title: Soil diversity as affected by land use in China: consequences for soil protection.
abstract: Rapid land-use change in recent decades in China and its impact on terrestrial biodiversity have been widely studied, particularly at local and regional scales. However, the effect of land-use change on the diversity of soils that support the terrestrial biological system has rarely been studied. Here, we report the first effort to assess the impact of land-use change on soil diversity for the entire nation of China. Soil diversity and land-use effects were analyzed spatially in grids and provinces. The land-use effects on different soils were uneven. Anthropogenic soils occupied approximately 12% of the total soil area, which had already replaced the original natural soils. About 7.5% of the natural soil classes in China were in danger of substantial loss, due to the disturbance of agriculture and construction. More than 80% of the endangered soils were unprotected due to the overlook of soil diversity. The protection of soil diversity should be integrated into future conservation activities.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shangguan
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China ; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China ; Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: YongJiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Keli
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D012987:Soil / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D012987:Soil