Can farmland shelterbelts exacerbate soil erosion in the black soil region of Northeast China?

The Northeast Black Soil Region is a crucial commercial grain production base in China. However, long-term intensive mechanized farming combined with a lack of effective soil and water conservation measures has resulted in severe soil erosion driven by the combined effects of wind erosion, water erosion, and freeze-thaw processes, critically threatening both food security and ecological stability. Farmland shelterbelts are widely recognized as an effective measure to reduce wind speed through surface friction and turbulence generation, and thus play a key role in decreasing wind erosion and improving soil properties. Nevertheless, their layout and orientation have rarely considered potential impacts on water erosion processes, and the role of shelterbelt distribution in regulating rill/inter-rill erosion, and gully erosion remains poorly understood. In our study, the effects of shelterbelt arrangements on both wind and water erosion were systematically assessed in the typical black soil region of Northeast China using field sampling surveys and multi-temporal remote sensing interpretation, integrated with meteorological and topographic data. The results indicate that shelterbelts effectively control wind erosion, with particularly better effects in areas experiencing severe wind erosion. However, shelterbelt orientation on sloping croplands often constrains ridge direction, and when tillage shifts to up- and down-slope or cross-slope ridging, rill and gully erosion are significantly enhanced. In addition, snowmelt runoff is a major driver of water erosion in high-latitude regions. Shelterbelts influence snow redistribution patterns, thereby modifying snowmelt-driven runoff and soil erosion processes. Gullies affected by shelterbelt-induced snow redistribution exhibited area expansion rates approximately 1.6 times higher than those unaffected. These findings provide new insights into the coupled effects of shelterbelt configuration on wind and water erosion and offer a scientific basis for optimizing shelterbelt design and soil erosion control strategies in cold-region agricultural landscapes.