case study of land evaluation

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Research Article

A land-use benefit evaluation system with case study verification

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, China

Roles Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Roles Methodology, Visualization

Affiliation College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Roles Data curation, Validation

Affiliation Ministry of Ecology and Environment Center for Satellite Application on Ecology and Environment, Beijing, China

• Haiyuan Sun, 
• Linlin Cheng, 
• Zhuo Li, 
• Qiyuan Wang, 
• Jiahua Teng

• Published: July 29, 2022
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271557
• Reader Comments

In regional land-use planning, many different demands for often-limited land resources must be weighed against each other. Analysis of the benefits of different land-use types is of great significance in land-use design. However, a good evaluation methodology does not exist. To facilitate a comparative analysis of land-use benefits, this paper presents an evaluation system consisting of four steps: (1) Connotation dissection to determine the land-use benefits, (2) construction of a land-use benefit classification system to summarize a limited number of land-use benefit types by an inductive method, (3) land-use benefit valuation, which includes a biophysical model, direct and indirect market valuations, and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity value conversion method, and (4) case analysis of the evaluation results according to local conditions. Empirical results from a case study of Mentougou District, Beijing, China, show that (i) the evaluation results of land-use benefit groups provides information on each land-use type and the spatial distribution of land-use benefits in Mentougou District, (ii) the topography of Mentougou District has an important influence on economic and ecological land-use benefits, and (iii) there is a synergistic effect of economic and social land-use benefits.

Citation: Sun H, Cheng L, Li Z, Wang Q, Teng J (2022) A land-use benefit evaluation system with case study verification. PLoS ONE 17(7): e0271557. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271557

Editor: Eda Ustaoglu, Gebze Teknik Universitesi, TURKEY

Received: October 19, 2021; Accepted: June 21, 2022; Published: July 29, 2022

Copyright: © 2022 Sun et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: Land use data, land price data, and Regulation for gradation on agriculture land quality of China GBT28407-2012. were collected from Beijing Municipal Commission Mentougou substation of Planning and Natural Resources ( http://ghzrzy.beijing.gov.cn ) [ 47 – 48 ]. Soil data and ecosystem monitoring data were obtained from the National Science and Technology Infrastructure of China ( http://www.cnern.org/index.action ) [ 49 – 50 ]. Meteorological data were derived from China Meteorological Data Service Center( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 51 ]. Digital Elevation Model (DEM), solar radiation data, and other remote sensing data were mainly obtained from USGS Earth Resources Observatory and Science (EROS) Center ( http://eros.usgs.gov/# ) and China Meteorological Data Service Center ( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 52 – 53 ]. Socio-economic data were retrieved from Beijing Mentougou Statistical Yearbook (2011), Beijing Statistical Yearbook (2011), China Yearbook of Agricultural Price Survey (2011), Price Yearbook of China (2011), China Water Conservancy Yearbook (2011), China Forestry Statistical Yearbook (2011), the Agricultural Information Network of China ( http://www.agri.cn/ ), and China Air Emissions Tariffs [ 54 – 61 ]. Several types of statistical values of the ecosystem services were derived from the TEEB official database ( https://www.cbd.int/incentives/teeb/ ) [ 62 ].

Funding: This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NO.41877533) and Social Science Foundation of Beijing, China(NO.18GLB014). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1 Introduction

Land is a basic requirement for human existence and has great ecological, socio-cultural and economic value [ 1 ]. In regional land-use planning and decision-making, specific land-use arrangements and layouts are often made to achieve specific objectives [ 2 , 3 ]. Many different demands for often-limited land resources must be weighed against each other. In such decision processes, comprehensive and objective evaluations of the economic, social, and ecological benefits of land use can provide a scientific foundation for land-use design.

There has been a number of fruitful studies in this field. The methods employed include not only conventional methods such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP), expert consultation, artificial neural net (ANN), and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method (FCE), but also new methods such as geographic information system(GIS), remote sensing technology and spatial econometric models [ 4 – 9 ].The application of the new methods pays more attention to visual analysis [ 10 ]. The perspective of land-use benefit evaluation often focusses on a single or selected several aspects of land use [ 11 , 12 ]. Andrea analyzed flood-prone land-use benefits by the income per unit area from seasonal agriculture and the net income per fisherman from wild fish capture in Candaba, Philippines [ 13 ]. Luan evaluated the spatial and environmental benefits of green space ecosystem services in a local rural context [ 14 ]. These depend upon the observational perspective used, which in turn depends on the observer’s analytical purpose.

Scholars’ studies have laid a solid foundation for follow-up research, but the land-use benefit evaluation system for land-use planning has not emerged. There are several reasons for this phenomenon [ 15 , 16 ]. First, and perhaps most importantly, land-use planning is multi-objective and difficult to evaluate from multiple perspectives. This is due to the diversity of regional socio-economic development needs. Second, ecological and social benefits have public attributes, which are not captured in conventional, market-based economic analyses. A final reason is the multi-disciplinary nature of land. It is difficult for a certain discipline to deeply study all of the benefits, and we need to overcome many obstacles and cross many disciplinary bridges. Based on the above analysis, this paper dissects the meaning of land-use benefits, in which perspectives of related disciplines needed to construct a land-use benefit classification system are identified. Then, a land-use benefit evaluation system is reconstructed by an inductive method and applied to Mentougou District of Beijing.

2 The basic connotation of land-use benefits

From the beginning of agrarian society and through the industrial society, to the post-industrial society, humankind has changed land-use to improve the amount, quality, and security of natural resources. The sustainable development of human society not only relies on the supply capacity of land but also on the coordination of land-use functions [ 17 , 18 ]. As a complex nature-society-economy system, land carries out the matter cycle, information transfer, and energy flow within itself and with the surroundings. It is on the basis of these artificial or natural ecological processes that the various services that land is endowed with are derived. Land-use benefits , therefore, can be defined as the goods and services obtained from land-use. This description is further interpreted in Fig 1 .

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271557.g001

As shown in Fig 1 , ecosystems consist of microbes, plants, animals, and the abiotic environment. They have multilayer structures and complex processes that are often classified into a limited number of ecosystem functions: i.e., regulation, habitat, and production [ 1 , 15 , 16 ]. These ecosystem processes provide, directly or indirectly, the services (e.g., climate regulation, aesthetic information, waste treatment) and goods (such as food, timber, minerals) necessary for the sustainable development of human society. Land-use is an important way for human beings to attain services and goods from the ecosystem, which are known as land functions and landscape functions [ 1 , 15 , 19 ]. In the light of the purposes and natural characteristics of land, human beings take biological and physical measures to carry out long-term and periodic management of land to actively or passively obtain ecosystem services and goods. For example, in agro-ecosystems, humans actively obtain agro- products for food through land cultivation techniques, and agro-ecosystem s also provide humans with water regulation, waste treatment, and so on. Human being, directly or indirectly, transforms these services and goods into human well-being- i.e., security, good social relations, the basic material conditions for maintaining a high quality of life [ 17 , 20 ]. Yet, mankind also promotes the evolution of the ecosystems to better serve human beings through land-use decision-making and coupling of biophysical processes, ensuring that ecosystems sustainably contribute to human well-being.

3 Land-use benefit evaluation system

3.1 construction framework of the land-use benefit classification system.

Land-use is an important way for human beings to attain services and goods in order to meet human needs ( Fig 2 ). From the perspective of land science, ecology, and landscape science, land-use benefits are indirectly or directly reflected in the ecological, economic, and social functions of land, landscape functions, and the ecosystem goods and services provided by the ecosystem [ 1 , 15 , 16 ]. Therefore, an inductive method was employed in our study to summarize the existing classifications of ecosystem goods and services land functions, and landscape functions. Then, land-use benefit types were selected from the summarized results in line with the types of human well-being, and were merged according to the principle of natural homogeneity. Finally, the land-use benefit types were divided into economic, social, and ecological benefits according to the differences in their characteristics.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271557.g002

(1) The interdisciplinary basis of the construction of land-use benefit classification system.

Ecosystem services has attracted the attentions of many scholars and research projects since the concept was introduction in the 1970’s [ 1 , 16 , 18 , 21 – 23 ]. According to Costanza, ecosystems have 17 functions [ 16 ]. De Groot divided ecosystem functions into four main categories: regulation, habitat, production, and information, which are further divided into 23 specific functional sub-categories [ 21 ]. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) also divides ecosystem functions into four main categories (regulation, habitat, production, and information functions) and 28 functional sub-categories, which are similar to de Groot’s categories [ 23 ]. While there are many differences in ecosystem function classifications, all valuations of ecosystem services are based on land-use types and their areas. Therefore, land-use types, patterns, and intensity are widely recognized as the important factors to estimating the value of ecosystem services.

A landscape is a spatially heterogeneous mosaic of natural, societal, and economic elements. A landscape pattern formed by the arrangement and combination of different land-use types generates corresponding ecological processes that affect ecosystem’s material migration, energy flows, and information transfer. Landscape functions, essentially, are vitally related to ecosystem functions, and can be used to describe different kinds of landscape goods and services. Based on research on ecosystem services, de Groot divided landscape functions into regulation, habitat, production, information, and carrier functions, and further divided them into 23 specific functional sub-categories [ 15 ]. Lovell divided landscape functions into three main categories from the perspective of landscape multifunctionality [ 24 ]. Willemen classified the landscape functions into residential, intensive livestock, drinking water, cultural heritage, tourism, plant habitat, arable production, and leisure cycling from the view of multiobjective programming [ 19 ].

Land function refers to the capacity of land to provide goods and services [ 25 ]. Yet, no comprehensive and unified land function classification system has emerged. Paracchini attempted to classify land functions into three broad basic categories—economic, environmental, and social functions- and nine specific subcategories [ 26 ]. Based on the characteristics of human activities, Chinese scholars and government agencies classify land functions into three main types: production, living and ecological functions [ 27 ]. From the perspective of economics, land functions can be classified into seven categories [ 28 ]. Zhang classified land functions into ten subcategories on the basis of production, living, ecological functions [ 29 ].

(2) Land-use benefit classification system.

Ecological benefits refer to the beneficial effects of services and goods on the environment. Consequently, gas regulation, climate regulation, water regulation, nutrient regulation, pollination, species diversity, net primary productivity, soil retention, disturbance prevention, and waste treatment were classified as land-use ecological benefits. Economic benefits are the direct economic values of products and services in transactions. As a result, water, food, medicinal resources, raw materials, ornamental resources, energy minerals, and products and services were classified as land-use economic benefits. Social benefits that have no explicit markets refer to the beneficial effects of services on the quality of human experience. Habitation, transportation, employment security, basic living security, recreation and aesthetic information, historic information, science, education, cultural and artistic information were classified as land-use social benefits. See Table 1 for details.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271557.t001

3.2 Methodological system of land-use benefit evaluation

There are established methods for evaluating 19 of the types of land-use benefits, but none for the following five: historic information, recreation and aesthetic information, medicinal resources, ornamental resources, science, education, cultural and artistic information. Therefore, we used the The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)—value conversion method to evaluate them.

(3) Medicinal resources and ornamental resources.

(4) Raw materials and species diversity.

(5) Energy minerals.

Where V x is the energy minerals value provided by land-use type x per area annually, Y i is the case area’s yield of minerals or energy sources i , T i is the price of minerals or energy sources i , S x is the area of land-use type x used for minerals or energy sources production.

(6) Products and services.

(7) Habitation.

(8) Transportation.

(9) Recreation and aesthetic information, historic information, science, education, cultural and artistic information.

(10) Employment security and basic living security.

(11) Gas regulation.

(12) Climate regulation.

(13) Water regulation.

Where V x is the water regulation value provided by land-use type x per area annually, Q x is the amount of conserve water in land-use type x per area, CR is the construction cost of the unit reservoir storage, ϵ is the rate of rainfall intercepted by vegetation, P x is average annual precipitation, G x is the dry weight of forest floor, L x is field water-retaining capacity of the forest floor, D x is the vertical extent of soil, A is the soil porosity, and I x is the surface water storage. For the relevant parameters setting, refer to Mo [ 35 ].

(14) Nutrient regulation.

(15) Pollination.

(16) Net primary productivity (NPP).

Where NDVI x is the normalized difference vegetation index , P is the annual precipitation, ∑ θ is the active accumulated annual temperature (>0°C).

(17) Soil retention.

(18) Disturbance prevention.

(19) Waste treatment.

Where V x is the waste treatment value provided by land-use type x per area, V x 1 is the atmospheric cleaning value, V x 2 is the water cleaning value, Y h is the amount of contaminant(i.e., sulfur dioxide, fluoride, nitrogen oxides, suspended dust) absorbed, T h is the contaminant treatment expense, h stands for sulfur dioxide, fluoride, nitrogen oxides, and suspended dust, Y g is the average amount of nitride and pnictide absorbed by water, T g is the treatment expense of nitride and pnictide per unit of sewage, g stands for nitride and pnictide. For purification capacity parameter settings, refer to Zhang and Qian [ 45 , 46 ].

4 General situation of the case area and data sources

Mentougou District is known as the western gate of Beijing and is located in the transition zone between the North China Plain and the Inner Mongolia Plateau. About 98.5% of its territory is mountainous. The topography of Mentougou District slopes from north-west to south-east. Mentougou has a rich diversity of geomorphy, consisting of middle and low-altitude mountains, river valley terraces, and floodplains, which create regional microclimates and spatial soil variations. With up to 70% of its territory covered with forest and grass, Mentougou District is both an important ecological shelter and water protection area for Beijing and is an ideal space for leisure and tourism. Mentougou District is also known as the western backyard garden of Beijing. It is a key region for the sustainable development of Beijing but it also faces serious conflicts between regional economic and ecological land users.

To calculate Mentougou’s land-use benefits, four types of data were used in this paper: land data, remote sensing data, socioeconomic data, and ecosystem monitoring data. Land use data, land price data, and Regulation for gradation on agriculture land quality of China GBT28407-2012 . were collected from Beijing Municipal Commission Mentougou substation of Planning and Natural Resources ( http://ghzrzy.beijing.gov.cn ) [ 47 , 48 ]. Soil data and ecosystem monitoring data were obtained from the National Science and Technology Infrastructure of China ( http://www.cnern.org/index.action ) [ 49 , 50 ]. Meteorological data were derived from China Meteorological Data Service Center( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 51 ]. Digital Elevation Model (DEM), solar radiation data, and other remote sensing data were mainly obtained from USGS Earth Resources Observatory and Science (EROS) Center ( http://eros.usgs.gov/# ) and China Meteorological Data Service Center ( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 52 , 53 ]. Socio-economic data were retrieved from Beijing Mentougou Statistical Yearbook (2011), Beijing Statistical Yearbook (2011), China Yearbook of Agricultural Price Survey (2011), Price Yearbook of China (2011), China Water Conservancy Yearbook (2011), China Forestry Statistical Yearbook (2011), the Agricultural Information Network of China ( http://www.agri.cn/ ), and China Air Emissions Tariffs [ 54 – 61 ]. Several types of statistical values of the ecosystem services were derived from the TEEB official database ( https://www.cbd.int/incentives/teeb/ ) [ 62 ].

The results of land-use benefits for each land-use type in Mentougou District are presented in Table 2 . In land-use planning, many different demands for often-limited land must be weighed against each other. In this weighing process, the land-use benefits of each land-use type play an important role. Stakeholder appeal must be taken into account in the analysis and selection of land-use planning [ 63 , 64 ]. Woodland, grassland, and water conservancy land can reap the highest ecological benefits. On the basis of Mentougou Zoning Planning (Territorial Space Planning) (2017–2035) , Mentougou is defined as an ecological conservation district in the western part of the capital Beijing. Therefore, to boost the production capacity of eco-products, ecological control zone is designated, the exploitation of forest and grassland is strictly restricted, an ecological control zone is designated, the exploitation of forest and grassland is strictly restricted, and ecological reconstruction of abandoned mining land and the harnessing of river channels are promoted. Scenic sites and special land can deliver an attractive balance among social, economic, and ecological land-use benefits and achieve a high level of comprehensive land-use benefits. As an ideal space for leisure and tourism for Beijing, tourism auxiliary facilities are improved and land in a suitable position would be developed into scenic sites to boost the quality of the tourism industry. In addition, transportation benefits are one kind of land-use benefit that is indispensable to prosperity and economic development. They can only be obtained from transportation land. In Mentougou District, the supply of transportation land is being increased to increase the transportation benefits according to the land-use planning Mentougou Zoning Planning (Territorial Space Planning) (2017–2035) .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271557.t002

In addition, land-use planning analysis and selection procedures are also bounded by natural conditions, location, culture, economy, and other internal and external factors. The plain, with high land-use social benefits, economic benefits, and comprehensive benefits, is entirely located in the east of Mentougou District, which point to the fact that it is the location of the local government as well as the regional business center. This phenomenon can be related to objective requirements of regional socioeconomic development [ 66 ]. There is a coupled or synergistic effect of economic and social land-use benefits. Often, economic sectors tend to have better employment security capability. Besides, income growth also influences human livelihoods, healthcare and education capacity, and associated facilities for scientific research, which generate good social benefits. Then, the improvement of regional social benefits undoubtedly improves production conditions and leads to a further agglomeration of factors of production, further promoting regional economic benefits. The middle and low mountain areas in the central and west regions of Mentougou District, which are mainly planted trees and grasses, are the main source of regional ecological benefits. The diverse landscape of middle and low mountain areas,95% of Mentougou District, has created regional microclimates that are suitable for the growth of trees and grass.

6 Discussion

6.1 interrelationships of land-use benefits.

Although each kind of land-use benefit was evaluated separately, they may be affected by multiple other land-use benefits. In our study, dependency relationship, superposition relationship, and repulsion relationship were found to be three main types of interrelationship among land-use benefits.

Dependency refers to the agglomeration, adsorption, synergy, and scale effects of land-use activities. In the natural world, an ecosystem’s habitat functions, production functions, and information functions depend on its regulation functions, which is an important theoretical foundation for the implementation of engineering measures. The delimitation of nature reserves and the implementation of reforestation projects in semi-arid areas, for example, are practical applications of dependency [ 15 , 67 , 68 ]. Modified dependency is an important way to increasing the diversity of land-use activities and plays a key role in regional socioeconomic development [ 69 ]. The key to modified dependency relationship is the spatial layout of land-use types, which is an important guideline to scientific socioeconomic measures; e.g., for urban planning, the layout of industrial and agricultural production, urban and rural planning. For example, building business and financial centers and accommodation and catering sites near urban settlements is conducive to agglomeration, adsorption, synergy, and scale effects.

Superposition relationship is similar to dependency relationship, but has own its traits, and highlights spatial sharing. The key to a superposition relationship is to eliminate the incompatible land-use benefits and embed other potentially compatible land-use benefits in the same land-use type. The main aspects are: ( i ) It should be recognized that a single land-use type can provide different kinds of land-use benefits. For example, wetlands provide valuable ecological benefits to human society [ 18 ]. These benefits consist of species diversity, climate regulation, water regulation ( ii ) It is a very important goal to alleviate land-use conflicts to transform enclosed spaces into open, active, and compatible spaces [ 70 ]. For example, a scenic spot’s space should be shared with the local residents.

A repulsion relationship is based on exclusive land occupation. exclusive land occupation. It pays greater attention to a single kind of land-use benefit. There are multiple objective requirements for repulsion relationships, ranging from defending land property rights and caring for human health and safety to safeguarding ethics and general welfare. Yet, repulsion relationship inadvertently and directly triggers the low-density land development and the spatial sprawl of artificial buildings. For example, the replacement of arable land and forest land by residential land directly displaces and renews all the kinds of land-use benefits, but low-density rural residential land has exacerbated regional land-use conflicts.

6.2 Advantages and limitations of the land-use benefit evaluation system

In practice, the land-use benefit evaluation systems that simply combine single indicators have various advantages, including low data quality requirements, low professional knowledge requirements for their users, acceptable operating costs, and the realization of policymakers’ goals [ 10 , 14 , 71 ]. Yet, these land-use benefit types also own disadvantages. Logic analysis, especially when all the land-use benefits of the same level are listed in detail, can become easily confused, and some kinds of land-use benefits cannot be easily measured by simple indicators. Although these land-use benefit evaluation systems can reflect the main goals of policymakers in practical applications, they may lead to unsustainable development, especially if policymakers neglected other reasonable land-use benefits, such as soil retention [ 17 ].

Our study was devoted to making a comprehensive system for evaluating the benefits of all land-use types. The study inherits some advantages of traditional research and the latest research results of the ecosystem services framework. It is necessary to emphasize one potential assumption, as well as the biases derived from the evaluation results. The potential hypothesis is that the land-use benefits of the same land-use types in the same zone are at the same. This potential hypothesis makes full use of statistical data in the calculation and simplifies the calculation. However, it ignores the spatial heterogeneity of land. Generally speaking, the goods and services produced by land in different geographical locations differ according to the differences in the soil characteristics and environment. In addition, biophysical models, equivalent factor methods, direct market valuation, and marketing value methods are proposed to meet the needs of land-use benefit evaluation [ 22 , 41 , 72 ]. Land-use economic benefits are often estimated by direct market valuations and equivalent factor methods, while land-use social and ecological benefits are most estimated by biophysical models, equivalent factor methods, and indirect market valuation. However, it is worth pointing out that there are still large uncertainties in the current research of land-use benefits due to the limitations in the theories, scientific knowledge, and technologies. Significant uncertainties in biophysical models persist in terms of data quality, parameter settings, and model applicability. Marketing value methods are considered more reliable, whereas indirect marketing value methods, such as contingent valuation and group valuation, are typically subjective. The use of equivalent factor methods is simple, but they have some drawbacks; e.g., spatial heterogeneity is ignored, high levels of professional knowledge are required by their operators, and they can be expensive to implement. Therefore, equivalent factor methods are not broadly adopted by policymakers [ 4 ].

7 Conclusion

In this paper, the land-use benefit classification system consisting of three primary types and 24 secondary types of benefits was reconstructed. Drawing on relevant research on evaluation of land functions, ecosystem services, and landscape functions, the evaluation function group of land-use benefits is systematically integrated. It is split into seven functional subsets of land-use economic benefits, seven functional subsets of land-use social benefits, and ten functional subsets of land-use ecological benefits.

M An example of the application of land-use benefits analysis is given based on a case study done in Mentougou District. The empirical result suggests that the evaluation result can precisely reflect the economic, social, and ecological benefits of each land-use type. Meanwhile, it also found that topography of Mentougou District determines the distribution of land-use benefits. Land-use economic benefits per area in the eastern plain are high, while the woodland and grasslands, which are dominated by mesic and low mountain landscapes, are the greatest contributors to regional ecological benefits. Synergetic effects between land-use economic and social benefits were found. The above results provide an aid for land resources managers in Mentougou District.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments for the data support from "Soil Science Data Center, National Earth System Science Data Sharing Infrastructure, National Science & Technology Infrastructure of China. ( http://soil.geodata.cn/ )" and "National Earth System Science Data Center, National Science & Technology Infrastructure of China. ( http://www.geodata.cn )".

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• Published: 27 October 2022

Assessment of land suitability using a soil-indicator-based approach in a geomatics environment

• Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman 1 ,
• Ahmed M. Saleh 2 &
• Sayed M. Arafat 2  

Scientific Reports volume  12 , Article number:  18113 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Metrics details

• Climate sciences
• Environmental sciences
• Natural hazards
• Plant sciences

The study aims to develop new approach for soil suitability evaluation, Based on the fact that choosing the proper agricultural sites is a requirement for good ergonomic and financial feasibility. The AHP included a selection of different criteria used for analysis and categorized according to their usefulness in relation to the growth conditions/requirements of the selected crops. Lithology, soil physicochemical, topography (slope and elevation), climate (temperature and rainfall), and irrigation water were the main criteria selected for the study. The study indicated that the area is suitable for agricultural use, taking into account the quality of the water used to maintain the quality of the soil. According to the FAO the suitability result was for S1 (0.71%), S2 (19.81%), S3 (41.46%), N1 (18.33%) and N2 (19.68%) of the total area. While the results obtained from the new approach for the study 9.51%, 30.82%, 40.12% and 19.54 for very high, high, moderate, low and very low suitability respectively, Taking into account that the constraints units of FAO is located in very low suitability class with 0.69% of the total area which Not valid for crop production due to some restrictions. The findings of the study will help narrow the area to the suitable sites that may further be sustainably used for annual and/or perennial crops. The proposed approach has high potential in applications for assessing land conditions and can facilitate optimal planning for agricultural use.

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Introduction.

Agriculture is one of the main pillars on which the Egyptian economy depends, as it contributes significantly to the development and advancement of society 1 . The state pays great attention to trying to achieve self-sufficiency in some strategic crops such as wheat, rice and corn. Agriculture in Egypt in its contribution becomes a significant contribution to the national economy, as the agricultural sector obtains the jobs of many of the total workers in Egypt, and the agricultural sector supports the majority of the population living in the neighboring areas 1 , 2 .

Land suitability assessment, frequently carried out to ascertain whether kind of land use is suited for a specific region, is the first phase in agricultural land use planning 3 . A technique for evaluating a piece of land called land suitability assessment identifies the main barriers to growing a particular crop 4 , 5 . Both qualitative and quantitative evaluations are included in the assessment of land suitability. Climate, hydrology, terrain, vegetation, and soil qualities are taken into account in the qualitative land suitability assessments 6 , whereas the results of the quantitative assessment are more precise and the yield is estimated 7 . For determining the suitability of a piece of land, many people have employed the FAO land evaluation framework 8 , 9 , 10 and physical land evaluation methodologies 11 .

There are many methodologies for evaluating the land and measuring the suitability of crops, all of which are characterized by specific inputs, and are not subject to a shortage or increase in the number of inputs. Its inflexibility is considered a negative. Hence, the thought was to create a new methodology that would have flexibility in terms of the number and diversity of inputs, and consider the environmental inputs an essential component in the evaluation. A piece of land must be suitable for a particular use in order to be considered suitable. The land may be taken into consideration in its current state or following upgrades. The evaluation and classification of certain land parcels according to their appropriateness for predetermined applications is the land suitability classification process. Evaluation of site appropriateness can help with better land management, reducing land degradation, and establishing land use patterns that avoid environmental issues by separating competing land uses 12 , 13 .

One of the important things that the Egyptian state pays attention to is increasing the cultivated area on the El Dabaa axis, which is a lifeline connecting western Egypt with Cairo. The crops that thrive in this region are very high in numbers such as wheat, maize, vegetables and fruits. The research will address a number of them from the point of view of sustainability, especially that the entire region is irrigated with slightly high salinity groundwater 14 . Agriculture in desert areas is a great challenge to nature 14 , 15 , 16 , as the extreme temperatures rise, and the lack of essential nutrients for the soil, the plant loses the ability to grow properly, however, it is possible to grow agricultural crops in desert areas and improve, or even raise, their production, if water and nutrients are provided for their growth. Arid and semi-arid regions especially need to pay more attention to the effects of climate change and potential food security adjustments. The best adaption choices were picking a genotype that is resistant to stress and shifting the planting date 17 .

The land of the study area is considered one of the best types of arable desert land, and it is noticeable that there is a layer of the Tafla (shale deposits), weather was Clay stone, Mud stone or Silt stone, at a distance of 50–70 cm, since that area was considered a passage for the Nile River since a previous period of time, which helps to develop agriculture in it and confirms that most of the crops are good 14 , 18 . The most important crops on which wheat, beans, lentils, quinoa, fodder, alfalfa, corn and soybeans are grown, on which animal production and oil industry projects are based. Irrigation water is a determining factor and a major factor in the productivity of crops, whether field or horticultural. Undoubtedly, water quality and quantity, climate, soil type, sector depth and soil permeability determines the amount of water used as well as the quality of the cropping structures used in the region. Therefore, the research methodology in assessing the suitability of land for agriculture focused on the factors that affect the amount of water consumption. This is based on the fact that the only source of irrigation water used in the region is groundwater 14 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 .

At present, the study is an aspect of the field of precision agriculture and therefore considered a promising approach to increase productivity without environmental impact as it maintains soil health and increases crop yields as soil testing helps determine the amount of soil nutrients that are added to its fertility and needs of crops.

One of the factors affecting crop yield is soil fertility, which is affected by nutrients availability 14 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 .Sustainable agriculture involves producing a crop in an enabling environment that enhances and improves the production of field/horticultural crops 12 . Determining the proper placement of crops needs a proper land assessment; to match the crops requirements with the land quality 18 . The integration of agricultural practices and appropriate spatial information has resulted in enhanced crop production. Appropriate crops have been selected using computers before with soil, climatic, lithology and landform variables as determinants 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 . For these reasons, GIS is considered a useful tool that must be adopted by the agricultural sectors in national development because of its interactive and clear ability in building sound decisions 34 that create profitable agricultural management systems. Where this technology was nominated and recommended by Petja et al. 35 for use in agricultural life. It has also been applied to many crops, as in previous studies, such as wheat 36 and for soybean, sugar cane and oil palm by Stickler et al. 37 while for rice, cassava, and yam by Abah and Mareme 38 in Nigeria, also for rice, maize, coconut, mango, bananas and potatoes by Adornado et al. 39 . While Mugo et al. 40 used GIS for green gram production. Rice was assessed for suitability by Kuria et al. 41 and Kihoro et al. 42 . AbdelRahman et al. 13 used GIS for the assessment of land capability and its suitability for different field/horticulture crops i.e. (cotton, finger millet, groundnut, rice, sorghum, soyabean, banana, cashew, coconut, and mango) and Tercan et al. 43 improve a model for hazelnut. However, little has been done to determine the suitability of growing field/horticultural crops in the desert lands of Egypt. To fill this gap, the current study assessed the land in the selected area in terms of appropriate use of agriculture for sustainable field production. Also, this method is suitable for use on narrow scales, as it works on large scales, due to the presence of flexibility in the inputs, which allows the opportunity to apply under different types of land inventory.

In an effort to apply GIS technology, the study aimed to assess the suitability of cultivating perennial (horticulture) and annual (field) crops based on critical factors considered to influence their growth using GIS. This was achieved by defining soil properties, climatic and topographical characteristics, irrigation water properties and land capability for irrigation and using GIS tools to produce output maps (soil fertility maps and crop suitability maps). The study also included the use k for the study were evaluated and grouped according to their importance in improving crop production.

This approach helps to determine the suitability and quality of the land in order to make the best possible use of the site and to preserve the natural resources for future generations. In this case, it is very important to identify viable agricultural land, and land use planning should be carried out for a rational analysis and evaluation of soil and land resources using today's technologies. The objective of the current investigation is to identify suitable sites for annual and/or perennial using (AHP) in GIS environment. Therefore, weighted linear combination method is used and a pair-wise comparison matrix is developed for the selected parameters. Then, an integrated AHP in GIS environment is adopted in aggregate crops site selection.

Materials and methods

The study area is located in the north of the Western Desert, in the Directorate of Wadi Al-Natrun in the south of Beheira Governorate. It falls between 29°54′00ʺE–30°20′00ʺE and latitudes 30°22′00ʺN–30°00′00ʺN on the western outskirts of the Nile Delta (Fig.  1 ). It covers an area of 160,000 hectare. Land in the region is distinguished by gently and undulating surfaces and occasionally very smooths cliffs. Soil survey during the field work showed the existence of landscapes consisting of valley terraces and valley depressions with longitudinal sand dunes on the southern edge of the area.

Location of the study area and soil sampling sites.

The climate for the year 2020 was having maximum average maximum daily temperature of 37 °C while minimum of 20 °C, while the mean precipitation of 2020 was about 10 mm. The is arid continental with average annual temperature of 20.4 °C and average annual rainfall 102 mm of the last 30 years. Figure  2 and Table 1 data indicate that the soil temperature regime is thermic and soil moisture regime is torric. The soil texture is mostly homogeneous consisting of sandy loam to loamy sand and in some subsoils contains chill layer. The deep subsurface layers of most soil profiles contain gypsum crystals and a few lime deposits. Most of the layers are made up of sand-based material with loose construction. Bulk density ranges from 1.4 to 1.6 g/cm 3 . The sub surface layer 60–120 cm of soil material is very cohesive shale with a high percentage of salts and gypsum.

The monthly temperatures and precipitation of the study area in 2019. [Collected from Wadi El Natrun station from (1986) to (2016)].

Experiment design and data collection

Analytical tools and supporting materials used in the current study are: Both primary data (soil analysis data) and secondary data (environmental data) (Table 2 ) were weighted percentages of the relevant criteria. Conoco geological map 44 , (scale 1:500,000), merged topographical mapping at scales of 1:50,000 and 1:100,000, Landsat 8 OLI imagery 2021 used to quantify land use/land cover, DEM generated from ASTER resolution 1 arcsecond (about 30 m), data The numerous maps utilized in this study were created using ENVI 5.1, ERDAS Imagine 14, Global Mapper software, and Arc GIS 10.5. IDRISI 19.0.2 ( https://www.lib.sfu.ca/find/other-materials/data-gis/idrisisoftware ) was also used to generate the pair-wise comparison matrix for the factors.

Data management and analysis

Figure  3 shows the methodological procedures used to evaluate sites for suitability of different crops. Study the degree of suitability of crops and selection of suitable sites that require classification of selected factors and formulation of weighted criteria using a GIS approach 45 .

Data processing flow chart for generating land evaluation maps.

The topographic data obtained from different sensor data of the DEM (12.5, 30, 90 M) were combined with those obtained from paper topographic maps and elevation points obtained from field visits during the study. The result was a continuous surface, which formed a bitmap, from which the slope data was derived with high accuracy.

Following Ryan et al. 46 a potentiometric method was used to determine Soil pH using a high impedance voltmeter on a soil suspension of 1:2 (soil: water). While a potentiometric method was used to determine the soil Electrical conductivity (EC). Also, the hydrometer method 47 was used to determine Soil texture while the percolation test was used to determine drainage on the farmer fields.

Mapping suitable sites for perennial/annual crop production

According to AbdelRahman et al. 18 , Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation was used to create thematic maps of the study area. Climate (temperature and precipitation), soil properties i.e. (EC, pH, ESP, OM, texture, drainage, CaCO 3 , CEC, AWHC, FC, BD, and PD), Irrigation Capability Index, surface soil temperature, evapotranspiration, topography (elevation and slope) and landscape were used to determine the current/potential suitability for horticulture/field crops production. These traits were ranked and given a number ranging from 0 to 100 (Table 3 ).

Standardization and reclassification of criteria

Figure  3 shows the steps used to produce study maps, for each of the criteria used has its relative importance arising from determining the weight of each criterion. The weight of the indicators (criterion) allows obtaining a reasonable comparison due to the unification of the reference of indicators with different scales and backgrounds in measurements. Hence it is possible to obtain a common criterion for applying weighted superposition to each of the input criteria. This was achieved using spatial analysis tools 48 .

Applying multi-criteria assessment and weighting factors

To assign weights to the various criteria, AHP approach of Multi Criteria Evaluation (MCE) was utilized. Using information from literature reviews, a pairwise comparison matrix was created for the criteria. On a scale of 1 to 9, in terms of importance, each criterion was compared to the others 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 (Table 4 ).

When a factor is compared to itself, it has a signed value of unity, but when it is compared to another factor, it has any value within the Saaty's range, and the factor it is compared to have the reciprocal value. The approximate eigenvector (max) was produced using the criteria weight and weighted sum value, and this was employed in the consistency ratio (CR) calculation [Eq. ( 1 )] 53 .

where CI = Consistency index and RCI = Random consistency index. In AHP, the judgement matrix that is the pair wise comparison is only considered consistent if the CR is less than 0.01. The CI values were calculated using Eq. ( 2 ) 53 .

Overlaying map layers

Crop requirements were matched with land attributes to assess the study area's crop production potential; the weights created by the AHP technique were applied to the reclassified thematic maps/layers of each variable soil, topography, agro-climatic map, and land use map. After doing a weighted overlay analysis with spatial analyst tools (GIS), the weighted maps/layers were overlaid, and a suitability map was created.

Land suitability units

Using GIS and modelling tools, the land suitability model was created. Using a parametric method, the lands were categorised 11 . The parametric technique uses many ratings to define characteristics of the land and climate. According to the Sys table, the determining factors for land suitability in this method are ranked between a minimum and maximum value (often between 0 and 100) 11 . A feature will receive a score of 100 if it is very influential and 0 otherwise. These rankings are displayed using formula ( 3 )'s letters A, B, C, etc. Equation ( 3 ) was used to calculate various features and land indices 54 .

To determine different characteristics and land indexes the following equation is used.

where, R min is a parameter with a minimum rank, And A, B, C …is parameters rank influencing the land suitability.

The selected climatic, topography, and soil parameters were compared pairwise using expertise views and then processed using AHP. To generate the AHP matrix, values ranging from 1 to 9 were assigned to each factor based on their relative importance, as outlined by Saaty 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 . The scale ranges from 1 to 9, with 1 indicating equal importance and 9 indicating exceptional importance. The matrix is then constructed (Tables 5 and 6 ) in order to determine priority weights from the pairwise comparison matrix and eigenvector values using the formula below.

where w 1 is the sum of row for pairwise comparison and n is the size of matrix.

The consistency ratio (CR) was calculated to verify the consistency of comparison as:

where CI is the consistency index, n is the number of elements being compared in the matrix, λ max is the largest or principal eigenvalue of the matrix

where CR is the consistency ratio, CI is the consistency index, RI is the random index.

If the CR ≤ 0.10, it means that the pairwise comparison matrix has an acceptable consistency. Otherwise, If CR ≥ 0.10 it means that pairwise consistency has inadequate consistency according to Bozdag et al. 55 . Following the criteria weight, the standardized criteria were aggregated by using weighted overlay, and suitability maps were then produced according to:

Physical land suitability procedure

FAO 8 , 9 for land suitability ensures qualities/characteristics are matched with each specific crop requirement in order to determine the suitability class of land for the same crop. Then, land parameters such as climate, erosion risk, wetness, soil physical qualities, soil fertility and chemical properties, and topographical data were compared to Sys et al. 11 , 54 target crop requirements and their adaptation to region conditions. To build raster suitability maps for each parameter for target crops, interpolation with a pixel size of 10 m was employed to produce final suitability maps for the crops.

A new approach for soil suitability assessment

Based on the idea that soil is the most essential element in terrestrial ecosystems in arid, semi-arid, and dry zones 56 , weighting factors were assigned to each category of the examined criteria, which were adopted from Medalus project methodology, based on OSS 57 . Tables 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 demonstrate the suggested suited assigned indices for different categories of each parameter, based on the notion of Ferrara et al. 58 .

From the equation below, the adjusted soil Quality Index (SQI) can be determined and classified into the categories indicated in the Tables 5 , 6 and 7 .

where I p index of parent material, I t index of soil texture, I d index of soil depth, I s index of slope gradient, I EC soil salinity, I pH index of soil pH below about 5.6 is considered low for most crops. Generally, the ideal pH range is between 6.0 and 7.0., I ESP index of Exchangeable Sodium Percentage , I CEC index of soil's cation exchange capacity , n number of parameters used. The equation modified to be flexible to include all soil parameters which could affect soil quality and consequently influence the result of soil suitability.

The adapted soil Fertility Index (SFI) could be calculated on basis of the following equation, and classified according to categories shown in Tables 5 , 6 , 7 and 8 .

where I p index of parent material, I t index of soil texture, I pc index of soil physicochemical, I s index of slope gradient, I Ca index of Calcium carbonate in soil. I OM index of soil organic matter, I b index of soil bulk density, I w index of soil water properties (FC, AWHC…), n number of parameters used.

Vegetation quality was a direct indicator for the soil health condition, quality and fertility conditions. plant cover, drought resistance and erosion protection to the soils are three facets reflect soils conditions 41 . The main source for mapping vegetation and plant cover classifications was satellite photographs. As indicated in table, appropriate rating values for each of the erosion protection, drought resistance, and vegetative cover classes were adapted based on OSS 57 Table 9 . The Vegetation Quality Index (VQI) was calculated using the equation below, and VQI was categorised using the ranges shown in Table 10

where: I Ep index of erosion protection, I Dr index of drought resistance and I Vc index of vegetation cover). I RS index of remote sensing indices (NDVI, …), n number of parameters used.

The Climatic Quality Index (CQI) was calculated utilising variables that affect plant water availability, such as rainfall, air temperature, and aridity, as well as climate dangers that may limit plant growth that was stated by Thornes 59 . Table 11 shows the climatic quality index categorization groups according to OSS 57 . The Aridity Index (AI) is used to assess the climate quality index, and it is calculated using FMA's approach in accordance with the formula below. The CSI was calculated using rainfall and evapotranspiration data from 33 metrological stations in the current study as follows:

where: P is average annual precipitation and ETP is average annual Potential Evapo-transpiration.

Calculating Soil suitability Index

where SI a is the actual/current suitability index

where SI p is the potential suitability index and S is the suitability calculated by Eq. ( 7 ).

The Ranges and classes of desertification sensitivity index are illustrated in Table 12 .

Spatial variation of investigated soil properties

The sampling sites were between − 19 and 197 m above sea level. This discrepancy in height led to a clear discrepancy in the values of the samples, and in spite of that, the material of origin affected the study area with the convergence of the values of clay sand, and CaCO 3 .

Soil texture is related to long-term soil fertility and quality. Texture ranges from sandy to loamy sand; the texture of the soil indicates the quality of the porosity of the soil, which shows the weak and medium capacity for water holding capacity, increased gas diffusion, and rapid water movement through the soil sector. Calcareous soil dominates the area with more than 10% CaCO 3 . The carbonate defines the soil; it has a high pH, ranging from 7.5 to 8, depending on the other soil minerals that naturally occurring chemicals. Fertilization troubles are caused by a high pH (Fig.  4 and Table 13 ). The desert region is characterized by poor nutrients, but it is noticeable that the percentage of organic matter and nutrients has increased in the eastern region, which has long periods of cultivation in the last decade. It is noticeable that the agricultural management used in the area improved most of the soil properties. (Fig.  4 and Table 13 ).

Spatial variation of investigated soil properties.

Spatial variation of ground water TDS and land use/land cover

TDS of up to 500 mg/l is the highest desired level, and up to 1500 mg/l is the maximum permissible level, according to WHO guidelines. The TDS value in the research area ranges from 94.01 to 1898.21 mg/l. It is noticeable that there is an agreement between the distributions of agriculture in the region with the distribution of salinity of the ground water.

Ground water is the only source in the region for irrigation (Fig.  5 ).

Spatial variation of ground water TDS and LULC.

The field points were used in the work of supervised classification to obtain the ground cover of the area, which contains; annual crops (13), perennial crops (17%), fallow land (28%), bare soil (43%), and urban less than 1% (Fig.  5 ).

Land suitability

The application of the two methods resulted in differences in the areas as shown in Table 14 and Figs.  5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9 . A clear difference was found in the areas, as shown in Table 13 , due to the entry of new factors into the assessment of suitability, especially management using modern methods of agriculture, as well as entering the validity and suitability of irrigation water for agricultural use.

Correlation between FAO and the new suitability approach.

Current suitability based of FAO.

Current suitability based of the suggested approach.

Potential suitability based of FAO.

Figure 5 Correlation between FAO and the new suitability approach.

From the correlation between two methods FAO and the new suitability approach where R = 0.723 for the current/actual suitability and R = 0.642 for the potential suitability, it was found that in a straight way; exist of a positive correlation between the two methods. This indicated the more closely the two methods are related.

Crops suitability

Although FAO methodology for assessing the suitability of a particular site to produce a particular crop under a specific agricultural production system based on agro-climatic conditions i.e. heat and humidity, and on agricultural conditions i.e. soil and morphology. However, by using the new methodology considering using the suitability of water for growing the selected crops, the proposed methodology was found to be efficient for all crops (Figs.  10 , 11 , 12 , 13 and 14 ) as shown from the R-Square calculation in Table 15 .

Potential suitability based of the suggested approach.

Current/actual suitability.

Potential suitability for annual and perineal.

Current/actual crops suitability.

The number of irrigations and the time of one irrigation is determined by the age of the plant, sprinkler drainage and weather conditions. In the calcareous lands irrigated by the drip irrigation system, wheat needs 7 irrigations during the season without delaying the watering About (20–25) days, and irrigation is continued after that every 15–20 days, taking into account the lack of irrigation during wind blowing after the spikes are expelled. According to the report of the Climate Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, the varieties established for the wheat crop according to the geographical distribution of Lower Egypt and include the study area: Giza 171, Sakha 95, Egypt 3, Sids 14, Giza 12, Sakha 94, Egypt 1, Egypt 2, Giza 168 Sowing dates are from November 5 to 25.

Sugar beet thrives in weak desert lands and tolerates salinity. The beet yield in Egypt is 20 tons, and in the new lands 30 tons and the highest sugar content is obtained from it.

Irrigation capability

The method is based on the topographical, physical, and chemical features of the soil, with social and economic restrictions being ignored. The study's findings revealed that the soil is highly suitable, moderately acceptable, and marginally suitable. Due to the main limiting constraints of depth, slope, and sand dunes, there is currently a small area that is not suitable for irrigation. In general, around 80.3 percent of irrigated land is high suitable S1, 17.1 percent is moderate suitable S2, and the marginally appropriate account for about 2.6 percent. In addition, research on water quality, water requirements, and irrigation intervals, as well as assessments of the suitability of various horticultural crops to maximize the study area's water productivity and production, may be advised. There are two commonly used methods in the area; sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation (Fig.  15 ).

Irrigation capability.

In order to obtain a high production, alfalfa is grown in dry and hot areas under irrigation, because good production requires large quantities of water and for this reason alfalfa must be cultivated under the sprinkler irrigation system. Light and deep sandy areas in the study area, most of which are well drained, but it is not considered a preferred soil for alfalfa as long as it lacks nutrients, especially alkaline ones, but it is possible to improve this soil by providing fertilizers, especially potassium and phosphorous, and planting it with alfalfa seeds treated with Nitrogenous nodule bacteria. The agricultural cycle means creating suitable conditions for the agricultural plant, and preserving it from many diseases, pests and weeds, and the plant can grow, thrive and produce away from these impurities. It is preferable to plant potatoes, for example, after alfalfa, because alfalfa, as it is known, provides the soil with many quantities of nitrogen, and important elements such as phosphorous and potassium.

It is wrong to leave the land that was planted with alfalfa without cultivation, because this increases the growth of weeds, and also negatively affects the soil itself, so it is preferable, after every 4–5 years of cultivation of alfalfa, to cultivate the soil with potatoes.

At present, wheat cultivation is widely spread in the desert lands, especially after the introduction of modern means of agricultural technology. Varieties play a key role in the cultivation of wheat and in influencing production, so it is recommended to plant varieties in dry and semi-arid desert areas that are commensurate with the nature of these areas. With the quantities of irrigation and fertilizers provided to it, it is preferable in this case to plant varieties with short stems that are resistant to wind and soil salinity, in addition to their resistance to pests, diseases and various environmental conditions, and the seeds must be treated and sterilized before planting, and the field must be prepared before planting. Wheat cultivation needs a lot of water, in order to get good production, which is why irrigation is given to the plant in dry or semi-desert areas almost every day, even just before maturity. It is recommended to irrigate wheat in sandy lands using sprinkler irrigation. Among the many varieties of wheat, it is preferable to choose varieties with short stems that do not exceed 50–80 cm in length, and these varieties are called High Yielding Varieties = HYV. It is preferable to plant potatoes after wheat, then leguminous plants, so that the agricultural cycle becomes as follows “Cereals (wheat)–potatoes–legumes”.

Barley plays an important role as a second agricultural crop in forage production after alfalfa. It is distinguished from alfalfa in that it does not need much irrigation water, as it is able to withstand and resist drought and cold more than alfalfa. One of its advantages is also that if it is planted before alfalfa in the same soil, it is able to control many weeds, and for this reason it is preferred to plant it before alfalfa in an organized agricultural cycle. Barley does not require distinct agricultural lands (because the longevity of barley is very short, as it can be harvested after three months), but the barley plant prefers highly acidic or humid lands, and this is not available in desert lands, and this can be compensated by providing alkaline fertilizers In addition to calcium carbonate and phosphorous fertilizers, barley also prefers deep, well-drained soils that are available in sandy soils. It is advisable to grow barley after agricultural plants capable of leaving behind some nutritional components, such as potatoes, especially if they are fertilized with municipal fertilizers, and it is not at all desirable to plant it after plants that leave behind large amounts of nitrogen in the soil (such as legumes), because too much nitrogen is harmful to barley, Its resistance to environmental and weather conditions is weakened, and for this reason also, barley prefers cultivation after short-lived plants that do not consume much soil food and do not leave behind many harmful weeds, and among these plants that barley prefers to be planted after potatoes, peas, sunflowers or plants Other oilseeds and early vegetables.

Vegetable cultivation

It is very possible to grow vegetables in desert areas under modern irrigation systems. The cultivation of vegetables in desert lands in terms of agricultural methods and in terms of the use of irrigation can be divided into three sections: (1) Vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, onions, eggplants, melons, melons, mallow, sweet corn, honey squash, etc.…, can be grown in the field, and irrigation water is provided to them by sprinkler or by lines or basins. (2) Vegetables such as cucumbers and peppers (spicy and sweet) can be grown in greenhouses, and irrigation is provided by drip. (3) Vegetables such as tomatoes, mallow and others can be grown in shaded houses, and irrigation water is provided to them by lines or basins. Field vegetable crops are usually grown in desert areas, as unprotected cultivation, but they can be protected from the wind by planting windbreaks, such as tamarisk trees and sispins. Irrigation methods for vegetables vary according to its quality, tomatoes, eggplant, and squash are irrigated by irrigation lines, and potatoes and onions, for example, are irrigated by spraying. Although vegetable crops are different. There are different irrigation methods in them, but they all share certain agricultural factors that affect their growth and production, and these factors include the following: (1) Soil and its treatment: Deep-rooted and well-drained sandy lands are considered suitable for growing vegetables, especially if the required fertilizers are provided to them, and they have been well prepared for planting seeds or for planting seedlings, such as removing weeds, paving the soil and cutting lines, and other agricultural works which ensures the healthy growth of vegetables. (2) Optimal agricultural methods for vegetables: In order to obtain good vegetable production, appropriate agricultural dates and cycles must be maintained, healthy and resistant seeds must be selected, diseases, pests and weeds must be combated, and the necessary fertilizers must be provided to plants. (3) Maintaining the appropriate planting time, not only ensures a healthy growth of vegetables, but also avoids unsuitable weather and environmental conditions, especially high temperatures and severe sand cyclones that may be fatal to young plants.

Limitation factors are shown in Figs.  10 , 11 , 12 and 13 and presented in Table 15 .

These outcomes agreed with other models used to categorize soil suitability. Additionally, the findings imply that high adaptability soils typically have large yields. This relationship can be used to identify soil properties that will be more simply and precisely calculated using computers to calculate crop yields 60 .

Although various suitability models have recently been used extensively to build digital soil maps 60 , there have been few attempts to employ ML models to digitally map different land suitability classes 61 , 62 , 63 . In the Sapa district of northern Vietnam, Dang et al. 64 used a hybrid neural-fuzzy model to map different land suitability classes and forecast rice yields. Eight environmental factors, three socioeconomic factors, and land cover made up the list of auxiliary variables. These factors were elevation, slope, soil erosion, sediment retention, and length of flow, ratio of evapotranspiration to precipitation, water yield, and wetness index for 155,000 km 2 of northern Australia 65 . Also, it was concluded that the quick assessment of regional-scale agricultural potential in a distant place is facilitated by the combination of digitally obtained soil and land features with a traditional land suitability framework 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 .

Despite the fact that the studied area as part of New Delta is rapidly becoming into one of Egypt's most agriculturally productive areas and plays a significant part in the nation's crop production ranking, Maps of land suitability can categorize the regions that are best suited for cultivating the major crops and can aid in boosting their output. However, in these semi-arid areas, such knowledge is typically hard to get by 73 .

The conventional method is expensive and time-consuming. The proposed approach map, however, is preferred for handling the typical land suitability evaluation design since it is less affected by these limits. This is especially true in arid areas like Egypt, where there is little available data on the soil. As a result, this methodology may be an appealing strategy for large-scale land suitability assessment.

The thin soil depth, high pH, and gravel constraints in the research region generally indicated that it was unsuitable for use as agriculture. These restrictions are the primary causes of the study area's actual wheat and barley yields falling short of their potential yields (from questionnaires). Therefore, land improvement activities like agricultural land levelling, decreasing pH, increasing soil organic matter by farming farmyard manure, green manure, and cover crops, supplementary irrigation, and gravel gathering are required to improve the study area's suitability for croplands and increase its production. This study offered helpful data that may be used to calculate the impact of management decisions in the new Delta region and other.

Appropriate categories and criteria were developed for each aspect based on its usefulness for agricultural site selection. The AHP approach of pair-wise comparison matrix was used to assign weights to each of the considered factors. Thus, weighted overlay analysis was used to construct the crops site suitability map for the research region for all possible lithology’s by taking into account selected factor maps.

This has aided in the resolution of time-consuming issues that are frequently linked with crop site selection. The current study's findings identify priority and non-priority areas for perennial and/or annual sites. This technique can provide more precise data to support decisions and cut down on the amount of time it takes to plan agricultural use. This is considered critical for the development agricultural use. The new proposal is an open equation to accommodate all the inputs affecting the order and classes of suitability as well as the suitability classes of different crops. Also it can absorb the factor of experience and management. That is, the equation succeeds with the use of minimum data set of input for suitability order, as well as all data set of environmental factors affecting crops suitability classes.

The suggested methods for classifying site suitability for field and horticultural crops were assessed in this paper. Because each parameter's impact on a land suitability evaluation is different, maps of different parameters are required as inputs for GIS-based land suitability classification. It is crucial to determine the relative importance of each parameter before overlaying these maps. In the current work, the fuzzy AHP method was applied to address these issues and was contrasted with the traditional FAO method. The findings indicate that using the fuzzy method to assess land suitability is a promising approach. When lands are used for agricultural purposes, it gives the chance to evaluate the suitability of the lands as a level or grade of performance. When lands are used for agricultural purposes, it is possible to evaluate the suitability of the lands as a level or grade of performance for each attribute by using specific fuzzy indicators. The capacity to generate a weighted average estimate of the suitability of the land across all of the attributes is provided by composite fuzzy. It was determined that for the analysis of land suitability, the fuzzy AHP method is more accurate than the traditional FAO method. Future research into the suitability of land might benefit from further fuzzy AHP method development.

As a result, the suggested model offers notable improvements in land evaluations with excellent results in arid locations when compared to the most conventional methodologies. The soil evaluation map created by this study may quickly assist regional governments and decision-makers, and the method herein given can be simply re-applied over large areas to evaluate the suitability of the land and estimate the crop output. In order to assist the development and implementation of sustainable agricultural operations and to realize the SDGs of Agenda 2030, the model herein provided can be swiftly adopted in other dry locations (different from those in which the model was developed).

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The project entitled Monitoring and mapping of encroachments on the state’s lands and establishment of the information system of land and water resources in Wadi ElNatrun, Beheira Governorate, financially supported the study and provided all necessary facilities during the fieldwork, Project No. 0570/NC/GEN/2018.

Open access funding provided by The Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) in cooperation with The Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB).

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Conceptualization, M.A.E.A., methodology, M.A.E.A. software, M.A.E.A., and A.S. validation, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A. formal analysis, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A. investigation, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A. resources, M.A.E.A., and A.S. data curation, M.A.E.A., and A.S.; writing original draft preparation, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A.; writing—review and editing, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A. visualization, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A. supervision, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A. project administration, S.M.A. funding acquisition, M.A.E.A., A.S. and S.M.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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AbdelRahman, M.A.E., Saleh, A.M. & Arafat, S.M. Assessment of land suitability using a soil-indicator-based approach in a geomatics environment. Sci Rep 12 , 18113 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22727-7

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Land resource management on environment and sustained basis for agricultural land use planning using landform and land evaluation approach (a case study in North Barito District, Central Kalimantan Province)

V Amelia 1 , S Sinaga 1 and A Bhermana 2

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science , Volume 1282 , 3rd International Symposium on Tropical Forestry and Environmental Sciences 29/08/2023 - 30/08/2023 Balikpapan, Indonesia Citation V Amelia et al 2023 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 1282 012001 DOI 10.1088/1755-1315/1282/1/012001

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1 Faculty of Agriculture, University of Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

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One of strategic policies that has been established in order to achieve and maintain food security in Central Kalimantan is opening the potential lands for agriculture. North Barito district as one several districts in this province, with total areas of 998,908 hectares, has the availability of arable lands for agricultural development. This study was then carried out to provide data and information for appropriate land and environment management through proper agricultural land use planning. Landform approach through digital elevation model (DEM) analysis and land evaluation procedure were used to define land allocation on sustained basis. The technology of geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing were also employed to produce geospatial data to support land evaluation purpose. The result provide geospatial management of land and environment concept that can be implemented as basic consideration for agricultural planning especially in land use. In the case of North Barito, the region can be allocated for agricultural system of estate crops, food crops and forest ecosystem with each total area of 558,319 hectares (55.89%); 221,920 hectares (22.22%); and 218,669 hectares (21.89%), respectively. Specific program and policy can then be designed to develop the region for the development of agricultural purposes.

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The institutionalisation of cultural policy has, to date, become an effective tool for cultureled development in some parts of the world. South Africa is yet to fully embrace this phenomenon in its developmental matrix. While the government has introduced certain strategies, such as the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), to coordinate its post-apartheid development imperatives across all of its spheres, role players, such as politicians, town planners and developers, continue to carry on with their subjective approaches to development, without culture as the mediator. This perpetuates the fragmentation of spatial landscapes and infrastructure networks in these areas along racial and cultural lines. This article suggests that South Africa may benefit from formulating local, cultural policies for the revitalisation of decaying cities into new integrated, liveable and vibrant residential, business and sporting environs.

The principal question this study aims to answer is why and how a left-of-centre government not hobbled by heavy external leverage, with developmental state precedents, potentially positive macroeconomic fundamentals, and well-developed alternative policies for housing and urban reconstruction came to settle on a conservative housing policy founded on ‘precepts of the pre-democratic period’. Arguably, this policy is even more conservative than World Bank strictures and paradigms, whose advice the incoming democratic government ‘normally ignored’ and ‘tacitly rejected’. The study, which spans the period from the early 1990s to 2007, commences from the premise that housing is an expression and component of a society’s wider development agenda and is bound up with daily routines of the ordering and institutionalisation of social existence and social reproduction. It proposes an answer that resides in the mechanics and modalities of post-apartheid state construction and its associated techniques and technologies of societal penetration and regime legitimisation. The vagaries and vicissitudes of post-Cold War statecraft, the weight of history and legacy, strategic blundering, and the absence of a cognitive map and compass to guide post-apartheid statecraft, collectively contribute to past and present defects and deformities of our two decade-old developmentalism, writ large in our human settlements. Alternatives to the technocratic market developmentalism of our current housing praxis spotlight empowering shelter outcomes but were bastardised. This is not unrelated to the toxicity of mixing conservative governmentalities (neoliberal macroeconomic precepts, modernist planning orientations, supply-side citizenship and technocratic projections of state) with ‘ambiguated’ counter-governmentalities (self-empowerment, self-responsibilisation, the aestheticisation of poverty and heroic narratives about the poor). Underscored in the study is the contention that state developmentalism and civil society developmentalism rise and fall together, pivoting on (savvy) reconnection of economics and politics (the vertical axis of governance) and state and society (the horizontal axis). Without robust reconfiguration and recalibration of axes, the revamped or, more appropriately, reconditioned housing policy – Breaking New Ground – struggles to navigate the limitations of the First Decade settlement state shelter delivery regime and the Second Decade’s (weak) developmental state etho-politics. The prospects for success are contingent on structurally rewiring inherited and contemporary contacts and circuits of power, influence and money in order to tilt resource and institutional balances in favour of the poor. Present pasts and present futures, both here and abroad, offer resources for more transformative statecraft and sustainable human settlements, but only if we are prepared to challenge the underlying economic and political interests that to date have, and continue to, preclude such policies. History, experience and contemporary record show there are alternatives – another possible and necessary world – via small and large steps, millimetres and centimetres, trial and error.

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Case Study Research Method in Psychology

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Case studies are in-depth investigations of a person, group, event, or community. Typically, data is gathered from various sources using several methods (e.g., observations & interviews).

The case study research method originated in clinical medicine (the case history, i.e., the patient’s personal history). In psychology, case studies are often confined to the study of a particular individual.

The information is mainly biographical and relates to events in the individual’s past (i.e., retrospective), as well as to significant events that are currently occurring in his or her everyday life.

The case study is not a research method, but researchers select methods of data collection and analysis that will generate material suitable for case studies.

Freud (1909a, 1909b) conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his patients in an attempt to both understand and help them overcome their illnesses.

This makes it clear that the case study is a method that should only be used by a psychologist, therapist, or psychiatrist, i.e., someone with a professional qualification.

There is an ethical issue of competence. Only someone qualified to diagnose and treat a person can conduct a formal case study relating to atypical (i.e., abnormal) behavior or atypical development.

 Famous Case Studies

• Anna O – One of the most famous case studies, documenting psychoanalyst Josef Breuer’s treatment of “Anna O” (real name Bertha Pappenheim) for hysteria in the late 1800s using early psychoanalytic theory.
• Little Hans – A child psychoanalysis case study published by Sigmund Freud in 1909 analyzing his five-year-old patient Herbert Graf’s house phobia as related to the Oedipus complex.
• Bruce/Brenda – Gender identity case of the boy (Bruce) whose botched circumcision led psychologist John Money to advise gender reassignment and raise him as a girl (Brenda) in the 1960s.
• Genie Wiley – Linguistics/psychological development case of the victim of extreme isolation abuse who was studied in 1970s California for effects of early language deprivation on acquiring speech later in life.
• Phineas Gage – One of the most famous neuropsychology case studies analyzes personality changes in railroad worker Phineas Gage after an 1848 brain injury involving a tamping iron piercing his skull.

Clinical Case Studies

• Studying the effectiveness of psychotherapy approaches with an individual patient
• Assessing and treating mental illnesses like depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD
• Neuropsychological cases investigating brain injuries or disorders

Child Psychology Case Studies

• Studying psychological development from birth through adolescence
• Cases of learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD
• Effects of trauma, abuse, deprivation on development

Types of Case Studies

• Explanatory case studies : Used to explore causation in order to find underlying principles. Helpful for doing qualitative analysis to explain presumed causal links.
• Exploratory case studies : Used to explore situations where an intervention being evaluated has no clear set of outcomes. It helps define questions and hypotheses for future research.
• Descriptive case studies : Describe an intervention or phenomenon and the real-life context in which it occurred. It is helpful for illustrating certain topics within an evaluation.
• Multiple-case studies : Used to explore differences between cases and replicate findings across cases. Helpful for comparing and contrasting specific cases.
• Intrinsic : Used to gain a better understanding of a particular case. Helpful for capturing the complexity of a single case.
• Collective : Used to explore a general phenomenon using multiple case studies. Helpful for jointly studying a group of cases in order to inquire into the phenomenon.

Where Do You Find Data for a Case Study?

There are several places to find data for a case study. The key is to gather data from multiple sources to get a complete picture of the case and corroborate facts or findings through triangulation of evidence. Most of this information is likely qualitative (i.e., verbal description rather than measurement), but the psychologist might also collect numerical data.

1. Primary sources

• Interviews – Interviewing key people related to the case to get their perspectives and insights. The interview is an extremely effective procedure for obtaining information about an individual, and it may be used to collect comments from the person’s friends, parents, employer, workmates, and others who have a good knowledge of the person, as well as to obtain facts from the person him or herself.
• Observations – Observing behaviors, interactions, processes, etc., related to the case as they unfold in real-time.
• Documents & Records – Reviewing private documents, diaries, public records, correspondence, meeting minutes, etc., relevant to the case.

2. Secondary sources

• News/Media – News coverage of events related to the case study.
• Academic articles – Journal articles, dissertations etc. that discuss the case.
• Government reports – Official data and records related to the case context.
• Books/films – Books, documentaries or films discussing the case.

3. Archival records

Searching historical archives, museum collections and databases to find relevant documents, visual/audio records related to the case history and context.

Public archives like newspapers, organizational records, photographic collections could all include potentially relevant pieces of information to shed light on attitudes, cultural perspectives, common practices and historical contexts related to psychology.

4. Organizational records

Organizational records offer the advantage of often having large datasets collected over time that can reveal or confirm psychological insights.

Of course, privacy and ethical concerns regarding confidential data must be navigated carefully.

However, with proper protocols, organizational records can provide invaluable context and empirical depth to qualitative case studies exploring the intersection of psychology and organizations.

• Organizational/industrial psychology research : Organizational records like employee surveys, turnover/retention data, policies, incident reports etc. may provide insight into topics like job satisfaction, workplace culture and dynamics, leadership issues, employee behaviors etc.
• Clinical psychology : Therapists/hospitals may grant access to anonymized medical records to study aspects like assessments, diagnoses, treatment plans etc. This could shed light on clinical practices.
• School psychology : Studies could utilize anonymized student records like test scores, grades, disciplinary issues, and counseling referrals to study child development, learning barriers, effectiveness of support programs, and more.

How do I Write a Case Study in Psychology?

Follow specified case study guidelines provided by a journal or your psychology tutor. General components of clinical case studies include: background, symptoms, assessments, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. Interpreting the information means the researcher decides what to include or leave out. A good case study should always clarify which information is the factual description and which is an inference or the researcher’s opinion.

1. Introduction

• Provide background on the case context and why it is of interest, presenting background information like demographics, relevant history, and presenting problem.
• Compare briefly to similar published cases if applicable. Clearly state the focus/importance of the case.

2. Case Presentation

• Describe the presenting problem in detail, including symptoms, duration,and impact on daily life.
• Include client demographics like age and gender, information about social relationships, and mental health history.
• Describe all physical, emotional, and/or sensory symptoms reported by the client.
• Use patient quotes to describe the initial complaint verbatim. Follow with full-sentence summaries of relevant history details gathered, including key components that led to a working diagnosis.
• Summarize clinical exam results, namely orthopedic/neurological tests, imaging, lab tests, etc. Note actual results rather than subjective conclusions. Provide images if clearly reproducible/anonymized.
• Clearly state the working diagnosis or clinical impression before transitioning to management.

3. Management and Outcome

• Indicate the total duration of care and number of treatments given over what timeframe. Use specific names/descriptions for any therapies/interventions applied.
• Present the results of the intervention,including any quantitative or qualitative data collected.
• For outcomes, utilize visual analog scales for pain, medication usage logs, etc., if possible. Include patient self-reports of improvement/worsening of symptoms. Note the reason for discharge/end of care.

4. Discussion

• Analyze the case, exploring contributing factors, limitations of the study, and connections to existing research.
• Analyze the effectiveness of the intervention,considering factors like participant adherence, limitations of the study, and potential alternative explanations for the results.
• Identify any questions raised in the case analysis and relate insights to established theories and current research if applicable. Avoid definitive claims about physiological explanations.
• Offer clinical implications, and suggest future research directions.

5. Additional Items

• Thank specific assistants for writing support only. No patient acknowledgments.
• References should directly support any key claims or quotes included.
• Use tables/figures/images only if substantially informative. Include permissions and legends/explanatory notes.
• Provides detailed (rich qualitative) information.
• Provides insight for further research.
• Permitting investigation of otherwise impractical (or unethical) situations.

Case studies allow a researcher to investigate a topic in far more detail than might be possible if they were trying to deal with a large number of research participants (nomothetic approach) with the aim of ‘averaging’.

Because of their in-depth, multi-sided approach, case studies often shed light on aspects of human thinking and behavior that would be unethical or impractical to study in other ways.

Research that only looks into the measurable aspects of human behavior is not likely to give us insights into the subjective dimension of experience, which is important to psychoanalytic and humanistic psychologists.

Case studies are often used in exploratory research. They can help us generate new ideas (that might be tested by other methods). They are an important way of illustrating theories and can help show how different aspects of a person’s life are related to each other.

The method is, therefore, important for psychologists who adopt a holistic point of view (i.e., humanistic psychologists ).

Limitations

• Lacking scientific rigor and providing little basis for generalization of results to the wider population.
• Researchers’ own subjective feelings may influence the case study (researcher bias).
• Difficult to replicate.
• Time-consuming and expensive.
• The volume of data, together with the time restrictions in place, impacted the depth of analysis that was possible within the available resources.

Because a case study deals with only one person/event/group, we can never be sure if the case study investigated is representative of the wider body of “similar” instances. This means the conclusions drawn from a particular case may not be transferable to other settings.

Because case studies are based on the analysis of qualitative (i.e., descriptive) data , a lot depends on the psychologist’s interpretation of the information she has acquired.

This means that there is a lot of scope for Anna O , and it could be that the subjective opinions of the psychologist intrude in the assessment of what the data means.

For example, Freud has been criticized for producing case studies in which the information was sometimes distorted to fit particular behavioral theories (e.g., Little Hans ).

This is also true of Money’s interpretation of the Bruce/Brenda case study (Diamond, 1997) when he ignored evidence that went against his theory.

Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (1895).  Studies on hysteria . Standard Edition 2: London.

Curtiss, S. (1981). Genie: The case of a modern wild child .

Diamond, M., & Sigmundson, K. (1997). Sex Reassignment at Birth: Long-term Review and Clinical Implications. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine , 151(3), 298-304

Freud, S. (1909a). Analysis of a phobia of a five year old boy. In The Pelican Freud Library (1977), Vol 8, Case Histories 1, pages 169-306

Freud, S. (1909b). Bemerkungen über einen Fall von Zwangsneurose (Der “Rattenmann”). Jb. psychoanal. psychopathol. Forsch ., I, p. 357-421; GW, VII, p. 379-463; Notes upon a case of obsessional neurosis, SE , 10: 151-318.

Harlow J. M. (1848). Passage of an iron rod through the head.  Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 39 , 389–393.

Harlow, J. M. (1868).  Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head .  Publications of the Massachusetts Medical Society. 2  (3), 327-347.

Money, J., & Ehrhardt, A. A. (1972).  Man & Woman, Boy & Girl : The Differentiation and Dimorphism of Gender Identity from Conception to Maturity. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Money, J., & Tucker, P. (1975). Sexual signatures: On being a man or a woman.

Further Information

• Case Study Approach
• Case Study Method
• Enhancing the Quality of Case Studies in Health Services Research
• “We do things together” A case study of “couplehood” in dementia
• Using mixed methods for evaluating an integrative approach to cancer care: a case study

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A land-use benefit evaluation system with case study verification

Haiyuan sun.

1 College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, China

Linlin Cheng

2 College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Qiyuan Wang

Jiahua teng.

3 Ministry of Ecology and Environment Center for Satellite Application on Ecology and Environment, Beijing, China

Associated Data

Land use data, land price data, and Regulation for gradation on agriculture land quality of China GBT28407-2012. were collected from Beijing Municipal Commission Mentougou substation of Planning and Natural Resources ( http://ghzrzy.beijing.gov.cn ) [ 47 – 48 ]. Soil data and ecosystem monitoring data were obtained from the National Science and Technology Infrastructure of China ( http://www.cnern.org/index.action ) [ 49 – 50 ]. Meteorological data were derived from China Meteorological Data Service Center( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 51 ]. Digital Elevation Model (DEM), solar radiation data, and other remote sensing data were mainly obtained from USGS Earth Resources Observatory and Science (EROS) Center ( http://eros.usgs.gov/# ) and China Meteorological Data Service Center ( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 52 – 53 ]. Socio-economic data were retrieved from Beijing Mentougou Statistical Yearbook (2011), Beijing Statistical Yearbook (2011), China Yearbook of Agricultural Price Survey (2011), Price Yearbook of China (2011), China Water Conservancy Yearbook (2011), China Forestry Statistical Yearbook (2011), the Agricultural Information Network of China ( http://www.agri.cn/ ), and China Air Emissions Tariffs [ 54 – 61 ]. Several types of statistical values of the ecosystem services were derived from the TEEB official database ( https://www.cbd.int/incentives/teeb/ ) [ 62 ].

In regional land-use planning, many different demands for often-limited land resources must be weighed against each other. Analysis of the benefits of different land-use types is of great significance in land-use design. However, a good evaluation methodology does not exist. To facilitate a comparative analysis of land-use benefits, this paper presents an evaluation system consisting of four steps: (1) Connotation dissection to determine the land-use benefits, (2) construction of a land-use benefit classification system to summarize a limited number of land-use benefit types by an inductive method, (3) land-use benefit valuation, which includes a biophysical model, direct and indirect market valuations, and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity value conversion method, and (4) case analysis of the evaluation results according to local conditions. Empirical results from a case study of Mentougou District, Beijing, China, show that (i) the evaluation results of land-use benefit groups provides information on each land-use type and the spatial distribution of land-use benefits in Mentougou District, (ii) the topography of Mentougou District has an important influence on economic and ecological land-use benefits, and (iii) there is a synergistic effect of economic and social land-use benefits.

1 Introduction

Land is a basic requirement for human existence and has great ecological, socio-cultural and economic value [ 1 ]. In regional land-use planning and decision-making, specific land-use arrangements and layouts are often made to achieve specific objectives [ 2 , 3 ]. Many different demands for often-limited land resources must be weighed against each other. In such decision processes, comprehensive and objective evaluations of the economic, social, and ecological benefits of land use can provide a scientific foundation for land-use design.

There has been a number of fruitful studies in this field. The methods employed include not only conventional methods such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP), expert consultation, artificial neural net (ANN), and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method (FCE), but also new methods such as geographic information system(GIS), remote sensing technology and spatial econometric models [ 4 – 9 ].The application of the new methods pays more attention to visual analysis [ 10 ]. The perspective of land-use benefit evaluation often focusses on a single or selected several aspects of land use [ 11 , 12 ]. Andrea analyzed flood-prone land-use benefits by the income per unit area from seasonal agriculture and the net income per fisherman from wild fish capture in Candaba, Philippines [ 13 ]. Luan evaluated the spatial and environmental benefits of green space ecosystem services in a local rural context [ 14 ]. These depend upon the observational perspective used, which in turn depends on the observer’s analytical purpose.

Scholars’ studies have laid a solid foundation for follow-up research, but the land-use benefit evaluation system for land-use planning has not emerged. There are several reasons for this phenomenon [ 15 , 16 ]. First, and perhaps most importantly, land-use planning is multi-objective and difficult to evaluate from multiple perspectives. This is due to the diversity of regional socio-economic development needs. Second, ecological and social benefits have public attributes, which are not captured in conventional, market-based economic analyses. A final reason is the multi-disciplinary nature of land. It is difficult for a certain discipline to deeply study all of the benefits, and we need to overcome many obstacles and cross many disciplinary bridges. Based on the above analysis, this paper dissects the meaning of land-use benefits, in which perspectives of related disciplines needed to construct a land-use benefit classification system are identified. Then, a land-use benefit evaluation system is reconstructed by an inductive method and applied to Mentougou District of Beijing.

2 The basic connotation of land-use benefits

From the beginning of agrarian society and through the industrial society, to the post-industrial society, humankind has changed land-use to improve the amount, quality, and security of natural resources. The sustainable development of human society not only relies on the supply capacity of land but also on the coordination of land-use functions [ 17 , 18 ]. As a complex nature-society-economy system, land carries out the matter cycle, information transfer, and energy flow within itself and with the surroundings. It is on the basis of these artificial or natural ecological processes that the various services that land is endowed with are derived. Land-use benefits , therefore, can be defined as the goods and services obtained from land-use. This description is further interpreted in Fig 1 .

As shown in Fig 1 , ecosystems consist of microbes, plants, animals, and the abiotic environment. They have multilayer structures and complex processes that are often classified into a limited number of ecosystem functions: i.e., regulation, habitat, and production [ 1 , 15 , 16 ]. These ecosystem processes provide, directly or indirectly, the services (e.g., climate regulation, aesthetic information, waste treatment) and goods (such as food, timber, minerals) necessary for the sustainable development of human society. Land-use is an important way for human beings to attain services and goods from the ecosystem, which are known as land functions and landscape functions [ 1 , 15 , 19 ]. In the light of the purposes and natural characteristics of land, human beings take biological and physical measures to carry out long-term and periodic management of land to actively or passively obtain ecosystem services and goods. For example, in agro-ecosystems, humans actively obtain agro- products for food through land cultivation techniques, and agro-ecosystem s also provide humans with water regulation, waste treatment, and so on. Human being, directly or indirectly, transforms these services and goods into human well-being- i.e., security, good social relations, the basic material conditions for maintaining a high quality of life [ 17 , 20 ]. Yet, mankind also promotes the evolution of the ecosystems to better serve human beings through land-use decision-making and coupling of biophysical processes, ensuring that ecosystems sustainably contribute to human well-being.

3 Land-use benefit evaluation system

3.1 construction framework of the land-use benefit classification system.

Land-use is an important way for human beings to attain services and goods in order to meet human needs ( Fig 2 ). From the perspective of land science, ecology, and landscape science, land-use benefits are indirectly or directly reflected in the ecological, economic, and social functions of land, landscape functions, and the ecosystem goods and services provided by the ecosystem [ 1 , 15 , 16 ]. Therefore, an inductive method was employed in our study to summarize the existing classifications of ecosystem goods and services land functions, and landscape functions. Then, land-use benefit types were selected from the summarized results in line with the types of human well-being, and were merged according to the principle of natural homogeneity. Finally, the land-use benefit types were divided into economic, social, and ecological benefits according to the differences in their characteristics.

(1) The interdisciplinary basis of the construction of land-use benefit classification system

Ecosystem services has attracted the attentions of many scholars and research projects since the concept was introduction in the 1970’s [ 1 , 16 , 18 , 21 – 23 ]. According to Costanza, ecosystems have 17 functions [ 16 ]. De Groot divided ecosystem functions into four main categories: regulation, habitat, production, and information, which are further divided into 23 specific functional sub-categories [ 21 ]. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) also divides ecosystem functions into four main categories (regulation, habitat, production, and information functions) and 28 functional sub-categories, which are similar to de Groot’s categories [ 23 ]. While there are many differences in ecosystem function classifications, all valuations of ecosystem services are based on land-use types and their areas. Therefore, land-use types, patterns, and intensity are widely recognized as the important factors to estimating the value of ecosystem services.

A landscape is a spatially heterogeneous mosaic of natural, societal, and economic elements. A landscape pattern formed by the arrangement and combination of different land-use types generates corresponding ecological processes that affect ecosystem’s material migration, energy flows, and information transfer. Landscape functions, essentially, are vitally related to ecosystem functions, and can be used to describe different kinds of landscape goods and services. Based on research on ecosystem services, de Groot divided landscape functions into regulation, habitat, production, information, and carrier functions, and further divided them into 23 specific functional sub-categories [ 15 ]. Lovell divided landscape functions into three main categories from the perspective of landscape multifunctionality [ 24 ]. Willemen classified the landscape functions into residential, intensive livestock, drinking water, cultural heritage, tourism, plant habitat, arable production, and leisure cycling from the view of multiobjective programming [ 19 ].

Land function refers to the capacity of land to provide goods and services [ 25 ]. Yet, no comprehensive and unified land function classification system has emerged. Paracchini attempted to classify land functions into three broad basic categories—economic, environmental, and social functions- and nine specific subcategories [ 26 ]. Based on the characteristics of human activities, Chinese scholars and government agencies classify land functions into three main types: production, living and ecological functions [ 27 ]. From the perspective of economics, land functions can be classified into seven categories [ 28 ]. Zhang classified land functions into ten subcategories on the basis of production, living, ecological functions [ 29 ].

(2) Land-use benefit classification system

Ecological benefits refer to the beneficial effects of services and goods on the environment. Consequently, gas regulation, climate regulation, water regulation, nutrient regulation, pollination, species diversity, net primary productivity, soil retention, disturbance prevention, and waste treatment were classified as land-use ecological benefits. Economic benefits are the direct economic values of products and services in transactions. As a result, water, food, medicinal resources, raw materials, ornamental resources, energy minerals, and products and services were classified as land-use economic benefits. Social benefits that have no explicit markets refer to the beneficial effects of services on the quality of human experience. Habitation, transportation, employment security, basic living security, recreation and aesthetic information, historic information, science, education, cultural and artistic information were classified as land-use social benefits. See Table 1 for details.

3.2 Methodological system of land-use benefit evaluation

There are established methods for evaluating 19 of the types of land-use benefits, but none for the following five: historic information, recreation and aesthetic information, medicinal resources, ornamental resources, science, education, cultural and artistic information. Therefore, we used the The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)—value conversion method to evaluate them.

The amount of water refers to the amount of water that runs off the landscape. A combination of a modeling technique and outcome parameter method is employed to evaluate the benefits of water supply capacity per land use type. The equations are as follows [ 30 , 31 ]:

where V x is the value of water supply provided by land-use type x per area annually, AET x is the annual actual evapotranspiration, TW is the price of fresh water, P x is average annual precipitation, w x is the corrected value of vegetation cover, R x is Budyko dryness index, AWC x is the available soil moisture, Z is a seasonal rainfall factor, k x is the evapotranspiration coefficient, ETO x is the reference evapotranspiration. For the relevant parameter settings, refers to Leh [ 30 ].

Food supplying capacity is defined as the amount of food that agricultural land can grow annually. A realistic productivity potential model is employed in this paper to evaluate the benefits of food supplying capacity, and its equation as follows:

where V x is the crop value provided by land-use type x per area annually, Y xj is the crop j productivity of land-use type x , λ(M) is the social effectiveness coefficient, T j is the price of crop j .

(3) Medicinal resources and ornamental resources

There are now no established methods for measuring these two types of land-use benefits. Therefore, this paper uses the TEEB-value conversion method to evaluate them, and the equation as follows:

where V x is the medicinal resources value or ornamental resources value provided by land-use type x per area annually. V mean( x ) is the global statistical value of medicinal resources or ornamental resources of TEEB provided by land-use type x per area annually, S x is the area of land-use type x used to plant medicinal material or produce ornamental resources, and S is the area of land-use type x .

(4) Raw materials and species diversity

Raw materials and species diversity are difficult to evaluate because of its varying definitions and perceptions. The dynamic evaluation method for ecosystem service value proposed by Xie is employed in this paper to evaluate the benefits of raw materials supply capacity and maintenance of species diversity. The equation is as follows [ 22 ]:

where V x is the raw materials value or value of maintaining biodiversity provided by land-use type x per area annually, F x is the equivalent factor of land-use type x , NPP is the average Net primary productivity for study site’s land-use type x in the target year, N P P ¯ is the average NPP of Chinese ecosystems in 2010, T is the mean price of study site’s grain in the target year, T ¯ is the mean price of Chinese grain in 2010, CE represents the value of ecosystem services in 2010 for one standard equivalence factor (set to 3406.5 yuan/hm 2 ). For the relevant parameter settings, refer to Xie [ 22 ].

(5) Energy minerals

Due to the availability of data on energy minerals, direct market valuation can be employed to evaluate them. The equation is as follows:

Where V x is the energy minerals value provided by land-use type x per area annually, Y i is the case area’s yield of minerals or energy sources i , T i is the price of minerals or energy sources i , S x is the area of land-use type x used for minerals or energy sources production.

(6) Products and services

Products and services are often considered the final products and services of secondary or tertiary industries. There are explicit markets for products and services, and direct market valuation can be used to calculate the value of products and services as:

where V x is the value of products and services provided by land-use type x per area annually, G x is the gross domestic product of secondary industry and tertiary industries provided by land-use type x , and S x is the area of land-use type x .

(7) Habitation

Habitation means that the land carries residential facilities. This paper uses a land capitalization approach to evaluate it with the following equations:

where V x is the habitation value of land-use type x per area annually, T x is the base price of urban land or the compensation standard for land expropriation of land-use type x , Sum is the regional urban population or rural population, t is the area of urban land or rural residential land per capita, S x is the area of urban land or rural residential land, MD x is the mean depreciation ratio of land-use type x , N x is the design life of a house, r is a integral number(0≤ r ≤ N x −1), and α x is the depreciation ratio of land-use type x .

(8) Transportation

Transportation indicates that land can provide a suitable substrate for transportation facilities. Direct market valuation is adopt to evaluate it, and it is computed as:

where V x is the transportation value provided by land-use type x per area annually, GP is the regional gross product of transportation, S x is the area of transportation land.

(9) Recreation and aesthetic information, historic information, science, education, cultural and artistic information

These reveal opportunities for cognitive development. TEEB-value conversion method and travel cost are used to evaluate it [ 21 ]. The equations are:

where V x 1 is the value of recreation and aesthetic information provided by land-use type x 1 per area, O is the operating revenue of scenic institutions, S is the area of scenic sites, V x 2 is the value of historic information or science, education, cultural and artistic information provided by land-use type x 2 per area annually, V mean is the global statistical value of TEEB of historic information or science, education, cultural and artistic information, and β is the region correction coefficient.

(10) Employment security and basic living security

Due to the attributes of public land used for employment security and basic living security services, there are no explicit markets for their value. This paper uses replacement cost to evaluate them. The equations are as follows:

where V x 1 is the employment security value provided by land-use type x 1 per area annually, sum x 1 is the employment population of industry carried by land-use type x 1, H x 1 is the average wage of industry carried by land-use type x 1, S x 1 is the area of land-use type x 1, V x 2 is the basic living security value provided by land-use type x 2 per area annually, sum x 2 is the population supporting capacity of cultivated land, and I is the minimum living standard for urban residents.

(11) Gas regulation

Vegetation contributes to the carbon cycle by photosynthesis, which maintains the dynamic balance of CO 2 and O 2 in the atmosphere. In this paper, we derive a gas regulation valuation model based on the photosynthesis equation, and then combine it with the carbon tax and industrial oxygen-producing method to assess the value of gas regulation services. The equation is as follows [ 32 ]:

where V x is the gas regulation value provided by land-use type x per area annually, NPP x is the annual production of net primary productivity per area of land-use type x , T 1 is carbon tax rate, and T 2 is the cost of industrially manufactured oxygen.

(12) Climate regulation

Land cover and biology maintain a favorable climate for human. Because there are no explicit markets for this service, replacement cost can be a indirect means of assessing the climate regulation values. The equations are as follows [ 33 ]:

where V x is the climate regulation value provided by land-use type x per area annually, V x 1 is the value of transpiration, V x 2 is the value of evaporation, J x 1 is the amount of heat absorbed by green space per unit, α is the effectiveness ratio of air conditioning, ρ is a constant (1kWh/3600kJ), T e is the electricity price, J x 2 is the evaporation capacity of the water surface, and γ is the amount of heat consumed to evaporate a unit volume of water.

(13) Water regulation

Water regulation service is mainly defined as the regulation of hydrological flows at the earth surface by land-cover, maintaining ‘normal’ conditions [ 34 , 35 ]. As there is no exchange value in trade, avoided cost can be used in this paper to evaluate it. The equations are as follows [ 35 , 36 ]:

Where V x is the water regulation value provided by land-use type x per area annually, Q x is the amount of conserve water in land-use type x per area, CR is the construction cost of the unit reservoir storage, ϵ is the rate of rainfall intercepted by vegetation, P x is average annual precipitation, G x is the dry weight of forest floor, L x is field water-retaining capacity of the forest floor, D x is the vertical extent of soil, A is the soil porosity, and I x is the surface water storage. For the relevant parameters setting, refer to Mo [ 35 ].

(14) Nutrient regulation

Nutrient regulation service indicates the amount of nutrients that can be used by humans in nutrient cycling. It is represented by the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and organic matter content of NPP. A replacement cost is used to evaluate it. The equation is as follow [ 37 ]:

where V x is the nutrient regulation value provided by land-use type x per area annually, NPP x is the annual production of net primary productivity per area in land-use type x , NC , PC , KC , and MC are the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and organic matter content of the NPP x respectively, T 3 , T 4 , T 5 are the prices of ammonium phosphate, potash fertilizer, and organic fertilizer respectively, R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 are the rates of NC used for ammonium phosphate, PC used for ammonium phosphate, and KC used for potash fertilizer, respectively.

(15) Pollination

Pollination is indispensable for most plants to breed. Currently, quantitative research on the pollination is still in its infancy and is impeded by the complexity of this ecological process. A combination of a modeling method proposed by Robinson and outcome parameter method model is used to assess the value of pollination. The equations are as follows [ 38 , 39 ]:

where V x is the pollination value provided by land-use type x per area annually, τ is the number of crop species grown in the land-use type x , ω stands for the i th crop (1≤ ω ≤ τ ), Y ωx is the crop’s production of land-use type x per area, D ω is the degree of crop’s dependency on insects, T ω indicates agricultural price, Y ω 0 is the pollinated crop’s production in open cropland, and Y ωc is the crop’s production in cropland without insects. For relevant parameters setting, refer to Liu [ 39 ].

(16) Net primary productivity (NPP)

Almost all animals and micro-organisms on Earth rely directly or indirectly on net primary production from the photosynthesis of plants. The CASA model is based on remote sensing data and is currently one of the most commonly used models for estimating NPP, its equations are as follows [ 40 – 42 ]:

where V x is the NPP value provided by land-use type x per area annually, NPP x is the net primary productivity, T c is the price of standard coal, FAPAR x is the photosynthetically active radiation, ε max( x ) is the maximum efficiency of solar energy utilization, ε x 1 and ε x 2 are the coefficients of low- and high-temperature stress, respectively, and ε x is the coefficient of water stress. FAPAR x , ε max( x ) , ε x 1 , ε x 2 , and ε x are given as:

where SOL x is the total solar radiation, SR min( x ) represents the unvegetated land areas and is set to1.08, the value of SR max( x ) is related to the type of vegetation and has a range of 4.14–6.17, opt x is defined as the mean temperature in the month when the NDVI reaches its annual maximum, op x is the average annual temperature, K is the moisture coefficient, and f ( K ), SR x is given as:

Where NDVI x is the normalized difference vegetation index , P is the annual precipitation, ∑ θ is the active accumulated annual temperature (>0°C).

(17) Soil retention

The soil retention service mainly depends on the vegetation cover and root system [ 43 ]. This paper evaluates the benefits of soil retention service by a combination of the universal soil loss equation and outcome parameter method. The equations are as follows [ 30 , 44 ]:

where V x is the soil retention value provided by land-use type x per area annually, V x 1 is a value of soil fertility maintenance, V x 2 is a value of sediment deposition reduction, V x 3 is the value of derelict land reduction, SC is the amount of soil conservation, T k is the contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and organic matter, T k is the price of ammonium phosphate, potash fertilizer, and organic fertilizer, k stands for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and organic matter, ϑ is the soil bulk density, B is the annual production value of land-use type j per unit area, C is the construction cost of a unit reservoir storage. SC is given as:

Where SC 1 is the amount of potential soil erosion, SC 2 is the amount of actual soil erosion, RE is the rainfall erosivity factor, SE is the soil erodibility factor, LS is a slope length and steepness factor, VC is a vegetation cover factor, and PM is a soil conservation measure factor. RE , LS , and SE are given as:

where, P mean is the monthly precipitation, P is the average annual precipitation, L is the slope length, SG is the slope gradient, m and n are Chinese regional experience values, SAN is the content of sandy soil, SIL is the content of silt, CLA is the content of clay soil, φ is the content of organic matter. For regional empirical values setting, refer to Li [ 44 ].

(18) Disturbance prevention

A disturbance prevention service ameliorates ‘natural’ hazards and disruptive natural events caused ecological processes at the earth surface. It is computed as:

where V x is the value of disturbance prevention provided by land-use type x per area, V mean( x ) , a global statistical value of TEEB, which is the average value of disturbance prevention provided by land-use type x per area, v index( x ) is the vulnerability index (0~1) of land-use type x , and δ x is the resilience (0~1) of land-use type x .

(19) Waste treatment

Waste treatment service means that ecosystem store and recycle certain amounts of organic and inorganic human waste through dilution, assimilation and chemical re-composition. As its value cannot be estimated directly, an avoided cost is recruit ed to evaluate it according to the following equations [ 45 , 46 ]:

Where V x is the waste treatment value provided by land-use type x per area, V x 1 is the atmospheric cleaning value, V x 2 is the water cleaning value, Y h is the amount of contaminant(i.e., sulfur dioxide, fluoride, nitrogen oxides, suspended dust) absorbed, T h is the contaminant treatment expense, h stands for sulfur dioxide, fluoride, nitrogen oxides, and suspended dust, Y g is the average amount of nitride and pnictide absorbed by water, T g is the treatment expense of nitride and pnictide per unit of sewage, g stands for nitride and pnictide. For purification capacity parameter settings, refer to Zhang and Qian [ 45 , 46 ].

4 General situation of the case area and data sources

Mentougou District is known as the western gate of Beijing and is located in the transition zone between the North China Plain and the Inner Mongolia Plateau. About 98.5% of its territory is mountainous. The topography of Mentougou District slopes from north-west to south-east. Mentougou has a rich diversity of geomorphy, consisting of middle and low-altitude mountains, river valley terraces, and floodplains, which create regional microclimates and spatial soil variations. With up to 70% of its territory covered with forest and grass, Mentougou District is both an important ecological shelter and water protection area for Beijing and is an ideal space for leisure and tourism. Mentougou District is also known as the western backyard garden of Beijing. It is a key region for the sustainable development of Beijing but it also faces serious conflicts between regional economic and ecological land users.

To calculate Mentougou’s land-use benefits, four types of data were used in this paper: land data, remote sensing data, socioeconomic data, and ecosystem monitoring data. Land use data, land price data, and Regulation for gradation on agriculture land quality of China GBT28407-2012 . were collected from Beijing Municipal Commission Mentougou substation of Planning and Natural Resources ( http://ghzrzy.beijing.gov.cn ) [ 47 , 48 ]. Soil data and ecosystem monitoring data were obtained from the National Science and Technology Infrastructure of China ( http://www.cnern.org/index.action ) [ 49 , 50 ]. Meteorological data were derived from China Meteorological Data Service Center( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 51 ]. Digital Elevation Model (DEM), solar radiation data, and other remote sensing data were mainly obtained from USGS Earth Resources Observatory and Science (EROS) Center ( http://eros.usgs.gov/# ) and China Meteorological Data Service Center ( http://data.cma.cn/en ) [ 52 , 53 ]. Socio-economic data were retrieved from Beijing Mentougou Statistical Yearbook (2011), Beijing Statistical Yearbook (2011), China Yearbook of Agricultural Price Survey (2011), Price Yearbook of China (2011), China Water Conservancy Yearbook (2011), China Forestry Statistical Yearbook (2011), the Agricultural Information Network of China ( http://www.agri.cn/ ), and China Air Emissions Tariffs [ 54 – 61 ]. Several types of statistical values of the ecosystem services were derived from the TEEB official database ( https://www.cbd.int/incentives/teeb/ ) [ 62 ].

The results of land-use benefits for each land-use type in Mentougou District are presented in Table 2 . In land-use planning, many different demands for often-limited land must be weighed against each other. In this weighing process, the land-use benefits of each land-use type play an important role. Stakeholder appeal must be taken into account in the analysis and selection of land-use planning [ 63 , 64 ]. Woodland, grassland, and water conservancy land can reap the highest ecological benefits. On the basis of Mentougou Zoning Planning (Territorial Space Planning) (2017–2035) , Mentougou is defined as an ecological conservation district in the western part of the capital Beijing. Therefore, to boost the production capacity of eco-products, ecological control zone is designated, the exploitation of forest and grassland is strictly restricted, an ecological control zone is designated, the exploitation of forest and grassland is strictly restricted, and ecological reconstruction of abandoned mining land and the harnessing of river channels are promoted. Scenic sites and special land can deliver an attractive balance among social, economic, and ecological land-use benefits and achieve a high level of comprehensive land-use benefits. As an ideal space for leisure and tourism for Beijing, tourism auxiliary facilities are improved and land in a suitable position would be developed into scenic sites to boost the quality of the tourism industry. In addition, transportation benefits are one kind of land-use benefit that is indispensable to prosperity and economic development. They can only be obtained from transportation land. In Mentougou District, the supply of transportation land is being increased to increase the transportation benefits according to the land-use planning Mentougou Zoning Planning (Territorial Space Planning) (2017–2035) .

*Exchange Rate: 1$ = 6.755 yuan in 2010 [ 65 ]

In addition, land-use planning analysis and selection procedures are also bounded by natural conditions, location, culture, economy, and other internal and external factors. The plain, with high land-use social benefits, economic benefits, and comprehensive benefits, is entirely located in the east of Mentougou District, which point to the fact that it is the location of the local government as well as the regional business center. This phenomenon can be related to objective requirements of regional socioeconomic development [ 66 ]. There is a coupled or synergistic effect of economic and social land-use benefits. Often, economic sectors tend to have better employment security capability. Besides, income growth also influences human livelihoods, healthcare and education capacity, and associated facilities for scientific research, which generate good social benefits. Then, the improvement of regional social benefits undoubtedly improves production conditions and leads to a further agglomeration of factors of production, further promoting regional economic benefits. The middle and low mountain areas in the central and west regions of Mentougou District, which are mainly planted trees and grasses, are the main source of regional ecological benefits. The diverse landscape of middle and low mountain areas,95% of Mentougou District, has created regional microclimates that are suitable for the growth of trees and grass.

6 Discussion

6.1 interrelationships of land-use benefits.

Although each kind of land-use benefit was evaluated separately, they may be affected by multiple other land-use benefits. In our study, dependency relationship, superposition relationship, and repulsion relationship were found to be three main types of interrelationship among land-use benefits.

Dependency refers to the agglomeration, adsorption, synergy, and scale effects of land-use activities. In the natural world, an ecosystem’s habitat functions, production functions, and information functions depend on its regulation functions, which is an important theoretical foundation for the implementation of engineering measures. The delimitation of nature reserves and the implementation of reforestation projects in semi-arid areas, for example, are practical applications of dependency [ 15 , 67 , 68 ]. Modified dependency is an important way to increasing the diversity of land-use activities and plays a key role in regional socioeconomic development [ 69 ]. The key to modified dependency relationship is the spatial layout of land-use types, which is an important guideline to scientific socioeconomic measures; e.g., for urban planning, the layout of industrial and agricultural production, urban and rural planning. For example, building business and financial centers and accommodation and catering sites near urban settlements is conducive to agglomeration, adsorption, synergy, and scale effects.

Superposition relationship is similar to dependency relationship, but has own its traits, and highlights spatial sharing. The key to a superposition relationship is to eliminate the incompatible land-use benefits and embed other potentially compatible land-use benefits in the same land-use type. The main aspects are: ( i ) It should be recognized that a single land-use type can provide different kinds of land-use benefits. For example, wetlands provide valuable ecological benefits to human society [ 18 ]. These benefits consist of species diversity, climate regulation, water regulation ( ii ) It is a very important goal to alleviate land-use conflicts to transform enclosed spaces into open, active, and compatible spaces [ 70 ]. For example, a scenic spot’s space should be shared with the local residents.

A repulsion relationship is based on exclusive land occupation. exclusive land occupation. It pays greater attention to a single kind of land-use benefit. There are multiple objective requirements for repulsion relationships, ranging from defending land property rights and caring for human health and safety to safeguarding ethics and general welfare. Yet, repulsion relationship inadvertently and directly triggers the low-density land development and the spatial sprawl of artificial buildings. For example, the replacement of arable land and forest land by residential land directly displaces and renews all the kinds of land-use benefits, but low-density rural residential land has exacerbated regional land-use conflicts.

6.2 Advantages and limitations of the land-use benefit evaluation system

In practice, the land-use benefit evaluation systems that simply combine single indicators have various advantages, including low data quality requirements, low professional knowledge requirements for their users, acceptable operating costs, and the realization of policymakers’ goals [ 10 , 14 , 71 ]. Yet, these land-use benefit types also own disadvantages. Logic analysis, especially when all the land-use benefits of the same level are listed in detail, can become easily confused, and some kinds of land-use benefits cannot be easily measured by simple indicators. Although these land-use benefit evaluation systems can reflect the main goals of policymakers in practical applications, they may lead to unsustainable development, especially if policymakers neglected other reasonable land-use benefits, such as soil retention [ 17 ].

Our study was devoted to making a comprehensive system for evaluating the benefits of all land-use types. The study inherits some advantages of traditional research and the latest research results of the ecosystem services framework. It is necessary to emphasize one potential assumption, as well as the biases derived from the evaluation results. The potential hypothesis is that the land-use benefits of the same land-use types in the same zone are at the same. This potential hypothesis makes full use of statistical data in the calculation and simplifies the calculation. However, it ignores the spatial heterogeneity of land. Generally speaking, the goods and services produced by land in different geographical locations differ according to the differences in the soil characteristics and environment. In addition, biophysical models, equivalent factor methods, direct market valuation, and marketing value methods are proposed to meet the needs of land-use benefit evaluation [ 22 , 41 , 72 ]. Land-use economic benefits are often estimated by direct market valuations and equivalent factor methods, while land-use social and ecological benefits are most estimated by biophysical models, equivalent factor methods, and indirect market valuation. However, it is worth pointing out that there are still large uncertainties in the current research of land-use benefits due to the limitations in the theories, scientific knowledge, and technologies. Significant uncertainties in biophysical models persist in terms of data quality, parameter settings, and model applicability. Marketing value methods are considered more reliable, whereas indirect marketing value methods, such as contingent valuation and group valuation, are typically subjective. The use of equivalent factor methods is simple, but they have some drawbacks; e.g., spatial heterogeneity is ignored, high levels of professional knowledge are required by their operators, and they can be expensive to implement. Therefore, equivalent factor methods are not broadly adopted by policymakers [ 4 ].

7 Conclusion

In this paper, the land-use benefit classification system consisting of three primary types and 24 secondary types of benefits was reconstructed. Drawing on relevant research on evaluation of land functions, ecosystem services, and landscape functions, the evaluation function group of land-use benefits is systematically integrated. It is split into seven functional subsets of land-use economic benefits, seven functional subsets of land-use social benefits, and ten functional subsets of land-use ecological benefits.

M An example of the application of land-use benefits analysis is given based on a case study done in Mentougou District. The empirical result suggests that the evaluation result can precisely reflect the economic, social, and ecological benefits of each land-use type. Meanwhile, it also found that topography of Mentougou District determines the distribution of land-use benefits. Land-use economic benefits per area in the eastern plain are high, while the woodland and grasslands, which are dominated by mesic and low mountain landscapes, are the greatest contributors to regional ecological benefits. Synergetic effects between land-use economic and social benefits were found. The above results provide an aid for land resources managers in Mentougou District.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments for the data support from "Soil Science Data Center, National Earth System Science Data Sharing Infrastructure, National Science & Technology Infrastructure of China. ( http://soil.geodata.cn/ )" and "National Earth System Science Data Center, National Science & Technology Infrastructure of China. ( http://www.geodata.cn )".

Funding Statement

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NO.41877533) and Social Science Foundation of Beijing, China(NO.18GLB014). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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A GIS-based land evaluation model for peach cultivation by using AHP: a case study in NW Turkey

• Published: 03 March 2022
• Volume 194 , article number  241 , ( 2022 )

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• Timuçin Everest 1 &
• Engin Gür 2  

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Crop-based land suitability studies constitute an important component of precision and sustainable agricultural practices. In this study, a model was created to determine suitable lands for peach farming with the use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The land suitability model was carried out in Derekolu region of Bayramiç town of Çanakkale province. Within the scope of the study, a total of 12 parameters, namely soil depth, soil texture, EC, pH, organic matter content, CaCO 3 content, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, elevation, aspect, and slope, were used. Present assessments revealed that of the assessed lands, 367.50 ha was highly suitable, 7085.25 ha moderately suitable, 6341.25 ha marginally suitable, and 378.50 ha not suitable for peach cultivation. Texture, slope, and CaCO 3 content were respectively identified as the most effective factors in peach cultivation. The combined use of AHP and GIS techniques in the identification of suitable lands for peach farming facilitated assessments and provided significant advantages in terms of time and economic aspects. Further research is recommended to test the validity of the present model for different geographies under different climate and soil conditions.

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All data included in this study are available upon request by contact with the corresponding author ([email protected]).

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Everest, T., Gür, E. A GIS-based land evaluation model for peach cultivation by using AHP: a case study in NW Turkey. Environ Monit Assess 194 , 241 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-09898-6

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Received : 29 December 2021

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-09898-6

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