Determinizing the contributions of human activities and climate change on greening in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region, China

AbstractChina accounts for 25% of the global greening. There are temporal and spatial differences of China’s greening and intrinsic driving forces. Thus, it is crucial to determinize the contributions of human activities and climate change on greening at region scale. The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region (BTHR) is one of the most active areas with human activities in China. It is necessary to explore negative or positive impacts of human activities on the regional greening or browning under climate change. A time series of annual vegetation coverage from satellite data was selected to quantify regional greening in the BTHR from 2000 to 2019 and their responses to climate change and human activities. Results showed generally widespread greening over the last 20 years at an average increased rate of 0.036 decade−1 in vegetation coverage (P < 0.01). Overall warmer and wetter climate across the BTHR were positively correlated with regional greening. The positive effects of human activities on greening accounted for 48.4% of the BTHR, especially the benefits of ecological restoration projects and the agricultural activities. Increases in vegetation coverage had resulted from the combined effects of climate change and human activities. Climate change had a stronger influence on vegetation coverage than human activities. Contributions of climate change to greening and browning was about 74.1% and < 20%, respectively. The decrease in vegetation coverage was mainly the results of the inhibition of human activities. More detailed socioeconomic and anthropogenic datasets are required for further analysis. Further research consideration would focus on the nonlinear responses of vegetation to climate change.

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Temporal and Spatial Changes and Driving Forces of NDVI From 1982 - 2015 in Qinba Mountains, China

10.21203/rs.3.rs-415051/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yaru Zhang ◽

Yi He ◽

Yanlin Li ◽

Liping Jia

Keyword(s):

Human Activities ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Slow Growth ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Vegetation Coverage ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Spatial Changes ◽

Change Trend ◽

Temporal And Spatial

Abstract The spatiotemporal variation and driving force of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is helpful to regional ecological environment protection and natural resource management. Using the Sen and Mann–Kendall methods, Hurt index, Space transfer matrix and Geodetector, this study investigated the temporal and spatial changes and driving forces of NDVI during 1982 - 2015. The results showed that:（1）For the period 1982 to 2015, the high vegetation coverage was mainly distributed in Qinling Mountains and Daba mountain, while the value of NDVI was low in high altitude area in the west, low altitude in the East and Hanjiang River valley.（2）The change trend of NDVI in Qinba Mountains is mainly to maintain stable and slow growth. And the slow growth changes significantly. NDVI increased slowly mainly in the East and northwest.（3）The future change trend of NDVI in Qinba Mountain is mainly slow growth and stability, which indicates that the ecological construction in Qinba Mountains is good. (4) Through the geographical detector, the main factors affecting NDVI in Qinba Mountains are natural factors mainly including rainfall, soil type and digital elevation model (DEM), while human activities mainly including population density have little influence on NDVI in Qinba Mountains. Natural environment factors and human activities make a great difference on the spatial distribution of NDVI. This study provides a help for the sustainable development of the naturel environment in Qinba Mountains.

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Grassland dynamics in response to climate change and human activities in Inner Mongolia, China between 1985 and 2009

The Rangeland Journal ◽

10.1071/rj12042 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 315 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

S. J. Mu ◽

Y. Z. Chen ◽

J. L. Li ◽

W. M. Ju ◽

I. O. A. Odeh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

Ecological Restoration ◽

Human Activities ◽

Inner Mongolia ◽

Management Practices ◽

Net Primary Productivity ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Landscape Patterns

China’s grassland has been undergoing rapid changes in the recent past owing to increased climate variability and a shift in grassland management strategy driven by a series of ecological restoration projects. This study investigated the spatio-temporal dynamics of Inner Mongolia grassland, the main grassland region in China and part of the Eurasia Steppe, to detect the interactive nature of climate, ecosystems and society. Land-use and landscape patterns for the period from 1985 to 2009 were analysed based on TM- and MODIS-derived land-use data. Net Primary Productivity (NPP) estimated by using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach model was used to assess the growth status of grassland. Furthermore, the factors related to the dynamics of grassland were analysed from the perspectives of two driving factors, climate change and human activities. The results indicated that higher temperatures and lower precipitation may generally have contributed to grassland desertification, particularly in arid regions. During the period from 1985 to 2000, a higher human population and an increase in livestock numbers were the major driving forces responsible for the consistent decrease in NPP and a relatively fragmented landscape. From 2000 to 2009, the implementation of effective ecological restoration projects has arrested the grassland deterioration in some ecologically fragile regions. However, a rapid growth of livestock numbers has sparked new degradation onnon-degraded or lightly degraded grassland, which was initially neglected by these projects. In spite of some achievement in grassland restoration, China should take further steps to develop sustainable management practices for climate adaptation and economic development to bring lasting benefits.

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Assessment of soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin, China: Patterns, drivers, and implications

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0261842 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (12) ◽

pp. e0261842

Author(s):

Jianyong Xiao ◽

Binggeng Xie ◽

Kaichun Zhou ◽

Shana Shi ◽

Junhan Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

Soil Erosion ◽

Human Activities ◽

Dongting Lake ◽

Vegetation Coverage ◽

Lake Basin ◽

Driving Mechanism ◽

Land Use Types ◽

Key Factor

Soil loss caused by erosion is a global problem. Therefore, the assessment of soil erosion and the its driving mechanism are of great significance to soil conservation. However, soil erosion is affected by both climate change and human activities, which have not been quantified, and few researchers studied the differences in the driving mechanisms of soil erosion depending on the land use type. Therefore, the spatiotemporal characteristics and changing trends of soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin were analyzed in this study. Geographic detectors were used to identify the dominant factors affecting soil erosion in different land use types. In this study, a sensitivity experiment was conducted to clarify the relative contributions of climate change and human activities to soil erosion changes. In addition, we studied the effects of different land use types and vegetation cover restoration on soil erosion. The results show that soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin decreased from 2000 to 2018. Human activities represented by land use types and vegetation coverage significantly contributed to the alleviation of soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin, whereas climate change represented by rainfall slightly aggravated soil erosion in the study area. The restoration of grassland vegetation and transfer of cultivated land to woodlands in the study area improved the soil erosion. The slope steepness is the key factor affecting the intensity of soil erosion in dry land, paddy fields, and unused land, whereas the vegetation coverage is the key factor affecting the intensity of soil erosion in woodland, garden land, and grassland. Detailed spatiotemporally mapping of soil erosion was used to determine the connections between soil erosion and potential drivers, which have important implications for vegetation restoration and the optimization of land use planning.

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Does Climate Change or Human Activity Lead to the Degradation in the Grassland Ecosystem in a Mountain-Basin System in an Arid Region of China?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11092618 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 2618 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Junjie Yan ◽

Guangpeng Zhang ◽

Xiaoya Deng ◽

Hongbo Ling ◽

Hailiang Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Activities ◽

Arid Region ◽

Vegetation Coverage ◽

Soil Drought ◽

Grassland Ecosystem ◽

Grassland Vegetation ◽

Irrigated Area ◽

The Impact ◽

Basin System

In mountain-basin systems in the arid region, grasslands are sensitive to the impacts of climate change and human activities. In this study, we aimed to resolve two key scientific issues: (1) distinguish and explain the laws of grassland ecosystem deterioration in a mountain-basin system and identify the key factors related; and (2) evaluate whether damaged grasslands ecosystem have the potential for natural revegetation. Hence, by combining spatial analysis with statistical methods, we studied the trends of the deterioration of the grassland ecosystem and its spatial characteristics in Kulusitai, a mountain-basin system in the arid region of Northwest China. According to our results, vegetation coverage and productivity exhibited significant decreasing trends, while the temperature vegetation drought index (TVDI) exhibited a significant increasing trend. Drainage of groundwater, because of increase in irrigation for the expanded irrigated area around Kulusitai, and climate warming were the critical triggers that leaded to the soil drought. Soil drought and overgrazing, resulting from the impact of human activities, were the main factors responsible for the deterioration of the grassland ecosystems. However, limiting the number of livestock to a reasonable scale and reducing the irrigated area may help to increase the soil moisture, thus promoting the germination of soil seed banks and facilitating the normal growth of grassland vegetation. Furthermore, based on analysis of the phenology of the grassland vegetation, the reasonable period for harvesting and storage is from July 29 to August 5. The results of this study provide a scientific basis and practical guide for restoring mountain-basin grassland systems in arid regions.

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Multi-Temporal Variabilities of Evapotranspiration Rates and Their Associations with Climate Change and Vegetation Greening in the Gan River Basin, China

Water ◽

10.3390/w11122568 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 2568 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Meng Bai ◽

Bing Shen ◽

Xiaoyu Song ◽

Shuhong Mo ◽

Lingmei Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Human Activities ◽

Large Scale ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Long Term Evolution ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Term Evolution

Understanding the spatial-temporal dynamics of evapotranspiration in relation to climate change and human activities is crucial for the sustainability of water resources and ecosystem security, especially in regions strongly influenced by human impact. In this study, a process-based evapotranspiration (ET) model in conjunction with the Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) LAI dataset was used to characterize the spatial-temporal pattern of evapotranspiration from 1982 to 2016 over the Gan River basin (GRB), the largest sub-basin of the Poyang Lake catchment, China. The results showed that the actual annual ET (ETa) weakly increased with an annual trend of 0.88 mm year−2 from 1982 to 2016 over the GRB, along with a slight decline in annual potential ET (ETp). On an ecosystem scale; however, only the evergreen broadleaved forest and cropland presented a positive ETa trend, while the rest of the ecosystems demonstrated negative trends of ETa. Both correlation analysis and sensitivity analysis revealed a close relationship between ETa inter-annual variability and energy availability. Attribution analysis illustrated that contributions of climate change and vegetation greening on the ETa trend were −0.48 mm year−2 and 1.36 mm year−2, respectively. Climate change had a negative impact on the ETa trend over the GRB. However, the negative effects have been offset by the positive effects of vegetation greening, which mainly resulted from the large-scale revegetation in forestland and agricultural practices in cropland. It is concluded that large-scale afforestation and agricultural management were the main drivers of the long-term evolution of water consumption over the GRB. This study can improve our understanding of the interactive effects of climate change and human activities on the long-term evolution of water cycles.

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Vegetation dynamics and its driving forces from climate change and human activities in the Three-River Source Region, China from 1982 to 2012

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.223 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 563-564 ◽

pp. 210-220 ◽

Cited By ~ 75

Author(s):

Ying Zhang ◽

Chaobin Zhang ◽

Zhaoqi Wang ◽

Yizhao Chen ◽

Chengcheng Gang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Activities ◽

Vegetation Dynamics ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Source Region

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Precipitation and Anthropogenic Activities Jointly Green the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs14010187 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 187

Author(s):

Xiang Li ◽

Xueqin Zhang ◽

Xiaoming Xu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Inner Mongolia ◽

Vegetation Change ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Irrigation District ◽

Vegetation Coverage ◽

Identification System ◽

Modis Evi

Climate change and anthropogenic activities are widely considered the main factors affecting vegetation growth. However, their relative contributions are under debate. Within the non-climatic impact, detailed human activities, particularly government policy adjustments, are less investigated. In this study, we develop a fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) extraction method based on MODIS-EVI satellite data to analyze the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation and its attributions in the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor (CMREC). The average FVC has improved, with a general increase of 0.02/10a from 2000 to 2020. We construct a driving factor identification system for FVC change, based on partial and multiple correlation coefficients, and we divide the driving forces of FVC changes into seven climate-driven types and one non-climate-driven type. The results reveal that FVC changes caused by climatic factors account for 28.2% of CMREC. The most prominent greening (19.5%) is precipitation-driven, and is extensively distributed in Khentii Aimag, Mongolia; southeast Inner Mongolia; west Jilin Province; and southwest Heilongjiang Province, China. Moreover, we quantify the relative contribution of climatic and non-climatic factors to significant FVC change using the first-difference multivariate regression method. The results indicate that the effects of non-climatic factors on vegetation change outweigh those of climatic factors in most areas. According to the land cover change and regional policy adjustment, anthropogenic activities such as afforestation, reclamation, and planting structure adjustment explain most vegetation improvement in the Northeast Plain; eastern Inner Mongolia; and the Hetao Irrigation District, China. Meanwhile, both vegetation improvement and degradation disperse concurrently in the Mongolian and Russian parts of CMREC, where climate change and anthropogenic activities positively and negatively affect vegetation change, respectively. Despite the greening in most CMREC, it must be noted that human-induced greening is unsustainable to some degree. The overdevelopment of black soil area and sandy land, adverse effects of afforestation projects, and natural hazards related to weather and climate extremes altogether threaten the local ecological security in the long run. Therefore, governments should develop new desertification countermeasures in accordance with the laws of nature, and enhance international cooperation to guarantee the ecological safety of CMREC.

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Responses of Xilingol Fractional Vegetation Cover to Climate Change and Human Activities

Scientific Programming ◽

10.1155/2021/5169913 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Xiangyang Song ◽

Xiang Chen ◽

Xiaodong Wang ◽

Nitu Wu ◽

Aijun Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Activities ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Evaluation Method ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Vegetation Coverage ◽

Vegetation Growth ◽

Modis Ndvi ◽

Fractional Vegetation Cover

Based on the MODIS NDVI product data source of Xilingol from 2010 to 2019, we use the pixel dichotomous model to retrieve the vegetation coverage in our study. The spatiotemporal changes of the vegetation cover were analyzed in the model by using the meteorological data from researched sites or the vicinal meteorological stations for evaluating the meteorological influence on the vegetation cover changes. Based on this, an evaluation method was established to estimate the relative influences of the climate changes and anthropogenic activities. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Fractional vegetation cover in Xilingol was decreased from the northeast to the southwest. (2) The overall trend in Xilingol fractional vegetation cover in the 10-year period shows a fluctuating increasing trend. (3) An opposite distribution pattern was detected between mean precipitation and mean temperature in the study site. (4) Compared with temperature, annual precipitation has a higher correlation with fractional vegetation cover in the study site and is the main climatic factor that affects vegetation growth in the study site. (5) During the 10-year period in the study site, anthropogenic human activities have slightly greater inhibitory effects on vegetation growth than promoting effects. (6) Climate change is a major factor to accelerate grassland degradation from 2010 to 2019 in vegetation degradation regions. The promotion effect of precipitation on vegetation coverage is obviously higher than the limitation of human activities, which leads to the increase of vegetation coverage in 2010–2019.

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Driving forces of temporal-spatial differences in CO2 emissions at the city level for China’s transport sector

Environmental Science and Pollution Research ◽

10.1007/s11356-020-12235-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yuxiang Liu ◽

Songyuan Yang ◽

Xianmei Liu ◽

Pibin Guo ◽

Keyong Zhang

Keyword(s):

Influencing Factors ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Income Effect ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Temporal Perspective ◽

Intensity Effect ◽

Spatial Decomposition ◽

Spatial Differences ◽

Temporal And Spatial ◽

Main Factor

AbstractThe paper aims to investigate the influencing factors that drive the temporal and spatial differences of CO2 emissions for the transportation sector in China. For this purpose, this study adopts a Logistic Mean Division Index (LMDI) model to explore the driving forces of the changes for the transport sector’s CO2 emissions from a temporal perspective during 2000–2017 and identifies the key factors of differences in the transport sector’s CO2 emissions of China’s 15 cities in four key years (i.e., 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2017) using a multi-regional spatial decomposition model (M-R). Based on the empirical results, it was found that the main forces for affecting CO2 emissions of the transport sector are not the same as those from temporal and spatial perspectives. Temporal decomposition results show that the income effect is the dominant factor inducing the increase of CO2 emissions in the transport sector, while the transportation intensity effect is the main factor for curbing the CO2 emissions. Spatial decomposition results demonstrate that income effect, energy intensity effect, transportation intensity effect, and transportation structure effect are important factors which result in enlarging the differences in city-level CO2 emissions. In addition, the less-developed cities and lower energy efficiency cities have greater potential to reduce CO2 emissions of the transport sector. Understanding the feature of CO2 emissions and the influencing factors of cities is critical for formulating city-level mitigation strategies of the transport sector in China. Overall, it is expected that the level of economic development is the main factor leading to the differences in CO2 emissions from a spatial-temporal perspective.

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Local Policy for a Protected Environmental Area Management: The Case of Limiting Motorized Vehicles in Park of Canigou in Pyrenées Orientales

Advance in Environmental Waste Management & Recycling ◽

10.33140/aewmr.01.01.09 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Activities ◽

Energy Use ◽

Local Level ◽

Air Traffic ◽

Small Scale ◽

Individual Action ◽

Local Policy ◽

Motorized Vehicles ◽

Local Levels

“We regard the recent science –based consensual reports that climate change is, to a large extend, caused by human activities that emit green houses as tenable, Such activities range from air traffic, with a global reach over industrial belts and urban conglomerations to local small, scale energy use for heating homes and mowing lawns. This means that effective climate strategies inevitably also require action all the way from global to local levels. Since the majority of those activities originate at the local level and involve individual action, however, climate strategies must literally begin at home to hit home.”

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