Lateral flow between bald and vegetation patches induces the degradation of alpine meadow in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Jiang, Xiaojin; Zhu, Xiai; Yuan, Zi‐Qiang; Li, Yong; Liu, Wenjie; Zakari, Sissou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142338

Cited by 29 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…As the most fragile and vital region in the world, the Tibetan Plateau, also known as the third pole, has experienced the severe threat of a damaged ecological security barrier and has witnessed serious ecological problems including freeze-thaw erosion [53], hydraulic erosion [54], land desertification [34], grassland degradation [3,55], and salinization [56]. These issues have made the ecosystem difficult to inhabit and maintain a healthy state.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Tibet Autonomous Region is at the margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Approximately 92% of the entire autonomous region lies within the arctic-alpine environment [3] and suffers from frequent crustal movements, drastic wind erosion [8], and freezing erosion [53]. The melting of snow and ice is the fundamental prerequisite for freeze-thaw erosion, and solar radiation is the decisive factor for melting snow and the doubling of the global average in warming speed [51].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Long-Term Ecological Vulnerability Analysis of the Tibetan Region of Natural Conditions and Ecological Protection Programs

et al. 2021

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The combined impacts of drastic natural environment change and increasing human interference are making the uncertainty of the Tibetan Plateau’s ecological vulnerability the world’s largest. In this study, an ecological vulnerability index (EVI) of Tibet in the core area of the Tibetan Plateau was assessed using a selected set of ecological, social, and economic indicators and using a spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) to calculate their weights. The data included Landsat images and socio-economic data from 1990 to 2015 in five-year intervals. The results showed that the total EVI remained at a high vulnerability level, with drastic fluctuation from 1990 to 2000 (a peak in 1995, when there was a sudden increase in light vulnerability, which moved to extreme vulnerability in the next period), and minor fluctuations after 2000, gradually increasing from southeast to northwest. In addition, the spatial analysis showed a distinct positive correlation between the EVI and grassland area (0.33), land use degree (0.15), NDVI (0.14), livestock husbandry output, and a negative correlation in terms of desertification area. The artificial afforestation program (AAP) had a positive significant correlation with NDVI (R2 = 0.88), preventing the environment from becoming more vulnerable. The results provide practical information and suggestions for planners to improve the land use degree in urban areas and the vegetation coverage in pastoral regions of the Tibetan Plateau based on the spatial–temporal heterogeneity patterns of the EVI of Tibet.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Long-Term Ecological Vulnerability Analysis of the Tibetan Region of Natural Conditions and Ecological Protection Programs

et al. 2021

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“…The bare patch in plot 3of Fig. 1 in their paper [3] was just on the bare patch caused by long time of plateau pika digging. Digging pits can be found in Fig.…”

Section: Letter To the Editormentioning

confidence: 96%

The Conclusion of ‘Lateral Flow between Bald and Vegetation Patches Induces the Degradation of Alpine Meadow in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau’ is Inaccurate

2021

AJRiZ

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“…Together, rainfall, including its amount and frequency, were found to regulate the shallow soil seepage in the piedmont alpine meadow. However, it should be noted that our experiments excluded the effect of lateral soil water flow from meltwater [23], which could reduce the source of water input and then led to the underestimation of soil seepage. Future studies are needed in order to quantify these belowground hydrological processes, together with the grassland degradation and the resultant surface heterogeneity [12].…”

Section: The Temporal Patterns Of Soil Seepage Amountmentioning

confidence: 98%

Rainfall Determines Shallow Soil Seepage in a Piedmont Summer Pasture of Alpine Meadow on the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Yang

Zhang

et al. 2021

Water

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Soil seepage is an important component used for quantifying hydrological processes that remains unclear in high-altitude alpine meadows. Shallow soil seepage was continuously measured using an auto-logged micro-lysimeter (diameter = 30 cm, depth = 30 cm) from July 2018 to June 2019 in a piedmont summer pasture of alpine meadow on the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that all the shallow soil seepage events occurred during the non-frozen period from April to September and that the cumulative amount was 106.8 mm, representing about 1/5 of the annual precipitation. The maximum and minimum monthly soil seepage were 30.7 mm in September and 1.0 mm in April, respectively. The boosted regression trees (BRT) model’s area under the curve averaged 0.92 and revealed that the daily half-hour rainfall frequency, volumetric soil water content, and air temperature played significant roles in the daily soil seepage probability, with the cumulative relative contribution of 68%. The stepwise linear regression analysis showed that the rainfall amount accounted for 59% of the variation in the daily amount of soil seepage. The monthly soil seepage was found to be significantly correlated with the monthly rainfall frequency (r = 0.86, p = 0.005). Our results highlighted that rainfall, including its amount and frequency, was the key determinant of the probability and amount of shallow soil seepage in the piedmont summer pasture of alpine meadows. These findings will be helpful for improving predictions of the water budgets of piedmont alpine meadows.

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Lateral flow between bald and vegetation patches induces the degradation of alpine meadow in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 29 publications

References 69 publications

A Long-Term Ecological Vulnerability Analysis of the Tibetan Region of Natural Conditions and Ecological Protection Programs

A Long-Term Ecological Vulnerability Analysis of the Tibetan Region of Natural Conditions and Ecological Protection Programs

The Conclusion of ‘Lateral Flow between Bald and Vegetation Patches Induces the Degradation of Alpine Meadow in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau’ is Inaccurate

Rainfall Determines Shallow Soil Seepage in a Piedmont Summer Pasture of Alpine Meadow on the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

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