion of green manure is affected by a range of factors, such as soil geophysical properties and human intervention. This paper proposes an approach of spatial…

To achieve sustainable rural development, it is necessary to simultaneously protect ecologically important land and efficiently use existing agricultural land. Land use functions (LUFs) are widely used to assess regional sustainable development. Guyuan is located in a typical hilly and gully…

Since urban land development launched in 1987, urban land transactions and local land leasing revenue have exploded sharply in China. Classical research on urban land use and urbanization often focuses on making decisions and enacting policies of zoning and land use regulations. Scholars from…

International borders and associated borderlands—especially as viewed at the national and international scales, and via regional and global-scale maps—are generally thought of as being primarily governed by national governments. In reality, however, national borders and associated borderlands…

China has a rich resource of native sheep (Ovis aries) breeds associated with historical movements of several nomadic societies. However, the history of sheep and the associated nomadic societies in ancient China remains poorly understood. Here, we studied the genomic diversity of Chinese sheep…