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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (6): 35-49.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2021160

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A bibliometric evaluation of the status of the water conservation function of grassland ecosystems

Xiao-ning ZHANG1(), Xiao-dan LI1,2, Li-li NIAN1, Ying-bo YANG3, Xue-lu LIU1,3()   

  1. 1.College of Forestry,Gansu Agricultural University,Lanzhou 730070,China
    2.College of Management,Gansu Agricultural University,Lanzhou 730070,China
    3.College of Resources and Environmental Sciences,Gansu Agricultural University,Lanzhou 730070,China
  • Received:2021-04-26 Revised:2021-06-30 Online:2022-06-20 Published:2022-05-11
  • Contact: Xue-lu LIU

Abstract:

Grassland ecosystems are the largest ecosystem category of the terrestrial surface. Changes in grassland water conservation function are an important indicator of ecosystem condition, and respond to regional water cycles and global climate change. Using the Web of Science core collection and the China Knowledge Network database, the knowledge structure of water conservation research in grassland ecosystems was mapped using the visualization software packages VOSviewer and CiteSpace and bibliometric summaries of the relevant literature were compiled. It was found that there was a growing awareness of the field globally, with a fluctuating upward trend in the number of publications. The countries producing the highest numbers of studies were China and the United States, and the top three research institutions were all Chinese institutions; namely the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Beijing Normal University. Core author groups for this literature exhibited a pattern of “large dispersion and small aggregation” with the core authors as the nodes of research and little cooperation among research groups. Major publications included Science of The Total Environment, Catena, Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, Journal of Ecology and Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. The keywords ecosystem services, land use change, soil moisture, soil physical and chemical properties, and InVEST model were the most frequently mentioned topics of research in this field, both in China and abroad, in recent years. Soil moisture-soil physicochemical properties, combined with remote sensing technology to construct spatial and temporal scale evaluation models have become the frontier of research in this field. This study seeks to understand the current international research frontiers, clarify the developing trends in this field and summarize the research themes in order to promote further development of water conservation research in grassland ecosystems.

Key words: grassland ecosystem, water conservation, research status, CiteSpace, VOSviewer