Quantitative assess the driving forces on the grassland degradation in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, in China

Wang, Zhaoqi; Zhang, Yanzhen; Yang, Young-Hoon; Zhou, Wei; Gang, Chengcheng; Zhang, Ying; Li, Jianlong; An, Ru; Wang, Ke; Odeh, Inakwu O. A.; Qi, Jiaguo

doi:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2016.03.006

Cited by 196 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

114

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Findings consistent with ours have been suggested in studies of other similar ecosystems [41,82] and research on mechanisms underlying the scope of climatic driving forces [83]. Also, in our research, the decreased grazing pressure can benefit the restoration of grassland in the alpine desert region and regions where grazing pressure is not severe, which is also reflected in Wang's research at a finer spatial resolution [84]. In the long run, climate inevitably causes impacts on the vigor of grassland vegetation in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, just as it impacted the greenness of the Sahel during the years following the drought in the 1980s [85][86][87].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In Sanjiangyuan, half of the extremely high grazing pressure counties showed an upward trend. Some other studies found that climate is the principal driving force for grassland degradation, whereas human activities are the dominant factor in grassland restoration [84]. grazing pressure showed a continuous increasing trend mainly over the Southwest Plateau and the South Plateau, where the grazing pressure was at a high level ( Figure A1a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Influences of Climate Change and Human Activities on Vegetation Dynamics in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Grasslands occupy nearly three quarters of the land surface of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau (QTP) and play a critical role in regulating the ecological functions of the QTP. Ongoing climate change and human interference have greatly affected grasslands on the QTP. Differentiating human-induced and climate-driven vegetation changes is vital for both ecological understanding and the management of husbandry. In this study, we employed statistical analysis of annual records, various sources of remote sensing data, and an ecosystem process model to calculate the relative contribution of climate and human activities to vegetation vigor on the QTP. The temperature, precipitation and the intensity and spatial pattern of livestock grazing differed between the periods prior to and after the year 2000, which led to different vegetation dynamics. Overall, increased temperature and enhanced precipitation favored vegetation growth. However, their combined effects exhibited strong spatial heterogeneity. Specifically, increased temperature restrained vegetation growth in dry steppe regions during a period of slightly increasing precipitation from 1986 to 2000 and in meadow regions during a period of precipitation decline during 2000-2011, thereby making precipitation a dominant factor. An increase in precipitation tended to enhance vegetation growth in wet meadow regions during warm periods, and temperature was the limiting factor in Tibet during dry periods. The dominant role played by climate and human activities differed with location and targeted time period. Areas dominated by human activities are much smaller than those dominated by climate. The effects of grazing on grassland pasture were more obvious under unfavorable climate conditions than under suitable ones.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Influences of Climate Change and Human Activities on Vegetation Dynamics in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This further confirms the hotspot status of the area about climate [59]. In recent decades, many studies focusing on droughts in China have been undertaken to understand the effects of climate change and the ecological effects of drought.…”

Section: Implications Of Spei For Water Resource Management For Grassmentioning

confidence: 72%

Response of Grassland Degradation to Drought at Different Time-Scales in Qinghai Province: Spatio-Temporal Characteristics, Correlation, and Implications

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Grassland, as the primary vegetation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, has been increasingly influenced by water availability due to climate change in last decades. Therefore, identifying the evolution of drought becomes crucial to the efficient management of grassland. However, it is not yet well understood as to the quantitative relationship between vegetation variations and drought at different time scales. Taking Qinghai Province as a case, the effects of meteorological drought on vegetation were investigated. Multi-scale Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) considering evapotranspiration variables was used to indicate drought, and time series Normal Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to indicate the vegetation response. The results showed that SPEI values at different time scales reflected a complex dry and wet variation in this region. On a seasonal scale, more droughts occurred in summer and autumn. In general, the NDVI presented a rising trend in the east and southwest part and a decreasing trend in the northwest part of Qinghai Province from 1998 to 2012. Hurst indexes of NDVI revealed that 69.2% of the total vegetation was positively persistent (64.1% of persistent improvement and 5.1% of persistent degradation). Significant correlations were found for most of the SPEI values and the one year lagged NDVI, indicating vegetation made a time-lag response to drought. In addition, one month lagged NDVI made an obvious response to SPEI values at annual and biennial scales. Further analysis showed that all multiscale SPEI values have positive relationships with the NDVI trend and corresponding grassland degradation. The study highlighted the response of vegetation to meteorological drought at different time scales, which is available to predict vegetation change and further help to improve the utilization efficiency of water resources in the study region.

show abstract

“…Grassland is one of the most extensive ecosystems in the world and plays a key role in ecosystem services, carbon balancing and climate regulation [1]. Over past decades, earth has undergone dramatic environmental changes and grassland displayed greater vulnerability than other ecosystems [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-temporal change of grassland distribution in central Inner Mongolia in China

Meng¹,

Guo²

2016

Proceedings of the 2016 5th International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environment Engineering (ICSEEE 2016)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Grassland is one of most important ecosystems in northern China and is threatened by strong land use pressure and poor protection. We selected central Inner Mongolia as a study area to explore spatio-temporal change of grassland distribution in the north of China. Obtaining land use data from remote sensing maps, we classified it into six types: forest, grassland, wetland, farmland, artificial surface and others. Then grassland was assigned into four secondary categories: meadow, steppe, tussock and herbaceous greenbelt. On the base of RS and GIS, we made an analysis of grassland distribution from 2000 to 2010. Result shows: 1) during this period, distribution of grassland decreased 1472.68km 2 , accounting for 0.45%; 2) steppes took up the biggest percentage of total area, which experienced lighter decline compared with herbaceous greenbelts; 3) differing from the total trend, tussock suffered little degradation while meadows expended to some degree.

show abstract

Quantitative assess the driving forces on the grassland degradation in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, in China

Cited by 196 publications

References 39 publications

The Influences of Climate Change and Human Activities on Vegetation Dynamics in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Influences of Climate Change and Human Activities on Vegetation Dynamics in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Response of Grassland Degradation to Drought at Different Time-Scales in Qinghai Province: Spatio-Temporal Characteristics, Correlation, and Implications

Spatio-temporal change of grassland distribution in central Inner Mongolia in China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About