China’s deserts greening and response to climate variability and human activities

Liu, Xiaoyu; Xin, Liangjie

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256462

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Ecological protection has been highly emphasized in China. However, detailed studies on the vegetation dynamics of all deserts in China and the extent to which they are affected by climatic factors and human activities are still lacking [30]. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out scientific experiments and continuously focus on the problem of CGL in desert areas, which is of great significance to the sustainable development of the desert and its surrounding oases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study on the Difference in Meteorological Monitoring between Constructed Green Land and Natural Sandy Land

et al. 2022

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The Taklimakan Desert is a typical arid area. Due to the needs of production and life, a total of 2 km2 of constructed green land (hereinafter referred to as CGL) has been formed in the sand dune, resulting in the uniform underlying surface of the desert having been changed, which has led to the change in the near-surface energy distribution pattern and the formation of a local climate of the CGL that is obviously different from that of the desert climate. Therefore, it is necessary to study the varied interval of the threshold of meteorological factors and the regional climate characteristics of the CGL under the background of desert. The main results are as follows. Firstly, from sunrise to noon, the increasing rate of temperature in natural sandy land (hereafter, NSL) was higher than that in CGL, and the opposite results occurred between noon and sunset. The peak temperature of CGL was 2 h later than that of NSL. At night, the temperature at the boundary of the CGL was generally higher than that of the NSL and the central area of the CGL. In addition, the results show that under the combined influence of underlying conditions, local circulation and small terrain, the CGL (middle) daily range of temperature > NSL (west) > CGL (east) > CGL (west). The positive temperature change period of CGL was significantly shorter than that of NSL in all seasons. However, temperature inversion occurred at night in all seasons. The intensity of the temperature inversion was strongest in winter, with a maximum temperature difference of 12.8 °C, followed by autumn, spring, and summer, with a maximum difference of 6.4 °C. Secondly, the wind speed in the daytime was higher than that at night, and the wind speed in NSL was higher than that in CGL. In summer, if the average wind speed of the NSL was quantified as 1.0 m/s, the wind speed lapse rate reached 30% at the boundary of the CGL. Similarly, in the central area of CGL, the wind speed lapse rate reached 71%.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study on the Difference in Meteorological Monitoring between Constructed Green Land and Natural Sandy Land

et al. 2022

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“…The direct quantification of the impacts of anthropogenic activities on vegetation is difficult due to the lack of long-term serial observation data on the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the NDVI [13,22]. Residual analysis can separate NDVI changes caused by natural factors and NDVI changes caused by human activities and is widely used in the study of the impact of natural factors and human activities on vegetation changes [13,15,[19][20][21][22][23]. The basic concept of residual analysis is as follows.…”

Section: Residual Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Ma et al [19] studied the quantitative contribution of climate change and human activities to vegetation change in the Upper White Nile River and believed that the large proportion of agriculture, rapid population growth, and rapid urbanization were the main anthropogenic driving forces for vegetation change from 1982 to 2020. Liu and Xin [20] analyzed the impact of climate change and human activities on the changes in desert vegetation in China. The results show that human activities, especially the expansion of oases and sand control measures, were the two main reasons for the large increase in the green area of deserts in China from 2000 to 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, residual analysis is considered to be the most commonly used and most effective method to separate the relative influence of human and natural factors on vegetation [21]. The previous NDVI prediction models, dominated by natural factors, generally take temperature and precipitation as the primary indicators and lack consideration of other natural factors, such as solar radiation and soil moisture [13,19,20,22,23]. However, studies have confirmed that soil moisture and vegetation change cycles in arid areas have similar changing trends [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, it is most important to accurately quantify the contribution of natural factors to the actual NDVI in the residual analysis method, because this process subsequently determines the level of anthropogenic contribution [21]. In addition, existing studies mostly analyzed human activities as a whole [15,19,20], and lacked analysis of the contribution of different types of human activities to vegetation change. The contribution of different types of human activities to vegetation dynamics varies from place to place [10,27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Anthropogenic Impacts on Remotely Sensed Vegetation Dynamics in Xinjiang, China

Guan

Yao

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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The dynamics of the ecosystem represented by vegetation under the influence of human activities have become an important issue in the study of the regional ecological environment. Xinjiang is one of the most ecologically fragile areas in the world, and vegetation changes have received extensive attention. Xinjiang is one of the most ecologically fragile areas in the world, and vegetation changes have received extensive attention. However, the spatiotemporal patterns and evolutionary trends of anthropogenic impacts on vegetation dynamics in Xinjiang are still unclear. In this study, the anthropogenic impacts on vegetation dynamics were quantitatively assessed by combining the improved normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) prediction model and the residual analysis method in Xinjiang, China. The human driving factors were analyzed with the support of a stepwise multiple regression model for vegetation changes at the county scale. Based on trend analysis and the Hurst exponent, the spatiotemporal characteristics and evolutionary trends of the impact of human activities on vegetation change were discussed. The results show that (1) the NDVI values in Xinjiang showed a gradually increasing trend at a rate of 0.005/10 years from 1982 to 2018, and the vegetation dynamics mainly showed significant improvements (57.09% of the vegetated areas), especially for crops. (2) The anthropogenic effects of vegetation changes in Xinjiang mainly included positive impact increases (43.22% of the vegetated areas) from 2000 to 2018. Human activities promoted the increase in the NDVI of various vegetation types. Both the positive and negative impacts of human activities increased over the study period, and the growth rate of the positive influence (0.08%/10 years) was higher than that of the negative influence (0.04%/10 years). (3) The cultivated area, GDP of primary industry, and population are the main anthropogenic factors causing the increase in NDVI, which dominate the vegetation greening in 30.34%, 29.22%, and 28.09% of the counties in Xinjiang, respectively. The animal husbandry population, agricultural population, and livestock number are the main anthropogenic factors causing the decrease in NDVI, which dominate the vegetation degradation in 23.60%, 21.35%, and 17.98% of the counties in Xinjiang, respectively. (4) The evolutionary trend of the anthropogenic impact on vegetation dynamics in Xinjiang will be dominated by anti-persistence (53.84% of the vegetated areas), thereby mainly showing that the positive impacts continued to increase (22.56% of the vegetated areas), especially for crops, shrubs, grasslands, and alpine vegetation. Our results are helpful in understanding the characteristics and evolutionary trends of vegetation changes in arid areas caused by human activities and are of significance as a reference for policymakers to appropriately adjust policy guidance in a timely manner to promote the protection and sustainable development of fragile ecosystems.

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Satellite greenness and solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence reveal reverse desertification in Gurbantunggut Desert

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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The desertification reversal is a process of revegetation and natural restoration in fragile dryland areas due to human activities and climate change mediation. Understanding the impact of desertification reversion on terrestrial ecosystems, including vegetation greenness and photosynthetic capacity, is crucial for land policy‐making and carbon‐cycle model improvement. However, the phenomenon of desertification reversal is rarely mentioned in previous studies, which dramatically limits the understanding of vegetation dynamics in the arid area. Therefore, it is of great necessity to investigate the status of desertification reversal on the ecosystem in arid areas. In this study, we first reported the phenomenon of desertification reversion over the southern edge of the Gurbantunggut Desert through the Moderate‐resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer classification map year by year. We discussed the consequences, ways, and causes of desertification reversion. Our results showed that the desertification reversal significantly increased vegetation greenness and photosynthetic capacity, which largely offset the negative impact of desertification on the ecosystem productivity; cropland expansion and grassland's natural restoration were the two main ways of desertification reversal; the improvement of soil‐water condition was an essential environmental factor leading to the phenomenon of reverse desertification. This finding highlights the importance of desertification reversal in the carbon cycle of dryland ecosystems and prove that desertification reversal is an integral part of global and dryland vegetation greening.

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China’s deserts greening and response to climate variability and human activities

Cited by 16 publications

References 76 publications

A Comparative Study on the Difference in Meteorological Monitoring between Constructed Green Land and Natural Sandy Land

A Comparative Study on the Difference in Meteorological Monitoring between Constructed Green Land and Natural Sandy Land

Assessing the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Anthropogenic Impacts on Remotely Sensed Vegetation Dynamics in Xinjiang, China

Satellite greenness and solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence reveal reverse desertification in Gurbantunggut Desert

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