Land-use effects on organic and inorganic carbon patterns in the topsoil around Qinghai Lake basin, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Land use/cover change (LUCC) has an important impact on the terrestrial carbon cycle. The spatial distribution of regional carbon reserves can provide the scientific basis for the management of ecosystem carbon storage and the formulation of ecological and environmental policies. This paper proposes a method combining the CA-based FLUS model and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model to assess the temporal and spatial changes in ecosystem carbon storage due to land-use changes over 1990–2015 in the Qinghai Lake Basin (QLB). Furthermore, future ecosystem carbon storage is simulated and evaluated over 2020–2030 under three scenarios of natural growth (NG), cropland protection (CP), and ecological protection (EP). The long-term spatial variations in carbon storage in the QLB are discussed. The results show that: (1) Carbon storage in the QLB decreased at first (1990–2000) and increased later (2000–2010), with total carbon storage increasing by 1.60 Tg C (Teragram: a unit of mass equal to 1012 g). From 2010 to 2015, carbon storage displayed a downward trend, with a sharp decrease in wetlands and croplands as the main cause; (2) Under the NG scenario, carbon reserves decrease by 0.69 Tg C over 2020–2030. These reserves increase significantly by 6.77 Tg C and 7.54 Tg C under the CP and EP scenarios, respectively, thus promoting the benign development of the regional ecological environment. This study improves our understanding on the impact of land-use change on carbon storage for the QLB in the northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP).

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Using coprophilous fungi to reconstruct the history of pastoralism in the Qinghai Lake Basin, Northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Progress in Physical Geography Earth and Environment ◽

10.1177/0309133319869596 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 70-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Hai-cheng Wei ◽

Guang-liang Hou ◽

Qi-shun Fan ◽

David B Madsen ◽

Zhan-jie Qin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

High Altitude ◽

Total Concentration ◽

Fungal Spore ◽

Qinghai Lake ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Human Settlement ◽

Coprophilous Fungi ◽

History Of ◽

Qinghai Lake Basin

The history of permanent human settlement in the high-altitude regions (>3000 m above sea level [masl]) of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is important in understanding human adaptation to this cold “Third Pole” region. The Qinghai Lake Basin was an important corridor used by prehistoric humans migrating to the inner QTP. Pastoralism is currently the most important means of sustaining permanent human settlement in the high-altitude regions of the QTP. However, the lack of reliable proxy measures reflecting prehistoric pastoral activities impedes our understanding of how pastoralism developed. The identification of coprophilous fungi in prehistoric cultural deposits may help refine the history of pastoralism. We collected 21 modern domesticated herbivore dung samples and 66 surface soil samples from the Qinghai Lake Basin for fungal spore analyses. We then evaluated how useful such analyses are for identifying grazing activities. Fifty-three samples were also collected from the JXG2 stratigraphic profile (∼10.0–0 ka; 3312 masl) for fungal spore analysis. Results indicate that low and stable values of the total concentration of coprophilous fungi were present from ∼10.0 to ∼5.5 ka. Concentrations gradually increased from ∼5.5 to ∼4.2 ka, significantly increased from ∼4.2 to ∼2.6 ka, and then increased dramatically after ∼2.6 ka. By combining these results with charcoal concentrations (>50 µm), lithic artifacts, bones and potsherds recovered from the JXG2 site, we infer that early pastoralism in Qinghai Lake Basin appeared between ∼6.0 to ∼5.5 ka and gradually intensified throughout the remainder of the Holocene as herding and farming gradually replaced hunting–gathering as the primary subsistence strategies. These results are supported by pollen records, archeological remains and historical records in the northeastern QTP.

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Landscape reconstruction and the relationship between human and environment in Yaowuyao area, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau since 15000 yr BP

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18646 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Naimeng Zhang ◽

Qinghai Xu ◽

Dongju Zhang ◽

Ulrike Herzschuh ◽

Zhongwei Shen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Human Activity ◽

Human Activities ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Qinghai Lake ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Human Beings ◽

Landscape Reconstruction ◽

Qinghai Lake Basin ◽

Early Human

<p>Understanding the paleoenvironment (such as climate and landscape) in the area where the early ancient human appears on the Tibetan Plateau is an interesting topic. Based on the results of pollen data on the Yaowuyao loess section of the Qinghai Lake Basin, we used landscape reconstruction algorithms to reconstruct the changes in vegetation cover for 15,000 years. It is shown that the vegetation in the Yaowuyao area changed from temperate steppe (15-7.5 ka) to forest-steppe (7.5-4 ka). Compared with previous studies on the sediment in Qinghai Lake, our study can better reflect the local environment of the Qinghai Lake basin. Furthermore, based on the paleoclimate change data and archeological data from the surrounding areas, it is noticed that while precipitation increases and trees increase, human activities decrease. This may be caused by the substance and strategies of the ancient human beings that have adapted to the steppe. In addition, our results also show that the intensity of ancient human activity has a negative correlation with plant biodiversity, which may be related to human disturbance to the environment. Our paleoecological and environmental study not only shows the paleoenvironment of the early human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau but also revealed possible early human activity signals.</p>

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