Aridity trend and response to vegetation restoration in the loess hilly region of northern Shaanxi Province

Li, Wangjun; Lu, Chunxia

doi:10.1007/s11442-015-1168-9

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Changes in the timing and size of precipitation events may reduce the locale scale temperature due to increased cloud cover reducing solar radiation [57]. Other studies also showed an increasing trend of precipitation and a stable trend of temperature for the Loess Plateau during 2000-2012 [58][59][60], which was consistent with our findings. The EVI had a strong and significant increasing linear trend across all seasons in the study area during 2000-2015.…”

Section: Observed Trends Of Vegetation Growth and Climatic Factorssupporting

confidence: 92%

Interactive Effects of Climatic Factors on Seasonal Vegetation Dynamics in the Central Loess Plateau, China

Zhu

Zhang

et al. 2019

Forests

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The interactive effects of climatic factors (precipitation and temperature) on vegetation growth can be characterized by their effect on vegetation seasonal dynamics. The interactive effects, seasonal trend of vegetation growth, and its future consistency (potential for future trend) have not been adequately studied in the literature. In this work, using the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and gridded climate data at a resolution of 250 m in the central Loess Plateau region, we examined seasonal vegetation dynamics with climate changes and the interactive effects of climatic factors on vegetation growth at the pixel and regional scales from the period 2000 to 2015. Vegetation cover in the Central Loess Plateau in China has dramatically changed due to the Grain-for-Green (GFG) ecological restoration program, which was designed to convert cropland to forestland or grassland since 1999. Our results show that the EVI increased significantly during the 16 year period and is likely to continue to increase in the near future. Relatively small Hurst exponents for forestland suggests that the potential for a future increased trend will be weak for the forest. Large Hurst exponents for grassland indicate its strong potential of further increase. Significant increases in spring precipitation have promoted vegetation growth, while significant decreases in summer temperature have had negative effects on vegetation growth. For temperatures between 10 to 20 °C, the impact of temperature on vegetation growth has a clear positive relationship with the moderator variable precipitation. For precipitation < 200 mm in the growing season, the impact of precipitation on vegetation growth has a clearly positive relationship with the moderator variable temperature. Results of this study will provide useful and important guidelines for designing forestland and grassland restoration plans in arid, semiarid and sub-humid regions.

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Section: Observed Trends Of Vegetation Growth and Climatic Factorssupporting

confidence: 92%

Interactive Effects of Climatic Factors on Seasonal Vegetation Dynamics in the Central Loess Plateau, China

Zhu

Zhang

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…To alleviate the severe land degradation in this region, the Chinese Government implemented the Grain‐for‐Green (GFG) Programme in 1999, which mandated (by grain and financial subsidies to the involved farmers) converting steeply sloping croplands to forestlands or grasslands as well as afforestation. Stimulated by this ecological restoration programme, the land use has changed significantly (Li & Lu, ), providing an excellent opportunity to study the consequent impacts of these types of change on the hydrologic cycle and soil erosion, which will contribute to the understanding of the effectiveness of revegetation in reducing water and soil losses in semi‐arid areas. Previously, two studies have estimated the changes in erosion in the Loess Plateau between 2000 and 2008 with the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE; Fu et al, ) and between 2000 and 2010 with the revised USLE (Sun, Shao, Liu, & Zhai, ), both of which found that the soil erosion was obviously reduced, mainly as a result of land‐use change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of land‐use change effects on runoff and soil erosion of a hilly basin — the Yanhe River in the Chinese Loess Plateau

Yang

2018

Land Degrad Dev

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Starting in 1999, the Grain‐for‐Green Programme has been implemented in the Loess Plateau to alleviate the severe soil erosion by converting steeply sloping croplands to forestlands or grasslands. To quantify the effects of these conservation efforts, this study identified the land‐use changes between 2000 and 2015 and quantified their impacts on runoff and erosion using the Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) and a typical hilly basin, the Yanhe River basin as a case‐study. To heighten the applicability of SWAT to the region, major model parameters were localized and calibrated for the period of 1975–1980 and were then validated for 1981–1987. The R2 and NS validation indices were 0.70 and 0.65 for the monthly runoff and 0.67 and 0.61 for the sediment load, indicating that the model performance was acceptable. Between 2000 and 2015, the slope croplands were reduced by 39.9%, the forestlands increased by 90.2%, and the grasslands increased by 12.9%. These land‐use changes were simulated using SWAT to reduce the basin runoff by 13.8% and the sediment load by 50.7%. Spatial analyses using ArcGIS indicated that the simulated reduction in water yield due to cropland conversion to forestland was more obvious than that due to the conversion to grassland, but the reductions in the sediment yields were similar. The results suggest that the Grain‐for‐Green practice during this period was effective for preventing soil and water losses.

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“…However, the climate data shows parallel trends of increasing precipitation and stable temperatures from 2000 to 2012, suggesting a trend of decreasing aridity in this region [32,33]. Generally, the body of knowledge relating to increasing aridity deems that an arid climate impedes vegetation growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

NDVI-Based Analysis on the Influence of Climate Change and Human Activities on Vegetation Restoration in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Region, Central China

et al. 2015

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Abstract:In recent decades, climate change has affected vegetation growth in terrestrial ecosystems. We investigated spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation cover on the Loess Plateau's Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region in central China using MODIS-NDVI data for 2000-2014. We examined the roles of regional climate change and human activities in vegetation restoration, particularly from 1999 when conversion of sloping farmland to forestland or grassland began under the national Grain-for-Green program. Our results indicated a general upward trend in average NDVI values in the study area. The region's annual growth rate greatly exceeded those of the Three-North Shelter Forest, the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the Qinling-Daba Mountains, and the Three-River Headwater region. The green vegetation zone has been annually extending from the southeast toward the northwest, with about 97. 11164of ecological engineering projects. Under favorable climatic conditions, increasing local vegetation cover is primarily attributable to ecosystem reconstruction projects. However, our findings indicate a growing risk of vegetation degradation in the northern part of Shaanxi Province as a result of energy production facilities and chemical industry infrastructure, and increasing exploitation of mineral resources.

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Aridity trend and response to vegetation restoration in the loess hilly region of northern Shaanxi Province

Cited by 16 publications

References 38 publications

Interactive Effects of Climatic Factors on Seasonal Vegetation Dynamics in the Central Loess Plateau, China

Interactive Effects of Climatic Factors on Seasonal Vegetation Dynamics in the Central Loess Plateau, China

Evaluation of land‐use change effects on runoff and soil erosion of a hilly basin — the Yanhe River in the Chinese Loess Plateau

NDVI-Based Analysis on the Influence of Climate Change and Human Activities on Vegetation Restoration in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Region, Central China

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