Evaluating the coupling effects of climate aridity and vegetation restoration on soil erosion over the Loess Plateau in China

Zhang, Baoqing; He, Chansheng; Burnham, Morey; Zhang, Lanhui

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.08.132

Cited by 197 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

102

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The MK test is a non-parametric statistical test that assesses the significance of a change trend within a time series in the absence of any seasonal variation or other cycles and has been widely used in detecting trends in hydrologic, climatic and environmental factors [21][22][23]. For an independently distributed time series (x 1 , x 2 , .…”

Section: Significance Of Vegetation Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation Changes along the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Engineering Corridor Since 2000 Induced by Climate Change and Human Activities

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The Qinghai-Tibet (QT) Plateau Engineering Corridor is located in the hinterland of the QT Plateau, which is highly sensitive to global climate change. Climate change causes permafrost degradation, which subsequently affects vegetation growth. This study focused on the vegetation dynamics and their relationships with climate change and human activities in the region surrounding the QT Plateau Engineering Corridor. The vegetation changes were inferred by applying trend analysis, the Mann-Kendall trend test and abrupt change analysis. Six key regions, each containing 40 nested quadrats that ranged in size from 500 × 500 m to 20 × 20 km, were selected to determine the spatial scales of the impacts from different factors. Cumulative growing season integrated enhanced vegetation index (CGSIEVI) values were calculated for each of the nested quadrats of different sizes to indicate the overall vegetation state over the entire year at different spatial scales. The impacts from human activities, a sudden increase in precipitation and permafrost degradation were quantified at different spatial scales using the CGSIEVI values and meteorological data based on the double mass curve method. Three conclusions were derived. First, the vegetation displayed a significant increasing trend over 23.6% of the study area. The areas displaying increases were mainly distributed in the Hoh Xil. Of the area where the vegetation displayed a significant decreasing trend, 72.4% was made up of alpine meadows. Second, more vegetation, especially the alpine meadows, has begun to degenerate or experience more rapid degradation since 2007 due to permafrost degradation and overgrazing. Finally, an active layer depth of 3 m to 3.2 m represents a limiting depth for alpine meadows.

show abstract

Section: Significance Of Vegetation Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation Changes along the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Engineering Corridor Since 2000 Induced by Climate Change and Human Activities

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The streamflow within the Loess Plateau has exhibited an obvious downward trend over the past six decades (Zhang et al, 2008;Zhao et al, 2014;Gao et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2016). Many studies have investigated the effects of land use/cover change and climate variability on streamflow in the Loess Plateau to support future water resource and local ecosystem management efforts.…”

Section: Previous Studies In the Loess Plateaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining the hydrological responses to climate variability and land use/cover change in the Loess Plateau with the Budyko framework

Gao

Wang

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

192

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

• Elasticities of Q and R c to climate variability and catchment characteristic were derived.• Contributions of climate variability and land use/cover changes to reductions of Q and R c were determined.• Relationship between ecological restoration and hydrological responses was quantified. Understanding and quantifying the impacts of land use/cover change and climate variability on hydrological responses are important to the design of water resources and land use management strategies for adaptation to climate change, especially in water-limited areas. The elasticity method was used to detect the responses of streamflow and runoff coefficient to various driving factors in 15 main catchments of the Loess Plateau, China between 1961 and 2009. The elasticity of streamflow (Q) and runoff coefficient (R c ) to precipitation (P), potential evapotranspiration (E 0 ), and catchment characteristics (represented by the parameter m in Fu's equation) were derived based on the Budyko hypothesis. There were two critical values of m = 2 and E 0 /P = 1 for the elasticity of Q and R c . The hydrological responses were mainly affected by catchment characteristics in water-limited regions (E 0 /P N 1), and in humid areas (E 0 /P b 1), climate conditions played a more important role for cases of m N 2 whereas catchment characteristics had a greater impact for cases of m b 2. The annual Q and R c in 14 of the 15 catchments significantly decreased with average reduction of 0.87 mm yr −1 and 0.18% yr −1 , respectively. The mean elasticities of Q to P, E 0 and m were 2.66, −1.66 and −3.17, respectively. The contributions of land use/ cover change and P reduction to decreased Q were 64.75% and 41.55%, respectively, while those to decreased R c were 75.68% and 32.06%, respectively. In contrast, the decreased E 0 resulted in 6.30% and 7.73% increase of Q and R c , respectively. The contribution of land use/cover changes was significantly and positively correlated with the G R A P H I C Contents lists available at ScienceDirectScience of the Total Environment j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / s c i t o t e n v increase in the percentage of the soil and water conservation measures area (p b 0.05). The R c significantly and linearly decreased with the vegetation coverage (p b 0.01). Moreover, the R c linearly decreased with the percentage of measures area in all catchments (eight of them were statistically significant with p b 0.05).

show abstract

“…Zhang et al (2016) suggested that the runoff decrease in the Loess Plateau in the 2000s could be attributed to climate aridity coupled with revegetation. Because both the climatic conditions and human interventions keep changing, studies on the interactive role of climatic and anthropogenic factors in runoff change in Fig.…”

Section: The Interactive Role Of Climatic and Anthropogenic Factors Imentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of climatic and anthropogenic stresses on long-term runoff reduction from the Loess Plateau, China

Feng

Cheng

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human intervention has strongly altered patterns of river runoff. Yet, few studies have addressed the complexity and nonlinearity of the anthropogenic stresses on runoff or their interaction with climate. We study the Loess Plateau in China, whose river runoff contributes 65% of the discharge to the middle reach of the Yellow River; this landscape has been shaped by human activity and is intensively managed. Our purpose is to characterize the interactive roles of climate and human activities in defining river runoff from the Loess Plateau. Applying a transient analysis to discover the time-varying runoff trend and impact factors, we found that the average runoff in the Loess Plateau decreased continuously during the period 1961-2009 (average rate of − 0.9 mm year −1 , P b 0.001). This long-term decrease in runoff mainly occurred in three stages, with transitions in 1970, 1981 and 1996. Reduced precipitation was the main reason for the decrease in runoff over the entire study period. However, human intervention played a dominant role in creating the transition points. Water yield (i.e., the ratio of runoff to precipitation) decreased following each anthropogenic transition, causing a 56% reduction in available freshwater resources during the period 1961-2009. These findings highlight the need for studies that address the dynamic and nonlinear processes controlling the availability of freshwater resources in the light of anthropogenic influences applied under a changing climate. Such studies are essential if we are to meet the human water demand in the Loess Plateau region.

show abstract

Evaluating the coupling effects of climate aridity and vegetation restoration on soil erosion over the Loess Plateau in China

Cited by 197 publications

References 41 publications

Vegetation Changes along the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Engineering Corridor Since 2000 Induced by Climate Change and Human Activities

Vegetation Changes along the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Engineering Corridor Since 2000 Induced by Climate Change and Human Activities

Determining the hydrological responses to climate variability and land use/cover change in the Loess Plateau with the Budyko framework

The role of climatic and anthropogenic stresses on long-term runoff reduction from the Loess Plateau, China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About