Shifting farming–pastoral ecotone in China under climate and land use changes

Meteorological records show a rise in temperature and decrease in precipitation in most parts of the farming–pastoral ecotone of Northern China over the last 50 years. During the last quarter of the 20th Century, the agrarian sector went through a series of reforms and changes in government policies on land use that have led to extensive changes in land cover. The objective of this study was to redefine the location and analyze the boundary variations under the effects of climate and land use changes in the farming–pastoral ecotone of Northern China. The results showed that the location of study area has been redefined as both a climatic ecotone from the perspective of suitability of precipitation and temperature for agricultural crops and vegetation growth, and also a land use ecotone based on the impacts of farmland restructuring by government policies on land use. In recent decades, the climatic boundary has moved southeast while the land use boundary has moved northwest, showing opposing directions of change. The extent of boundary changes in the northeast and northern sections are far greater than in the northwestern section of the farming–pastoral ecotone of Northern China.

Research highlights
► The location of the study area has been defined as both a climatic ecotone and a land use ecotone.
► The climatic boundary has moved southwestward under the impacts of climate warming.
► The land use boundary has moved northwestward under the impacts of the changing policies of government on land use.
► Significant regional differences between climatic and land use boundary change.