Measuring the meltdown

Qiu, Jane

doi:10.1038/468141a

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…However, even the most credible sources available to date do not provide enough data for drawing conclusive statements about possible CC impacts on glacier runoff and seasonal snowmelt in all of the study basins (Qiu 2008(Qiu , 2010Absar 2010;Archer et al 2010;Armstrong 2010;Malone 2010;Schiermeier 2010;. The main reason is incompatibility of most assessments due to considerable differences in adopted scenarios and methods.…”

Section: Climate Change Impact On the Meltwater Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Glacier systems and seasonal snow cover in six major Asian river basins: hydrological role under changing climate

Savoskul¹,

Smakhtin²

2013

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The publications in this series cover a wide range of subjects-from computer modeling to experience with water user associations-and vary in content from directly applicable research to more basic studies, on which applied work ultimately depends. Some research reports are narrowly focused, analytical and detailed empirical studies; others are wide-ranging and synthetic overviews of generic problems.Although most of the reports are published by IWMI staff and their collaborators, we welcome contributions from others. Each report is reviewed internally by IWMI staff, and by external reviewers. The reports are published and distributed both in hard copy and electronically (www.iwmi.org) and where possible all data and analyses will be available as separate downloadable files. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment. About IWMIIWMI's mission is to improve the management of land and water resources for food, livelihoods and the environment. In serving this mission, IWMI concentrates on the integration of policies, technologies and management systems to achieve workable solutions to real problems-practical, relevant results in the field of irrigation and water and land resources.

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Section: Climate Change Impact On the Meltwater Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Glacier systems and seasonal snow cover in six major Asian river basins: hydrological role under changing climate

Savoskul¹,

Smakhtin²

2013

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“…Being the third largest ice store after Antarctica and the Arctic (Qiu 2008(Qiu , 2010, the Tibetan Plateau is among the regions suffering the most from global warming and anthropogenic perturbation. Livestock grazing is a dominant economic activity in the Tibetan Plateau (Cao et al 2004); however, it imposes marked and lasting impacts on above-and below-ground ecosystems of land surfaces via a number of mechanisms such as trampling, defoliation, defecation, and urination (Bardgett and Wardle 2003;Hamilton and Frank 2001;Radl et al 2007;Ruess and Mcnaughton 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the lingering effect of livestock grazing on functional potentials of microbial communities in Tibetan grassland soils

Wang

et al. 2016

Plant Soil

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Background and aims Livestock grazing is a widely practiced land-use regime that can impose lingering effects on global biogeochemical cycles. However, elucidating the mechanisms of related eco-processes, which are largely mediated by the microbial community, remains challenging. Methods Here, we collected soil samples from two Tibetan grassland sites subjected to grazing in winter followed by a 3-month recovery. We then evaluated Plant Soil

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“…Rich in glaciers and permafrost, the region has Earth's third largest ice store after Antarctic and Arctic (Qiu, 2010). Recent decades have witnessed strong effects of climatic warming as this region has been experiencing three times the average global warming rate since 1960 (Li and Tang, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The microbial gene diversity along an elevation gradient of the Tibetan grassland

et al. 2013

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Tibet is one of the most threatened regions by climate warming, thus understanding how its microbial communities function may be of high importance for predicting microbial responses to climate changes. Here, we report a study to profile soil microbial structural genes, which infers functional roles of microbial communities, along four sites/elevations of a Tibetan mountainous grassland, aiming to explore the potential microbial responses to climate changes via a strategy of space-for-time substitution. Using a microarray-based metagenomics tool named GeoChip 4.0, we showed that microbial communities were distinct for most but not all of the sites. Substantial variations were apparent in stress, N and C-cycling genes, but they were in line with the functional roles of these genes. Cold shock genes were more abundant at higher elevations. Also, gdh converting ammonium into urea was more abundant at higher elevations, whereas ureC converting urea into ammonium was less abundant, which was consistent with soil ammonium contents. Significant correlations were observed between N-cycling genes (ureC, gdh and amoA) and nitrous oxide flux, suggesting that they contributed to community metabolism. Lastly, we found by Canonical correspondence analysis, Mantel tests and the similarity tests that soil pH, temperature, NH 4 þ -N and vegetation diversity accounted for the majority (81.4%) of microbial community variations, suggesting that these four attributes were major factors affecting soil microbial communities. On the basis of these observations, we predict that climate changes in the Tibetan grasslands are very likely to change soil microbial community functional structure, with particular impacts on microbial N-cycling genes and consequently microbe-mediated soil N dynamics.

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Measuring the meltdown

Abstract: More than a billion people rely on drinking water fed by Himalayan glaciers such as Khumbu in Nepal. This supply could be at risk unless glacial retreat is stopped.

Cited by 30 publications

References 1 publication

Glacier systems and seasonal snow cover in six major Asian river basins: hydrological role under changing climate

Glacier systems and seasonal snow cover in six major Asian river basins: hydrological role under changing climate

Evaluating the lingering effect of livestock grazing on functional potentials of microbial communities in Tibetan grassland soils

The microbial gene diversity along an elevation gradient of the Tibetan grassland

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