scholarly journals Assessment of desertification in the agro-pastoral transitional zone in Northern China (1982-2006) using GIMMS NDVI data

Author(s):  
Youzhi An ◽  
Wei Gao ◽  
Zhiqiang Gao ◽  
Chaoshun Liu ◽  
Runhe Shi
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjun Ding ◽  
Qian Chen ◽  
Xiangming Xiao ◽  
Liangjie Xin ◽  
Geli Zhang ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimin Sun ◽  
Zhongli Ding

The desert–loess transitional zone in north-central China has long been thought sensitive to Quaternary climatic change. However, reconstruction of Quaternary climates in this area has been hindered by incompleteness of geological sections. Here we report the analytical results of two recently found sand–loess–soil sections. Both sections have thick eolian deposits from the last interglacial–glacial cycle and can be correlated with one another. Field observations, thermoluminescence dating, and other laboratory analyses show that the last interglacial period produced three paleosols and two intercalated loess layers. Loess from the last glacial period is interbedded with three sand horizons that represent desert extension. The expansion and contraction of desert in northern China may have been forced by the east Asia monsoon.


2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanlin Wang ◽  
Huayu Lu ◽  
Hongyan Zhang ◽  
Shuangwen Yi ◽  
Yao Gu ◽  
...  

AbstractWe investigated climate niches of grasses at regional scales and quantitatively reconstruct Asian monsoon precipitation at the sand-loess transitional zone in northern China. Our results provide direct evidence that certain grass lineages have been specialized in specific habitats: Pooideae grasses stand out and occupy a much cooler environment than all other subfamilies; Pooideae, Aristidoideae, and Chloridoieae occupy dry environments. Pooideae grasses occupy the coldest and driest environments compared to all other subfamilies, with a mean annual temperature (MAT) and precipitation (MAP) of ~13.6 to ~15.3°C and 224 to ~1674 mm, respectively, at a regional scale. We built a database for grasses and their corresponding climate parameters. Based on this database, past climate parameters at the margin of the Asian summer monsoon since ~70 ka were quantitatively reconstructed by phytolith assemblages. They show that this area was dominated by cold- and dry-adapted grasses since ~70 ka with a MAT and MAP of ~3.3 to ~11.0 °C and ~442 to ~900 mm, respectively, generally consistent with the results of phytolith-based transfer function reconstructions and with the results of previous nearby pollen-based quantitative reconstructions. With the improvement of the species-climate and ecosystem dataset, our database-based method is a promising quantitative reconstruction approach to past climatic change in the monsoon region.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinan Han ◽  
Jian Peng ◽  
Jeroen Meersmans ◽  
Yanxu Liu ◽  
Zhiqiang Zhao ◽  
...  

The agro-pastoral transitional zone (APTZ) in Northern China is one of the most important ecological barriers of the world. The commonly-used method to identify the spatial distribution of ATPZ is to apply a threshold rule on climatic or land use indicators. This approach is highly subjective, and the quantity standards vary among the studies. In this study, we adopted the spatial continuous wavelet transform (SCWT) technique to detect the spatial fluctuation in normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) sequences, and as such identify the APTZ. To carry out this analysis, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI 1-month data (MODND1M) covering the period 2006–2015 were used. Based on the spatial variation in NDVI, we identified two sub-regions within the APTZ. The temporal change of APTZ showed that although vegetation spatial pattern changed annually, certain areas appeared to be stable, while others showed higher sensitivity to environmental variance. Through correlation analysis between the dynamics of APTZ and precipitation, we found that the mean center of the APTZ moved toward the southeast during dry years and toward the northwest during humid years. By comparing the APTZ spatial pattern obtained in the present study with the outcome following the traditional approach based on mean annual precipitation data, it can be concluded that our study provides a reliable basis to advance the methodological framework to identify accurately transitional zones. The identification framework is of high importance to support decision-making in land use management in Northern China as well as other similar regions around the world.


2019 ◽  
Vol 249 ◽  
pp. 589-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufang Hao ◽  
Xiangpeng Meng ◽  
Xuepu Yu ◽  
Mingli Lei ◽  
Wenjun Li ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Di ◽  
Zhongmin Hu ◽  
Mei Wang ◽  
Ruochen Cao ◽  
Minqi Liang ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims Recent warmer and wetter climate in northern China remains a hot topic in recent years, yet its effect on vegetation growth has not been fully understood. This study investigated the temporal change of vegetation cover and its correlations with climatic variables from 1982 to 2018 for grasslands in northern China. Our aim is to clarify whether the warmer and wetter climate in recent years drives the greening of the vegetation in this region. Methods We investigated the temporal dynamic of vegetation Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and its driving forces based on long time-series data. Piecewise regression was used to examine whether there was a turning point of the trend of NDVI and climatic variables. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to quantify the relationship between NDVI and climatic factors. Stepwise multivariable regression was used to quantify the contributions of climate variables to the temporal variations in NDVI. Important Findings We found a turning point of NDVI trend in 2008, with GIMMS NDVI indicating a slight increase of 0.00022 yr -1 during 1982-2008 to an increase of 0.002 yr -1 for GIMMS NDVI during 2008-2015 and 0.0018 yr -1 for MODIS NDVI during 2008-2018. Precipitation was the predominant driver, and air temperature and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) exerted a minor impact on the temporal dynamics of NDVI. Overall, our results suggest a turning point of NDVI trend, and that recent warmer and wetter climate has caused vegetation greening, which provides insights for better predicting the vegetation cover in this region under changing climate.


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