scholarly journals Desertification Control Practices in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3258
Author(s):  
Yanli Lyu ◽  
Peijun Shi ◽  
Guoyi Han ◽  
Lianyou Liu ◽  
Lanlan Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Arid Ecosystems ◽  
Desertification Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Semi Arid

Desertification is a form of land degradation principally in semi-arid and arid areas influenced by climatic and human factors. As a country plagued by extensive sandy desertification and frequent sandstorms and dust storms, China has been trying to find ways to achieve the sustainable management of desertified lands. This paper reviewed the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on desertified areas, and the effort, outcome, and lessons learned from desertification control in China. Although drying and warming trends and growing population pressures exist in those areas, the expanding trend of desertified land achieved an overall reversal. In the past six decades, many efforts, including government policies, forestry, and desertification control programs, combined with eco-industrialization development, have been integrated to control the desertification in northern China. Positive human intervention including afforestation, and the rehabilitation of mobile sandy land, and water conservation have facilitated the return of arid and semi-arid ecosystems to a more balanced state. China’s practices in desertification control could provide valuable knowledge for sustainable desertified land management on a global scale.

scholarly journals Nitrogen addition pulse has minimal effect in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) communities on the Pinedale Anticline, Wyoming (USA)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Beltz ◽  
Megan L. Mobley ◽  
Ingrid C. Burke
Keyword(s):  
Artemisia Tridentata ◽  
Forage Quality ◽  
Single Pulse ◽  
Nitrogen Addition ◽  
Arid Ecosystems ◽  
Available Nitrogen ◽  
Big Sagebrush ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Nitrogen Additions ◽  
Semi Arid

ABSTRACTNitrogen additions are known to elicit variable responses in semi-arid ecosystems, with responses increasing with precipitation. The response of semi-arid ecosystems to nitrogen are important to understand due to their large spatial extent worldwide and the global trend of increasingly available nitrogen. In this study, we evaluated the impact of a single nitrogen addition pulse on a semi-arid big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecosystem in western Wyoming. This is important given that sagebrush ecosystems are poorly understood, despite their prevalence in the western US. In addition, large-scale nitrogen additions have begun on sagebrush landscapes in Wyoming in order to mitigate population declines in mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). The study objectives were (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of a nitrogen fertilization pulse in increasing sagebrush biomass and forage quality, and (2) to assess effects of nitrogen addition on soil biogeochemistry and vegetation community structure. We fertilized 15 plots across 5 locations in western Wyoming using a single pulse of urea (5.5g N m−2). In addition, we immobilized available nitrogen through surface hay treatments (250g hay/m2). Nitrogen additions failed to increase growth of sagebrush, alter nitrogen content of sagebrush leaders, or alter greenhouse gas efflux from soils. The plant community also remained unchanged; total cover, species richness, and community composition were all unaffected by our treatment application. Over the two years of this study, we did not find indications of nitrogen limitation of ecosystem processes, despite a wet growing season in 2014. Thus, we have found a general lack of response to nitrogen in sagebrush ecosystems and no treatment effect of a single pulse of N to sagebrush biomass or forage quality.

scholarly journals Effect of Fires on Certain Properties of Forest Soils in Western Algeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-117
Author(s):  
Ayoub Allam ◽  
Amine Habib Borsali ◽  
Abdelkrim Kefifa ◽  
Mohamed Zouidi ◽  
Raphael Gros
Keyword(s):  
Forest Soils ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Basal Respiration ◽  
Arid Ecosystems ◽  
Control Zone ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Semi Arid

AbstractNatural disturbances, such as forest fires, cause significant changes in the structure and functioning of semi-arid ecosystems. After such disturbances, the impact on the soil ecosystem in its entirety is misunderstood. In this study, two years after the last fire, changes in the physicochemical and biological properties of Aleppo pine forest soils in the semi-arid zone were observed. Among all physical properties analysed, only the soil moisture remained significantly lower in the burnt zone in contrast to control zone. Considering the chemical properties, the only negatively affected parameter is the rate of organic matter. In terms of biological properties, results showed that the fire caused a significant decrease in soil microorganisms by decreasing basal respiration and microbial biomass. Conversely, the metabolic quotient recorded higher values in the fire zone than in the control zone. These results indicate that microbial communities in semi-arid soils, already stressed by climatic hazards, are very sensitive to the passage of even low-intensity fires.

Stimulation on the impact of afforestation on the groundwater table in arid and semi-arid areas in northern China

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
鲁晨曦 LU Chenxi ◽  
曹世雄 CAO Shixiong ◽  
石小亮 SHI Xiaoliang
Keyword(s):  
Northern China ◽  
Groundwater Table ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Semi Arid

scholarly journals Particulate-phase mercury emissions from biomass burning and impact on resulting deposition: a modelling assessment

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1881-1899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco De Simone ◽  
Paulo Artaxo ◽  
Mariantonia Bencardino ◽  
Sergio Cinnirella ◽  
Francesco Carbone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Remote Sites ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Mercury (Hg) emissions from biomass burning (BB) are an important source of atmospheric Hg and a major factor driving the interannual variation of Hg concentrations in the troposphere. The greatest fraction of Hg from BB is released in the form of elemental Hg (Hg0(g)). However, little is known about the fraction of Hg bound to particulate matter (HgP) released from BB, and the factors controlling this fraction are also uncertain. In light of the aims of the Minamata Convention to reduce intentional Hg use and emissions from anthropogenic activities, the relative importance of Hg emissions from BB will have an increasing impact on Hg deposition fluxes. Hg speciation is one of the most important factors determining the redistribution of Hg in the atmosphere and the geographical distribution of Hg deposition. Using the latest version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFEDv4.1s) and the global Hg chemistry transport model, ECHMERIT, the impact of Hg speciation in BB emissions, and the factors which influence speciation, on Hg deposition have been investigated for the year 2013. The role of other uncertainties related to physical and chemical atmospheric processes involving Hg and the influence of model parametrisations were also investigated, since their interactions with Hg speciation are complex. The comparison with atmospheric HgP concentrations observed at two remote sites, Amsterdam Island (AMD) and Manaus (MAN), in the Amazon showed a significant improvement when considering a fraction of HgP from BB. The set of sensitivity runs also showed how the quantity and geographical distribution of HgP emitted from BB has a limited impact on a global scale, although the inclusion of increasing fractions HgP does limit Hg0(g) availability to the global atmospheric pool. This reduces the fraction of Hg from BB which deposits to the world's oceans from 71 to 62 %. The impact locally is, however, significant on northern boreal and tropical forests, where fires are frequent, uncontrolled and lead to notable Hg inputs to local ecosystems. In the light of ongoing climatic changes this effect could be potentially be exacerbated in the future.

scholarly journals Drought and heatwave impacts on semi-arid ecosystems' carbon fluxes along a precipitation gradient

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1810) ◽  
pp. 20190519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarek S. El-Madany ◽  
Arnaud Carrara ◽  
M. Pilar Martín ◽  
Gerardo Moreno ◽  
Olaf Kolle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Ecosystem Respiration ◽  
Carbon Fluxes ◽  
Arid Ecosystems ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Precipitation Gradient ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Compound Event ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Semi Arid

The inter-annual variability (IAV) of the terrestrial carbon cycle is tightly linked to the variability of semi-arid ecosystems. Thus, it is of utmost importance to understand what the main meteorological drivers for the IAV of such ecosystems are, and how they respond to extreme events such as droughts and heatwaves. To shed light onto these questions, we analyse the IAV of carbon fluxes, its relation with meteorological variables, and the impact of compound drought and heatwave on the carbon cycle of two similar ecosystems, along a precipitation gradient. A four-year long dataset from 2016 to 2019 was used for the FLUXNET sites ES-LMa and ES-Abr, located in central (39°56'25″ N 5°46'28″ W) and southeastern (38°42'6″ N 6°47'9″ W) Spain. We analyse the physiological impact of compound drought and heatwave on the dominant tree species, Quercus ilex. Our results show that the gross primary productivity of the wetter ecosystem was less sensitive to changes in soil water content, compared to the dryer site. Still, the wetter ecosystem was a source of CO 2 each year, owing to large ecosystem respiration during summer; while the dry site turned into a CO 2 sink during wet years. Overall, the impact of the summertime compound event on annual CO 2 fluxes was marginal at both sites, compared to drought events during spring or autumn. This highlights that drought timing is crucial to determine the annual carbon fluxes in these semi-arid ecosystems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale’.

Carbon-Efficient Supply Chains

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Christos Kalogeropoulos ◽  
Eleftheria Missou ◽  
Nikolaos Elias Pavlis ◽  
Dimitris Psychoyios
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Guidelines And Standards ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

The interest of present study lies on the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) that are generated throughout the supply chain. It has been proven by numerous studies that the anthropogenic activities generate GHG emissions, and actions can be undertaken to mitigate the problem, and the impact of them on the market. This study addresses the issue of the accurate calculation of the so-called Carbon Footprint of an enterprise. During their research, the authors point out the ways that enterprises could avail from it, and how Carbon Footprint influences the purchases. It is evident, though, that there is still much work to be done concerning measuring Carbon Footprint, since common guidelines and standards used are being developed in global scale. This study recommends that empirical studies need to be made in order to inquire into the cost-benefit analysis of implementing a Carbon Footprint calculation.

scholarly journals Particulate-Phase Mercury Emissions during Biomass Burning and Impact on Resulting Deposition: a Modelling Assessment

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco De Simone ◽  
Sergio Cinnirella ◽  
Christian N. Gencarelli ◽  
Francesco Carbone ◽  
Ian M. Hedgecock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Mercury (Hg) emissions from Biomass Burning (BB) are an important source of atmospheric Hg and is a major factor driving the inter-annual variation of Hg concentrations in the troposphere. Little is known about the fraction of Hg bound to particulate matter (HgP) released from BB, and the factors controlling this fraction are also uncertain. In light of the aims of the Minamata Convention to reduce intentional Hg use and emissions from anthropogenic activities, the relative importance of Hg emissions from BB will have an increasing impact on Hg deposition fluxes. Hg speciation is one of the most important factors determining the redistribution of Hg in the atmosphere and the geographical distribution of Hg deposition. Using the latest version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFEDv4.1s) and the global Hg chemistry transport model, ECHMERIT, the impact of Hg speciation in BB emissions, and the factors which influence speciation, on Hg deposition have been investigated for the year 2013. The role of other uncertainties related to physical and chemical atmospheric processes involving Hg, and the influence of model parametrisations were also investigated, since their interactions with Hg speciation are complex. The quantity and geographical distribution of HgP emitted from BB has a limited impact on a global scale, although the inclusion of increasing fractions HgP does limit Hg0g availability to the global atmospheric pool. This reduces Hg deposition from BB to the world's oceans from 71 % to 62 %. The impact locally is however significant, northern boreal and tropical forests where fires are frequent and uncontrolled leads to notable Hg inputs to local ecosystems. Under water-stressed conditions in tropical forests and warming temperatures in northern forests this effect may be exacerbated in the future.

scholarly journals Forest Changes by Precipitation Zones in Northern China after the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Han Li ◽  
Fu Xu ◽  
Zhichao Li ◽  
Nanshan You ◽  
Hui Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Loss Rate ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Dust Storms ◽  
Forest Loss ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Forest Expansion ◽  
Surviving Rate ◽  
Forest Maps ◽  
Forest Distribution ◽  
Semi Arid

China launched the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TNSFP) in 1978 in northern China to combat desertification and dust storms, but it is still controversial in ecologically fragile arid and semi-arid areas, which is partly due to the uncertainties of monitoring of the spatial-temporal changes of forest distribution. In this study, we aim to provide an overall retrospect of the forest changes (i.e., forest gain and forest loss) in northern China during 2007–2017, and to analyze the forest changes in different precipitation zones. We first generated annual forest maps at 30 m spatial resolution during 2007–2017 in northern China through integrating Landsat and PALSAR/PALSAR-2 data. We found the PALSAR/Landsat-based forest maps outperform other four existing products (i.e., JAXA F/NF, FROM-GLC, GlobeLand30, and NLCD-China) from either PALSAR or Landsat data, with a higher overall accuracy 96% ± 1%. The spatial-temporal analyses of forests showed a substantial forest expansion from 316,898 ± 34,537 km2 in 2007 to 384,568 ± 35,855 km2 in 2017 in the central and eastern areas. We found a higher forest loss rate (i.e., 35%) in the precipitation zones with the annual mean precipitation less than 400 mm (i.e., the arid and semi-arid areas) comparing to that (i.e., 25%) in the zones with more than 400 mm (i.e., the humid areas), which suggests the lower surviving rate in the drylands. This study provides satellite-based evidence for the forest changes in different precipitation zones, and suggests that the likely impacts of precipitation on afforestation effectiveness should be considered in future implementation of ecological restoration projects like TNSFP.

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