scholarly journals Time Series of Landsat Imagery Shows Vegetation Recovery in Two Fragile Karst Watersheds in Southwest China from 1988 to 2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 2044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Pei ◽  
Li Wang ◽  
Xiaoyue Wang ◽  
Zheng Niu ◽  
Maggi Kelly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Southwest China ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Conservation Projects

Since the implementation of China’s afforestation and conservation projects during recent decades, an increasing number of studies have reported greening trends in the karst regions of southwest China using coarse-resolution satellite imagery, but small-scale changes in the heterogenous landscapes remain largely unknown. Focusing on two typical karst regions in the Nandong and Xiaojiang watersheds in Yunnan province, we processed 2,497 Landsat scenes from 1988 to 2016 using the Google Earth Engine cloud platform and analyzed vegetation trends and associated drivers. We found that both watersheds experienced significant increasing trends in annual fractional vegetation cover, at a rate of 0.0027 year−1 and 0.0020 year−1, respectively. Notably, the greening trends have been intensifying during the conservation period (2001–2016) even under unfavorable climate conditions. Human-induced ecological engineering was the primary factor for the increased greenness. Moreover, vegetation change responded differently to variations in topographic gradients and lithological types. Relatively more vegetation recovery was found in regions with moderate slopes and elevation, and pure limestone, limestone and dolomite interbedded layer as well as impure carbonate rocks than non-karst rocks. Partial correlation analysis of vegetation trends and temperature and precipitation trends suggested that climate change played a minor role in vegetation recovery. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of the mechanisms behind vegetation changes in karst areas and may provide scientific supports for local afforestation and conservation policies.

scholarly journals Time-Series Assessment of Camp-Type Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Sectors with Large Influxes of Miners Using LANDSAT Imagery

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9441
Author(s):  
Satomi Kimijima ◽  
Masayuki Sakakibara ◽  
Masahiko Nagai ◽  
Nurfitri Gafur
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Field Investigations

Mining sites development have had a significant impact on local socioeconomic conditions, the environment, and sustainability. However, the transformation of camp-type artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sites with large influxes of miners from different regions has not been properly evaluated, owing to the closed nature of the ASGM sector. Here, we use remote sensing imagery and field investigations to assess ASGM sites with large influxes of miners living in mining camps in Bone Bolango Regency, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia, in 1995–2020. Built-up areas were identified as indicators of transformation of camp-type ASGM sites, using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, from the time series of images obtained using Google Earth Engine, then correlated with the prevalent gold market price. An 18.6-fold increase in built-up areas in mining camps was observed in 2020 compared with 1995, which correlated with increases in local gold prices. Field investigations showed that miner influx also increased after increases in gold prices. These findings extend our understanding of the rate and scale of development in the closed ASGM sector and the driving factors behind these changes. Our results provide significant insight into the potential rates and levels of socio-environmental pollution at local and community levels.

Nonlinear characteristics of the vegetation change and its response to climate change in the karst region of southwest China

2021 ◽  
pp. 030913332110662
Author(s):  
Mingyang Zhang ◽  
Zhenhua Deng ◽  
Yuemin Yue ◽  
Kelin Wang ◽  
Huiyu Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Southwest China ◽  
Abrupt Change ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Karst Region ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Nonlinear Characteristics ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The vegetation is known to be sensitive to both climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. However, the relationship between changes in vegetation and climate is unclear in karst regions. The nonlinear characteristics of vegetation change and its possible relationships with driving factors in the karst region of southwest China are revealed, using methods of Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition, Mann-Kendall, and Partial Least Squares Regression. The results show that: (1) vegetation changes demonstrate an increasing trend with an abrupt change in 2002. Multiple time scales of 3, 6, 10, and 25-year are observed in vegetation variations, dominated by long-term trend and the short time scale of 3-year with variance contributions of 58.10% and 28.63%. (2) The relationship of climate indexes with vegetation changes shows r2 = 0.78 ( p < 0.01) based on the reconstruction of characteristic scales, indicating significant great relationship. In space, the area percentage with relationship of climate to vegetation is more than 50%, and the impact is much greater after the abrupt change of vegetation in 2002 ( r2 are 0.24–0.91 and 0.42–0.99, respectively). In addition, the correlation between vegetation change and ecological engineering is 0.15 ( p < 0.01). The results indicate that climate change is the main impact factor of vegetation change, ecological engineering has positive influences in improving vegetation condition, and methods of scales decomposition and abrupt detection could reveal some hidden information for better understanding ecosystems in karst regions.

scholarly journals Root carbon and nutrient homeostasis determines downy oak sapling survival and recovery from drought

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-Nan Ouyang ◽  
Arthur Gessler ◽  
Matthias Saurer ◽  
Frank Hagedorn ◽  
De-Cai Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soluble Sugar ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Extreme Drought ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Starch Degradation ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Drought Relief ◽  
A Minor

Abstract The role of carbon (C) and nutrient uptake, allocation, storage and especially their interactions in survival and recovery of trees under increased frequencies and intensities of drought events is not well understood. A full factorial experiment with four soil water content regimes ranging from extreme drought to well-watered conditions and two fertilization levels was carried out. We aimed to investigate whether nutrient addition mitigates drought effects on downy oak (Quercus pubescens Willd.) and whether storage pools of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) are modified to enhance survival after 2.5 years of drought and recovery after drought relief. Physiological traits, such as photosynthesis, predawn leaf water potential as well as tissue biomass together with pools and dynamics of NSC and nutrients at the whole-tree level were investigated. Our results showed that fertilization played a minor role in saplings’ physiological processes to cope with drought and drought relief, but reduced sapling mortality during extreme drought. Irrespective of nutrient supply, Q. pubescens showed increased soluble sugar concentration in all tissues with increasing drought intensity, mostly because of starch degradation. After 28 days of drought relief, tissue sugar concentrations decreased, reaching comparable values to those of well-watered plants. Only during the recovery process from extreme drought, root NSC concentration strongly declined, leading to an almost complete NSC depletion after 28 days of rewetting, simultaneously with new leaves flushing. These findings suggest that extreme drought can lead to root C exhaustion. After drought relief, the repair and regrowth of organs can even exacerbate the root C depletion. We concluded that under future climate conditions with repeated drought events, the insufficient and lagged C replenishment in roots might eventually lead to C starvation and further mortality.

scholarly journals Enhancing ecosystem restoration efficiency through spatial and temporal coordination

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (19) ◽  
pp. 6236-6241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Neeson ◽  
Michael C. Ferris ◽  
Matthew W. Diebel ◽  
Patrick J. Doran ◽  
Jesse R. O’Hanley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Ecosystem Connectivity ◽  
Breeding Grounds ◽  
Local Expert ◽  
Conservation Projects

In many large ecosystems, conservation projects are selected by a diverse set of actors operating independently at spatial scales ranging from local to international. Although small-scale decision making can leverage local expert knowledge, it also may be an inefficient means of achieving large-scale objectives if piecemeal efforts are poorly coordinated. Here, we assess the value of coordinating efforts in both space and time to maximize the restoration of aquatic ecosystem connectivity. Habitat fragmentation is a leading driver of declining biodiversity and ecosystem services in rivers worldwide, and we simultaneously evaluate optimal barrier removal strategies for 661 tributary rivers of the Laurentian Great Lakes, which are fragmented by at least 6,692 dams and 232,068 road crossings. We find that coordinating barrier removals across the entire basin is nine times more efficient at reconnecting fish to headwater breeding grounds than optimizing independently for each watershed. Similarly, a one-time pulse of restoration investment is up to 10 times more efficient than annual allocations totaling the same amount. Despite widespread emphasis on dams as key barriers in river networks, improving road culvert passability is also essential for efficiently restoring connectivity to the Great Lakes. Our results highlight the dramatic economic and ecological advantages of coordinating efforts in both space and time during restoration of large ecosystems.

scholarly journals The role of spatial scale and background climate in the latitudinal temperature response to deforestation

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1897-1937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Li ◽  
N. de Noblet-Ducoudré ◽  
E. L. Davin ◽  
N. Zeng ◽  
S. Motesharrei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Change ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Background Climate

Abstract. Previous modeling and empirical studies have shown that the biophysical impact of deforestation is to warm the tropics and cool the extra-tropics. In this study, we use an earth system model to investigate how deforestation at various spatial scales affects ground temperature, with an emphasis on the latitudinal temperature response and its underlying mechanisms. Results show that the latitudinal pattern of temperature response depends non-linearly on the spatial extent of deforestation and the fraction of vegetation change. Compared with regional deforestation, temperature change in global deforestation is greatly amplified in temperate and boreal regions, but is dampened in tropical regions. Incremental forest removal leads to increasingly larger cooling in temperate and boreal regions, while the temperature increase saturates in tropical regions. The latitudinal and spatial patterns of the temperature response are driven by two processes with competing temperature effects: decreases in absorbed shortwave radiation due to increased albedo and decreases in evapotranspiration. These changes in the surface energy balance reflect the importance of the background climate on modifying the deforestation impact. Shortwave radiation and precipitation have an intrinsic geographical distribution that constrains the effects of biophysical changes and therefore leads to temperature changes that are spatially varying. For example, wet (dry) climate favors larger (smaller) evapotranspiration change, thus warming (cooling) is more likely to occur. Further analysis on the contribution of individual biophysical factors (albedo, roughness, and evapotranspiration efficiency) reveals that the latitudinal signature embodied in the temperature change probably result from the background climate conditions rather than the initial biophysical perturbation.

scholarly journals Impact of Climate on Vegetation Change in a Mountain Grassland – Succession and Fluctuation

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florin PĂCURAR ◽  
Ioan ROTAR ◽  
Albert REIF ◽  
Roxana VIDICAN ◽  
Vlad STOIAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Compositional Data ◽  
Classification Tree ◽  
Vegetation Period ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Vegetation Composition ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Climate Conditions

Traditionally managed Central European mountain grasslands have high nature conservation value because of their high species diversity. Whether these grasslands and their diversity can be preserved will depend on many factors, including how plant species composition responds to changes in climate conditions. To differentiate between fluctuations and directional succession in the herbaceous layer composition of a Romanian Festuca rubra L. and Agrostis capillaris L. grassland in Apuseni and whether any compositional changes can be related to climate. The vegetation of permanent plots was recorded annually between 2004 and 2012. Temperature and precipitation were measured by an automatic weather station at the study site. Cluster analysis, Indicator Species Analysis and the co-dominance ratio between F. rubra L.- A. capillaris were analysed. The compositional data was related to the climate variables. Thresholds of relevant climate variables differentiating between clusters of plots with similar vegetation composition were determined using classification tree methods. The vegetation composition in our plots within the years 2004, 2005 and 2008 were different from each other. From 2004 to 2006 directional succession could be identified; however the major patterns to emerge were fluctuations which occurred over the whole study period. Compositional shifts included A. capillaris L. and F. rubra L exchanging co-dominance with each other. The most important variables differentiating clusters were temperature during the dormant and vegetation periods and water balance during the vegetation period. It can be concluded that compositional shifts among years were largely a consequence of year to year climatic fluctuations; however, there is some evidence for a directional shift during the early years of the study./span>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document