IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i11p1146-d82406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Human Impact on Vegetation Dynamics around Lhasa, Southern Tibetan Plateau, China

Author

Listed:
  • Haidong Li

    (Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing 210042, China)

  • Yingkui Li

    (Department of Geography, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA)

  • Yuanyun Gao

    (Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing 210042, China)

  • Changxin Zou

    (Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing 210042, China)

  • Shouguang Yan

    (Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing 210042, China)

  • Jixi Gao

    (Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing 210042, China)

Abstract

Human impact plays an increasing role on vegetation change even on the Tibetan Plateau, an area that is commonly regarded as an ideal place to study climate change. We evaluate the nature and extent of human impact on vegetation dynamics by the comparison of two areas: the relative highly populated Lhasa area and a nearby less populated Lhari County. Our results indicate that human impact has mainly decreased vegetation greenness within 20 km of the urban area and major constructions during 1999–2013. However, the impact of human activities in a relatively large area is still minor and does not reverse the major trends of vegetation dynamics caused by the warming temperature in recent decades. It seems that the impact of anthropogenic factors on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) trend is more apparent in the Lhasa area than in Lhari County. The major anthropogenic driving factor for vegetation browning in the Lhasa area is livestock number, while the factors, including the number of rural laborers and artificial forest areas, are positively correlated with the annual NDVI increase. The similar relationship between the annual NDVI and driving factors appeared in Lhari County, except for artificial forest areas. The warming temperature and the change in precipitation played dominant roles on vegetation greening in Lhari County than that in the Lhasa area.

Suggested Citation

  • Haidong Li & Yingkui Li & Yuanyun Gao & Changxin Zou & Shouguang Yan & Jixi Gao, 2016. "Human Impact on Vegetation Dynamics around Lhasa, Southern Tibetan Plateau, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-16, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:11:p:1146-:d:82406
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/11/1146/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/11/1146/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li, Lei & Chi, Ting & Wang, Shi, 2016. "Is energy utilization among Chinese provinces sustainable?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 198-206.
    2. Jane Qiu, 2008. "China: The third pole," Nature, Nature, vol. 454(7203), pages 393-396, July.
    3. Shilong Piao & Philippe Ciais & Pierre Friedlingstein & Philippe Peylin & Markus Reichstein & Sebastiaan Luyssaert & Hank Margolis & Jingyun Fang & Alan Barr & Anping Chen & Achim Grelle & David Y. Ho, 2008. "Net carbon dioxide losses of northern ecosystems in response to autumn warming," Nature, Nature, vol. 451(7174), pages 49-52, January.
    4. Jane Qiu, 2014. "Double threat for Tibet," Nature, Nature, vol. 512(7514), pages 240-241, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maurício Lamano Ferreira & Luciana Cantanhede De Souza & Diego De Melo Conti & Cristiano Capellani Quaresma & Armando Reis Tavares & Karina Gonçalves da Silva & Claudia Terezinha Kniess & Plínio Barbo, 2018. "Soil Biodiversity in Urban Forests as a Consequence of Litterfall Management: Implications for São Paulo’s Ecosystem Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Jinghui Qi & Shuwen Niu & Yifang Zhao & Man Liang & Libang Ma & Yongxia Ding, 2017. "Responses of Vegetation Growth to Climatic Factors in Shule River Basin in Northwest China: A Panel Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-22, March.
    3. CholHyok Kang & Yili Zhang & Zhaofeng Wang & Linshan Liu & Huamin Zhang & Yilgwang Jo, 2017. "The Driving Force Analysis of NDVI Dynamics in the Trans-Boundary Tumen River Basin between 2000 and 2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Kai Jin & Fei Wang & Pengfei Li, 2018. "Responses of Vegetation Cover to Environmental Change in Large Cities of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haorui Zhang & Shaowei Li & Guangyu Zhang & Gang Fu, 2020. "Response of Soil Microbial Communities to Warming and Clipping in Alpine Meadows in Northern Tibet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-16, July.
    2. Metsaranta, J.M. & Kurz, W.A., 2012. "Inter-annual variability of ecosystem production in boreal jack pine forests (1975–2004) estimated from tree-ring data using CBM-CFS3," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 224(1), pages 111-123.
    3. Chaobin Zhang & Ying Zhang & Zhaoqi Wang & Jianlong Li & Inakwu Odeh, 2019. "Monitoring Phenology in the Temperate Grasslands of China from 1982 to 2015 and Its Relation to Net Primary Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Tshering Chonzom Bhutia, 2015. "The Fourth ‘Forum on the Development of Tibet’," China Report, , vol. 51(1), pages 66-75, February.
    5. Yali Zhong & Shuqing Chen & Haihua Mo & Weiwen Wang & Pengfei Yu & Xuemei Wang & Nima Chuduo & Bian Ba, 2022. "Contribution of urban expansion to surface warming in high-altitude cities of the Tibetan Plateau," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 1-22, November.
    6. Muhammad Arfan & Jewell Lund & Daniyal Hassan & Maaz Saleem & Aftab Ahmad, 2019. "Assessment of Spatial and Temporal Flow Variability of the Indus River," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-17, May.
    7. Ouardighi, Fouad El & Sim, Jeong Eun & Kim, Bowon, 2016. "Pollution accumulation and abatement policy in a supply chain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(3), pages 982-996.
    8. Zhang, Junwei & Xiang, Lingxiao & Zhu, Chenxi & Li, Wuqiang & Jing, Dan & Zhang, Lili & Liu, Yong & Li, Tianlai & Li, Jianming, 2023. "Evaluating the irrigation schedules of greenhouse tomato by simulating soil water balance under drip irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    9. Qianhan Wu & Kai Liu & Chunqiao Song & Jida Wang & Linghong Ke & Ronghua Ma & Wensong Zhang & Hang Pan & Xinyuan Deng, 2018. "Remote Sensing Detection of Vegetation and Landform Damages by Coal Mining on the Tibetan Plateau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, October.
    10. Xinjun He & Anyi Huang & Jianzhong Yan & Hong Zhou & Ya Wu & Liang Emlyn Yang & Basanta Paudel, 2023. "Smallholders’ climate change adaptation strategies on the eastern Tibetan Plateau," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 118(1), pages 641-667, August.
    11. Wang, Weijun & Zhao, Xueyan & Cao, Jianjun & Li, Hua & Zhang, Qin, 2020. "Barriers and requirements to climate change adaptation of mountainous rural communities in developing countries: The case of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. Dongchuan Wang & Kangjian Wang & Zhiheng Wang & Hongkui Fan & Hua Chai & Hongyi Wang & Hui Long & Jianshe Gao & Jiacheng Xu, 2022. "Spatial-Temporal Evolution and Influencing Mechanism of Traffic Dominance in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Nölte, Anja & Yousefpour, Rasoul & Hanewinkel, Marc, 2020. "Changes in sessile oak (Quercus petraea) productivity under climate change by improved leaf phenology in the 3-PG model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 438(C).
    14. Xuan Wu & Liang Jiao & Dashi Du & Ruhong Xue & Xingyu Ding & Mengyuan Wei & Peng Zhang, 2022. "Spatial–Temporal Pattern and Influencing Factors of Vegetation Phenology and Net Primary Productivity in the Qilian Mountains of Northwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, November.
    15. Munkhnasan Lamchin & Woo-Kyun Lee & Sonam Wangyel Wang, 2022. "Multi-Temporal Analysis of Past and Future Land-Cover Changes of the Third Pole," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-19, December.
    16. Lingyan Zhou & Xuhui Zhou & Yanghui He & Yuling Fu & Zhenggang Du & Meng Lu & Xiaoying Sun & Chenghao Li & Chunyan Lu & Ruiqiang Liu & Guiyao Zhou & Shahla Hosseni Bai & Madhav P. Thakur, 2022. "Global systematic review with meta-analysis shows that warming effects on terrestrial plant biomass allocation are influenced by precipitation and mycorrhizal association," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Fouad El Ouardighi & Hassan Benchekroun & Dieter Grass, 2016. "Self-regenerating environmental absorption efficiency and the $$\varvec{ soylent~green~scenario}$$ s o y l e n t g r e e n s c e n a r i o," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 238(1), pages 179-198, March.
    18. Zhenjie Dong & Lin Hou & Qi Ruan, 2023. "Effect of Elevation Gradient on Carbon Pools in a Juniperus przewalskii Kom. Forest in Qinghai, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, April.
    19. Marco Archetti & Andrew D Richardson & John O'Keefe & Nicolas Delpierre, 2013. "Predicting Climate Change Impacts on the Amount and Duration of Autumn Colors in a New England Forest," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-8, March.
    20. Mu Li & Li Li & Wadim Strielkowski, 2019. "The Impact of Urbanization and Industrialization on Energy Security: A Case Study of China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:11:p:1146-:d:82406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.