Grassland degradation remote sensing monitoring and driving factors quantitative assessment in China from 1982 to 2010

Zhou, Wei; Yang, Han; Huang, Lu; Chen, Chun; Lin, Xi; Hu, Zhonghan; Li, Jianlong

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.08.019

Cited by 183 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Chen et al [70] indicated that water is a key factor of vegetation growth, and vegetation with a high root-to-shoot ratio and low leaf area index (LAI) may be ascribed to water shortage, which severely affects vegetation productivity [71][72][73]. The results of this study also coincide with Zhou et al [3] and Zheng et al [74], suggesting that wetter climates are more favorable for vegetation productivity growth [3,754. During the restoration period of the current study, the pixels with declining precipitation trends were mostly located in the areas with decreased ANPP (i.e., Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet regions). This means that the climate became drier in the areas with increased temperature, and NPP degradation due to climate variations can be expected in such regions (Figure 9).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…The Grain for Green Program was launched in 1999 to change waste, barren, and grazing land into forest and grassland in fragile regions of the country [78]. Since then, vegetation degradation has been reduced, and improving patterns of vegetation productivity are reflected in our results and in other recent studies as well [3], providing evidence of successful implementation of this project. With the vegetation restoration programs, vegetation conservation programs also supported the NPP development after 1999.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…Climate fluctuations and anthropogenic activities are the two major drivers of terrestrial ecosystem changes [1,2]. Abnormal climate variations have been coupled with the negative effects of human activities over the previous few decades, resulting in a series of environmental and ecological problems, such as air pollution, biodiversity losses, soil erosion, and vegetation ecosystem degradation [3]. Therefore, quantifying and separating the influences of these factors on vegetation ecosystems by emphasizing the dynamic variations in terrestrial ecosystems is an important research direction [4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantifying the Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities and Climate Variations on Vegetation Productivity Changes in China from 1985 to 2015

et al. 2020

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Accurate assessment of vegetation dynamics provides important information for ecosystem management. Anthropogenic activities and climate variations are the major factors that primarily influence vegetation ecosystems. This study investigates the spatiotemporal impacts of climate factors and human activities on vegetation productivity changes in China from 1985 to 2015. Actual net primary productivity (ANPP) is used to reflect vegetation dynamics quantitatively. Climate-induced potential net primary productivity (PNPP) is used as an indicator of climate change, whereas the difference between PNPP and ANPP is considered as an indicator of human activities (HNPP). Overall, 91% of the total vegetation cover area shows declining trends for net primary productivity (NPP), while only 9% shows increasing trends before 2000 (base period). However, after 2000 (restoration period), 78.7% of the total vegetation cover area shows increasing trends, whereas 21.3% of the area shows decreasing trends. Moreover, during the base period, the quantitative contribution of climate change to NPP restoration is 0.21 grams carbon per meter square per year (gC m−2 yr−1) and to degradation is 2.41 gC m−2 yr−1, while during the restoration period, climate change contributes 0.56 and 0.29 gC m−2 yr−1 to NPP restoration and degradation, respectively. Human activities contribute 0.36 and 0.72 gC m−2 yr−1 during the base period, and 0.63 and 0.31 gC m−2 yr−1 during the restoration period to NPP restoration and degradation, respectively. The combined effects of climate and human activities restore 0.65 and 1.11 gC m−2 yr−1, and degrade 2.01 and 0.67 gC m−2 yr−1 during the base and restoration periods, respectively. Climate factors affect vegetation cover more than human activities, while precipitation is found to be more sensitive to NPP change than temperature. Unlike the base period, NPP per unit area increases with an increase in the human footprint pressure during the restoration period. Grassland has more variability than other vegetation classes, and the grassland changes are mainly observed in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia regions. The results may help policy-makers by providing necessary guidelines for the management of forest, grassland, and agricultural activities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantifying the Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities and Climate Variations on Vegetation Productivity Changes in China from 1985 to 2015

et al. 2020

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“…In addition to being calculated easily through remote sensing, NPP is also sensitive to climate change and human activities. Therefore, NPP has been widely used to distinguish the relative contributions of climate change and human activities to NPP changes (Haberl et al 2007;Zhou et al 2017;Mu et al 2013b). Usually, there are three approaches to solve this task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the indicator was empirical and dramatic variation in precipitation reduced the reliability of the results. Another method is to quantify the effects of human activities on vegetation NPP through the difference between potential and actual NPP (Zhou et al 2017;O'Neill, Tyedmers, and Beazley 2006). In this method, potential NPP was mainly calculated through climatebased models, which were applicable to large-scale regions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of land conversion and management measures on net primary productivity in semi-arid grassland

Cao

Xiao

et al. 2020

Ecosyst Health Sustain

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Ecological restoration measures implemented in China have profoundly impacted vegetation NPP. This study aimed to estimate the effects of the land conversion and management measures on the grassland ecosystem in semi-arid regions. Land use data were employed from 2000 to 2015 to compare land conversion and coverage changes in Xilingol grassland. Then, the contributions of land conversion and management policies were quantified by assessing the difference between actual NPP and climate-induced NPP changes. The results indicated that the grassland area had a net loss of 534.42 km 2 , and the net area of increased vegetation coverage was 74,683.05 km 2 . Furthermore, the total NPP increased by 8,010.73 Gg C·yr −1 (1 Gg = 10 9 g), of which the human activities, including grazing management measures (+6,809.40 Gg C·yr −1 ) and land conversion (45.72 Gg C·yr −1 ) contributed to 85.58% of the increase in NPP. Transformation from desert and farmland dominated grassland expansion and NPP increase, while urbanization and desertification caused large grassland reduction and NPP loss. The grazing management increased vegetation NPP in most regions except for some regions in the desert steppe and the farming-pastoral zone. Related policies should be further adjusted to strengthen the management of the desert steppe and farming-pastoral regions. ARTICLE HISTORY

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The carbon sequestration potential of China's grasslands

et al. 2018

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With the consequences of anthropogenic activities such as overgrazing and cropland expansion, grasslands in China suffer severe degradation since the 1980s. The national grassland restoration policy enacted at the beginning of the 21th century has the potential to increase plant growth and productivity and hence regional carbon (C) sequestration. Here, we assessed plant and soil organic C (SOC) stocks for both degraded and restored/non-degraded plots at 802 sites in Northern and Northwest China using pairwise field sampling and quantified the C sequestration potential (CSP) of China's grasslands. A geostatistical model was performed to upscale the field measurements to national scale. Averaged across the 802 paired grassland sites, the mean plant biomass C and SOC density in the top 1 m depth were 0.44 AE 0.17 and 8.82 AE 1.78 kg C/m 2 , respectively. Compared to the degraded grasslands, the restored grasslands had an average of 0.11 AE 0.17 (29.2%) and 1.02 AE 1.28 kg C/m 2 (12.3%) greater plant biomass C and SOC density, respectively. The geostatistical model produced a total CSP of 17.3 AE 2.3 Pg C in China's grasslands, with 94% in soils. If the CSP estimated in this study could be achieved, the current grassland SOC stock would increase by 61%, offsetting 11 yr (2000-2010) of national fossil CO 2 emissions.

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Grassland degradation remote sensing monitoring and driving factors quantitative assessment in China from 1982 to 2010

Cited by 183 publications

References 46 publications

Quantifying the Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities and Climate Variations on Vegetation Productivity Changes in China from 1985 to 2015

Quantifying the Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities and Climate Variations on Vegetation Productivity Changes in China from 1985 to 2015

Impacts of land conversion and management measures on net primary productivity in semi-arid grassland

The carbon sequestration potential of China's grasslands

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