scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Distribution and Influencing Factors of Ecosystem Vulnerability on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6508
Author(s):  
Han Li ◽  
Wei Song
Keyword(s):  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Ecological Compensation ◽  
Ecosystem Vulnerability ◽  
Ecological Protection ◽  
Compensation Mechanisms ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

As the “Third Pole”, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is threatened by environmental changes. Ecosystem vulnerability refers to the sensitivity and resilience of ecosystems to external disturbances. However, there is a lack of relevant studies on the driving factors of ecosystem vulnerability. Therefore, based on spatial principal components analysis and geographic detectors methods, this paper evaluates the ecosystem vulnerability and its driving factors on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from the years 2005 to 2015. The results were as follows: (1) The ecosystem vulnerability index (EVI) of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is mainly heavy and extreme, showing a gradually increasing trend from southeast to northwest. (2) The spatial heterogeneity of the EVI is significant in the southeast and northwest, but not in the southwest and central parts. (3) Analysis of influencing factors shows that environmental factors have more significant effects on EVI than socioeconomic variables, facilitating the proposal of adequate policy implications. More efforts should be devoted to ecological protection and restoration to prevent grassland degradation and desertification in the high-EVI areas in northwest. The government is also urged to improve the ecological compensation mechanisms and balance ecological protection and residents’ development needs in the southeast.

scholarly journals Demographic history and genomic response to environmental changes in a rapid radiation of wild rats

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deyan Ge ◽  
Anderson Feijó ◽  
Zhixin Wen ◽  
Alexei V Abramov ◽  
Liang Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Rapid Radiation ◽  
Protein Functions ◽  
Wild Rats ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau ◽  
Genomic Response

Abstract For organisms to survive and prosper in a harsh environment, particularly under rapid climate change, poses tremendous challenges. Recent studies have highlighted the continued loss of megafauna in terrestrial ecosystems and the subsequent surge of small mammals, such as rodents, bats, lagomorphs, and insectivores. However, the ecological partitioning of these animals will likely lead to large variation in their responses to environmental change. In the present study, we investigated the evolutionary history and genetic adaptations of white-bellied rats (Niviventer Marshall, 1976), which are widespread in the natural terrestrial ecosystems in Asia but also known as important zoonotic pathogen vectors and transmitters. The southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QHTP) was inferred as the origin center of this genus, with parallel diversification in temperate and tropical niches. Demographic history analyses from mitochondrial and nuclear sequences of Niviventer demonstrated population size increases and range expansion for species in Southeast Asia, and habitat generalists elsewhere. Unexpectedly, population increases were seen in N. eha, which inhabits the highest elevation among Niviventer species. Genome scans of nuclear exons revealed that among the congeneric species, N. eha has the largest number of positively selected genes. Protein functions of these genes are mainly related to olfaction, taste and tumor suppression. Extensive genetic modification presents a major strategy in response to global changes in these alpine species.

Population migration across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: Spatiotemporal patterns and driving factors

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-214
Author(s):  
Nan Wang ◽  
Huimeng Wang ◽  
Yunyan Du ◽  
Jiawei Yi ◽  
Zhang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Driving Factors ◽  
Spatiotemporal Patterns ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Population Migration ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

scholarly journals Stronger Environmental Adaption of Abundant than Rare Microbes in Wetland Soils from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjie Wan ◽  
Geoffrey Michael Gadd ◽  
Yuyi Yang ◽  
Wenke Yuan ◽  
Jidong Gu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic Process ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Model Analysis ◽  
Ammonia Nitrogen ◽  
Environmental Adaptation ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Wetland Soils ◽  
Phylogenetic Distance ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Abstract Background: Disentangling the biogeographic patterns of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities is essential in order to understand the generation and maintenance of microbial diversity with respect to the functions they provide. However, little is known about ecological assembly processes and environmental adaptation of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities across large spatial-scale wetlands. Using Illumina sequencing, we investigated the taxonomic and phylogenetic β-diversity of rare and abundant bacterial and fungal sub-communities in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau wetland soils. Additionally, we determined environmental breadths and phylogenetic signals of ecological preferences of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities, and investigated community assembly processes of microbial taxa. Results: We found that both taxonomic and phylogenetic similarities of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities attenuated with geographical distance. Based on threshold indicator taxa analysis and Blomberg’s K statistic, abundant microbial taxa exhibited broader environmental thresholds and stronger phylogenetic signals for ecological traits than rare microbial taxa. The strong correlations between community compositional dissimilarity and phylogenetic distance of rare microbial sub-communities also revealed that rare taxa may be more sensitive to environmental changes. In addition, the rare microbial sub-communities exhibited closer phylogenetic clustering compared with abundant microbial sub-communities. The null model analysis revealed that dispersal limitation belonging to stochastic process dominated ecological assembly of abundant bacterial sub-community, and rare and abundant fungal sub-communities; variable selection belonging to deterministic process governed community assembly of rare bacterial taxa. Neutral model analysis and variation partitioning analysis further confirmed that abundant microbial sub-communities were less environmentally constrained. Soil ammonia nitrogen was the crucial factor in mediating the balance between stochasticity and determinism of both rare and abundant microbial sub-communities, as reflected by distinct differences in stochastic process with higher ammonia nitrogen content.Conclusions: Abundant microbial sub-communities may have better environmental adaptation potential and are less dispersed by environmental changes compared with rare microbial sub-communities. Our findings extend knowledge of the adaptation of rare and abundant microbial taxa to ongoing environmental change and could facilitate prediction of biodiversity loss caused by global climate change and increasing human activity in wetlands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Landslide Susceptibility of the Ya'an-Linzhi Section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway based on Deep Learning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shibao Wang ◽  
Jianqi Zhuang ◽  
Jiaqi Mu ◽  
Jia Zheng ◽  
Jiewei Zhan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Landslide Susceptibility ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Confusion Matrix ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Validation Data ◽  
Landslide Hazards ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Abstract The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is one area with the most frequent landslide hazards due to its unique geology, topography, and climate conditions, posing severe threats to engineering construction and human settlements. The Sichuan-Tibet Railway that is currently under construction crosses the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; there are frequent landslide disasters along the line, which seriously threaten the construction of the railway. This paper applied two deep learning (DL) algorithms, the convolutional neural network (CNN) and deep neural network (DNN), to landslide susceptibility mapping of the Ya’an-Linzhi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway. A geospatial database was generated based on 587 landslide hazards determined by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Stacking technology, field geological hazard surveys, and 18 landslide influencing factors were selected. The landslides were randomly divided into training data (70%) and validation data (30%) for the modeling training and testing. The Pearson correlation coefficient and information gain method were used to perform the correlation analysis and feature selection of 18 influencing factors. Both models were evaluated and compared using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and confusion matrix. The results show that better performance in both the training and testing phases was provided by the CNN algorithm (AUC = 0.88) compared to the DNN algorithm (AUC = 0.84). Slope, elevation, and rainfall are the main factors affecting the occurrence of landslides, and the high and very high landslide susceptibilities were primarily distributed in the Jinsha, Lancang, and Nujiang River Basins along the railway. The research results provide a scientific basis for the construction of the Ya'an-Linzhi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway within the region, as well as the disaster prevention and mitigation work during future safe operations.

Predicaments and Protective Actions of Giant Panda Habitat of Baoxing County in Sichuan Province, China

2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 5099-5102
Author(s):  
Fu Cheng Li ◽  
Qing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Giant Panda ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Conflict Setting ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Ecological Protection ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
The Government ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau ◽  
Panda Habitat

The giant panda habitat of Baoxing County, located in the transition zone from Sichuan Basin to the edge of southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is the critical and key ecological function areas. At present, the puzzled problems present that the whole ecological system was interrupted by ecological management from different local department policy and the long merits for protecting giant habitat was weaken by short-term economic profits from natural resources. Exploring marbles and constructing hydropower plants and the livelihood activities of residents in the world heritage protection zone threatened to the protection for giant panda habitats. The government and people have taken a series of measures in recent years to deal with conflict: setting up nature reserves, establishing ecological protection projects, speeding up adjustment of industrial structure and international cooperation. The development practice of Baoxing County over the years shows that it is a sustainable and effective measure to grow economy while simultaneously protecting the giant panda habitats through Integrated Ecosystem Management (IEM). However, giant panda protection is destined a protracted battle in economy development process.

scholarly journals Responses of Alpine Grassland Plant Functional Groups To Environmental Changes In The Altunshan At North Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ailin Zhang ◽  
Shixin Wu ◽  
Fanjiang Zeng ◽  
Yong Jiang ◽  
Ruzhen Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Alpine Grassland ◽  
Plant Functional Groups ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Individual Plant ◽  
Hydrothermal Conditions ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Abstract Purpose: In grassland ecosystems, plant functional group (PFG) is an important bridge connecting individual plant to community system. Grassland ecosystem is the main ecosystem type on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so the change of community structure of grassland vegetation.Methods: The Altun Mountains in the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were used as the study area to investigate the PFGs of a high-altitude (> 3700m) grassland in desert areas and their response to temperature and moisture.Results: The main functional groups were forbs and grasses, and the importance values (IV) accounted for more than 50%. Plant species diversity of the community was influenced by the functional groups of legumes IV, and the increase of legumes would promote the increase of plant community diversity. The C, N, P of plant communities were mainly influenced by forbs and grasses, and the relationship between forbs and C, N, P was opposite to that of grasses. There was a positive correlation between forbs and soil TP; a negative correlation between grasses and soil TP; a positive correlation between legumes with soil SOC and TN; and a positive correlation between sedge and soil SOC. However, under the influence of different hydrothermal conditions, forbs and grasses as dominant functional groups had stronger correlation with community and soil nutrients. Conclusions: This indicated that the PFGs with the largest proportion in the community had the greatest influence on the community. This provides a basis for the study of alpine grassland community development and ecosystem function under alpine grassland.

scholarly journals Integrated Assessments of Meteorological Hazards across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10402
Author(s):  
Shao Sun ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Yuanxin Xu ◽  
Ruyue Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Changes ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Indicator System ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Hengduan Mountains ◽  
The South ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Meteorological Hazards ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau ◽  
South Tibet

Recent decades have witnessed accelerated climate changes across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and elevated socioeconomic exposure to meteorological hazards. The QTP is called the “the third pole”, exerting remarkable impact on environmental changes in its surrounding regions. While few reports are available for addressing multi-hazard risks over the QTP, we develop an integrated indicator system involving multiple meteorological hazards, i.e., droughts, rainstorms, snowstorms and hailstorms, investigating the spatiotemporal patterns of major hazards over the QTP. The hazard zones of droughts and rainstorms are identified in the southern Gangdise Mountains, the South Tibet Valley, the eastern Nyenchen-Tanglha Mountains, the Hengduan Mountains and West Sichuan Basin. Snowstorm hazard zones distribute in the Himalayas, the Bayan Har Mountains and the central Nyenchen-Tanglha Mountains, while hailstorm hazard zones cluster in central part of the QTP. Since the 21st century, intensified rainstorms are detectable in the densely populated cities of Xining and Lhasa and their adjacent areas, while amplified droughts are observed in grain production areas of the South Tibet Valley and the Hengduan Mountains. Snowstorm hazards show large interannual variations and an increase in pastoral areas, although the overall trend is declining slightly. The frequency of hailstorms gradually decreases in human settlements due to thermal and landscape effects. Mapping meteorological hazards regionalization could help to understand climate risks in the QTP, and provide scientific reference for human adaptation to climate changes in highly sensitive areas.

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