Making full use of agricultural resource endowment, determining the planting suitability of areas for different crops according to the environment and human activities, and optimizing planting structure are important ways to ensure stable increases in crop yield and improve food production capacity. 

In a study published in Science of The Total Environment, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) and their collaborators analyzed the dual influences of the environment and human activities and the suitability of different areas in the Songhua River Basin (SRB) for the production of different crops, using the geographic distribution information on different crops and the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. 

They found that population density, distance from road to cultivated land, normalized difference vegetation index, and total phosphorus are the main factors affecting crop distribution, with human activity factors dominating and playing a decisive role in the distribution of crop suitability areas. 

Furthermore, the densely populated areas and areas with convenient transportation are highly suitable areas for main crops in Songhua River Basin, indicating that demand for food crops and economic benefits are the driving forces of human planting behavior. 

Under the joint influence of the environment and human activity, the total unsuitable area of the four crops became much more extensive, with the unsuitable area of soybean being the largest and the smallest for wheat. The highly suitable area was largest for wheat. Suitable distribution areas for all four crops were mainly located in the center of the basin (Songnen Plain) and in a wedge in the northeast corner (Sanjiang Plain). 

“The relationships between different crops and environment and human activities revealed that crop suitability distribution is mainly determined by human activities, rather than the environment,” said BAI Yang of XTBG. 

The study provides a scientific basis for optimizing crop layout and improving the planting system, ensuring the security of food production. 

Contact 

BAI Yang Ph.D Principal Investigator         

Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China              

E-mail: baiyang@xtbg.ac.cn