Environmental assessment and land change analysis in seminatural land covers applicable to land management

Bullón, T.

doi:10.1016/j.jag.2014.08.006

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

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“…Because of climate change and human interference, many ecosystems in the world are experiencing an accelerated degradation, − especially for sensitive alpine and mountain grassland ecosystems. − China has a large population and rapid economic growth and is now realizing the urgent obligation to save degrading land, specifically in the western area. The alpine grassland–wetland ecosystem in the source region of the Yellow River is located in the northeastern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau, which has vast and diverse grasslands and many lakes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Restoration and Its Effects on a Regional Climate: The Source Region of the Yellow River, China

Liu

Niu

et al. 2015

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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The source region of the Yellow River, China, experienced degradation during the 1980s and 1990s, but effective ecological restoration projects have restored the alpine grassland ecosystem. The local government has taken action to restore the grassland area since 1996. Remote sensing monitoring results show an initial restoration of this alpine grassland ecosystem with the structural transformation of land cover from 2000 to 2009 as low- and high-coverage grassland recovered. From 2000 to 2009, the low-coverage grassland area expanded by over 25% and the bare soil area decreased by approximately 15%. To examine the relationship between ecological structure and function, surface temperature (Ts) and evapotranspiration (ET) levels were estimated to study the dynamics of the hydro-heat pattern. The results show a turning point in approximately the year 2000 from a declining ET to a rising ET, eventually reaching the 1990 level of approximately 1.5 cm/day. We conclude that grassland coverage expansion has improved the regional hydrologic cycle as a consequence of ecological restoration. Thus, we suggest that long-term restoration and monitoring efforts would help maintain the climatic adjustment functions of this alpine grassland ecosystem.

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