Sandy desertification: Borne on the wind

Wang, Xunming

doi:10.1007/s11434-013-5771-9

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Aeolian desertification mainly occurs when arable land and grassland are degraded to such a degree that aeolian transport is exacerbated by decreases in vegetation cover or increases in the intensity of aeolian processes (Martínez-Graña et al, 2015), and when anchored or semianchored dunes are reactivated (Wang, 2013), is the dominant forms of land degradation in arid regions. Arid Asia covers areas about 1.5 × 10 8 km 2 , stretch from Northeast Asia to Central and West Asia, with annual precipitation of b500 mm (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial differences of aeolian desertification responses to climate in arid Asia

Wang

Hua

Lang

et al. 2017

Global and Planetary Change

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Most areas of arid Asia are covered by aeolian dunes, sand sheets, gravels, and desert steppes, and may jeopardize nearly 350 million people if climate change increases aeolian desertification. Although the aeolian desertification is mainly triggered by climate changes are extensively acknowledged, the responses of aeolian desertification to various climate scenarios are poorly understood. Based on the tight combinations of dune activity index (DAI) trends and of aeolian desertification, here the spatial differences of aeolian desertification responses on various climate scenarios were reported. The analyzed results show that the variations in temperature, precipitation and wind regime have no significant contributions on aeolian desertification in the extremely arid Asia. From the early to blooming periods of vegetation growth, although temperature rise may benefit vegetation growths in some high latitudes and altitudes, the temperature rise may increase aeolian desertification in most arid Asia regions such as Mongolia, West and Central Asia. In arid Asia, although precipitation increases may benefit the rehabilitation, decreases in precipitation is not the key role on aeolian desertification occurrences in extremely arid regions. From the early to blooming periods of vegetation growths, spatial trends of the sensitivity of aeolian desertification to wind regime varied. Generally, at the regional scales there are relative high sensitivities for aeolian desertification to climate changes in the eastern and western regions of arid Asia, and the climate changes may not play important roles on aeolian desertification occurrence in the central regions. The spatial differences of aeolian desertification responses to climate changes indicate various strategies for aeolian desertification combating are needed in different regions of arid Asia.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial differences of aeolian desertification responses to climate in arid Asia

Wang

Hua

Lang

et al. 2017

Global and Planetary Change

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“…, Field et al. , Wang ). Succeeding desertification and vegetation loss will result in degradation of a few soil physicochemical properties (Li et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of litter crusts and its multifunctional ecological effects in a desert ecosystem

Jia

Liu

et al. 2018

Ecosphere

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. 2018. Formation of litter crusts and its multifunctional ecological effects in a desert ecosystem. Ecosphere 9(4):e02196. 10.1002/ecs2.2196Abstract. Desertification is one of the major issues in global environmental change, and it is of great concern to scientists and policy-makers in the world. Litter crusts can be of great importance for the restoration and management of desert ecosystems. The formation of litter crusts and its ecological effects on desert surface microhabitats were studied in a wind-water erosion crisscross desert region. It was found that litter crusts, especially the four-year litter crusts, exhibited a better soil storage capacity and temperature regulating ability when compared to the bare land, biocrusts, and two-year litter crusts; the four-year litter crusts significantly increased soil total porosity, soil water storage, and soil organic carbon content, but reduced soil bulk density. Furthermore, species richness, coverage, and plant height of seedlings in litter crusts were significantly greater than those in bare land and biocrusts. Although the bare land had the greatest total number of seedlings, the survival rate of seedlings was lowest there. Our findings revealed that litter crusts had significantly positive effects on soil moisture, soil temperature, soil physicochemical properties, and seedling establishment. The multifunctional ecological effects of litter crusts are more positive than lichenand moss-dominated biocrusts in desert ecosystems.

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“…Aeolian processes are the key forces of erosion, transportation, and deposition affecting surface soils in arid and semi-arid regions (Breshears et al, 2003;Field et al, 2012;, and these processes are also a fundamental driver of sandy desertification (e.g., Schlesinger et al, 1990;Wang, 2013;Wang et al, 2013). However, sandy desertification also occurs in humid and semihumid regions, where the annual precipitation is >450 mm and there are high intensities of aeolian processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast to creep and saltation, fine particles are transported by suspension and result in the surface soils becoming coarser, with decreased nutrients, reduced moisture-holding capacity (Alfaro et al, 1998;Marticorena and Bergametti, 1995), degraded plant communities, and decreased biodiversity (Alvarez et al, 2012;Christie, 1993;Muller et al, 2013;Okin and Gillette, 2001). These are key factors associated with sandy desertification (Wang, 2013). Most previous studies (e.g., Okin et al, 2006) have been concerned with aeolian processes in arid and semi-arid regions, whereas few studies have focused on the significance of nutrient migration by fine particle transportation in humid and semi-humid regions where there is a high risk of sandy desertification.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aeolian processes and their effect on sandy desertification of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: A wind tunnel experiment

Wang

Lang

Yan

et al. 2016

Soil and Tillage Research

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A B S T R A C TTo determine the contribution of aeolian processes to sandy desertification, we applied different wind velocities to soils from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that were subjected to the human activities such as wholesale destruction of vegetation. We then employed field investigations, soil sampling in the field, wind tunnel experiments, particle size analyses, and nutrient analyses. After the ground surfaces were crushed to simulate land degradation, the aeolian transport in this region varied from 0.00 to 43.49 g m À2 s À1 and was dependent on the particle size composition, and variation in the intensity of aeolian processes. During the aeolian processes our wind tunnel results show differences between the nutrient contents of the transported materials and those of the surface soils, and the loss of total nitrogen (TN), total carbon (TC) and total phosphorus (TP) varied between 0.00 and 8.81, 0.10 and 122.27, 0.00 and 1.14 g m À2, respectively. In addition, variations in wind velocities did not result in significant differences in the particle size fractions of the transported materials. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, although an increase in human activity may trigger sandy desertification, the occurrence of sandy desertification was not significant in the early 21st century, and hence it is likely to be controlled by climate even though human impacts have undeniably exacerbated its effects.

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Sandy desertification: Borne on the wind

Cited by 20 publications

References 93 publications

Spatial differences of aeolian desertification responses to climate in arid Asia

Spatial differences of aeolian desertification responses to climate in arid Asia

Formation of litter crusts and its multifunctional ecological effects in a desert ecosystem

Aeolian processes and their effect on sandy desertification of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: A wind tunnel experiment

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