In order to reduce soil erosion and desertification, the Sloping Land Conversion Program has been conducted in China for more than 15 years, and large areas of farmland have been converted to forest and grassland. However, this large-scale vegetation-restoration project has faced some key problems (e.g. soil drying) that have limited the successful development of the current ecological-recovery policy. Therefore, it is necessary to know about the land use, vegetation, and soil, and their inter-relationships in order to identify the suitability of vegetation restoration. This study was conducted at the watershed level in the ecologically vulnerable region of the Loess Plateau, to evaluate the land suitability using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results showed that (1) the area unsuitable for crops accounted for 73.3% of the watershed, and the main factors restricting cropland development were soil physical properties and soil nutrients; (2) the area suitable for grassland was about 86.7% of the watershed, with the remaining 13.3% being unsuitable; (3) an area of 3.95 km2, accounting for 66.7% of the watershed, was unsuitable for forest. Overall, the grassland was found to be the most suitable land-use to support the aims of the Sloping Land Conversion Program in the Liudaogou watershed. Under the constraints of soil water shortage and nutrient deficits, crops and forests were considered to be inappropriate land uses in the study area, especially on sloping land. When selecting species for re-vegetation, non-native grass species with high water requirements should be avoided so as to guarantee the sustainable development of grassland and effective ecological functioning. Our study provides local land managers and farmers with valuable information about the inappropriateness of growing trees in the study area along with some information on species selection for planting in the semi-arid area of the Loess Plateau.
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机译：为了减少水土流失和荒漠化，已在中国实施了15年以上的坡地退耕计划，并且大片耕地已转化为森林和草地。但是，这个大规模的植被恢复项目面临一些关键问题（例如土壤干燥），这些问题限制了当前生态恢复政策的成功发展。因此，有必要了解土地利用，植被和土壤及其相互关系，以便确定植被恢复的适宜性。这项研究是在黄土高原生态脆弱地区的流域层面上进行的，目的是使用层次分析法（AHP）评估土地的适宜性。结果表明：（1）不适宜农作物的面积占流域的73.3％，制约农田发展的主要因素是土壤物理性质和土壤养分； （2）适合草原的面积约占流域的86.7％，其余的13.3％不合适。 （3）3.95 km 2 的面积，占流域的66.7％，不适合森林使用。总体而言，草原被认为是支持六道沟流域坡地退耕计划目标的最合适土地利用方式。在土壤缺水和养分缺乏的限制下，在研究区域，特别是在坡地上，农作物和森林被认为是不合适的土地利用方式。在选择重新植被的物种时，应避免高水分需求的非本地草种，以保证草地的可持续发展和有效的生态功能。我们的研究为当地土地管理者和农民提供了有关该研究区域不适宜种植树木的宝贵信息，以及一些有关在黄土高原半干旱地区种植树木的物种选择的信息。
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