Does land use legacy matter for current soil functioning? A bibliometric study (2001–2020)

Abstract

This article applies the tools of bibliometric analyses to explore the evolution and strategic orientation of research focusing on the temporal dynamics of land use, which can be considered as an important proxy to assess soil vulnerability. With 1416 papers published in 417 different journals, the investigation showed a growing interest in the subject during the period ranging from 2001 to 2020. The main countries working on that topic are the USA, China, and certain countries of the European Union with a worldwide collaboration regarding coauthors. A cluster analysis of the keywords generated 6 main themes of research, each focusing on different issues and approaches, that is, greenhouse gas emissions, soil nutrients, climate change, erosion risk, human disturbances as well as resilience of soil functioning. Finally, it appears that the effect of land use legacy is poorly considered in the context of climate change, which could represent a future line of research.