Land Degradation & Development最新文献

{"title":"Exploring the Coupling Relationship and Driving Factors of Land Use Conflicts and Ecosystem Services Supply–Demand Balances in Different Main Functional Areas, Southwest China","authors":"Weijie Li,&nbsp;Jinwen Kang,&nbsp;Yong Wang","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5293","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ldr.5293","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Conflicts between different types of land use, driven by rapid urbanization, are altering ecosystem services supply–demand balances (ESDB), and the reduction of ESDB will threaten regional sustainable development and human welfare. However, there are few studies on the interrelationships and their drivers between land use conflicts (LUCs) and ESDB from a coupling perspective, especially in different main functional areas. Therefore, this study focused on Southwest China. Firstly, the coupling coordination degree model was employed to measure the ESDB-LUCs relationship and analyze its dynamic changes from 1990 to 2020. Then, the RDA method was used to explore the driving factors of the ESDB-LUCs relationship in different functional areas (i.e., urban development area (UDA), agricultural development area (APA), and ecological protection area (EPA)). The results show that the LUCs index displayed a downward trend in the SW during 1990–2020, with a decreasing distribution pattern from the northeast to the southwest. The ESDB index exhibited a downward and then upward trend, with an increasing distribution mode from the northeast to the southwest. There was a spatial dependence between LUCs and ESDB. The type of coupling coordination between LUCs and ESDB was dominated by moderate coordination, with the index showing a spatial pattern of UDA &gt; APA &gt; EPA. Among these, the proportion of cropland and the proportion of urban land were the main factors influencing the degree of coordination of the UDA (explanation rate &gt; 80%), showing positive and negative effects, respectively. The proportion of forestland and the proportion of cropland were the main factors influencing the APA and EPA (explanation rate &gt; 70%), with negative and positive effects, respectively. Therefore, mitigating the conflict between cropland and urban land, cropland and forest land is essential to achieve ecosystem balance in the SW.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"35 17","pages":"5237-5253"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142362784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Landscape and Soil Erosion Changes Along Different Types of Road Over the Past 30 Years in the Largest Loess Tableland of China","authors":"Siqi Yang, Zhao Jin, Mingkui Hao, Chengcheng Jiang, Hao Han, Zhisheng An, Paolo Tarolli","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5315","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5315","url":null,"abstract":"Road construction, as a product of modern civilization, can alter landscape patterns and accelerate erosion, especially in the loess tableland area of China with fragile eco‐environment. Different types of road could change land surface and increased soil erosion in different ways, while knowledge about this topic is limited. In this study, our objective is to evaluate the landscape and soil erosion changes along different types of road in the largest loess tableland of China. Results showed that: (1) The land use type became more diverse along the three types of road in 1990–2020, leading to increased landscape fragmentation and spatial heterogeneity. (2) Different types of road had different proportions of soil erosion values. In the expressway and provincial road, the proportion of low soil erosion values (below 100 t ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> yr<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>) was &gt; 70% in 1990–2020; in the national road, the proportion of low erosion values (below 100 t ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> yr<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>) was &gt; 50%. (3) In 1990–2020, soil erosion increased with the increase of road‐induced landscape fragmentation along the three types of road. For the expressway, soil erosion value increased from 91.5 to 98.5 t ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> yr<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> between 1990 and 2020; for the national road, soil erosion value increased from 174.5 to 184.8 t ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> yr<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>; and for the provincial road, soil erosion value increased from 93.7 to 97.1 t ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> yr<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>. (4) Effective soil and water conservation programs could mitigate erosion. Compared with the simulated soil erosion value, the actual soil erosion value decreased along the expressway, national road, and provincial road by 1.21, 3.67, and 2.96 t ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> yr<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>, respectively, between 2005 and 2020. This study emphasizes the importance of road in aggravating erosion and the effectiveness of soil and water conservation programs in mitigating soil erosion within the loess area.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142362876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-Term Biochar Application Improved Aggregate K Availability by Affecting Soil Organic Carbon Content and Composition","authors":"Zhengrong Bao,&nbsp;Wanning Dai,&nbsp;Han Li,&nbsp;Zhengfeng An,&nbsp;Yu Lan,&nbsp;Hang Jing,&nbsp;Jun Meng,&nbsp;Zunqi Liu","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5285","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ldr.5285","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Straw biochar is an effective amendment at improving soil aggregate structure and increasing soil carbon and potassium (K) content. However, little information is available on the relationship between soil organic carbon (SOC) and aggregate-associated K distribution under long-term biochar application conditions. To address this, a field trial established in 2013 was used to examine the impact of biochar (B₀: 0 and B₁: 2.625 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) and K fertilizer (K₀: 0 and K₁: 60 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) on the variation in soil aggregate K and reveal the associated influencing factors. A total of four treatments (B₀K₀, B₀K₁, B₁K₀, and B₁K₁) were included in this study. The soil analysis results obtained in 2021 showed that after 9 years' amendment, B₁K₁ increased the aggregate exchangeable K (EK) and nonexchangeable K (NEK) pools by 27.40% and 39.55%, respectively, and the increment was primarily because biochar enhanced &gt; 0.25 mm aggregate fractions and strengthened soil K⁺ adsorption capacity, which benefit from a synergistic increase in SOC and humic acid (HA) content by biochar. ¹³C NMR analysis showed that long-term biochar applications altered the chemical composition of SOC, with an outcome of increased aromaticity and hydrophobicity but decreased the lipidation of SOC, indicating that the complexity of SOC molecular structure was enhanced and eventually contributed to strengthening the macroaggregates stability and soil K⁺ adsorption capacity. The correlation analysis revealed that soil aggregate EK and NEK contents were positively correlated with SOC and HA contents, which further proved that increase of SOC and soil HA is a significant mechanism for biochar ameliorate soil aggregate-associated K availability.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"35 17","pages":"5137-5148"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142362785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-Term Effects of Arable and Tree Cropping Systems on Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics in a Tropical Agroecological Transition Zone","authors":"Peter Bilson Obour, Ohene Asa Bosompem, Kwadwo Owusu, Eric Oppong Danso, Finn Plauborg, Emmanuel Arthur","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5322","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5322","url":null,"abstract":"Continuous cropping can affect soil carbon and nitrogen stocks and litter decomposition, but research on smallholder farms in Africa is limited. This study, conducted from 2020 to 2023 in Ghana's forest-savanna transition zone, examined four cropping systems: continuous maize monocrop (M), maize rotated with legumes (ML), young cashew intercropped with maize or legumes (YCM/L), and mature cashew (MC). The objective was to assess the long-term impact of the cropping systems on soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrogen (N) stocks, and soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition rates using the tea bag protocol. Results showed significant variability in SOC and N stocks across the systems. At a 0–15 cm depth, SOC in the MC and M systems was 160% and 149% higher than in the YCM/L system. At 15–30 cm, SOC in the M and MC systems was 86% and 132% higher than in YCM/L. Soil nitrogen stocks followed a similar trend, with MC and M systems showing 94%–199% higher values than YCM/L at both depths. SOM decomposition rates for green and rooibos tea in the MC and ML systems were statistically similar after 90 days of incubation (<i>p</i> &gt; 0.05). This study, the first to use the tea bag protocol in Ghanaian soils, revealed that mature cashew and sustainable practices, such as adding maize stover, can enhance SOC and N stocks in highly weathered tropical soils. These findings underscore the potential for specific cropping systems to improve soil health on smallholder farms.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142360581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variation Patterns and Affecting Factors of Plant Alpha Diversity, Beta Diversity and Its Components in Restoration Grasslands on Loess Plateau","authors":"Chunxia Jian,&nbsp;Yang Luo,&nbsp;Junjie Zhou,&nbsp;Bingcheng Xu","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5287","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ldr.5287","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Understanding spatiotemporal variation in diversity and identifying key external affecting factors are essential for biodiversity conservation. However, community assembly and species diversity in natural grassland (NG) restoration on the Loess Plateau remain unclear. In this study, we examined α diversity (species richness), β diversity (βtotal), and its components (βrepl and βrich) across 89 grassland communities, which were categorized into five restoration stages: recent grassland (RG), early restoration (ER), middle restoration (MR), later restoration (LR), and NG. Linear mixed models (LMM) were used to analyze the effects of topographic, soil, and landscape factors on diversity. Results showed that α diversity followed an increasing-decreasing trend across restoration stages (7–21 species m⁻²), peaking at the MR stage. In contrast, β diversity and its two components declined with duration, with βtotal and βrepl being notably higher in ER than in LR and NG. Differences in βtotal primarily resulted from species replacement (βrepl, 61%–70%), with a smaller contribution from species gain and loss (βrich, 30%–39%). The LMM also revealed that restoration stage was the most important factor affecting plant diversity, explaining 59.3%, 68.4%, 53.5%, and 58.8% of richness, βtotal, βrepl, and βrich, respectively. In comparison, landscape had weaker effects on diversity (17.2%, 24.2%, 46.5%, 39.8%), while topography and soil factors had the least effects. In summary, deterministic processes (restoration stage) dominate natural restoration, but substantial differences persist between restoration grassland and NG. This study provides valuable insights for assessing restoration progress, prioritizing conservation areas, and informing future grassland management in semi-arid and fragmented regions.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"35 17","pages":"5162-5176"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142360580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impacts of Urbanization on Economic Development and Ecological Protection of the Wuhan City Circle, China","authors":"Yiting Li,&nbsp;Chunbo Huang,&nbsp;Shuangshuang Liu,&nbsp;Jing Cheng,&nbsp;Yang Xiang,&nbsp;Changhui Peng","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5298","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ldr.5298","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The conflict between economic development and ecological protection in land use (LU) has been a significant and widely discussed topic. The city circle concept has been proposed to promote economic growth through its strong agglomeration effect. It contains the core city and its surrounding area, and economic activities and ecosystems are highly intertwined within this geographic unit. Meanwhile, population, industry, and infrastructure are often concentrated within the urban sphere, which results in a concentrated demand for land, water, and ecosystem services. As a result, LU conflicts are more pronounced in urban areas. Here, we used gross domestic product (GDP) and gross ecosystem product (GEP) to reflect economic and ecological levels, then linked LU change into the coupling relationship between GDP and GEP of the Wuhan City Circle (WHCC), China, to analyze the economic and ecological developments of WHCC. Finally, we constructed a partial least squares structural equation modeling to explore the key drivers affecting the coupling of real GDP and GEP. Our results revealed significant LU changes between 1990 and 2020 for the WHCC. Paddy fields, dry lands, and some forestlands decreased, while built-up lands and water areas both increased. Real GDP of the WHCC increased from $1.04 × 10⁶ in 1990 to $3.04 × 10⁷ in 2020. While the GEP of the WHCC increased during 1990–2010 and decreased during 2010–2020. Additionally, GEP exhibited a significant spatial heterogeneity, with high GEP concentrated in the central and southeastern regions. Moreover, we constructed a conceptual model for coupling real GDP and GEP, then used structural equation modeling to reveal their relationship. Real GDP had a positive effect on GEP. Furthermore, the proportion of construction land and ecological land as intermediate variables played an important direct and indirect role in real GDP and GEP. Consequently, landscape planning was proposed to enhance the green infrastructure of the WHCC. Our findings provide a reference and experience on land resource allocation for maintaining sustainable development in the city circle.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"35 17","pages":"5308-5326"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142329936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil Nutrients Inversion in Open-Pit Coal Mine Reclamation Area of Loess Plateau, China: A Study Based on ZhuHai-1 Hyperspectral Remote Sensing","authors":"Hongyu Wang,&nbsp;Juan Wang,&nbsp;Rongrong Ma,&nbsp;Wei Zhou","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5291","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ldr.5291","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Soil nutrients are crucial to assess land reclamation quality, and the use of various types of remote sensing data for soil nutrient inversion has been a key focus for soil monitoring. However, fewer studies have been conducted using satellite-based hyperspectral remote sensing. To explore the potential of satellite-based hyperspectral remote sensing in soil nutrient monitoring, this study selected soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium content data from 83 sample sites using ZhuHai-1 hyperspectral data. After spectral transformation and feature extraction, various inversion models were constructed, including partial least squares regression, support vector machine, recurrent neural network, and random forest. After verification by accuracy, the best spectral-model combination was used for inversion. The results showed that the <i>R</i>-squared range of the inversion models was 0.67748–0.78115. High content areas of soil organic matter and available potassium exhibited concentrated and contiguous features, while high content areas of total nitrogen and available phosphorus were more fragmented and fine-grained. Alfalfa grassland plays a vital role in improving reconstructed soil in the early reclamation stage, and agricultural activities have differential impacts on soil nutrient accumulation. This study provides a theoretical basis for verifying the application capability of ZhuHai-1 hyperspectral satellite data in soil monitoring.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"35 17","pages":"5210-5223"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142330229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Controlling Soil Erosion of Tailings From Rare Earth Mines With Paspalum wettsteinii and Soil Amendments","authors":"Yanzi He, Zhiyuan Tian, Zhujun Gu, Bingxiao Wu, Yin Liang","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5313","url":null,"abstract":"Rare earth elements are crucial for applications in aerospace, electronics, petrochemicals, and metallurgical industries. However, as rare earth mining expands, their tailings accumulate, leading to severe soil erosion and threatening of the local ecology. This study aimed to investigate the impact of planting <jats:italic>Paspalum wettsteinii</jats:italic> and soil amendments, including superabsorbent polymers (SAPs), organics, minerals, and urea, in controlling soil erosion. Six treatments, each with four replicates, were implemented on micro‐runoff plots on rare earth tailings: (1) bare slopes, (2) bare slopes repaired with composite soil amendments, (3) grass slopes, (4) grass slopes repaired with SAPs, and grass slopes repaired with (5) low or (6) high amounts of composites. Over 11 months, natural rainfall patterns, vegetation coverage, runoff yield, and sediment yield were monitored on the tailings' slope. Initially, plant growth was slow on bare slopes (56% vegetation coverage at 130 days), but it significantly improved with soil amendments (74% vegetation coverage on grass slopes repaired with SAPs and 97% vegetation coverage on grass slopes repaired with composites at 52 days). Adding composites onto bare slopes marginally reduced runoff and sediment yields by 3% and 16%, respectively. Vegetation, especially when combined with composites, significantly reduced runoff by 77% and sediment by 96%, while supplementing planting with SAPs decreased runoff by 41% and sediment by 88%. Planting without any amendments resulted in lower reductions of 26% in runoff and 81% in sediment. The results of the structural equation model showed that SAPs and fertilizers indirectly reduce sediment yield by increasing vegetation cover, with fertilizers also exercising a positive direct effect on sediment regulation. Our findings highlight how SAPs coupled with organic and inorganic fertilizers promote plant growth and erosion control, as applying these composites alone is less effective in controlling erosion on bare slopes. These results have promising implications for the ecological restoration of rare earth tailings.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142325519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of Ecological Vulnerability Control Strategies for Typical River Valley Cities in Northwest China: A Perspective of Spatial Heterogeneity","authors":"Yujie Zhu, Kang Hou, Yue Chang, Xuxiang Li, Kexin Yang","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5320","url":null,"abstract":"The spatial heterogeneity of ecological vulnerability (EV) is a key indicator of regional ecosystem differentiation. However, identifying the factors that contribute to this heterogeneity remains a challenge in current research. This study proposed the “Ecological vulnerability‐spatial heterogeneity‐zone” (ESHZ) framework as a solution to overcome the difficulties of monitoring spatial heterogeneity. Then, based on the typical river valley city Baoji in Northwest China as the research object, this framework was used to analyze and predict the evolution law of heterogeneity of EV from 2000 to 2030. The findings indicate the following: (1) Synthesized ecological vulnerability index (SEVI) in 2000 and 2020 was 2.47 and 2.49, respectively, with less than 5% of the total area transitioning to areas of higher EV, indicating a relatively stable ecological environment. (2) The clustering characteristics of EV remained stable, primarily showing non‐significant, high–high, and low–low clustering, with varying degrees of heterogeneity across different regions. (3) Factors analysis revealed that DEM and LUCC had been the dominant factors of EV, and that interactions between factors were stronger than interactions within them, suggesting that its spatial heterogeneity was the result of a combination of factors. (4) The CA‐Markov model predicted a gradual improvement in the ecological environment by 2030, with a Kappa coefficient test value of 0.7733. The framework constructed in this study proposes a perspective for improved analyses of spatial heterogeneity of ecosystems, providing a viable approach to the management of regional ecological vulnerability.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142325399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microplastics in Urban Soils From Different Land Use Activities of Cyberjaya (Malaysia): Exploring Occurrence, Relationships, Sources and Pollution Level","authors":"Sarva Mangala Praveena,&nbsp;Nik Munirah Nik Mohd Zaidi,&nbsp;Ayu Lana Nafisyah,&nbsp;H. G. Lingaraju","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5294","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ldr.5294","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>As human activities continue to increase, the production and utilisation of plastics have become pervasive, leading to a surplus of plastic waste in the environment. This has turned the terrestrial ecosystem, encompassing soil, into a significant receptacle for the growing accumulation and discharge of plastic waste. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate the occurrence, relationships, sources and pollution levels of microplastics in urban soils from different land use activities in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. Surface soil samples were collected from land uses (i.e., vacant areas, residential areas, commercial areas, construction areas and roadways). These surface soil samples were analysed for microplastic occurrence using density separation, microscopy and spectroscopy methods. The microplastics particles were analysed for size, colour and shape. Selected microplastics particles were also analysed for its plastics polymers using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Microplastics occurrence ranged from 0.3 to 1.5 particle/kg, with the highest average occurrence in the construction area (0.69 particle/kg) and lowest in the vacant area (0.33 particle/kg). Microplastics particle size was shortest in commercial areas (586.08 μm) and longest in vacant areas (793.78 μm). There were no similarities between microplastics occurrence and particle size across these different land use activities, suggesting that the microplastics occurrence in urban soils depends on external disturbances during each land use activity. Significant correlation between microplastic particle size and temperature (<i>r</i>\u0000 ² = 0.517) showed that each land use activity is influenced by external disturbances. The <i>I</i>\u0000 _geo values showed that the microplastics pollution level in urban soils is classified as uncontaminated to moderately contaminated. Microplastic particles in urban soils were found in various shapes (i.e., fragments, films and fibres) and colours (i.e., transparent, grey, blue, red, green, purple, black, white and yellow) along with plastic polymer types (i.e., ABS, PET, PP, PE and PS) due to traffic volume, tyre wear, mismanaged plastic waste and degradation rate. This study highlights the need for pollution management and waste disposal to avoid urban environmental problems and adverse health effects.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"35 17","pages":"5254-5266"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142325786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}