Effect of permafrost degradation on grassland net primary productivity in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

• Published in: Environmental Research Letters
• Main Authors: Jianan Hu, Zhuotong Nan, Hailong Ji, Shuping Zhao, Minyue Ou
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 2024
• Subjects: ecological resilience; permafrost; net primary production; process-based modeling; Qinghai–Tibet Plateau; Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering; TD1-1066; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Science; Q; Physics; QC1-999
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad751e; https://doaj.org/article/673c74666bfe47959bc821f5dad2fe02

Climate warming poses complex challenges for alpine ecosystems on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP), further exacerbated by permafrost degradation. Quantifying the specific ecological impacts of permafrost thaw remains elusive, as ecological variations are also influenced by external climate factors. This study tackles this gap by employing the Noah-MP model to simultaneously simulate permafrost thermal–hydrological dynamics and net primary production (NPP) across the Three River Headwaters Region from 1989 to 2018. Model results were validated against observations. To isolate the ecological effects of permafrost thaw, we implemented a novel relative time transformation on the simulation results. Our analysis reveals a 7.5 × 10 ^4 km ^2 reduction in permafrost coverage during the study period, coinciding with a 1.09 g C m ^−2 yr ^−2 increase in NPP. While precipitation is the primary driver of NPP changes in most years, soil moisture emerges as a crucial factor during permafrost disappearance, when the ground transitions to seasonally frozen ground. Surprisingly, the NPP response to permafrost disappearance exhibited a transient effect, diminishing to negligible levels within five years post-thaw. These findings enhance our understanding of the intricate and dynamic responses of the QTP ecosystem to permafrost degradation under a warming climate.