Grassland canopy cover and aboveground biomass in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia: Spatiotemporal estimates and controlling factors

John, Ranjeet; Chen, Jiquan; Giannico, Vincenzo; Park, Hogeun; Xiao, Jingfeng; Shirkey, Gabriela; Ouyang, Zutao; Shao, Changliang; Lafortezza, Raffaele; Qi, Jiaguo

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.002

Cited by 114 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 75 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The terrain is characterized by broad high plains and marginal mountains. Most of the plateau is at an altitude of between 1,000 and 1,500 m above sea level (John et al, ). It has a typical temperate continental climate, with precipitation falling mainly in summer, and is cold and dry in winter (Fang, Bai, & Wu, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic structure and formation mechanism of shrub communities in arid and semiarid areas of the Mongolian Plateau

Zheng

Dong

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The mechanisms of species coexistence within a community have always been the focus in ecological research. Community phylogenetic structure reflects the relationship of historical processes, regional environments, and interactions between species, and studying it is imperative to understand the formation and maintenance mechanisms of community composition and biodiversity. We studied the phylogenetic structure of the shrub communities in arid and semiarid areas of the Mongolian Plateau. First, the phylogenetic signals of four plant traits (height, canopy, leaf length, and leaf width) of shrubs and subshrubs were measured to determine the phylogenetic conservation of these traits. Then, the net relatedness index (NRI) of shrub communities was calculated to characterize their phylogenetic structure. Finally, the relationship between the NRI and current climate and paleoclimate (since the Last Glacial Maximum, LGM) factors was analyzed to understand the formation and maintenance mechanisms of these plant communities. We found that desert shrub communities showed a trend toward phylogenetic overdispersion; that is, limiting similarity was predominant in arid and semiarid areas of the Mongolian Plateau despite the phylogenetic structure and formation mechanisms differing across habitats. The typical desert and sandy shrub communities showed a significant phylogenetic overdispersion, while the steppified desert shrub communities showed a weak phylogenetic clustering. It was found that mean winter temperature (i.e., in the driest quarter) was the major factor limiting steppified desert shrub phylogeny distribution. Both cold and drought (despite having opposite consequences) differentiated the typical desert to steppified desert shrub communities. The increase in temperature since the LGM is conducive to the invasion of shrub plants into steppe grassland, and this process may be intensified by global warming.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic structure and formation mechanism of shrub communities in arid and semiarid areas of the Mongolian Plateau

Zheng

Dong

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rapid climatic changes since the First World War have further caused dramatic changes in ecosystems and land use across the Plateau . There has been an increase in the frequency of drier summers and colder winters on the Plateau in recent decades (John et al , 2018, but the rates of change in climatic variables are not spatially homogeneous across the Plateau . These uneven changes could alter the interactive feedbacks among the elements of SES (e.g.…”

Section: Five Critical Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These anomalies may be explained by increases in land uses that disturb the vegetated land surface, e.g. mining, logging (John et al 2018). Another possible explanation for the unexpected relationship between SES trend pairs is a spatiotemporal mismatch arising from the coarse resolution of the MODIS GPP and ET data and the aggregation of socioeconomic data at the provincial level rather than the county or even district level.…”

Section: Five Critical Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another interesting anomalous trend pair appears in the southern Ordos prefecture (K), which exhibited an increased GPP trend but also increases in POP d and LSK d . This increase in GPP arises from ecological restoration efforts in the form of plantation shelterbelts and dune stabilization programs , John et al 2018. A significant mismatch also occurs between increases in POP d and LSK d and increases in GPP and ET in the southeastern prefectures of Hingaan and the Tongliao (L) prefecture, where the significant proportion of irrigated croplands might explain the variability (John et al 2016).…”

Section: Five Critical Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Prospects for the sustainability of social-ecological systems (SES) on the Mongolian plateau: five critical issues

Chen

John

Sun

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Mongolian Plateau hosts two different governments: the Mongolian People's Republic and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a provincial-level government of the People's Republic of China. The divergence between these governments has widened in the past century, mostly due to a series of institutional changes that generated different socioeconomic and demographic trajectories. Due to its high latitude and altitude, the Plateau has been highly sensitive to the rapid changes in global and regional climates that have altered the spatial and temporal distributions of energy and water. Based on a recent workshop to synthesize findings on the sustainability of the Plateau amidst socioeconomic and environmental change, we identify five critical issues facing the social-ecological systems (SES): (1) divergent and uncertain changes in social and ecological characteristics; (2) declining prevalence of nomadism;(3) consequences of rapid urbanization in transitional economies; (4) the unsustainability of large-scale afforestation efforts in the semi-arid and arid areas of Inner Mongolia; and (5) the role of institutional changes in shaping the SES on the Plateau. We emphasize that lessons learned in Inner Mongolia are valuable, but may not always apply to Mongolia. National land management policies and regulations have long-term effects on the sustainability of SES; climate change adaptation policies and practices must be tuned to local conditions and should be central to decision-making on natural resource management and socioeconomic development pathways.

show abstract

“…The arid barrens are the largest on the Earth's surface and stretch from the Gobi Desert in Southwest Mongolia to the Western portion of Central Asia (Mildrexler et al 2006, Chen et al 2014. The grasslands included those on the Mongolia Plateau, which are experiencing higher warming trends than the global average due to a combination of high latitude, high elevation, and a continental climate (John et al 2018, Tian et al 2018. The croplands (4.80%), shrublands (1.48%), and forests (1.14%) are the next three major cover types in the region.…”

Section: Land Use and Land Cover Change And Some Of Their Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dryland belt of Northern Eurasia: contemporary environmental changes and their consequences

Groisman

Bulygina

Henebry

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The dryland belt (DLB) in Northern Eurasia is the largest contiguous dryland on Earth. During the last century, changes here have included land use change (e.g. expansion of croplands and cities), resource extraction (e.g. coal, ores, oil, and gas), rapid institutional shifts (e.g. collapse of the Soviet Union), climatic changes, and natural disturbances (e.g. wildfires, floods, and dust storms). These factors intertwine, overlap, and sometimes mitigate, but can sometimes feedback upon each other to exacerbate their synergistic and cumulative effects. Thus, it is important to properly document each of these external and internal factors and to characterize the structural relationships among them in order to develop better approaches to alleviating negative consequences of these regional environmental changes. This paper addresses the climatic changes observed over the DLB in recent decades and outlines possible links of these changes (both impacts and feedback) with other external and internal factors of contemporary regional environmental changes and human activities within the DLB.

show abstract

Grassland canopy cover and aboveground biomass in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia: Spatiotemporal estimates and controlling factors

Cited by 114 publications

References 75 publications

Phylogenetic structure and formation mechanism of shrub communities in arid and semiarid areas of the Mongolian Plateau

Phylogenetic structure and formation mechanism of shrub communities in arid and semiarid areas of the Mongolian Plateau

Prospects for the sustainability of social-ecological systems (SES) on the Mongolian plateau: five critical issues

Dryland belt of Northern Eurasia: contemporary environmental changes and their consequences

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About