The impacts of climate change and human activities on biogeochemical cycles on the <scp>Q</scp>inghai‐<scp>T</scp>ibetan <scp>P</scp>lateau

Chen, Huai; Zhu, Qiuan; Peng, Changhui; Wu, Ning; Wang, Yanfen; Fang, Xiuqin; Gao, Yongheng; Zhu, Dan; Yang, Gang; Tian, Jianqing; Kang, Xiaoming; Piao, Shilong; Ouyang, Hao; Xiang, Wenhua; Luo, Zhibin; Jiang, Hong; Song, Xingzhang; Zhang, Yao; Yu, Guirui; Zhao, Xinquan; Gong, Peng; Yao, Tandong; Wu, Jianghua

doi:10.1111/gcb.12277

Cited by 696 publications

(383 citation statements)

References 138 publications

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“…The Tibetan Plateau, a widely distributed alpine ecosystem, is one of the most sensitive regions to global climatic change worldwide (Chen et al, 2013;Fu et al in press;Miehe et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2000). The magnitude of warming in alpine regions is predicted to be much greater than the global average (IPCC, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A meta-analysis of the effects of experimental warming on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau

Zhang

Shen

2015

Applied Soil Ecology

110

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A B S T R A C TAlpine ecosystems at high altitudes and latitudes are notably sensitive to climatic warming and the Tibetan Plateau is a widely distributed alpine ecosystem. The magnitude of climatic warming on the Tibetan Plateau is expected to be considerably greater than the global average. However, a synthesis of the experimental warming soil carbon and nitrogen data is still lacking and whether forest soils are more sensitive to warming than grassland soils remains unclear. In this study, we used a meta-analysis approach to synthesise 196 observations from 25 published studies on the Tibetan Plateau. Warming significantly increased microbial biomass carbon (MBC) by 14.3% (95% CI: 2.9-24.6%), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) by 20.1% (95% CI: 2.0-45.1%), net nitrogen mineralization by 49.2% (95% CI: 38.1-62.3%) and net nitrification by 56.0% (95% CI: 51.4-66.1%), but did not significantly affect soil carbon (95% CI: À13.9 to 2.7%) or nitrogen (95% CI: À12.4 to 2.6%). The mean annual air temperature was negatively correlated with the warming effects on MBC and MBN. Grasslands exhibited significant MBC and MBN responses to warming. Specifically, soil microbial biomass was more responsive to warming in colder environments. Moreover, forest soils are not always more sensitive to warming than grassland soils as previous studies have suggested. These findings indicate that clarifying the effect of warming on alpine soils need consider ecosystem types and their local climate.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A meta-analysis of the effects of experimental warming on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau

Zhang

Shen

2015

Applied Soil Ecology

110

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“…Climate change is one of the main, but uncertain, factors that have significant impact on terrestrial ecosystems, inducing vegetation and biodiversity changes, especially in fragile environments [1][2][3][4][5]. Since 1901, global mean surface temperature has increased by 0.89˝C according to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevation-Dependent Vegetation Greening of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin in the Southern Tibetan Plateau, 1999–2013

Weishou

et al. 2015

Remote Sensing

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Abstract:The Yarlung Zangbo River basin is an important alley to transport moisture from the Indian Ocean to the inner Tibetan Plateau. With a wide range of elevations from 147 m to over 7000 m above sea level (a.s.l.), ecosystems respond differently to climate change at various elevations. However, the pattern of elevation-dependent vegetation change and how it responds to recent warming have been rarely reported. Here, we investigated the pattern of vegetation greening at different elevations in this river basin using SPOT normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data during 1999-2013, and examined its relationship with elevation-dependent changes in temperature and precipitation. The annual NDVI has increased by 8.83% from 1999 to 2013. In particular, the NDVI increased more apparently at lower elevations, but remained relatively stable or even decreased at high elevations. It seems that rising temperature has driven the basin-wide vegetation greening, but the greening rate is in contrast to the pattern of elevation-dependent warming (EDW) with more significant temperature increase at higher elevations. It appears that decreasing precipitation does not reverse the overall increasing trend in NDVI, but relatively limited precipitation (<500 mm) may constrain the NDVI increases, causing apparently stable or even decreased NDVI at higher elevations (>4000 m).

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“…Some previous studies showed that warming has negative impacts on rangeland [27,28]. However, other studies [29] indicate that the warming trends on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau could enhance the above net primary production and the rangeland status. The difference was probably because those studies, unlike this study, failed to consider the influences of variations in precipitation on rangeland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Evaluating the Effects of Government Policy and Drought from 1984 to 2009 on Rangeland in the Three Rivers Source Region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Ning

Liang

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:The Three Rivers Source Region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a key area that has extensive impacts on much of the population and economy of China as well as several Southeast Asian countries. The rangeland in this area has undergone degradation, the driving factors of which have been extensively investigated in previous studies. However, the effect of policy on rangeland was not analyzed by subdividing the study period according to the timing of the rangeland policies. The role of dry conditions during the process of degradation has not been studied. Therefore, the period from 1984 to 2009 was subdivided into five periods according to the timing of the relevant government policies based on long-term field investigation. The mean annual normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and its relationship to dry conditions, policy, temperature, precipitation, and moisture index were analyzed for the five periods. According to our analysis, dry conditions mainly occurred in non-vegetation-growing months, and they did not affect the status of the rangeland. The privatization of rangeland and livestock caused the number of livestock to increase, resulting in a decrease in the mean annual NDVI from 1984 to 1993. The policies of "Green-to-Grain" and eco-migration caused livestock numbers to decrease and the NDVI to increase after 1994. Physical factors such as temperature, precipitation, and moisture also affected the status of the rangeland. Increased temperature had positive effects on rangeland in most areas, but its effect was offset by increased numbers of livestock from 1984 to 1993. Precipitation had positive effects only in drier areas in which the precipitation in the vegetation-growing months was less than 400 mm. In general, the policies of "Green-to-Grain" and eco-migration improved the status of rangeland, and helped improve sustainable use of the rangeland. The methods used in this study could be applied to other case studies of rangeland. Governments should continue to implement compensation policies to maintain the improved condition of rangeland in the area and expand those policies to other rangeland areas.

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The impacts of climate change and human activities on biogeochemical cycles on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 696 publications

References 138 publications

A meta-analysis of the effects of experimental warming on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau

A meta-analysis of the effects of experimental warming on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau

Elevation-Dependent Vegetation Greening of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin in the Southern Tibetan Plateau, 1999–2013

Evaluating the Effects of Government Policy and Drought from 1984 to 2009 on Rangeland in the Three Rivers Source Region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

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