Vegetation Changes along the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Engineering Corridor Since 2000 Induced by Climate Change and Human Activities

The Qinghai-Tibet (QT) Plateau Engineering Corridor is located in the hinterland of the QT Plateau, which is highly sensitive to global climate change. Climate change causes permafrost degradation, which subsequently affects vegetation growth. This study focused on the vegetation dynamics and their...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote Sensing
Main Authors: Song, Yi, Jin, Long, Wang, Haibo
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Permafrost Degradation
Human Activities
Vegetation Change
Scale Effect
Qinghai-tibet Plateau Engineering Corridor
Science & Technology
Technology
PERMAFROST CHANGES
CHINA
DYNAMICS
DESERTIFICATION
VARIABILITY
ECOSYSTEMS
PARAMETERS
QUALITY
MODEL
SCALE
Remote Sensing
Kendall
Corridor The
Corridor, The
permafrost
Online Access:http://ir.ieecas.cn/handle/361006/5184
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10010095
Description
Summary:The Qinghai-Tibet (QT) Plateau Engineering Corridor is located in the hinterland of the QT Plateau, which is highly sensitive to global climate change. Climate change causes permafrost degradation, which subsequently affects vegetation growth. This study focused on the vegetation dynamics and their relationships with climate change and human activities in the region surrounding the QT Plateau Engineering Corridor. The vegetation changes were inferred by applying trend analysis, the Mann-Kendall trend test and abrupt change analysis. Six key regions, each containing 40 nested quadrats that ranged in size from 500 x 500 m to 20 x 20 km, were selected to determine the spatial scales of the impacts from different factors. Cumulative growing season integrated enhanced vegetation index (CGSIEVI) values were calculated for each of the nested quadrats of different sizes to indicate the overall vegetation state over the entire year at different spatial scales. The impacts from human activities, a sudden increase in precipitation and permafrost degradation were quantified at different spatial scales using the CGSIEVI values and meteorological data based on the double mass curve method. Three conclusions were derived. First, the vegetation displayed a significant increasing trend over 23.6% of the study area. The areas displaying increases were mainly distributed in the Hoh Xil. Of the area where the vegetation displayed a significant decreasing trend, 72.4% was made up of alpine meadows. Second, more vegetation, especially the alpine meadows, has begun to degenerate or experience more rapid degradation since 2007 due to permafrost degradation and overgrazing. Finally, an active layer depth of 3 m to 3.2 m represents a limiting depth for alpine meadows.

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