Dual Influence of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Activities on the Spatiotemporal Vegetation Dynamics Over the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau From 1981 to 2015

Wei, Yanqiang; Lu, Haiyan; Wang, Jinniu; Wang, X. F.; Sun, Jian

doi:10.1029/2021ef002566

Cited by 67 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 115 publications

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“…The precipitation also increased significantly in much of TP (Zhao, Zhang, & Zhou, 2022) except the southern TP, where decreasing trend occurred (Yue et al., 2020). Meanwhile, vegetation greenness (Piao et al., 2015; Wei et al., 2022) and productivity (Cuo et al., 2021; Piao et al., 2012) overall enhanced in most parts of TP since a warmer and wetter climate can promote the growth of alpine plants. Because WUE serves as an integrated functional indicator of ecosystems (Hatfield & Dold, 2019), it is necessary to elucidate how WUE of Tibetan alpine grassland varies and what its major drivers are for a better understanding of the responses and feedbacks of high‐elevation ecosystems to a changing climate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Trends in Water Use Efficiency of the Alpine Grassland in Tibetan Plateau

Zhang

2022

JGR Atmospheres

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Alpine grassland is the dominant land cover type of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Previous studies suggested that TP's climate and vegetation condition have changed substantially in past few decades. However, the impacts of such changes on ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE), a vital index for depicting the tradeoff between water loss and carbon gain, of alpine grassland remain poorly understood. This study used a water‐carbon coupled model, Penman‐Monteith‐Leuning Version 2 (PML_V2), to investigate the variation in WUE of alpine grassland in the TP during 1982–2016 and its drivers. PML_V2 performs well in estimating WUE at nine eddy‐covariance flux sites, noticeably better than other main‐stream products. The long‐term mean WUE decreases from the southeastern to the northwestern TP, generally following the spatial pattens of surface greenness and climatic condition. During 1982–2016, WUE increased in most parts (71%) of alpine grassland but declined in certain regions of western TP. At the ecosystem scale, contrasting trends in WUE emerged between alpine meadow and alpine steppe over the last 35 years. The former's significant increasing WUE was primarily driven by increased leaf area index (LAI) and CO2 concentration (eCO2). While greening also occurred in the latter, its WUE remained stable because (a) the large negative effect of precipitation offset the positive effect of LAI on WUE, and; (b) the enhancement of photosynthesis resulted from elevated eCO2 was weaker because of low LAI. Our results are of importance for understanding the dynamics and mechanisms of water‐carbon coupling in high‐elevation ecosystems under a changing climate.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Trends in Water Use Efficiency of the Alpine Grassland in Tibetan Plateau

Zhang

2022

JGR Atmospheres

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“…Mountain (alpine) ecosystems are strongly climatically controlled by direct forcing of mountain temperature and precipitation regimes, and indirectly through climatic influence on soils. As such, mountain ecosystems and ecosystem services are sensitive to climate and environmental disturbance and change, including by human activity ( Löffler et al, 2011 ; Elkin et al, 2013 ; Mina et al, 2017 ; Wei et al, 2022 ). The different physical properties of mountains, including their elevation and remoteness, also provide different ecological niches and can favour endemics.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These climatic changes then have implications for associated environmental regimes such as soil development and slope stability ( Perrigo, Hoorn & Antonelli, 2020 ). Several studies also show there is a close correspondence between glacier retreat ( Cauvy-Fraunié & Dangles, 2019 ), and permafrost warming as triggers for the altitudinal spread of plant species and thus mountain ecosystem development ( Wei et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientists’ warning of the impacts of climate change on mountains

Knight¹

2022

PeerJ

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Mountains are highly diverse in areal extent, geological and climatic context, ecosystems and human activity. As such, mountain environments worldwide are particularly sensitive to the effects of anthropogenic climate change (global warming) as a result of their unique heat balance properties and the presence of climatically-sensitive snow, ice, permafrost and ecosystems. Consequently, mountain systems—in particular cryospheric ones—are currently undergoing unprecedented changes in the Anthropocene. This study identifies and discusses four of the major properties of mountains upon which anthropogenic climate change can impact, and indeed is already doing so. These properties are: the changing mountain cryosphere of glaciers and permafrost; mountain hazards and risk; mountain ecosystems and their services; and mountain communities and infrastructure. It is notable that changes in these different mountain properties do not follow a predictable trajectory of evolution in response to anthropogenic climate change. This demonstrates that different elements of mountain systems exhibit different sensitivities to forcing. The interconnections between these different properties highlight that mountains should be considered as integrated biophysical systems, of which human activity is part. Interrelationships between these mountain properties are discussed through a model of mountain socio-biophysical systems, which provides a framework for examining climate impacts and vulnerabilities. Managing the risks associated with ongoing climate change in mountains requires an integrated approach to climate change impacts monitoring and management.

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“…When temperature increases while precipitation remains or decreases, vegetation browning may occur. With increasing elevation, the sensitivity of vegetation to climate change increases ( Wei et al., 2022 ). The risk of vegetation browning increases with increased drought or anthropogenic disturbance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greening or browning? The macro variation and drivers of different vegetation types on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2021

et al. 2022

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Vegetation greenness is one of the main indicators to characterize changes in terrestrial ecosystems. China has implemented a few large-scale ecological restoration programs on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) to reverse the trend of ecosystem degradation. Although the effectiveness of these programs is beginning to show, the mechanisms of vegetation degradation under climate change and human activities are still controversial. Existing studies have mostly focused on changes in overall vegetation change, with less attention on the drivers of change in different vegetation types. In this study, earth satellite observation records were used to robustly map changes in vegetation greenness on the QTP from 2000 to 2021. The random forest (RF) algorithm was further used to detect the drivers of greenness browning on the QTP as a whole and in seven different vegetation types. The results show that an overall trend of greening in all seven vegetation types on the QTP over a 21-year period. The area of greening was 46.54×104 km2, and browning was 5.32×104 km2, representing a quarter and 2.86% of the natural vegetation area, respectively. The results of the browning driver analysis show that areas with high altitude, reduced annual precipitation, high intensity of human activity, average annual maximum and average annual minimum precipitation of approximately 500 mm are most susceptible to browning on the QTP. For the seven different vegetation types, their top 6 most important browning drivers and the ranking of drivers differed. DEM and precipitation changes are important drivers of browning for seven vegetation types. These results reflect the latest spatial and temporal dynamics of vegetation on the QTP and highlight the common and characteristic browning drivers of vegetation ecosystems. They provide support for understanding the response of different vegetation to natural and human impacts and for further implementation of site-specific restoration measures.

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Dual Influence of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Activities on the Spatiotemporal Vegetation Dynamics Over the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau From 1981 to 2015

Cited by 67 publications

References 115 publications

Contrasting Trends in Water Use Efficiency of the Alpine Grassland in Tibetan Plateau

Contrasting Trends in Water Use Efficiency of the Alpine Grassland in Tibetan Plateau

Scientists’ warning of the impacts of climate change on mountains

Greening or browning? The macro variation and drivers of different vegetation types on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2021

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