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Journal of Geographical Sciences >

2017 , Vol. 27 >Issue 12: 1499 - 1520

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-017-1449-6

Research Articles

Spatial-temporal change in urban agricultural land use efficiency from the perspective of agricultural multi-functionality: A case study of the Xi’an metropolitan zone

  • ZHOU Zhongxue ,
  • LI Mengtao
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  • College of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China

Author: Zhou Zhongxue (1972-), PhD and Associate Professor, specialized in land resource and land use evaluation, urbanization and its impact on urban agricultural development and ecosystem services. E-mail:

Received date: 2017-01-19

  Accepted date: 2017-05-04

  Online published: 2017-12-10

Supported by

National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41271550

Humanities and Social Sciences Project of Ministry of Education in the West and the Frontier Areas, No.12XJC790003

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Journal of Geographical Sciences, All Rights Reserved
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Abstract

The excessive expansion of urbanized areas has resulted in haphazard land utilization, immoderate consumption of superior agricultural land and water resources, significant fragmentation of agricultural landscape, and gradual deterioration of the agro-ecological environment. Combined, these factors cause poor land use efficiency. Under these circumstances, comprehensively assessing land use efficiency for urban agriculture is a key issue in land use research. Currently, evaluation methods for agricultural land use efficiency narrowly concentrate on aspects of economic input and output. However, urban agro-ecosystems can provide diverse economic, social, and ecological services and functions. In particular, the social and ecological services and functions originating from agricultural land, which have a higher value than economic services, play a significant role in ensuring regional social, ecological, and environmental security. However, recent research has rarely taken these benefits into consideration. Therefore, land use value has been greatly underestimated, which has resulted in mishandled and poor land use policies. In this study, we apply Landsat imagery and social and economic statistical data for the Xi’an metropolitan zone (XMZ) to investigate agricultural multi-functionality. We develop an evaluation framework for urban agricultural land use efficiency and identify agro-ecosystem services and functions as important outputs from agricultural land. The land use efficiency of urban agriculture is then evaluated using ecosystem services models, providing a mechanism for assessing spatial-temporal changes in land use efficiency in the XMZ from 1999 to 2015. Four important conclusions are reached from this analysis. First, the rapid urbanization and agricultural transformation from traditional cereal cultivation to modern urban agriculture has resulted in steadily increasing costs, outputs, and land use efficiency of urban agriculture. The total output value increased 41% and land use efficiency per hectare increased by 33.13% on average. Second, the spatial patterns of comprehensive output and land use efficiency were dominated by economic outputs from agricultural land. Areas near cities, which are dominated by orchard and arable land, provide more economic functions. These areas support and regulate services due to the transformation from extensive cereal production to intensive modern urban agriculture; therefore, they have higher output value and land use efficiency. In contrast, areas distant from cities, towns, and high traffic roads, namely, remote rural areas, provide more support and regulating services, but have relatively lower economic function due to inaccessibility to urban markets and slow agricultural transformation. Therefore, these areas have lower output value and land use efficiency. The spatial change in agricultural output and land use efficiency in urban areas is strongly dependent on the degree of urbanization and agricultural transformation. Third, the total output value and land use efficiency of urban agriculture measured with our approach are much higher than evaluations using traditional methods. However, the spatial patterns measured using the two approaches are in agreement. The evaluation framework integrates ecological services and economic and social functions into a comprehensive output from agricultural land. This approach is more methodical and accurate for evaluating the comprehensive efficiency of land use based on quantities and spatial scale because they are at the pixel scale. Finally, the evaluation results have important implications for enhancing current agricultural subsidies and even implementing ecological payment policies in China. Most importantly, they can be directly applied to agricultural transformation regulations, decision-making, and guidance for rational land utilization.

Key words： urban agriculture; land use efficiency; agro-ecosystem services; agricultural multi-functionality; Xi’an metropolitan zone (XMZ)

Cite this article

ZHOU Zhongxue , LI Mengtao . Spatial-temporal change in urban agricultural land use efficiency from the perspective of agricultural multi-functionality: A case study of the Xi’an metropolitan zone[J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2017 , 27(12) : 1499 -1520 . DOI: 10.1007/s11442-017-1449-6

1 Introduction

The agro-ecosystem is a key terrestrial ecosystem that provides ecosystem services to society. In the cultivated and rapidly urbanizing areas of China, the haphazard utilization of urban land, immoderate consumption of farmland and water bodies, gradual fragmentation of the agricultural landscape, and serious ecological deterioration have led to a significant decrease in agricultural land use efficiency. Researching these factors, particularly in areas impacted by urbanization, can optimize regional agricultural land use (Peng et al., 2005).
Land use efficiency has traditionally been analyzed using economic efficiency, and primarily focused on economic intensification of land use and its spatial differentiation (Jiang and Diao, 2008; Yang et al., 2009; Liang et al., 2013). Most scholars applied the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model; urban lands were taken as the decision-making units (DMU) to develop the input and output indicators, but the actual land types used for inputs and outputs were not distinguished (Song and Gao, 2008; Gong et al., 2011; Toma et al., 2015;). In fact, due to diverse land resource functions, land use efficiency is essentially a comprehensive efficiency that integrates economic, social, and ecological outputs generated from agricultural land (Luo and Wu, 2003; Cao et al., 2006; Fang et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2015). Therefore, confronting gradually emerging environmental and ecological problems, some scholars have taken ecological and social effects into account when evaluating land use efficiency (Chen et al., 2007; Zhang, 2014). However, this type of evaluation of ecological efficiency, especially for urban land use, merely adopts the forest coverage rate, “three wastes” emissions (waste gas, waste water, and industrial residue), and green space as proxy indicators (Peng et al., 2005; Ye et al., 2008). This evaluation neglects the observation that the urban agro-ecosystem provides multiple ecological services and functions to economic, social, and ecologically sustainable urban development. These proxies are unable to thoroughly express the ecological outputs, and also cannot describe the social functions of land use. Therefore, developing a scientific evaluation method to determine urban agricultural land use efficiency is one of the key issues in land use research.
Currently, evaluating agricultural land use efficiency concentrates on economic input and output, and the social and ecological services and functions provided by the agro-ecosystem are rarely taken into consideration. However, some studies indicated that their value is much higher than the economic output (Chabi-Olaye et al., 2005; Lewandowski and Schmidt, 2006; Getachew et al., 2006, 2008; Peng et al., 2013; Toma et al., 2015). Because the traditional evaluation concept narrowly focuses on the economic output, the corresponding subsidy policies related to agricultural production and restructuring policies, and investment policies have resulted in a decrease in agricultural comparative efficiency. Furthermore, these policies have led to poor morale among Chinese farmers, an unwillingness of farmers to invest in agriculture, and the subsequent abandonment of arable land, soil contamination, and degradation. Therefore, the traditional evaluation of agricultural land use efficiency, which omits the significant social and ecologic services and functions, ultimately are not objective and harm the policies for rational use of agricultural land.
The agro-ecosystem has multiple functions (Schipanski et al., 2014), and social and ecological services and functions are major outputs from agricultural land that play significant roles in ensuring regional social, ecological, and environmental security (Wang and Zhou, 2014; Johnson et al., 2016). Urban agro-ecosystems provide fundamental ecological regulation and support services, which benefit society. However, at present, output studies do not fully consider the multi-functionality of urban agriculture; ecological services and social functions are generally omitted. Thus, it is necessary to integrate the service and function benefits provided by agricultural land into evaluating land use efficiency.
This study uses the Xi’an metropolitan zone as a case study to evaluate land use efficiency from an agricultural multi-functionality perspective, and incorporates agro-ecosystem services and functions as land outputs. The study area is highly cultivated and strongly affected by rapid urbanization, making it an ideal location for this evaluation. The primary objectives of the study are as follows. First, we develop a comprehensive evaluation framework and methods for land use efficiency by identifying the urban agro-ecosystem provisioning and regulation services considering diverse urban agricultural outputs and inputs. Second, we assess the comprehensive value of agro-ecosystem outputs by applying total input values, including the cost of natural resources, to a newly developed ecosystem services evaluation method. Finally, we evaluate the comprehensive efficiency and spatial changes in agricultural land use in the XMZ.
This study provides a new perspective for objectively understanding the outputs from urban agriculture and a comprehensive evaluation framework for agricultural land use efficiency. This work can aid in improving agricultural subsidy policies and policy-making associated with sustainable development in urban and rural areas.

2 Research area and data

2.1 Research area

The Xi’an metropolitan zone (XMZ) is an urban agglomeration area in central Guanzhong Plain in Northwest China (Figure 1). It administratively includes Xi’an city, part of Xian-yang city, and the Yangling agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zone. The total area is approximately 14,985 km2, mainly comprising the Weibei loess tableland, Weihe alluvial plain, and southern Qinling Mountains. The cultivated northern plain area is flat with altitudes varying from 335 m to 660 m above sea level, and the forested southern area is steep with an elevation of over 1200 m. The XMZ has an average temperature of 26°C in July, with a warm, temperate, semi-humid continental monsoon climate. The average annual rainfall ranges from 522.4 to 719.5 mm, and more than 80% of the precipitation falls in the crop-growing season. The dominant soil types from the northern plain and south to the Qinling Mountains are yellow cinnamon soil, cinnamon soil, yellow brown soil, and brown soil. Although the agricultural region is arid, irrigation canals are well developed, and irrigated fields account for an estimated 72.39% of the total arable land. Therefore, the XMZ has historically been an important grain-producing region for Northwest China. The XMZ, with a high population density and high economic activity, is the most important urban agglomeration area and core zone for socio-economic development in Shaanxi Province and Northwest China. At present, the region’s fruit production, dairy farming, and grain production are most significant within China, hence one of the main temperate fruit production centers. The output value of the agricultural sector was over 3.9×1010 yuan in 2015, which accounted for almost 30% of the total output value of Shaanxi Province. The XMZ has a production system that primarily consists of food, vegetables, fruits, breeding livestock, and processed agricultural products. Furthermore, the transformation from traditional agriculture to a modern agricultural system is ongoing, and represents the modernization and diversification of urban agriculture.
Figure 1 The Xi’an metropolitan zone (XMZ)
In addition to agricultural modernization and diversification, the quantities and types of agricultural inputs and outputs have also undergone tremendous changes. Under rapid urbanization and agricultural transformation, the occupation and conversion of agricultural land, decrease in agricultural comparative efficiency, degradation of arable land, and low farmer morale have emerged as serious issues, which have caused the abandonment of arable land and extensive use of fertile farmland. Currently, with the diversification of urban agriculture, the proportion of the social and ecological services in total agricultural output has risen significantly. Therefore, the traditional evaluation results, which have neglected the social and ecological functions of agriculture and underestimated agricultural benefits and land use efficiency, have strongly and negatively influenced agricultural development and agricultural policy-making. It is necessary to evaluate land use efficiency covering all social and ecological services, and improve society’s awareness of agro-ecosystem services and functions. From a policy perspective, this will gain the government’s attention, address the social and ecological outputs from agriculture, and utilize economic instruments to encourage farmers’ enthusiasm and improve land use efficiency.

2.2 Data

Land-use data were obtained from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images from 1999 and 2006 and Operational Land Imager (OLI) images from 2015 (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/). These data were combined with a land use map, vegetation type map for the XMZ, and field investigation data (Figure 2). The population data was collected from the sixth national census of 2010. The agricultural survey data and related socio-economic data were extracted from Xi’an Statistical Yearbook in 2000, 2007, and 2015 (XSBM, 2000; XSBM, 2000;XSBM, 2016) and Xianyang Statistical Yearbook in 1999, 2006 and 2015 (XYMBS, 1999; XYMBS, 2005; XYMBS, 2015). We also acquired information from National Agricultural Product Assembly of Profit and Cost in 2005 and 2015 (NDRCP, 2005; NDRCP, 2015).
Figure 2 Land use in the Xi’an metropolitan zone from 1999 to 2015

3 Research framework and methods

3.1 Research framework

Because the overall ecosystem services delivered by an agro-ecosystem can improve human welfare, from an agricultural multi-functionality perspective, we regard these services and functions as outputs from agricultural land. We extend the output items from the traditional economic production (namely economic function) to social and ecological services and functions, and propose a comprehensive evaluation framework for agricultural land use efficiency. The new framework includes a number of assessment processes:
• First, we analyze the characteristics of a specific agro-ecosystem and identify the main agro-ecosystem services or functions, incorporating ecological, social, and economic services or functions.
• We determine the output indicators of agricultural land described by agro-ecosystem services and the actual cost of items in agricultural activity.
• Models are built to measure the values of the main output and input indicators and calculate the agricultural land use efficiency at a pixel scale.
• The changes in agricultural outputs, inputs, and land use efficiency are spatial-temporally analyzed using a spatial analysis model.
This research framework is an open evaluation approach; when we determinate the output and input indicators, we consider the specific agricultural type and agricultural activities in a specific region. These indicators describe the main outputs from agricultural land and critical issues for sustainable development, both regionally and agriculturally.

3.2 Indicators

We constructed an input and output index of urban agricultural land and built a comprehensive land use efficiency accounting framework based on economic, social, and ecological services. Agricultural production inputs included seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, plastic film, labor, and agricultural machinery; water consumption was also included in dry farming areas. In view of the multi-functionality of agriculture, most urban agro-ecosystem services and functions were incorporated and regarded as the outputs from agricultural land, including food and raw production, hydrological regulation, climate regulation, carbon sequestration, oxygen release, biodiversity protection, nitrogen cycle regulation, soil and water conservation, weed and pest control, beneficial insect protection (Meagan et al., 2014), water purification and waste treatment, and aesthetic creation (Sieber and Pons, 2015) (Table 1).
The agricultural development in the XMZ is dominated by farming, fruit production on the plains, and forestry in the southern mountains. Therefore, considering the various geographical features, characteristics of agricultural development, and data availability, we selected nine main services or functions as indicators representing the total output of urban agricultural land in this study. These indices incorporated economic production, basic livelihood security, tourism and leisure services, carbon sequestration, oxygen release, air purification, water conservation, climate regulation, and biodiversity conservation. We also employed ecosystem service evaluation models to evaluate the services or functions of agricultural outputs and create spatial layers. According to a survey of inputs to agricultural production in the XMZ, our study also selected seven cost items: fertilizer, pesticides, plastic film, power of agricultural machinery, labor, seed and seedling costs, and water. By calculating the total value of the input and output indicators, we can measure and analyze land use efficiency and the spatial-temporal characteristics of urban agriculture.
Table 1 Evaluation indicators of agricultural land use efficiency
Item Indicators Description of the variables
Costs
(Input)		 Fertilizer Fertilizer cost
Agricultural plastic film Plastic film cost
Agricultural pesticide Pesticide cost
Total power of agricultural machinery Energy cost of agricultural machinery
Labor Labor cost for planting and managing crop
Water resource Water consumption for irrigating crops
Seed or seedling Cost of seed and seedling for planting crops or trees
Food production Provision of crops, fruits, vegetables, poultry, livestock, aquatic products, and foraging
Goods and
services
(Output)		 Basic livelihood security Providing the minimum necessities for a sustainable life for a farmer
Employment Stable employment opportunities provided by agriculture
Aesthetic and recreation Aesthetics, spiritual and psychological care, sense of place, leisure and ecological tourism, agricultural education services, etc.
Carbon sequestration and oxygen release Maintaining the balance of the atmospheric chemical composition by absorbing CO2 and releasing O2
Soil and water conservation Effect of vegetation on soil retention and reduction in soil erosion
Air purification Ecological landscape absorption of SO2, NOx, dust, etc.
Climate regulation Regulating regional climate, such as increasing precipitation and decreasing the temperature
Water purification and waste treatment Decomposition and removal of residua and excess nutrients, purification of water
Biodiversity Maintaining the diversity of biological species
Raw material production Wood, forest products, medicinal plants, spices, etc.
Hydrological regulation Flood control and water storage
Pest control and pollination Pest and disease control, habitat for pollinators

3.3 Assessment methods

3.3.1 Input models
(1) Agricultural input
Agricultural inputs, including chemical fertilizers, agricultural plastic film, pesticide, and power for agricultural machinery, were measured using the quantity used for agricultural activity per unit area and price. Then, we gridded data from the county to pixel scale and produced grid layers of inputs according to the spatial distribution of different types of agricultural land. Here, the land use types were arable land, orchard, woodland, grassland, water body, and others. For instance, the measurement formulation for chemical fertilizer is as follows.
\[{{G}_{ij}}=\frac{{{G}_{i}}}{{{S}_{ij}}}\times {{b}_{ij}}\times m \ \ (1)\]
where Gij represents the total value of fertilizer application of the j-th land type in the i-th district or county; Gi represents the total quantity of fertilizer applied in the i-th district or county; bij is the fertilizer proportion of the j-th land type in the i-th district or county; Sij is the total area of the j-th land type in the i-th fertilizer; and m is the chemical fertilizer price.
In this study, in order to describe the actual cost of agricultural land use and compare the changes between different years, including outputs described as follows, all prices related to costs and outputs were deduced according to the price increase factors.
(2) Seed or seedling cost
We used the amount of seed or seedling per unit area invested in cropland or forest, multiplied by the price of seed or seedling, to evaluate its cost and then created grid layers according to the distribution of farmland or forest:
\[{{M}_{j}}={{x}_{j}}\times {{q}_{j}} \ \ (2)\]
where Mj represents the cost of seed or seedling in the j-th land type per unit area; xj represents the average quantity of seed or seedling input per unit area of the j-th land type; and qj represents the price of the seed or seedling.
The costs of water consumption by agricultural activities were evaluated similarly.
(3) Labor cost
Labor costs were evaluated using the number of people in each agricultural sector and per capita agricultural income of farmers and gridded using the land use map:
\[{{N}_{j}}={{a}_{j}}\times {{c}_{i}} \ \ (3)\]
where Nj is the labor cost per unit area of the j-th agricultural sector (or land use type); ai is the number of laborers input per unit area of the j-th agricultural sector; and ci is the per capita agricultural income of a farmer in the i-th county.
3.3.2 Output models
(1) Economic production
Economic production is the major agricultural output, and primarily represents the provisioning services from the agro-ecosystem, including food and raw material production from farming, fruit production, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries. Therefore, these values were assessed using the total output value from the listed provisioning services. These economic statistical data were gridded from the county to pixel scale, and the raster layers were generated from the land use map; the provisions are closely related to the arable land, orchard, woodland, grassland, and fishing water areas. The calculation of economic production was based on the production of wheat, corn, fruits, and fish with a price normalization factor to exclude the impact of price changes:
\[{{V}_{ij}}=\frac{{{v}_{ij}}}{{{s}_{ij}}} \ \ (4)\]
where Vij represents the value of the provisioning services per unit area of the j-th land use type in the i-th county or district; vij represents the total output value from the j-th agricultural land type in the i-th district; and Sij represents the total area of the j-th agricultural land type in the i-th district.
(2) Basic livelihood security function
Basic living security function refers to the agricultural production activities that provide sustainable living for rural inhabitants. These residents have a minimum livelihood security that is not provided by government; therefore, this function refers to the lowest stable income that maintains their basic livelihood. This cost gain from agricultural operation may account for a large proportion of the total agricultural output value in a rural area. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the economic value of basic livelihood security function using the total output value of agriculture and average proportion of the basic livelihood cost (0.36435) (Wang 2004, 2005). These values were gridded to a raster layer using the land use map:
\[{{K}_{ij}}={{V}_{ij}}\times w \ \ (5)\]
where Kij represents the value of basic livelihood security function of the j-th agricultural land type in the i-th district; Vij represents the total output value of the j-th agricultural land type in the i-th district; and w represents the average proportion of the basic livelihood cost to the total agricultural output value.
(3) Aesthetic and recreation
The values of aesthetic and recreation were evaluated using the potential value of agricultural tourism and leisure per unit area from different agricultural landscapes and activities, and then normalized to the population density:
\[{{Q}_{ij}}={{v}_{i}}\times {{p}_{i}} \ \ (6)\]
where Qij represents the aesthetic and recreation service value of the j-th agricultural land type in the i-th district; pi represents the ratio of the i-th district population density to the average population density of the year; and vj represents the tourism and leisure function value of the j-th agricultural landscape or activity per unit area (Table 2).
Table 2 Aesthetic and recreation value per unit area for each type of agricultural landscape in the Xi’an metropolitan zone (104 yuan·ha‒1·a‒1)
Land use Arable land Woodland Grassland Water body Orchard
1999 0.00082 0.10480 0.00328 0.35533 0.05404
2006 0.00142 0.18099 0.00565 0.58299 0.09333
2015 0.00252 0.32276 0.01009 1.09436 0.16642
(4) Carbon sequestration and oxygen release
The value of air regulating services was evaluated using the photosynthesis equation (Zhou et al., 2013; Fan et al., 2013):
\[{{V}_{c}}_{i}=1.63\times {{B}_{i}}\times {{R}_{c}}\times {{P}_{c}} \ \ (7)\]
where Vci represents the value of carbon sequestration per unit area of the i-th agricultural land type; Rc represents the carbon content of CO2 (27.27%); Bi represents the net primary productivity (NPP) in the i-th agricultural land type (Table 3); and Pc represents the price of solid carbon (260.9 yuan/t).
\[{{V}_{o2}}_{i}=1.19\times {{B}_{i}}\times {{P}_{o2}} \ \ (8)\]
where VO2i represents the value of oxygen release per unit area in the i-th agricultural land type; PO2 represents the oxygen price (376.47 yuan/t); and Bi is defined for Eq. (7).
Table 3 NPP per unit area for each agricultural land use type in the Xi’an metropolitan zone (t·ha‒1·a‒1)
Arable land Woodland Grassland Water body Orchard
1999 3.6235 7.3043 2.5339 2.0016 4.0168
2006 3.5277 7.2066 2.5082 1.9799 3.8176
2013 3.0757 6.8075 2.4594 1.8765 3.0065
(5) Air purification
Air purification includes vegetation that retains dust, sterilizes the air, and absorbs harmful gases. In this study, we evaluated the economic values of absorbing SO2, NOX and HF, and retaining dust in agricultural landscapes:
\[{{W}_{ij}}={{A}_{ij}}\times {{P}_{ij}} \ \ (9)\]
where Wij represents the value of absorbing the j-th type of pollutants per unit area by the i-th agricultural landscape; Aij represents the amount of the j-th type of pollutants absorbed per unit area (Table 4); and Pij represents the treatment cost of the j-th type of pollutants per unit weight (SO2: 0.6 yuan/kg; HF: 0.9 yuan/kg; NOX: 0.63 yuan/kg; dust: 0.17 yuan/kg) (Yu et al., 2005; Han and Zhou, 2015).
Table 4 Pollutants absorbed per unit area for each agricultural landscape in the Xi’an metropolitan zone (kg∙ha‒1∙a‒1)
Land use Pollutant types
SO2 NOx HF Dust
Woodland 291.03 215.36 9.94 44300.00
Grassland 21.70 16.06 1.20 120.00
Arable land 45.00 33.30 0.33 940.00
Orchard 90.00 66.60 0.79 9000.00
Water body 427.15 316.17 3.56 8.86
(6) Water conservation
The water conservation service that is provided by arable land was calculated using the water storage capacity in soil:
\[{{V}_{1}}=W\times C \ \ (10)\]
\[W=\rho \times h\times p\times s \ \ (11)\]
where V1 represents the value of water conservation per unit arable land; W represents the amount of water resource retained per unit arable land; C represents the average built cost per m3 of reservoir capacity in China (0.67 yuan/m3); ρ represents soil bulk density (1.37 g/cm3); h represents soil thickness (0.2 m, tillage depth); p represents soil moisture content (22.3%), and s represents the area of arable land.
The water conservation service provided by woodlands, orchards, and grasslands was calculated using the method of comprehensive water storage capacity:
\[{{V}_{2}}=({{Q}_{1}}+{{Q}_{2}}+{{Q}_{3}})\times C \ \ (12)\]
\[{{Q}_{1}}=r\times l\times s \ \ (13)\]
\[{{Q}_{2}}=f\times q\times s \ \ (14)\]
\[{{Q}_{3}}=h\times k\times s \ \ (15)\]
where V2 represents the value of water conservation in woodlands, grasslands, and orchards; Q1, Q2, and Q3 represent the ratio of canopy rainfall interception, water holding capacity of the litter layer, and precipitation reserves in soil, respectively; r represents precipitation; l represents the interception ratio by canopy; s represents the area of woodlands, grasslands, and orchards; f represents the dry weight of the litter layer; q represents the saturated water absorption ratio; k represents the soil non-capillary porosity (Table 5); and C and h are defined as in Eqs. (10) and (11).
Table 5 Water conservation parameters for each agricultural landscape in the Xi’an metropolitan zone (Liu et al., 2016)
Dry weight of litter layer (t/ha) Saturation absorption rate (%) Canopy interception rate (%) Non-capillary porosity (%)
Woodland 24.56 276.45 19.35 13.46
Orchard 9.27 155.00 6.56 6.34
Grassland 4.43 40.74 4.10 6.07
(7) Climate regulation and biodiversity conservation services
The evaluation of climate regulation and biodiversity conservation services was conducted using the equivalent factors for ecosystem service value in the XMZ (Zhou and Qiu, 2011; Hu and Zhou, 2013), which were modified from a similar table for China (Xie et al., 2008, 2015) according to the region’s characteristics (Table 6).
Table 6 Climate regulation and biodiversity value per unit area for each agricultural land use type in the Xi’an metropolitan zone (104 yuan·ha-1·a-1)
Arable land Woodland Grassland Water body Orchard
Climate regulation 0.135 0.409 0.136 0.350 0.273
Biodiversity 0.108 0.591 0.295 0.002 0.442
3.3.3 Comprehensive efficiency of agricultural land use
The comprehensive efficiency of agricultural land use was calculated using the cost-benefit model:
E = O - I (16)
where E is the comprehensive efficiency of agricultural land use; O is the sum of the value of the nine output indicators of agricultural land; and I is the sum of the value of the seven input indicators for agricultural land.

4 Results

4.1 Change in input

With the rapid economic development and urbanization in the XMZ, agriculture is transforming from traditional cereal to urban modern cultivation. The region has witnessed large-scale development of orchards, leisure and sightseeing agriculture, and other commercial agriculture in the last 20 years. Concurrently, the cost of agricultural production has dramatically increased. (Tables 7-9 and Figure 3). Due to the common price increase of agricultural labor, fertilizer, seeds and seedlings, agricultural plastic film, irrigative water resources, and power for agricultural machinery, the cost inputs per hectare of agricultural land have been increasing since 1999 (Table 7). Although agricultural pesticide usage has rapidly declined by 64.9%, 49.8%, and 41.4% across arable land, orchards, and woodlands, respectively, the costs for other agricultural input materials consistently increased from 1999 to 2015. Labor and fertilizer costs had the largest increase, respectively averaging 124.9% and 123.1% per hectare. The costs of seeds and seedlings, water consumption, and plastic film all increased over 100%, and the cost of machinery power rose more than 90%. In the agricultural sectors, the total input costs for orchards and arable land went up 15,600 yuan and 9900 yuan, or 151% and 103.5% per hectare, respectively. In comparison, forest costs merely increased by 38.2% from 1999 to 2015. The large-scale development of fruit production in the XMZ drove up the costs for orchards: labor, fertilizer, water consumption, and seed and seedling costs rose by 235%, 133%, and 145%, respectively. The increases in costs for crop production were mainly driven by plastic film usage, water consumption, fertilizer, and machinery power, which respectively rose by 156.6%, 133.9%, 120.8% and 117.5%.
Table 7 Change in input per unit area for each agricultural land type in the Xi’an metropolitan zone
1999-2006 2006-2015 1999-2015
Amount of growth(yuan/ha) Change (%) Amount of growth (yuan/ha) Change
(%)		 Amount of growth (yuan/ha) Change
(%)
Arable land 2198.81 0.28 5788.78 58.37 7987.589 103.49
Orchard 4405.87 0.43 11274.00 76.35 15679.867 151.35
Woodland 108.28 0.13 211.89 22.39 320.170 38.19
Figure 3 Change in main agricultural costs per unit area for agricultural land
There were significant spatial variations in agricultural costs over the XMZ between 1999, 2006, and 2015 due to the differences in urbanization and agricultural transformation (Figure 4). Due to the conversions of land use and agricultural transformations from rapid urbanization, per unit area cost changes showed significant growth, and areas of high cost value increased from 1999 to 2015. The lowest agricultural inputs were in southern Qinling Mountains and the northwestern loess tableland of Liquan and Qianxian counties, which primarily comprise woodland, have fewer cultivated areas, and have lower proportions of reclaimed land. In contrast, the high cost areas mostly encompass the urbanized area of Xi’an and Xianyang cities, and were distributed in the northeastern and western parts with large areas of high-quality arable land, such as Yanliang, Jingyang and Wugong, Yangling counties. In general, the spatial changes in agricultural input were dominated by the expansion of orchards, primarily apple, grape, kiwi, and pomegranate orchards, and the transformation from cereal production to fruit production, recreation agriculture, and nursery forest activities. First, the agricultural transformation was driven by urbanization in suburban areas from cereal production to vegetable, fruit, nursery and flower production, and leisure agriculture. Subsequently, regional economic improvement, construction of a modern urban agricultural base, and agricultural intensification drove the expansion of the high added value urban agricultural sector to the broader areas far from the cities. Therefore, the demand for agricultural products promotes the conversion and diversification of agricultural land use in the process of rapid urbanization through the development of tourism agriculture, flower production, nurseries, and orchards. These processes promote the evolving spatial pattern of agricultural cost in the XMZ. Generally, the inputs to agricultural production were closely related to economic development and type of agricultural land.
Figure 4 Spatial changes in agricultural land inputs in the Xi’an metropolitan zone from 1999 to 2015

4.2 Change in output

The total output value gradually grew in the XMZ from 3.97×1010 yuan in 1999 to 5.60×1010 yuan in 2015, an increase of 41%. The combination of different agricultural sector characteristics and disparate intensification of agriculture over the study area highlights the variable land utilization. During the past 15 years, the total output from arable land increased the most, 80.2%, compared to the 14.9%, 14.0% and 10.6% increases from livestock, fishery, and fruit products in grassland, water body, and orchards (Table 8). In addition, the diverse agro-ecosystem services and functions (namely outputs) changed significantly as a result of agricultural transformation and large-scale landscape patterns from 1999 to 2015. The economic production function and basic livelihood security function each rose by 70%, the climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, and air purification services increased more than 11%, while aesthetic recreation, carbon sequestration, and oxygen release services dropped by over 9.8%. The increases in total output value were dominated by the economic production function from the urban agro-ecosystem, which accounted for 40%, 45%, and 48% in 1999, 2006, and 2015 respectively. Furthermore, the spatial distribution indicated that the entire study area had an increase in total output from 1999 to 2015 (Figures 5 and 6). The high value areas were evenly distributed across arable land area in the middle and northern plain in 1999. These expanded to the outer-fringe areas of the central urbanized area and the newly planted orchards in 2006, and continued to expand far from the urban area in 2015. The lower value areas were still distributed in the southern forest area of the Qinling Mountains. These results indicate that the economic output from agricultural land has one of the most important roles in urbanized areas, where human activities affect the agro-ecosystem to a greater degree. In remote areas, there were more transformations from large-scale cereal production because they can provide more supporting and regulating services and relatively lower provisioning services. The city’s industrialization and market demand for agricultural production, such as vegetables and fresh fruits, and for leisure, drive the transformation in suburban areas from cereal production to orchards, vegetable plantations, and leisure agriculture park; these activities provide higher economic output at earlier stages of urbanization, and then they expand to the rural areas far from the central city. Therefore, urban agricultural development and the high production in orchards, such as kiwis in Zhouzhi, grapes in Huxian, and pomegranates in Lintong, have increased agricultural economic outputs, and increased labor wages and quality of life. In addition, the value of tourism and leisure services has increased significantly due to the demand for recreational water bodies and woodland landscapes, which has also improved the ecosystem efficiency.
Table 8 Change in output per unit area for each type of agricultural land in the Xi’an metropolitan zone
1999-2006 2006-2015 1999-2015
Amount of change
(104 yuan/ha)		 Rate of change (%) Amount of change (104 yuan/ha) Rate of change (%) Amount of change
(104 yuan/ha)		 Rate of
change (%)
Arable land 1.70 55.66 0.75 15.77 2.45 80.21
Orchard -0.46 -8.03 1.06 20.24 0.60 10.59
Woodland 0.17 7.10 -0.09 -3.43 0.08 3.42
Grassland 0.45 53.55 -0.32 -25.16 0.12 14.19
Water body -0.06 -3.85 0.29 18.61 0.23 14.04

4.3 Change in comprehensive land use efficiency

The value of agricultural land use efficiency per hectare increased on average from 2.38×104 yuan to 3.17×104 yuan, a 33.13% increase, from 1999 to 2015. However, the rate of change significantly varied for different agricultural sectors. The efficiency of arable land increased by 70% primarily because of the transformation from cereal production to high-value urban agricultural activities, such as the cultivation of vegetables, strawberries, or melons, which give higher profits than cereal or rapeseed production, and agricultural intensification. The efficiency of fisheries went up by 14% due to production growth and the expansion of the area for aquatic cultivation. Forestry efficiency also increased due to the change from deforestation to afforestation. In contrast, fruit production efficiency dropped 20%; the benefits declined in comparison to the dramatic increase in costs associated with the small growth in outputs of fresh fruit production and insufficient processing of agricultural products (Table 9).
Table 9 Change in agricultural land use efficiency per hectare for each land type in the Xi’an metropolitan zone
1999-2006 2006-2015 1999-2015
Amount of change (104 yuan/ha) Rate of change (%) Amount of change (104 yuan/ha) Rate of change (%) Amount of change (104 yuan/ha) Rate of change (%)
Arable land 1.48 39.33 0.17 4.56 1.65 72.36
Orchard -0.90 -23.90 -0.07 -1.83 -0.97 -20.77
Woodland 0.16 6.44 -0.11 -4.42 0.05 2.16
Water body -0.06 -4.01 0.29 18.61 0.23 14.04
Figure 5 Primary changes in agricultural land use outputs in the Xi’an metropolitan zone from 1999 to 2015
Figure 6 Spatial changes in agricultural land output in the Xi’an metropolitan zone from 1999 to 2015
In general, the land use efficiency of agriculture clearly increased in most parts of the XMZ from 1999 to 2015. The higher efficiency areas were primarily for vegetable and melon cultivation, forest nurseries, and some orchards as a result of the early agricultural transformation in the process of urbanization and agricultural development. The areas near the regional central cities and scattered towns and main traffic roads had high values. For instance, Yanliang, Jingyang, Xingping, Liquan, and Yangling first had crop land altered to orchard or vegetable land and leisure agricultural land because these products can be transported to urban market conveniently and sold for high prices, or there were large numbers of tourists that provided high profits. However, areas far from cities, towns, and main roads, such as Qianxian and Lantian, maintained large areas of cereal production and had lower efficiency values. In addition, the southern part of the Qinling Mountains, primarily covered by forest, was a low-value zone because of the required high inputs for forestation and production of few forest products with lower economic production value; however, these areas do provide relatively high ecological services (Figure 7). Therefore, the spatial pattern of changing agricultural land use efficiency was to a great extent determined by the transport of agricultural products, namely by the degree of urbanization and agricultural transformation to urban agriculture.
Figure 7 Spatial changes in agricultural land use efficiency in the Xi’an metropolitan zone from 1999 to 2015

5 Discussion and conclusions

5.1 Discussion

At present, the economic outputs from agricultural land are recognized as the sole output by officials, farmers, scholars, and society at large, and the social and ecological outputs are being ignored. This discrepancy provides an incomplete understanding of agricultural multi-functionality and an underestimation of the actual outputs from agricultural land. Furthermore, this can lead to poorly organized agricultural planning and poor land use policy-making. Essentially, urban agro-ecosystems provide critical provisions and ecological support services for cities, far beyond their economic production (Wang and Zhou, 2014). In this study, from the perspective of agricultural multi-functionality, we developed a comprehensive evaluation framework for urban agricultural land use efficiency. In particular, the social and ecological services and functions provided by dry farming in the Guanzhong Plain were included as outputs from agricultural land. By employing this new ecosystem service assessment model to calculate agro-ecosystem service or function and the costs at a pixel scale, we measured the comprehensive efficiency of agricultural land use, and analyzed the spatial-temporal changes in urban agricultural land use efficiency in a rapidly urbanized and cultivated area. These improvements could mitigate the deficiencies in traditional research. We took the mean proportions of the economic efficiency from the traditional evaluation result and compared them to the comprehensive efficiency results from the method proposed here. We calculated the correlation coefficient between them using data from 600 random sampling points within the study area, and examined the differences between the two methods (Table 10). The results demonstrate that the economic output accounted for 40%, 45%, and 48% of the total output from agricultural land in 1999, 2006, and 2015, respectively. The comprehensive outputs provided by this method are 2.1 to 2.4 times the economic outputs assessed using traditional methods, which is in agreement with other findings (Costanza et al., 1998). Furthermore, the economic efficiency from land use accounts for 40%, 51.8% and 47.7% of the comprehensive efficiency per pixel of arable land for 1999, 2006, and 2015, respectively. These results indicate that the land use efficiency values calculated using this method are 1.93 to 2.48 times higher than the values calculated using the traditional method for arable land, and are 2.17 to 3.18 times higher than the values calculated using the traditional method for orchards. The difference is due to the higher values for regulating and supporting services provided by orchards than by arable land. Therefore, the traditional method seriously underestimates the efficiency of arable land, orchards, and forest land. However, the land use efficiency for forests has a negative value due to large-scale forest afforestation and reforestation, wherein the inputs outweigh the outputs. The patterns of land use efficiency calculated based on this new comprehensive evaluation are in general agreement with traditional methods; the correlation coefficients between the results from the two methods are 0.768, 0.933, and 0.958 for 1999, 2006, and 2016 respectively. In addition, the similarity indicates that in urbanized areas, which are significantly cultivated landscapes dominated by economic outputs, the incorporation of social and ecological services and functions does not affect their spatial pattern. However, in other areas that are less influenced by urbanization, the two approaches may show differences due to the weight of factors other than economic outputs on the evaluation.
Table 1 0 Comparison of results from comprehensive efficiency and traditional economic evaluations in the Xi’an metropolitan zone
1999 2006 2015
Land type Mean proportion (standard deviation), % Correlation coefficient Mean proportion (standard deviation), % Correlation coefficient Mean proportion (standard deviation), % Correlation coefficient
Arable land 40.03 (13.28) 0.998 51.83(9.75) 0.998 47.65(12.68) 0.998
Orchard 46.14 (10.61) 0.996 38.16(7.82) 0.991 31.44(14.17) 0.980
Woodland -3.07 (0.42) 0.901 -2.08(2.39) 0.932 -2.67(3.41) 0.962
Agricultural land 0.768 0.933 0.958
This framework incorporates the ecological and social service values of water bodies, orchards, and woodlands into the output evaluation system. These services (especially ecological services) play an important role in maintaining the provisions from regional ecosystem services and the sustainable development of farming areas where the natural vegetation coverage rate is low, and in rapidly urbanized areas where the natural ecological landscape is disrupted.
Spatially, the results obtained from the two methods slightly vary across the urban areas. The areas undergoing rapid urbanization with developed modern urban agriculture have initially higher land use efficiencies using both methods. In the Qinling Mountains area, the level of ecological efficiency is high; however, the comprehensive efficiency is low due to the lower economic and social output values. These findings indicate that the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern intensive agriculture can improve agricultural land economic efficiency in urban areas. However, these changes will lead to a significant decrease in ecological services resulting from the gradual fragmentation of the native landscape and extensive crop production that increase the number of changes to the ecosystem structure and processes. Improvements in economic efficiency are at the expense of high-value inputs and serious loss of ecological services. Because economic and social services had higher output values, the spatial patterns of comprehensive land use efficiency were determined by economic output patterns. Agricultural land use efficiencies were generally underestimated using traditional methods, and this was particularly true in the forest area of the Qinling Mountains. Despite the low values for horticulture and low costs in forest areas, the natural forest can provide ecological services and functions, such as climate regulation, hydrological regulation, water conservation, and biodiversity protection. The results, as evaluated using this framework, can objectively reflect the actual value and contribution of different types of land use.
This study proposes a new evaluation framework for agricultural land use efficiency and advocates for the government to sufficiently consider the broad number of outputs from different land use activities for agricultural policy-making. While this study has incorporated additional inputs and outputs for evaluating land use change, the selected agro-ecosystem (or land use) services do not yet include all factors. Due to difficulties in data acquisition, some positive services, such as providing a habitat and pollination, mainly conducted by laborers in orchards in the study area, have not been incorporated into the evaluation framework. In addition, these evaluation indicators are mainly suitable to arid agriculture in temperate semi-humid areas. As an open evaluation framework for land use efficiency, if applied to other agricultural types or regions, these indicators should be modified to suit the corresponding agro-ecosystem and agricultural activities. Recently, some scholars have shown that an ecosystem can provide both beneficial and detrimental services or goods (Lyytimäki, 2014; Li and Zhou, 2016). However, the concept and understanding of an agro-ecosystem disservice is not yet clear. For instance, details of what an agro-ecosystem disservice includes, how they are formed, how to conduct a value evaluation, and whether disservices belong to the output or input items of agriculture have not yet been resolved. Therefore, agro-ecosystem disservices or detrimental factors, such as pollen allergies, are not considered in this study (Ma et al., 2015). In addition, due to the limitations of the current assessment method for ecological services, such as for aesthetics and recreation services, the value was indirectly measured using equivalent factors for the ecological service value of terrestrial ecosystems in Xi’an; these values are not identical to values based on the willingness to pay, which tend to be more costly. The spatialization methods for statistical and survey data used for economic outputs and inputs also need further improvement. As such, further exploration and improvement in terms of scientific and practical feasibility are required.
The results show that agricultural land has great value in land use efficiency, which remains unrecognized by the government and agricultural producers, and requires attention. The lack of recognition leads to an unfair evaluation of the agricultural sector, which is not conducive to formulating policies related to agricultural subsidies and agricultural transformation. Existing agricultural policies in China mainly include subsidies for agricultural production, natural disaster relief, agricultural resource reserves, and agricultural environmental protection, but there are no subsidies for the provisioning value of agro-ecosystem services. In addition, agricultural producers do not have a full understanding of their land value; coupled with the relative decline in the price of agricultural products in comparison with the rapid increase of industrial production prices, these lead to poor farmer morale. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate a set of economic compensation policies to support the social and ecological service functions of agricultural land. This is especially urgent in suburban agricultural areas, where agricultural activities play an important role in the urban eco-environment. As such, urban agriculture should be given ecological payment, which also would encourage farmers to transform agricultural structures, shifting to greenhouse vegetable planting and fruit and high-yield crop cultivation, and stimulate enthusiasm for farming, increase farmer income, and protect the farmland eco-system.
As a whole, integrating social and ecological services from agricultural land as a portion of its output to the efficiency evaluation is important for understanding and evaluating agricultural land use efficiency. The evaluation framework in this study provides a mechanism for a more comprehensive decision-making process for ecosystem services and incentives for introducing agricultural production subsidies, agricultural transformation, and other policies. As a first step toward better policy-making, this study should be used to develop a more scientific approach for further research on agricultural land use efficiency. However, due to the current lack of theory and methods of agricultural multi-functionality research, ecosystem services research is not well developed at this time, and the limitations described previously need to be addressed.

5.2 Conclusions

(1) With rapid urbanization and agricultural transformation from traditional cereal cultivation to modern urban agriculture, the costs, outputs of agricultural production, and land use efficiencies have been dramatically increasing. The total output value increased by 41% and agricultural land use efficiency per hectare averagely rose by 33.13% from 1999 to 2015 in the Xi’an metropolitan zone.
(2) The economic output from agricultural land is significant in urbanized areas, accounting for more than 40% of total output, and dominating the spatial pattern of total output and land use efficiency. The areas near cities, and distributed as orchard and arable land, have provided more economic function and supporting and regulating services due to the transformation from extensive cereal production to intensive modern urban agriculture, such as orchard, forest nursery, and leisure agriculture. Therefore, these areas have increased their output and land use efficiency. However, the areas far from cities, towns, and main traffic roads, namely, remote rural areas, provide more supporting and regulating services, have relatively lower economic function and services, and have lower output and land use efficiency resulting from lower economic output. This contrast indicates that the spatial changes in output and land use efficiency of agriculture in urbanized areas are strongly determined by the degree of urbanization and agricultural transformation.
(3) This evaluation approach integrates economic, social, and ecological outputs from land use into a comprehensive output and employs newly developed fine spatial resolution methods for ecosystem services research. This approach is more accurate and methodical for evaluating comprehensive land use efficiency due to the small spatial scale (pixel scale) for valuation. The results demonstrate that the comprehensive output from agricultural land is 2.1 to 2.4 times as much as the economic output. Furthermore, the comprehensive land use efficiency valued using this approach is 1.93 to 3.18 times higher than the economic efficiency assessed using the traditional method for arable land and orchards. These findings also indicate that in urbanized areas with more intensive urban agriculture, the spatial pattern measured using this evaluation framework provides similar results to those from a purely economic evaluation; the spatial pattern of comprehensive land use efficiency is largely determined by the pattern of economic output.
(4) The total output value and land use efficiency of urban agriculture measured using this framework are much higher than those found from traditional evaluation methods. These evaluations have important implications for enhancing current agricultural subsidies and even implementing an ecological payment policy in China. Further, the approach provides a mechanism for assessing the contrasts and changes between economic efficiency and ecological efficiency in the process of agricultural transformation. These evaluations can be directly applied to agricultural transformation, decision-making, and guidance for rational land utilization.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

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Fan J Z, Li D K, Zhou H, 2013. Valuation on carbon fixation and oxygen release in reforested croplands of Shaanxi Province of China.Chinese Journal of Ecology, 32(4): 874-881. (in Chinese)By using the EOS/MODIS NPP data of remote sensing biogeochemical model (BIOME-BGC), this paper analyzed the spatiotemporal variations of vegetations carbon fixation quantity in the reforested croplands of Shaanxi Province, China in 2000-2010, and estimated the service values of the vegetation carbon fixation and oxygen release, according to the specifications for the assessment of forest ecosystem services in China. From 2000 to 2010, the estimated carbon fixation density in the reforested croplands was averagely 299 g·m-2·a-1. As compared to the year 2000, the amount of carbon fixation in the reforested croplands in 2010 increased by 5.37×106 t·a-1, and the carbon fixation value totaled 1.401 billions Yuan, accounting for 50.4% of the increment value of the carbon fixation in the Province, while the area of the reforested croplands only occupied 38.5% of the total area of the Province. The amount of oxygen release in the reforested croplands increased by 1.43×107 t·a-1, and the oxygen release value totaled 5.053 billions Yuan. In the reforested croplands, the carbon fixation density had a slow increase (though with fluctuation), but the increasing trend was more significant and the increment was higher than that in the perimeter zones. The area where the carbon fixation density increased occupied 99.8% of the reforested cropland area, while the area where the carbon fixation density decreased only occupied 0.2%. The proportion of the total area with low carbon fixation density was decreasing, while that with medium and high carbon densities was increasing. In the reforested cropland area, the carbon fixation density in the main land-use types had an obvious increasing trend, while that in different steep lands showed different increasing trend, being most significant (P0.01) in25° lands. It was suggested that with the implementation of the project of reforesting cultivated land, vegetation coverage improved gradually, and significant benefits were obtained from the carbon fixation and oxygen release in reforested cropland area.

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Fang L N, Chen Y J, Song J P, 2013. The evaluation of land use benefit in urban fringe area: An example of Daxing District, Beijing.Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 29(8): 154-159. (in Chinese)In order to measure the land use efficiency of urban fringe area,reveal the problem of land use,optimize allocation of land resource,the author took Daxing District of Beijing as a study area,and established an indicator system from the aspects of social,economic and ecological benefits,then evaluated land use benefits based on the coordination-degree model and analyzed its spatial variability.The results showed that land use benefit was increasing.The economic benefits was growing fastest,which followed by social and ecological benefits.Because it affected by many factors,people should improve land use benefit by policy guiding and intensive utilization.The effect function method and the coordination degree model could effectively reveal the level and the change tendency of land use benefits in urban fringe area,and was advantageous to the optimization of land resource distribution.

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Getachew A, Amare G, Woldeyesus Sinebo Holetta, 2006. Yield performance and land-use efficiency of barley and faba bean mixed cropping in Ethiopian highlands. European Journal Agronomy, (25): 202-207.Mixed intercropping of barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) with faba bean ( Vicia faba L.) was compared with sole cropping for three growing seasons (2001–2003) at Holetta Agricultural Research Centre, in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The treatments were sole barley (125 kg ha 611), sole faba bean (200 kg ha 611) and an additive series of 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50 and 62.5% of the sole seed rate of faba bean mixed with full barley seed rate. A randomised complete block design replicated four times was used. Mixed cropping and year effects were significant for seed and biomass yields of each crop species. Barley yield was reduced by mixed cropping only when the seed rate of faba bean exceeded 50 kg ha 611 or 25% of the sole seed rate. There was no mixed cropping by year interaction effect for barley grain yield but for faba bean seed yield. Total yield, barley yield equivalent, land equivalent ratio (LER) and system productivity index (SPI) of mixtures exceeded those of sole crops especially when faba bean seed rate in the mixture was increased to 75 kg ha 611 (37.5%) or more. The highest barley yield equivalent, SPI, crowding coefficient and LER were obtained when faba bean was mixed at a rate of 37.5% with full seed rate of barley. From this study, it is inferred that mixed intercropping of faba bean in normal barley culture at a density not less than 37.5% of the sole faba bean density may give better overall yield and income than sole culture of each crop species.

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Getachew A, Amare G, Woldeyesus S, 2008. Yield potential and land-use efficiency of wheat and faba bean mixed intercropping.Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 28(2): 257-263.In Ethiopia, food production for a rapidly growing population from a continually shrinking farm size is a prime developmental challenge. Rising input costs, decline in soil quality, and buildup of insect pests, diseases and weeds have threatened the ecological and economic sustainability of crop production. To address those issues, intercropping of cereals with pulse crops could increase total grain production, provide diversity of products, stabilize yield over seasons, reduce economic and environmental risks common in monoculture systems, and thereby enhance sustainability. Here, mixed intercropping of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) with faba bean ( Vicia faba L.) was compared with sole culture of each species in 2002 and 2003 at Holetta Agricultural Research Center, in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The treatments were sole wheat at a seed rate of 175 kg ha 611 , sole faba bean at a seed rate of 200 kg ha 611 , and an additive series of 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50 and 62.5% of the sole faba bean seed rate mixed with the full sole wheat seed rate. Our results showed that mixed intercropping increased the land equivalent ratio by +3% to +22% over sole cropping. Increasing the faba bean seed rate in the mixture from 12.5 to 62.5% reduced wheat grain yield from 3601 kg ha 611 to 3039 kg ha 611 but increased faba bean grain yield from 141 kg ha 611 to 667 kg ha 611 . Sole culture grain yield exceeded mixed culture grain yield by +5 to +25% for wheat and by +172 to +1190% for faba bean. Nonetheless, we obtained the highest total grain yield of 4031 kg ha 611 , gross monetary value of US$ 823, system productivity index of 4629 and crowding coefficient of 4.70 when wheat at its full seed rate was intercropped with faba bean at a rate of 37.5%. On average, weed biomass was reduced from 40.4 g m 612 in sole wheat to 31.1 g m 612 in mixed culture and the chocolate spot disease score was reduced from 5.1 in sole faba bean to 3.4 in mixed culture. In conclusion, intercropping of wheat with faba bean may increase total yield and revenue, reduce weed and disease pressure, increase land-use efficiency, and thereby enhance sustainability of crop production in Ethiopian highlands.

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[9]
Gong J P, Shi P J, Pan J H, 2011. Economic benefit analysis of urban land utilization in Lanzhou City based on EDA method.Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation, 31(5): 163-166. (in Chinese)The land use status of Lanzhou City was investigated,and an evaluating indicator system was constructed by combining the economic development and the land use characteristics of the city.The C2R model and data envelopment analysis(DEA) approach were used to quantitatively analyze and evaluate land utilization economic benefit of the city from 1997 to 2008.The results show that the land utilization of Lanzhou City had high economic benefit level.However,in non-DEA efficient years,the land input was sufficient while the land output was not.Lastly,four suggestions were proposed to improve the economic benefit,including promoting intensive land use,improving low efficiency land,adjusting the industrial structure and paying more attention to the coordination of man-nature relationship.

[10]
Han Y, Zhou Z X, 2015. Evaluation on ecosystem services in haze absorption by urban green land and its spatial pattern analysis in Xi’an.Geographical Research, 34(7): 1247-1258. (in Chinese)The serious air pollution by haze in large cities has become a critical issue of urban living environment. As the crucial component of the urban society- economy- natural complex ecosystem, urban green land plays an important role in providing urban ecosystem services.Estimating the value of haze absorption by urban green land and analyzing its spatial pattern make significant contributions to the improvement of the urban eco- environmental quality.With the help of Fragstats 4.1 and Arc GIS 10.1 software, we estimate and analyze the ecosystem services value of haze absorption by urban green land in Xi'an, based on TM images and the theory of landscape ecology and ecosystem service. The research results show that:(1)There are big differences of landscape fragmentation among different landscape types in Xi'an built- up area.(2) The total value of ecosystem services on haze absorption in Xi'an built- up area is 29.54 million yuan. The contribution to haze absorption by all types of landscapes are quite different.(3) The spatial patterns of total and individual ecosystem services density show an obvious degrading trend from city center to the edge of the area.(4) There are significant correlations between landscape indexes and the ecosystem services density of haze absorption in built- up area of Xi'an city. The value of haze absorption of total and individual ecosystem services are positively related to the number of patches and the total area. The service value of nitrogen oxides absorption are positively related to the largest patch index. There is a significantly negative correlation between the service value of nitrogen oxides absorption and fragmentation index. The value of sulfur dioxide absorption and dust detention are positively related to landscape shape index. Green patches and corridor mosaics of landscape pattern play an important role in pollutant gases absorption, dust removal and atmosphere purification.Furthermore, the bigger the average patch area is, the lower the degree of fragmentation is, and the more obvious the function of atmosphere purification is.

[11]
Hu Z X, Zhou Z X, 2013. Ecosystem Service evaluation and its spatial pattern analysis of urban green land in Xi’an City.Arid Land Geography, 36(3): 553-561. (in Chinese)Urban green land is the critical composition of urban natural ecosystem,which provides various ecosystem services for urban residents,and has great value on ecosystem services.It is of great significance to explore urban green ecosystem services and its spatial pattern,not only for revealing the coordinate relationship between ecosystem services and economic,social function in city,but also for building livable urban environment.Currently,researches on ecosystem services of urban green space is mainly aimed at qualitative analysis,but quantitative and effective research is few,with reference to the previous researches and in accordance with the local situation of Xi'an City,the paper has developed a set of ecosystem services value on per area of green landscape.Based on data of SPOT image and land use map,employing landscape ecology methods,ArcGIS and Fragstats softwares,the ecosystem services of urban green land were evaluated and its spatial patterns were also analyzed in this paper.These conclusions were reached as follows:(1)The total area of green land is about 3 881.45 hm~2 in built-up area of Xi'an City.All types of green land are significant differences in area and their distribution is quite unreasonable.The separation index of landscape is high and its contagion index is low;(2)The total value of ecosystem services provided by urban green land is around 75.47 million Yuan,in which the highest value comes from public green land against to the lowest from orchard.In general,the value of recreational service is the highest and food production is the lowest; (3) The ecosystem service's pattern is profoundly affected by landscape spatial pattern,the spatial patterns of ecological services are as follows:there is high value in areas between First Ring Road and Second Ring Road and low value in areas inside the First Ring Road and outside the Second Ring Road;the value of food production is gradually decreasing from edge of built-up area to urban core;and value of recreation experience varies from higher area of inner city to lower area of outside city.The total value of ecosystem services decreases gradually from areas of urban core,industrial or business district and old urban district where the more ecosystem services are in demand to areas of urban edges,even suburban.It suggests that the distribution of ecosystem services provided by urban green land presumably is inverse to the pattern of population,economic and building density.The result also shows that it is available for applying landscape ecology' s method to analyze the spatial pattern of ecosystem services.

[12]
Jiang C Y, Diao C T, 2008. Analysis on the spatial-temporal variation of land use economic efficiency.Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation, 28(6): 130-137. (in Chinese)Based on the landuse status and the natural and socio-economic conditions of 40 districts and counties in Chongqing City from 1999 to 2006,the spatial-temporal variation of landuse economic efficiency of the districts and counties are analyzed by selecting evaluation indexes and using the factor analysis of multivariate statistics.Results show that the landuse economic efficiency in different districts and counties differs greatly.The districts and counties with better landuse economic efficiency are mostly in good economic development and they are the main urban area and districts within its economic radiation zone.The districts and counties with poor landuse economic efficiency are backward and they are mostly located in the relatively remote mountain area.Moreover,the difference is displaying a growing trend.The landuse economic efficiency in various districts and counties displays an improved trend.Number of districts and counties with high efficiency increased steadily.In the light of the results from analysis,the authors propose some suggestions and measures to enhance landuse economic efficiency.

[13]
Johnson K A, Dalzell B J, Donahue Met al., 2016. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands provide ecosystem service benefits that exceed land rental payment costs.Ecosystem Services, 18: 175-185.Global demand for commodities prompted the expansion of row crop agriculture in the Upper Midwest, USA with unknown consequences for multiple ecosystem services. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was designed to protect these services by paying farmers to retire environmentally sensitive land. Here we assessed whether the benefits provided by CRP's targeted retirement of agricultural land are equal to or greater in value than the cost of rental payments to farmers. We quantified the benefits of CRP lands for reducing flood damages, improving water quality and air-quality, and contributing to greenhouse gas mitigation in the Indian Creek watershed in Iowa. We found that for all assessed scenarios of CRP implementation, the ecosystem service benefits provided by CRP lands exceed the cost of payments to farmers. Expanding CRP implementation under one of three potential scenarios would require an average per-acre payment of $1311 over the life of a 10-year contract but would generate benefits with a net present value of between $1710 and $6401. This analysis suggests that investment in CRP in Indian Creek, and likely in other watersheds in the Upper Midwest, is justified based upon the value of public and private benefits provided by CRP lands.

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[14]
Lewandowski I, Schmidt U, 2006. Nitrogen, energy and land use efficiencies of miscanthus, reed canary grass and triticale as determined by the boundary line approach.Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 112: 335-346.The quantities and use efficiencies of nitrogen (N) fertilizer and energy input are seen as important indicators for the environmental impact of the production of energy crops. On the other hand, the high targets set in Europe for the production of biofuels will require high energy yields and efficient use of available agricultural land. The aim of this study is to describe the N, energy and land use efficiencies in relation to the N supply, for the energy crops triticale ( Triticosecale Wittmack) – harvested as whole crop – reed canary grass ( Phalaris arundinacea L.) and miscanthus ( Miscanthus 02×02 giganteus ). Field trials in Southwest Germany (48–49°N latitude) were performed to measure the biomass and bioenergy yields at different N fertilizer levels. The nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), defined as the ratio of biomass yield to N supply (sum of soil NO 3 61 –N and N fertilized) and the energy use efficiency (EUE) (net energy yield/energy input), were derived from data on biomass and bioenergy yields by the boundary line approach. For all three crops, NUE and EUE decreased with increasing N fertilizer rates. NUE and EUE were at all N and energy inputs highest for miscanthus and lowest for reed canary grass. At an N supply of 10002kg02ha 611 02a 611 , the NUEs of miscanthus, triticale and reed canary grass were 0.35, 0.14 and 0.1102t dry biomass/kg N, respectively. At an energy input of 1002GJ02ha 611 , the EUEs for miscanthus, triticale and reed canary grass were 54, 26 and 1302GJ bioenergy per GJ energy input, respectively. The highest net energy yields (here used as indicator for the land use efficiency) of triticale and reed canary grass were harvested at the highest N fertilizer level of 14002kg N, with maximum values of 281 and 12902GJ02ha 611 02a 611 , respectively. These results show that for triticale and reed canary grass, the maximization of NUE, EUE and land use efficiency are conflicting. Only for miscanthus, the N, energy and land use efficiencies were simultaneously highest at the lowest N supply level. A maximum net energy yield of 59002GJ02ha 611 02a 611 was harvested from miscanthus. It was concluded that the best way to maximize resource use efficiency in biomass production is to choose for the production of the perennial C4 crop miscanthus, at those locations that are suitable for miscanthus production.

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[15]
Li M T, Zhou Z X, 2016. Positive and negative ecosystem services evaluation and its spatial pattern analysis on urban landscape: A case study of Xi’an City.Acta Geographica Sinica, 71(7): 1125-1230. (in Chinese)Comprehensive assessment of the positive ecosystem services and disservices provided by urban landscape and evaluation of its contribution of different urban landscapes to total value of ecosystem services, are crucial to optimizing and regulating the urban landscape configuration and the eco- environment construction in rapid urbanization. Based on the knowledge of landscape ecology and ecosystem service and the Landsat images(OLI- TIRS)data, we valued the ecosystem services of urban landscape including its disservices and analyzed their spatial pattern of Xi'an urbanized area by building the models and employing software of ERDAS, Arc GIS10.1 in 2013. The results showed that:(1) The disservice value of urban landscape is remarkably higher than the positive ecological service value, and the net value is approximately-12.71 10~8yuan in Xi'an city. In the process of rapid urbanization, the positive service value of urban landscape dramatically decreased and the negative service took up a large proportion of total values resulting from the transformation from natural landscape to semi- artificial landscape and artificial landscape, 87.81% of the urbanized area provided for negative net value of ecosystem services, and only 12.19% of the area provided positive net services. The expansion of urban landscape dominated by large built- up area will inevitably lead to the decline in ecosystem service value.(2) The value of positive ecosystem services provided by urban landscape in Xi'an city varied from urban core area to urban fringe obviously, which is lower in central area than in fringe area; And the high value area close to the road and in the parks shows the mixed patterns with plaque and grid. The total value of negative ecosystem services in the inner area is higher than that in the urban fringe, and high value area is more concentrated in space. Natural landscape and semi- artificial landscape are the main providers of the positive ecosystem services in city.(3) The spatial distribution of the urban landscape fundamentally determines the spatial pattern of the comprehensive ecosystem services, and the mosaic of different urban landscape types reflects the spatial pattern of the positive and negative ecosystem services shaped by the patches and the chessboard structure.The nearer to the area of urban fringe, the higher the comprehensive ecosystem services value is. There are the high value areas where the forest, grassland and water were distributed or scattered in the park or along road side in the city.

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[16]
Liang L T, Zhao Q L, Chen C, 2013. Analysis on the characters of spatial disparity of urban land use efficiency and its optimization in China.China Land Sciences, 27(7): 48-54. (in Chinese)The purpose of this paper is to reveal the characters of spatial disparity of urban land use efficiency of the prefectural-level cities in China,and discuss the way of optimization.Methods used include DEA model and comparative analysis.The results include the measurement of urban land use efficiency,and the decomposition of pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency,as well as the source of the disparity.The conclusions include that 1) the average Land Use efficiency was low.The difference showed that it was related with the degree of economic development;2) the impact of pure technical efficiency on total efficiency was larger than that of scale efficiency;3) most Chinese cities were in the stage of increasing return in scale.Meanwhile,there was distinguished difference among cities located at different regions;4) there was obvious overlap of land input in current China,which could be ameliorated via changing the land supply mode.

[17]
Liu Y, Guo J B, Dong X Xet al., 2016. Evaluation of potential water conservation function of the soil of three land use types in Huoditang of Qinling Mountains, northwestern China.Journal of Beijing Forestry University, 38(3): 73-80. (in Chinese)In order to study the potential water conservation function of the soil of pine-oak mixed forest,the profiles were dug on the plots of three land use types in May of 2011,with the grassland and farmland as contrast. Then the soil physical properties, water-holding capacity and infiltration capacity were analyzed,and the potential water conservation capacity of soil was quantitatively evaluated by the method of comprehensive coordinate. Results showed that the order of soil bulk density from high to low was grassland( 1. 25 g / cm~3) farmland( 1. 22 g /cm~3) pine-oak mixed forest land( 0. 82 g /cm~3). The rank of soil total porosity from high to low was pine-oak mixed forest land( 87. 40%) grassland( 45. 87%) farmland( 38. 95%). The pine-oak mixed forest land had the best water-holding capacity and infiltration capacity,and the farmland had the worst. The result using the method of comprehensive coordinate showed that the potential water conservation function of the soil of pine-oak mixed forest land was the best while the farmland was the worst,suggesting that the Reversion of Farmland to Forest Program should be kept on so as to raise the soil water conservation capacity in this region. This study provides basic data for cognizing and comprehensively evaluating the ecological service function of the pine-oak mixed forest in Huoditang forest region of Qinling Mountains,northwestern China,and offer theoretical basis for the water source protection of the Project of Diversion of Water from South to North.

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[18]
Luo G H, Wu C F, 2003. Comparative study on urban land use efficiency.Economic Geography, 23(3): 367-370. (in Chinese)Land use efficiency is an important index to measure the level of land use. The paper discussed the connotation of land use efficiency and evaluation index first, then, in comparison, analyzed the current situation and existent problem of urban land use efficiency in China. It's followed by a model to evaluate the efficiency. It tried to offer reference to urban land intensive use and urban sustainable development.

[19]
Lyytimäki J, 2014. Bad nature: Newspaper representations of ecosystem disservices.Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 13: 418-424. (in Chinese)Public perceptions and expectations towards ecosystems are an important part of environmental management and planning. This article focuses on the media representations that disseminate information, create framings and influence public attitudes. More specifically, the focus is on print media representations of ecosystem disservices. Ecosystem disservices are functions or properties of ecosystems that cause negative effects on human well-being or that are perceived as harmful, unpleasant or unwanted. Results from a case study focusing on the Finnish newspaper coverage of ecosystem disservices are presented. The results show that a wide variety of harms and nuisances related to ecosystems are brought up and discussed by the media. Implications for environmental management are discussed. The key claim is that taking into account the full repertoire of media representations of ecosystem functions is vital for preventing, anticipating and solving controversies related to environmental management and planning.

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[20]
Ma F J, Egrinya Eneji A, Liu J T, 2015. Assessment of ecosystem services and dis-services of an agro-ecosystem based on extended emergy framework: A case study of Luancheng county, North China.Ecological Engineering, 82: 241-251. (in Chinese)An agricultural ecosystem provides provisioning, regulating and supporting services for humans. At the same time, it consumes the resources of other ecosystems, including the investment of economic resources and can generate useless or harmful services, collectively called dis-services. Here, we built a framework for assessing agricultural ecosystem services and dis-services based on emergy analysis of Luancheng County, China. We analysed the inputs and outputs of the agricultural ecosystem from the three aspects of consumption of resources, ecosystem services and ecosystem dis-services and explored the variations in inputs and outputs from 1984 to 2008. We then proposed composite indexes for measuring the sustainable development of the agro-ecosystem. Our analysis showed that the agricultural ecosystem consumed a lot of resources, especially the nonrenewable ones; provisioning services were the largest services and provisioning dis-services were the largest dis-services. Both provisioning services and dis-services increased yearly as purchased nonrenewable inputs increased. The overall evaluation of the Luancheng agricultural ecosystem showed it to be a serious consumer system and thus not developing sustainably. The farming community should take steps, such as controlling excess inorganic fertilizer input, increasing organic fertilizer use and improving water and fertilizer use efficiency to ensure sustainability.

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[21]
Meagan E S, Mary B, Margaret R Det al., 2014. A framework for evaluating ecosystem services provided by cover crops in agroecosystems.Agricultural Systems, 25: 12-22.Cropping systems that provide ecosystem services beyond crop production are gaining interest from farmers, policy makers and society at large, yet we lack frameworks to evaluate and manage for multiple ecosystem services. Using the example of integrating cover crops into annual crop rotations, we present an assessment framework that: (1) estimates the temporal dynamics of a suite of ecosystem services; (2) illustrates ecosystem multifunctionality using spider plots; and (3) identifies key time points for optimizing ecosystem service benefits and minimizing trade-offs. Using quantitative models and semi-quantitative estimates, we applied the framework to analyze the temporal dynamics of 11 ecosystem services and two economic metrics when cover crops are introduced into a 3-year soybean (Glycine max)-heat (Triticum aestivum)-orn (Zea mays) rotation in a typical Mid-Atlantic climate. We estimated that cover crops could increase 8 of 11 ecosystem services without negatively influencing crop yields. We demonstrate that when we measure ecosystem services matters and cumulative assessments can be misleading due to the episodic nature of some services and the time sensitivity of management windows. For example, nutrient retention benefits occurred primarily during cover crop growth, weed suppression benefits occurred during cash crop growth through a cover crop legacy effect, and soil carbon benefits accrued slowly over decades. Uncertainties exist in estimating cover crop effects on several services, such as pest dynamics. Trade-offs occurred between cover crop ecosystem benefits, production costs, and management risks. Differences in production costs with and without cover crops varied 3-fold over 10years, largely due to changes in fertilizer prices, and thus cover crop use will become more economical with increasing fertilizer prices or if modest cost-sharing programs are established. Frameworks such as that presented here provide the means to quantify ecosystem services and facilitate the transition to more multifunctional agricultural systems.

DOI

[22]
National Development and Reform Commission Price Division(NDRCP),2005. National Agricultural Product Assembly of Profit and Cost 2005. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)

[23]
National Development and Reform Commission Price Division (NDRCP), 2015. National Agricultural Product Assembly of Profit and Cost 2015. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)

[24]
Peng J, Jiang Y Y, Li Z G et al.Li Z G , 2005. Evaluation of land use efficiency.Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Basin, 14(3): 204-309. (in Chinese)

[25]
Peng Z H, Li X L, Ma Z F et al.Ma Z F , 2013. Studies on the regional comparison in agricultural economic benefits of Guizhou Province: Based on DEA analysis of data from four areas.Tianjin Agricultural Sciences, 19(11): 26-30. (in Chinese)This paper is based on the correlation analysis of input and output data of agriculture,forestry,animal husbandry,fisheries of four areas of Guizhou province,such as Liupanshui city,Anshun city,Bijie and Qianxinan. It was indicated that the efficiency of agricultural output and regional representation of the different modes of production in some year had important implications for agriculture industry structure optimization of Guizhou province. But the attention should also be paid to market effectiveness on the adjustment of agricultural structure,and combining with the local agricultural base and production conditions to determine the direction of the agriculture industrial structure optimization and mode.

[26]
Schipanski M E, Barbercheck M, Douglas M Ret al., 2014. A framework for evaluating ecosystem services provided by cover crops in agroecosystems.Agricultural Systems, 125(2): 12-22.Cropping systems that provide ecosystem services beyond crop production are gaining interest from farmers, policy makers and society at large, yet we lack frameworks to evaluate and manage for multiple ecosystem services. Using the example of integrating cover crops into annual crop rotations, we present an assessment framework that: (1) estimates the temporal dynamics of a suite of ecosystem services; (2) illustrates ecosystem multifunctionality using spider plots; and (3) identifies key time points for optimizing ecosystem service benefits and minimizing trade-offs. Using quantitative models and semi-quantitative estimates, we applied the framework to analyze the temporal dynamics of 11 ecosystem services and two economic metrics when cover crops are introduced into a 3-year soybean (Glycine max)-heat (Triticum aestivum)-orn (Zea mays) rotation in a typical Mid-Atlantic climate. We estimated that cover crops could increase 8 of 11 ecosystem services without negatively influencing crop yields. We demonstrate that when we measure ecosystem services matters and cumulative assessments can be misleading due to the episodic nature of some services and the time sensitivity of management windows. For example, nutrient retention benefits occurred primarily during cover crop growth, weed suppression benefits occurred during cash crop growth through a cover crop legacy effect, and soil carbon benefits accrued slowly over decades. Uncertainties exist in estimating cover crop effects on several services, such as pest dynamics. Trade-offs occurred between cover crop ecosystem benefits, production costs, and management risks. Differences in production costs with and without cover crops varied 3-fold over 10years, largely due to changes in fertilizer prices, and thus cover crop use will become more economical with increasing fertilizer prices or if modest cost-sharing programs are established. Frameworks such as that presented here provide the means to quantify ecosystem services and facilitate the transition to more multifunctional agricultural systems.

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[27]
Sieber J, Pons M, 2015. Assessment of urban ecosystem services using ecosystem services reviews and GIS-based tools.Procedia Engineering, 115: 53-60.In the past years, research topics like urban sprawl, ecosystem services and sustainable food, water and energy supply gained growing interest in the light of a changing climate. With regard to a continuously increasing number of people in fast expanding cities, so-called urban services and ecosystem services may see limitations and need to be subject to further examination. In this paper, the methodological approach how to combine ecosystem services and urban planning using the framework of an Urban Ecosystem Services Review will be discussed. Therein, different frameworks are interlinked in order to create an integrated approach for cities. The examples of air quality regulation, recreation and aesthetic appreciation are discussed in more detail. A case study in Singapore serves as a first practical implementation.

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[28]
Song G, Gao N, 2008. Economic benefit analysis of urban land utilization based on DEA method: A case of Harbin City.Scientia Geographica Sinica, 28(2): 185-188. (in Chinese)In recent years,the adjustment of administrative divisions has changed in the city land scale,the land utilization structure and its using way.Adopting scientific and effective methods in appraisal economic benefit of urban land utilization economic benefit become more important.This article takes landuse in Harbin built-up district as the object of research,combining Harbin development as well as the present situation of landuse and construct evaluating indicator system.It takes DEA(Data Envelopement Analysis) as method and operates with Matlab to appraise Harbin land utilization economic benefit from 2001 to 2005.According to the analysis result,it may be seen that Harbin City land utilization economic benefit level is ordinary and its land investment has been sufficient.Accordingly,the article proposes three facets to improve Harbin City land utilization economic benefit,such as strengthening the use of existing urban lands,as well as paying more attention to the investment ratio of different land types and the adjustment of the industrial structure.

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[29]
Toma E, Dobre C, Dona Iet al., 2015. DEA applicability in assessment of agriculture efficiency on areas with similar geographically patterns.Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia, 6: 704-711.Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a non-parametric research technique based on a mathematical optimization method. Since was first developed in -78, the method is used in various sectors of economy and at different levels (companies, counties, regions, etc.). Our purpose is to apply DEA at regional level by using various inputs and outputs to analyse the performance of agriculture practiced in plain, hill and mountain areas. Thirty-six counties were classified into three categories based on their geographical main characteristics, respectively: group I - with 50-100% plain areas (20 counties); group II - with 50-80% hill areas (8 counties); group III - with 50-80% mountain areas (8 counties). For these groups were computed, under input-oriented option, CRS and VRS technical scores from which we calculated scale efficiencies. This empirical research shows that exists clear differences of performance between areas with similar geographical characteristics in terms of production factors (work, land and mechanization) allocation and outputs. Our results show that there are only 14 counties (5 in plain areas, 5 in hill areas and 4 in mountain areas) completely achieving DEA efficiency and operate at their optimal scale. In conclusion, in majority of areas the overall efficiency of agriculture is not reached, these regions needing to decrease the input levels (especially work hours that are too high compared with productivity) or to increase the output levels (production value) through a better use of fix capital and higher yields.

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[30]
Wang K Q, 2004. An empirical study on the basic life security effectiveness of rural collective land to farmers in Shanghai: Also on the survival ethics phenomenon of farmers decision behaviour on land.Journal of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, 6(6): 10-17. (in Chinese)

[31]
Wang K Q, 2005. An empirical study of subsistence effectiveness of rural collective land on peasants in Jiangsu Province. Journal of Sichuan University (Social Science Edition), 5: 5-11. (in Chinese)There are six phases of effectiveness of rural collective land on peasants as in giving peasants subsistence,providing job opportunity,supplying direct income,endowing peasant children the right of succession,paying compensation based on requisition by governmental purchase and keepingal peasants from paying too much money to get collective land after aborting it. If the whole effectiveness of rural collective land on peasants is one, then the index for the above-mentioned six phases of effectiveness are 0.3862,0.1695,0.1972,0.03340,0.1796 and 0.03410. The factors affecting subsistence effectiveness of rural collective land on peasants are degrees of cultural cultivation, age, willingness to move from the country to cities, ratio between agricultural pure income and non-agricultural income ,sex, etc. Results of multi-regress model analysis prove that Scott-conclusion that peasants with small scale land make decisions according to survival ethic is right. We should gradually realize the transition from land security to social security.

[32]
Wang Y, Zhou Z X, 2014. Evaluation of urban agricultural land use efficiency based on urban agricultural multi-functionality: A case study of Xi’an City.Economic Geography, 34(7): 129-134. (in Chinese)Urban agriculture are multi- functional characteristics, which cover the production, economic, social and ecological functions and provide diverse goods and services, so the indicators on the ecosystem services of urban agriculture should which are important to enhance urban environment be contained when its land use efficiency comprehensively being assessed. The indicators of urban agricultural land use efficiency were built through drawing into the indexes of urban agricultural ecosystem services and evaluating their values in Xi'an city based DEA method in this paper, and analyzed the changes of urban agricultural land use efficiency in time and space. Results show that: 1 The economic efficiency of agricultural land use gradually increasing in Xi'an city from 2010 to 2012, and even reach to 1 in2011 and 2012; the social efficiency and eco-efficiency both are in good conditions, urban agriculture service functions increasingly significant;2The social efficiency of urban agricultural land use is higher than the eco-efficiency and the economic efficiency is the lowest, shows that the essential function of urban agricultural land should be its social and ecological functions, economic function of agriculture is no longer the most important pursuit of value;3The economic efficiency of urban agricultural land use is decreasing from urban core area to suburban and countryside in space, the social efficiency generally are high in whole region, the value of ecosystem services of urban agricultural land increased from the city to the suburbs, but the eco-efficiency are showing diminishing from the city to the surrounding counties,suburban area is the focus of regional urbanization regional agricultural ecosystem services building.

[33]
Xie G D, Zhen L, Lu C Xet al., 2008. Expert knowledge based valuation method of ecosystem services in China.Journal of Natural Resources, 23(5): 911-919. (in Chinese)Valuation of global ecosystem services by R Costanza(1997)has attracted attention of the Chinese ecological researchers over the years.And many Chinese scientists have been using the methods to valuate the ecosystem services for forest,grassland and farmland ecosystems.However,it has been turned out that there are several shortcomings in direct adaptation of the methods,for instance,some ecosystem services have been insufficiently valuated or even ignored via using Costanza's method.To fill this gap,we have,on the basis of Costanza's method,developed a new method or 'unit value' based method for assessment of ecosystem services.Expert interviews with structured questionnaire were contacted in 2002 and 2007 respectively,and altogether 700 Chinese ecologists were involved in the interviews for testing the method.It has been found that the values of ecosystem services from expert knowledge based unit value method and biomass based method are comparative.Therefore,expert knowledge based assessment of ecosystem services could be used as a method for assessing ecosystem services with known land use areas,and a good result could be generated within a short period of time.However,for scientifically sound and concrete results,the spatial disparity of ecosystem services should be taken into account.

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[34]
Xie G D, Zhang C X, Zhang L M et al.Zhang L M , 2015. Improvement of the evaluation method for ecosystem service value based on per unit area.Journal of Natural Resources, 30(8): 1243-1254. (in Chinese)Ecosystem service value is the base of decision- making for ecological protection,ecological regionalization and ecological compensation, and it appears the dynamic spatiotemporal changes which are closely connected with the variations of ecological structure and function. However, it is still lack of a universal and integrated dynamic evaluation method for ecosystem service value in China. Based on literature survey, expert knowledge, statistical data and remote sensing data, using model simulations and GIS spatial analysis method, this paper modified and developed the method for evaluating the value equivalent factor in unit area, and proposed an integrated method for dynamic evaluation on Chinese terrestrial ecosystem service value. This method can realize the comprehensive and dynamic assessment of ecosystem service value for 11 service types of 14 different types of terrestrial ecosystem at monthly and provincial scales in China. The preliminary application indicated that the total ecosystem service value was 38.1 1012 yuan in 2010, in which the value from forest ecosystem was the highest, accounting for about 46%, followed by water body and grassland. Among different ecosystem service types, the contribution from regulation function was the highest, especially the values from hydrological regulation and atmospheric regulation which accounted for about39.3% and 18.0% of total service value, respectively. Moreover, ecosystem service value presented apparent spatio- temporal patterns in China. Spatially, the ecosystem service value decreased from southeast to northwest and the highest value appeared in southeastern and southwestern regions. Temporally, the ecosystem service value for most of the ecosystems attained the peak in July and reached the trough during December and January except desert,barren and glacier ecosystem. Generally, although this established method still needs to be developed and optimized, it is the first to provide a relatively comprehensive approach for the spatio-temporal dynamic evaluation of ecosystem service value in China, which will be helpful to the scientific decision-making on natural capital rating and ecological compensation.

[35]
Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Statistics (XMBS), 2000. Xi'an Statistical Yearbook 2000. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)

[36]
Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Statistics (XMBS), 2007. Xi'an Statistical Yearbook 2007. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)

[37]
Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Statistics (XMBS), 2016. Xi'an Statistical Yearbook 2016. Beijing: China Statistics Press. (in Chinese)

[38]
Xianyang Municipal Bureau of Statistics (XYMBS),1999. Xianyang Statistical Yearbook 1999.

(internal data, unpublished)(in Chinese)

[39]
Xianyang Municipal Bureau of Statistics (XYMBS),2006. Xianyang Statistical Yearbook 2006.

(internal data, unpublished)(in Chinese)

[40]
Xianyang Municipal Bureau of Statistics (XYMBS),2015. Xianyang Statistical Yearbook 2015.

(internal data, unpublished)(in Chinese)

[41]
Yang Z Y, Wu C F, Jin X M, 2009. Comparative study on urban land use economic benefit based on DEA.Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Basin, 18(1): 14-18. (in Chinese)By using Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA),a comparative research on urban land-use benefit in 30 provincial capitals was carried out,from the aspects of urban land's inputs and outputs.The results are as follows:(1)Among 30 provincial capitals,Shanghai,Hangzhou,Guangzhou and Kunming are DEA efficient,but the rest are not;(2)While Nanjing and Harbin are in the development stage of decreasing scale merit,Shanghai,Hangzhou,Guangzhou and Kunming are in the development stage of invariable scale merit,the rest are in the development stage of increasing return to scale;(3)Benefit of land use is different in different provincial capitals,and increases from the west to the east.Besides,non-intensive land utilization exists at large.Finally,several effective measures for enhancing the benefit of urban land-use are put forward.

[42]
Ye M T, Wang Y L, Peng J et al.Peng J , 2008. Land use efficiency and regional differentiation in Shenzhen City, China.Resources Science, 30(3): 401-408. (in Chinese)Land use efficiency is one of the primary fields in urban land use study as it is an essential indicator for land use assessment.Land use efficiency refers to the direct outputs or effects brought by land use process.Land use efficiency is an integrated concept comprising four sub-systems: society,economy,ecology and environment.With rapid urbanization and industrialization,Shenzhen is facing serious land use-related problems.Based on the definitions of land use efficiency and the characteristics of urban development in Shenzhen,an indicator system for assessing land use efficiency was established using AHP,in which 21 indicators representing society,economy,ecology and environment were included.This paper presented the situation and trends of land use efficiency in Shenzhen city as well as its spatial variability.In addition,a coordination-degree model was created in order to evaluate the coordinated degree of each sub-system of land use efficiency.The results showed that land use efficiency in Shenzhen is of moderate.The coordinated degree is also increasing,from 0.0631 to 0.5412,and now at a moderate level.There are significant spatial variations among districts in terms of land use efficiency and coordinated degree.Futian and Luohu are among the highest in both,followed by Yantian.Nanshan is with higher coordinated degree and lower efficiency.Bao'an and Longgang are with moderate coordinated degree but lower efficiency.From 2000 to 2004,land use efficiency in all districts was increasing,while change of coordinated degree was irregular.The ultimate goal of land use in urban areas is to maximize and coordinate the land use system for higher efficiency.By assessing land use efficiency and coordinated degree as well as analyzing spatial variation,existing deficiencies are outlined.In addition,the analyses of land use efficiency provide a foundation for policy options.This research presents some additional approaches to improve land use efficiency.

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[43]
Yu X X, Lu S W, Jin F2005. The assessment of the forest ecosystem services evaluation in China. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 25(8): 2098-2101. (in Chinese)Forest, as the main body of land ecosystem, plays an important role in global ecosystem. The research on forest ecosystem services evaluation has been the focus of discussion. According to the fifth national investigation of forest resource(1994~1998) and the estimation method given by Costanza et al , the research has estimated that the total value of the eight forest ecosystem services in China is 30601.20 10~8 yuan/a, the indirect economic value is as 14.94 times as the direct economic value, and all kinds of forest ecosystems of unit acreage provides the average value of 23095.25yuan/(hm~2路a). The tropic provides the biggest value of 32417.45yuan/(hm~2 a) and the desert of temperate zone provides the smallest value of 12507.90yuan/(hm~2 a) in water storage, C fixation and O_2 release, nutrients cycle, air quality purifying and erosion control of forests. Among contribution of value of all ecosystem services, the order of value is below: C fixation and O_2 releaseair quality purifyingerosion controlwater storagenutrients cycletimber and other productsprovisioning of habitrecreation and eco-tourism. The aim of research is that the factors of natural resources and environment will be taken up by the business accounting system of national economy quickly, which provides the basis for realizing the green GDP in the end and provides the scientific basis for the policy of sustainable development and the protection of environment.

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[44]
Zhang J, 2014. Study on comprehensive assessment of land use efficiency in Hangzhou City.Journal of Northwest Normal University (Natural Science), 50(2): 115-120. (in Chinese)Based on the data of land,economy and ecology in Hanzhong during 2003-2011,24indicators are established for accessing land use efficiency from the aspects of economy,society and ecology.Using the models of efficiency and coordination degree for accessing land use efficiency,the economic efficiency, social efficiency and ecological efficiency of land use and coordinated degree among them are analyzed.The results show:comprehensive efficiency of land use is increasing since 2003,especially it is clearly rising after 2009.Currently,the coordinated degree of each sub-system of land use efficiency is of moderate in low land use benefits,ecology efficiency is low with a small fluctuation sometimes.Therefore the focus of land use is optimizing and strengthening the ecological efficiency in the future.

[45]
Zhang W B, Xu H Y, 2015. Evaluation on sustainable utilization of land resources based on the benefits and coordination degree of land use: A case study of Yumen City.Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 31(20): 109-112. (in Chinese)In order to provide decision making basis for the sustainable use of land resources, we establishedevaluation system based on efficiency of land use and coordinated degree. Entropy value method was used tocarry out the comprehensive evaluation on the sustainable utilization of land resources in Yumen City from2002 to 2012. The results indicated that:(1) integrated benefits of land use increased from 55.74 in 2002 to88.89 in 2012, representing an overall increase trend year by year, and the status of land use changed fromstarting to the basic stage of sustainable utilization;(2) coordination degree of land use benefit decreased from0.68 to 0.20, changing from relatively coordinated stage to uncoordinated stage. It was concluded that theoverall status of land use turned to be good during the study period, but the one-sided pursuit of economicbenefit in the process of social and economic development damaged the ecological and social benefits of landuse. Simply pursuit of economic development without taking ecological benefits into consideration in land usewas more and more obvious in Yumen City.

[46]
Zhou Z X, Qiu L H, 2011. Experimental study on effect of urbanization on service functions of ecosystems: A case study in southern suburbs of Xi’an City. Arid Zone Research, 28(6): 974-979. (in Chinese)The spatial pattern of urbanization controls the dynamic process of ecosystems.In this paper,the GIS and RS methods were used to carry out an experimental study on the effect of urbanization on the service functions of ecosystems after analyzing the spatial patterns of urbanization,service functions of ecosystems and interrelations among them in southern suburbs of Xi'an City.The conclusions are as follows: ① There was an obvious circular spatial pattern of urbanization in southern suburbs of Xi'an City,that is the farther the regions away from the built-up area of the city were,the lower the urbanization level was;② The farther the ecosystems away from the built-up area were,the stronger the service functions of ecosystems were,and the service value of ecosystem per hm2 was the lowest in the built-up area;③ There was a strong negative correlation between the comprehensive urbanization level and the total value of service functions of ecosystems.There were also the quite remarkable negative impacts of urbanization on the service functions of ecosystems,but the impacts were different from different service functions of ecosystems.There were the significant negative impacts on waste treatment,food production,soil formation and conservation and climate regulation in the study area,but the impacts on biodiversity conservation,raw material production and entertainment were not remarkable.

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[47]
Zhou Z X, Li J, Feng X M, 2013. The value of fixing carbon and releasing oxygen in the Guanzhong-Tianshui economic region using GIS.Acta Ecologica Sinica, 33(9): 2907-2918. (in Chinese)Quantitatively evaluating the functions of CO2 fixation and O2 production is important in the study of ecological systems.This article attempts to measure and evaluate the rate of carbon fixation and oxygen release in terrestrial ecological systems using remote sensing,to provide baseline data for the regional environment.Changing land use and land cover types influence vegetation composition and health,so understanding the effects of these changes on carbon fixation and oxygen production provides an important tool for monitoring ecosystem responses to environmental change.Solar radiation is the primary source for physical and biological processes in the atmosphere and on the surface of the earth.This is the only energy source used by green plants during photosynthesis.Green plants produce all organic assimilates through photosynthesis.Net plant productivity(NPP) is the total amount of organic matter accumulated by vegetation per unit area and time,and equals the difference between the carbon absorbed by photosynthesis and the carbon released by autotrophic respiration NPP reflects not only the productivity of a plant community in its natural environment,but also its ability to sequester carbon.The balance between carbon fixation and oxygen production plays a key role in global biogeochemical carbon cycles.So,carbon flows through an ecosystem are an important determinant of the ecosystem′s ability to act as a carbon sink.Using remote-sensing images and precipitation,temperature,and total solar radiation data from1998 to 2007,and a light utilization efficiency model,we studied the effects of changes in these parameters and land use and cover types on the ability of plants to fix carbon and produce oxygen in the Guanzhong-Tianshui economic region.The results show: 1) the economic value of carbon fixation is 22.635 billion yuan/a in the Guanzhong-Tianshui economic region.Over the past ten years,the highest value of carbon fixation was in 2005 at 30.173 billion yuan/a;the minimum was 15.906 billion yuan/a in 2002.By taking an average of the two measuring methods the value of oxygen released,the average value is 24.045 billion yuan/a,more than 1.41 billion yuan a-1 higher than the value of carbon fixation.2) From the perspective of land use types in the Guanzhong-Tianshui economic region,forestland grassland cultivated land other types.From 1998 to 2007,the value for farmland converted to forest land or grassland for average carbon fixation and oxygen production has increased by 1614.29 yuan · hm-2 · a-1 and 1,960.67 yuan · hm-2 · a-1,respectively.Forest land and meadow changed to cultivated land has had the average value for carbon fixation and oxygen production reduced to 1,081.37 yuan · hm-2 · a-1 and 1706.60 yuan · hm-2 · a-1,respectively.3) From a spatial distribution perspective,unit area value of carbon fixation and oxygen production in the southern counties is higher than in the northern counties of the Guanzhong-Tianshui economic region with the value gradually declining from the south to north.By examining the values of carbon fixation and oxygen production based on the NDVI data in various climate scenarios,we were able to explore the influences of land use and cover changes on carbon fixation and oxygen production,as well as the effects of climate change.Carbon fixation and oxygen production in northern China′s agriculture and animal husbandry region and the endangered central loess region—which has serious soil erosion and high evaporation rates is—declining in value.Therefore,study of this fragile ecological environment is relevant.

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