scholarly journals Quantifying the Variability of Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability in the Largest Water Tower Region Globally

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7529
Author(s):  
Siqi Sun ◽  
Yihe Lü ◽  
Da Lü ◽  
Cong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Slope Aspect ◽  
Environmental Disturbances ◽  
Restoration Planning ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Forests are critical ecosystems for environmental regulation and ecological security maintenance, especially at high altitudes that exhibit sensitivity to climate change and human activities. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau—the world’s largest water tower region—has been breeding many large rivers in Asia where forests play important roles in water regulation and water quality improvement. However, the vulnerability of these forest ecosystems at the regional scale is still largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of this research is to quantitatively assess the temporal–spatial variability of forest vulnerability on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to illustrate the capacity of forests to withstand disturbances. Geographic information system (GIS) and the spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) were used to develop a forest vulnerable index (FVI) to assess the vulnerability of forest ecosystems. This research incorporates 15 factors covering the natural context, environmental disturbances, and socioeconomic impact. Results indicate that the measure of vulnerability was unevenly distributed spatially across the study area, and the whole trend has intensified since 2000. The three factors that contribute the most to the vulnerability of natural contexts, environmental disturbances, and human impacts are slope aspect, landslides, and the distance to the farmland, respectively. The vulnerability is higher in forest areas with lower altitudes, steeper slopes, and southerly directions. These evaluation results can be helpful for forest management in high altitude water tower regions in the forms of forest conservation or restoration planning and implementation towards sustainable development goals.

scholarly journals Complex Principal Component Analysis of Mass Balance Change on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingang Zhan ◽  
Hongling Shi ◽  
Yong Wang ◽  
Yixin Yao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Indian Monsoon ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Mass Gain ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Abstract. Abstract. This paper analyzes the spatial characteristics of mass balance change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and surrounding areas, using 153 monthly solutions of temporal gravity data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment(in this case GRACE) satellite. Spatial mode characteristics and phase information of mass balance change are analyzed using complex principal component analysis (in this case CPCA). Information on time-frequency change of major components is analyzed using the wavelet amplitude-period spectrum. The results show that the mass balance change on the plateau is influenced by various atmospheric circulations and there are obvious systemic differences, namely, glacial fluctuation of the Himalayas area was mainly influenced by the weakening Indian monsoon, El Niño and East Asian monsoon. There were drastic changes of glacier mass gain and loss balance. Apart from the Indian monsoon and El Niño affected on mass balance in inland areas of the plateau, the northern parts of the plateau was also affected by the westerlies and there was a positive mass balance, with mass gain exceeding loss. The Pamirs and the Karakoram Range areas are influenced not only by the Indian monsoon and westerlies but also by the climate change of El Niño and La Niña, and mass change shows a weak mass balanced. The major influence on the change of mass balance on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was the weakening Indian monsoon, which was responsible for 54.0 % of that change. Because El Niño is strengthening, it has recently become the second major factor affecting the change of mass balance, responsible for 16.3 % of that change. The third major influence was the westerlies and of La Niña-related climate change, accounting for 5.6 % of the mass balance change.

Opportunities for household energy on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in line with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

2021 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 110982
Author(s):  
Minghao Zhuang ◽  
Xi Lu ◽  
Wei Peng ◽  
Yanfen Wang ◽  
Jianxiao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Regional-scale vegetation-climate interactions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2021 ◽  
pp. 101413
Author(s):  
Chan Diao ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
Liang Zhao ◽  
Ga Zhuo ◽  
Yongqing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Climate Interactions ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

scholarly journals Evaluation of SMAP, SMOS-IC, FY3B, JAXA, and LPRM Soil Moisture Products over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Its Surrounding Areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Liu ◽  
Linna Chai ◽  
Zheng Lu ◽  
Shaomin Liu ◽  
Yuquan Qu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Retrieval Algorithms ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

High-quality and long time-series soil moisture (SM) data are increasingly required for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) to more accurately and effectively assess climate change. In this study, to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of SM data, five passive microwave remotely sensed SM products are collected over the QTP, including those from the soil moisture active passive (SMAP), soil moisture and ocean salinity INRA-CESBIO (SMOS-IC), Fengyun-3B microwave radiation image (FY3B), and two SM products derived from the advanced microwave scanning radiometer 2 (AMSR2). The two AMSR2 products are generated by the land parameter retrieval model (LPRM) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) algorithm, respectively. The SM products are evaluated through a two-stage data comparison method. The first stage is direct validation at the grid scale. Five SM products are compared with corresponding in situ measurements at five in situ networks, including Heihe, Naqu, Pali, Maqu, and Ngari. Another stage is indirect validation at the regional scale, where the uncertainties of the data are quantified by using a three-cornered hat (TCH) method. The results at the regional scale indicate that soil moisture is underestimated by JAXA and overestimated by LPRM, some noise is contained in temporal variations in SMOS-IC, and FY3B has relatively low absolute accuracy. The uncertainty of SMAP is the lowest among the five products over the entire QTP. In the SM map composed by five SM products with the lowest pixel-level uncertainty, 66.64% of the area is covered by SMAP (JAXA: 19.39%, FY3B: 10.83%, LPRM: 2.11%, and SMOS-IC: 1.03%). This study reveals some of the reasons for the different performances of these five SM products, mainly from the perspective of the parameterization schemes of their corresponding retrieval algorithms. Specifically, the parameterization configurations and corresponding input datasets, including the land-surface temperature, the vegetation optical depth, and the soil dielectric mixing model are analyzed and discussed. This study provides quantitative evidence to better understand the uncertainties of SM products and explain errors that originate from the retrieval algorithms.

scholarly journals Natural and Political Determinants of Ecological Vulnerability in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: A Case Study of Shannan, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 327
Author(s):  
Yunxiao Jiang ◽  
Rong Li ◽  
Yu Shi ◽  
Luo Guo
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Sudden Increase ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Landsat Images ◽  
Ecological Vulnerability ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Changing land-use patterns in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) due to natural factors and human interference have led to higher ecological vulnerability and even more underlying issues related to time and space in this alpine area. Ecological vulnerability assessment provides not only a solution to surface-feature-related problems but also insight into sustainable eco-environmental planning and resource management as a response to potential climate changes if driving factors are known. In this study, the ecological vulnerability index (EVI) of Shannan City in the core area of the QTP was assessed using a selected set of ecological, social, and economic indicators and spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) to calculate their weights. The data included Landsat images and socio-economic data from 1990 to 2015, at five-year intervals. The results showed that the total EVI remains at a medium vulnerability level, with minor fluctuations over 25 years (peaks in 2000, when there was a sudden increase in slight vulnerability, which switched to extreme vulnerability), and gradually increases from east to west. In addition, spatial analysis showed a distinct positive correlation between the EVI and land-use degree, livestock husbandry output, desertification area, and grassland area. The artificial afforestation program (AAP) has a positive effect by preventing the environment from becoming more vulnerable. The results provide practical information and suggestions for planners to take measures to improve the land-use degree in urban and pastoral areas in the QTP based on spatial-temporal heterogeneity patterns of the EVI of Shannan City.

scholarly journals Interactions between landscape changes and host communities can regulate Echinococcus multilocularis transmission

Parasitology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 127 (S1) ◽  
pp. S121-S131 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. GIRAUDOUX ◽  
P. S. CRAIG ◽  
P. DELATTRE ◽  
G. BAO ◽  
B. BARTHOLOMOT ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Echinococcus Multilocularis ◽  
Alveolar Echinococcosis ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Central China ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Mammal Communities ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

An area close to the Qinghai-Tibet plateau region and subject to intensive deforestation contains a large focus of human alveolar echinococcosis while sporadic human cases occur in the Doubs region of eastern France. The current review analyses and compares epidemiological and ecological results obtained in both regions. Analysis of rodent species assemblages within quantified rural landscapes in central China and eastern France shows a significant association between host species for the pathogenic helminth Echinococcus multilocularis, with prevalences of human alveolar echinococcosis and with land area under shrubland or grassland. This suggests that at the regional scale landscape can affect human disease distribution through interaction with small mammal communities and their population dynamics. Lidicker's ROMPA hypothesis helps to explain this association and provides a novel explanation of how landscape changes may result in increased risk of a rodent-borne zoonotic disease.

scholarly journals Evaluation of NPP using three models compared with MODIS-NPP data over China

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0252149
Author(s):  
Jinke Sun ◽  
Ying Yue ◽  
Haipeng Niu
Keyword(s):  
Southern China ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Efficiency Coefficient ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Synthetic Model ◽  
Casa Model ◽  
Lower Accuracy ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Estimating net primary productivity (NPP) is significant in global climate change research and carbon cycle. However, there are many uncertainties in different NPP modeling results and the process of NPP is challenging to model on the absence of data. In this study, we used meteorological data as input to simulate vegetation NPP through climate-based model, synthetic model and CASA model. Then, the results from three models were compared with MODIS NPP and observed data over China from 2000 to 2015. The statistics evaluation metrics (Relative Bias (RB), Pearson linear Correlation Coefficient (CC), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE)) between simulated NPP and MODIS NPP were calculated. The results implied that the CASA-model performed better than the other two models in terms of RB, RMSE, NSE and CC whether on the national or the regional scale. It has a higher CC with 0.51 and a smaller RMSE with 111.96 g C·m-2·yr-1 in the whole country. The synthetic model and CASA-model has the same advantages at some regions, and there are lower RMSE in Southern China (86.35 g C·m-2·yr-1), Xinjiang (85.53 g C·m-2·yr-1) and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (93.22 g C·m-2·yr-1). The climate-based model has widespread overestimation and large systematic errors, along with worse performances (NSEmax = 0.45) and other metric indexes unsatisfactory, especially Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with relatively lower accuracy because of the unavailable observation data. Overall, the CASA-model is much more ideal for estimating NPP all over China in the absence of data. This study provides a comprehensive intercomparison of different NPP-simulated models and can provide powerful help for researchers to select the appropriate NPP evaluation model.

scholarly journals Inferring the Phylogeny and Divergence of Chinese Curcuma (Zingiberaceae) in the Hengduan Mountains of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau by Reduced Representation Sequencing

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 520
Author(s):  
Heng Liang ◽  
Jiabin Deng ◽  
Gang Gao ◽  
Chunbang Ding ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Hengduan Mountains ◽  
Genetic Traits ◽  
Reduced Representation ◽  
High Quality Snps ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau ◽  
Reduced Representation Sequencing

Clarifying the genetic relationship and divergence among Curcuma L. (Zingiberaceae) species around the world is intractable, especially among the species located in China. In this study, Reduced Representation Sequencing (RRS), as one of the next generation sequences, has been applied to infer large scale genotyping of major Chinese Curcuma species which present little differentiation of morphological characteristics and genetic traits. The 1295 high-quality SNPs (reduced-filtered SNPs) were chosen from 997,988 SNPs of which were detected from the cleaned 437,061 loci by RRS to investigate the phylogeny and divergence among eight major Curcuma species locate in the Hengduan Mountains of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) in China. The results showed that all the population individuals were clustered together within species, and species were obviously separated; the clustering results were recovered in PCA (Principal Component Analysis); the phylogeny was (((((C. Phaeocaulis, C. yunnanensis), C. kwangsiensis), (C. amarissima, C. sichuanensis)), C. longa), (C. wenyujin, C. aromatica)); Curcuma in China originated around ~7.45 Mya (Million years ago) in the Miocene, and interspecific divergence appeared at ca. 4–2 Mya, which might be sped up rapidly along with the third intense uplift of QTP.

Soil Respiration of Subalpine Coniferous Forest in Winter in the East of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau，China*

2010 ◽  
Vol 2009 (6) ◽  
pp. 761-767
Author(s):  
Feifei ZHOU ◽  
Bo LIN ◽  
Qing LIU ◽  
Weiming LI
Keyword(s):  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Subalpine Coniferous Forest ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau
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