Human activities alter response of alpine grasslands on Tibetan Plateau to climate change

Wei, Da; Zhao, Hui; Zhang, Jianxin; Qi, Yahui

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110335

Cited by 53 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Quantifying the key ecosystems' dynamics controlling factors is crucial for ecological management and adaptation (Li L. et al, 2018;Wei et al, 2020). Alpine grasslands in Tibet are one of the most vulnerable biomes to human activities and climate change in the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Variability Rather Than Livestock Grazing Dominates Changes in Alpine Grassland Productivity Across Tibet

Feng

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau, being vulnerable to environmental and anthropogenic changes, have experienced dramatic climate change and intensive livestock grazing during the last half-century. Climate change, coupled with grazing activities, has profoundly altered alpine grassland function and structure and resulted in vast grassland degradation. To restore degraded grasslands, the Central Government of China has implemented the Ecological Security Barrier Protection and Construction Project since 2008 across the Tibetan Autonomous Region. However, the relative effect of climate change and grazing activities on the variation in alpine grassland productivity is still under debate. In this study, we quantified how aboveground net primary production (ANPP) varied before (2000–2008) and after (2009–2017) starting the project across different alpine grasslands and how much variance in ANPP could be attributed to climate change and grazing disturbance, in terms of temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, and grazing intensity. Our results revealed that Tibet’s climate got warmer and wetter, and grazing intensity decreased after starting the project. Mean ANPP increased at approximately 81% of the sites, on average from 27.0 g C m–2 during 2000–2008 to 28.4 g C m–2 during 2009–2017. The ANPP positively correlated with annual temperature and precipitation, but negatively with grazing intensity for both periods. Random forest modeling indicated that grazing intensity (14.5%) had a much lower influence in controlling the dynamics of grassland ANPP than precipitation (29.0%), suggesting that precipitation variability was the key factor for alpine grassland ANPP increase across Tibet.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Variability Rather Than Livestock Grazing Dominates Changes in Alpine Grassland Productivity Across Tibet

Feng

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Many studies, especially those using remote sensing observations, have shown that the Tibetan Plateau is becoming greener under the currently warming and wetting climate and reduced density of grazing animals ( 27 – 30 ), suggesting a higher input of plant C to the soils. These contrasting views—that is, the model-based projection of the loss of CO 2 from permafrost and the inventory-based accumulation of soil C and satellite-based observations of increased vegetation—mean that it is unclear whether the CO 2 balance has been altered by the changing climate on the Tibetan Plateau.…”

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confidence: 99%

Plant uptake of CO₂outpaces losses from permafrost and plant respiration on the Tibetan Plateau

Wei

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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High-latitude and high-altitude regions contain vast stores of permafrost carbon. Climate warming may result in the release of CO2 from both the thawing of permafrost and accelerated autotrophic respiration, but it may also increase the fixation of CO2 by plants, which could relieve or even offset the CO2 losses. The Tibetan Plateau contains the largest area of alpine permafrost on Earth. However, the current status of the net CO2 balance and feedbacks to warming remain unclear, given that the region has recently experienced an atmospheric warming rate of over 0.3 °C decade−1. We examined 32 eddy covariance sites and found an unexpected net CO2 sink during 2002 to 2020 (26 of the sites yielded a net CO2 sink) that was four times the amount previously estimated. The CO2 sink peaked at an altitude of roughly 4,000 m, with the sink at lower and higher altitudes limited by a low carbon use efficiency and a cold, dry climate, respectively. The fixation of CO2 in summer is more dependent on temperature than the loss of CO2 than it is in the winter months, especially at higher altitudes. Consistently, 16 manipulative experiments and 18 model simulations showed that the fixation of CO2 by plants will outpace the loss of CO2 under a wetting–warming climate until the 2090s (178 to 318 Tg C y−1). We therefore suggest that there is a plant-dominated negative feedback to climate warming on the Tibetan Plateau.

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“…During the past several decades, part of the vast alpine pastures has experienced overstocking-induced degradation, which has also been witnessed in the Zoige wetlands ( 1 ). To tackle this, the Retire Livestock & Restore Pastures program was initiated in the 2000s ( 3 – 5 ), in which 176 out of 213 counties in severely degraded areas were fenced for restoration and livestock numbers decreased by 20%. Ecological restoration/protection is widely reported as promoting a net CO 2 sink, by 16 to 47% ( 6 – 8 ).…”

Section: Decreased Grazing Density Under Ecological Restoration and P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reply to Ma and Zuo: Ecological restoration on the Tibetan Plateau would benefit terrestrial CO ₂ uptake

Wei

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Human activities alter response of alpine grasslands on Tibetan Plateau to climate change

Cited by 53 publications

References 47 publications

Climate Variability Rather Than Livestock Grazing Dominates Changes in Alpine Grassland Productivity Across Tibet

Climate Variability Rather Than Livestock Grazing Dominates Changes in Alpine Grassland Productivity Across Tibet

Plant uptake of CO₂outpaces losses from permafrost and plant respiration on the Tibetan Plateau

Reply to Ma and Zuo: Ecological restoration on the Tibetan Plateau would benefit terrestrial CO ₂ uptake

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Human activities alter response of alpine grasslands on Tibetan Plateau to climate change

Cited by 53 publications

References 47 publications

Climate Variability Rather Than Livestock Grazing Dominates Changes in Alpine Grassland Productivity Across Tibet

Climate Variability Rather Than Livestock Grazing Dominates Changes in Alpine Grassland Productivity Across Tibet

Plant uptake of CO2outpaces losses from permafrost and plant respiration on the Tibetan Plateau

Reply to Ma and Zuo: Ecological restoration on the Tibetan Plateau would benefit terrestrial CO 2 uptake

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Plant uptake of CO₂outpaces losses from permafrost and plant respiration on the Tibetan Plateau

Reply to Ma and Zuo: Ecological restoration on the Tibetan Plateau would benefit terrestrial CO ₂ uptake