Human-induced grassland degradation/restoration in the central Tibetan Plateau: The effects of ecological protection and restoration projects
TL;DR: Zhang et al. as discussed by the authors explored where and to what extent the ecological projects influenced the grassland variation, using SPOT NDVI-based residual trend as an indicator, and indicated that ecological protection and restoration projects in the central Tibetan Plateau have mitigated the grass land degradation and even reversed the degradation in some areas.
About: This article is published in Ecological Engineering.The article was published on 2015-10-01 and is currently open access. It has received 153 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Grassland degradation & Ecosystem management.
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Deakin University1, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation2, South China Agricultural University3, College of Horticulture4, University of South Australia5, University of Adelaide6, Beijing Normal University7, Arizona State University8, Chinese Academy of Sciences9, Inner Mongolia University10, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University11
TL;DR: It is overwhelmingly that the interventions improved the sustainability of China’s rural land systems, but the impacts are nuanced and adverse outcomes have occurred.
Abstract: China has responded to a national land-system sustainability emergency via an integrated portfolio of large-scale programmes. Here we review 16 sustainability programmes, which invested US$378.5 billion (in 2015 US$), covered 623.9 million hectares of land and involved over 500 million people, mostly since 1998. We find overwhelmingly that the interventions improved the sustainability of China’s rural land systems, but the impacts are nuanced and adverse outcomes have occurred. We identify some key characteristics of programme success, potential risks to their durability, and future research needs. We suggest directions for China and other nations as they progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic review of research literature, the authors categorize 110 adaptation initiatives that have been implemented and shown some degree of effectiveness and analyze the ways in which these activities have been documented as effective using five indicators: reducing risk and vulnerability, developing resilient social systems, improving the environment, increasing economic resources and enhancing governance and institutions.
Abstract: Increased understanding of global warming and documentation of its observable impacts have led to the development of adaptation responses to climate change around the world. A necessary, but often missing, component of adaptation involves the assessment of outcomes and impact. Through a systematic review of research literature, I categorize 110 adaptation initiatives that have been implemented and shown some degree of effectiveness. I analyze the ways in which these activities have been documented as effective using five indicators: reducing risk and vulnerability, developing resilient social systems, improving the environment, increasing economic resources, and enhancing governance and institutions. The act of cataloging adaptation activities produces insights for current and future climate action in two main areas: understanding common attributes of adaptation initiatives reported to be effective in current literature; and identifying gaps in adaptation research and practice that address equality, justice, and power dynamics.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the impact of the GWP on grassland recovery on the Tibetan Plateau using monthly remote-sensed vegetation index and meteorological data from 2000 to 2012 and quantified the effects of climatic factors and anthropogenic activities on NPP change by using the climatedriven NPP and the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) models.
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References
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TL;DR: A new global land cover database for the year 2000 (GLC2000) has been produced by an international partnership of 30 research groups coordinated by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A new global land cover database for the year 2000 (GLC2000) has been produced by an international partnership of 30 research groups coordinated by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. The database contains two levels of land cover information—detailed, regionally optimized land cover legends for each continent and a less thematically detailed global legend that harmonizes regional legends into one consistent product. The land cover maps are all based on daily data from the VEGETATION sensor on‐board SPOT 4, though mapping of some regions involved use of data from other Earth observing sensors to resolve specific issues. Detailed legend definition, image classification and map quality assurance were carried out region by region. The global product was made through aggregation of these. The database is designed to serve users from science programmes, policy makers, environmental convention secretariats, non‐governmental organizations and development‐aid projects. The regional and global data ar...
1,605 citations
"Human-induced grassland degradation..." refers background in this paper
..., 2002), land cover change (Bartholome and Belward, 2005), and model the productivity (Lu et al....
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...…aerosols and water vapor (Rahman and Dedieu, 1994) and widely used to characterize the vegetation dynamics (Delbart et al., 2008; Xiao et al., 2002), land cover change (Bartholome and Belward, 2005), and model the productivity (Lu et al., 2009; Maselli et al., 2007) at regional and global scales....
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TL;DR: In this article, the first 30 m resolution global land cover maps using Landsat Thematic Mapper TM and enhanced thematic mapper plus ETM+ data were produced. And the authors used four classifiers that were freely available were employed, including the conventional maximum likelihood classifier MLC, J4.8 decision tree classifier, Random Forest RF classifier and support vector machine SVM classifier.
Abstract: We have produced the first 30 m resolution global land-cover maps using Landsat Thematic Mapper TM and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus ETM+ data. We have classified over 6600 scenes of Landsat TM data after 2006, and over 2300 scenes of Landsat TM and ETM+ data before 2006, all selected from the green season. These images cover most of the world's land surface except Antarctica and Greenland. Most of these images came from the United States Geological Survey in level L1T orthorectified. Four classifiers that were freely available were employed, including the conventional maximum likelihood classifier MLC, J4.8 decision tree classifier, Random Forest RF classifier and support vector machine SVM classifier. A total of 91,433 training samples were collected by traversing each scene and finding the most representative and homogeneous samples. A total of 38,664 test samples were collected at preset, fixed locations based on a globally systematic unaligned sampling strategy. Two software tools, Global Analyst and Global Mapper developed by extending the functionality of Google Earth, were used in developing the training and test sample databases by referencing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer enhanced vegetation index MODIS EVI time series for 2010 and high resolution images from Google Earth. A unique land-cover classification system was developed that can be crosswalked to the existing United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAO land-cover classification system as well as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme IGBP system. Using the four classification algorithms, we obtained the initial set of global land-cover maps. The SVM produced the highest overall classification accuracy OCA of 64.9% assessed with our test samples, with RF 59.8%, J4.8 57.9%, and MLC 53.9% ranked from the second to the fourth. We also estimated the OCAs using a subset of our test samples 8629 each of which represented a homogeneous area greater than 500 m × 500 m. Using this subset, we found the OCA for the SVM to be 71.5%. As a consistent source for estimating the coverage of global land-cover types in the world, estimation from the test samples shows that only 6.90% of the world is planted for agricultural production. The total area of cropland is 11.51% if unplanted croplands are included. The forests, grasslands, and shrublands cover 28.35%, 13.37%, and 11.49% of the world, respectively. The impervious surface covers only 0.66% of the world. Inland waterbodies, barren lands, and snow and ice cover 3.56%, 16.51%, and 12.81% of the world, respectively.
1,212 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated temporal and spatial patterns of vegetation greenness and rainfall variability in the African Sahel and their interrelationships based on analyses of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series for the period 1982-2003 and gridded satellite rainfall estimates.
Abstract: Contrary to assertions of widespread irreversible desertification in the African Sahel, a recent increase in seasonal greenness over large areas of the Sahel has been observed, which has been interpreted as a recovery from the great Sahelian droughts. This research investigates temporal and spatial patterns of vegetation greenness and rainfall variability in the African Sahel and their interrelationships based on analyses of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series for the period 1982–2003 and gridded satellite rainfall estimates. While rainfall emerges as the dominant causative factor for the increase in vegetation greenness, there is evidence of another causative factor, hypothetically a human-induced change superimposed on the climate trend. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
824 citations
"Human-induced grassland degradation..." refers background in this paper
...Identifying the determining climate variables is the other factor required to establish of the optimal relationship (Herrmann et al., 2005)....
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...After removing the climate influence, the human-induced vegetation variation could be identified (Herrmann et al., 2005; Wessels et al., 2007)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a computationally fast and accurate technique for the atmospheric correction of satellite measurements in the solar spectrum, which is based on a set of equations with coefficients which depend on the spectral band of the sensor.
Abstract: This paper describes a computationally fast and accurate technique for the atmospheric correction of satellite measurements in the solar spectrum. The main advantage of the method is that it is several hundred times faster than more detailed radiative transfer models like 5S and that it does not require precalculated look-up tables. The method is especially useful for correcting the huge amounts of data acquired by large-field-of-view high-repetitivity sensors, like the ones on board polar orbiting and geostationary meteorological satellites. The technique is based on a set of equations with coefficients which depend on the spectral band of the sensor. Semi-empirical formulations are used to describe the different interactions (absorption, scattering, etc.) of solar radiation with atmospheric constituents during its traverse through the atmosphere. Sensor specific coefficients of each equation are determined using a best fit technique against the computations of the 5S code (Simulation of Satelli...
803 citations
"Human-induced grassland degradation..." refers methods in this paper
...These datasets have been calibrated for ozone, aerosols and water vapor (Rahman and Dedieu, 1994) and widely used to characterize the vegetation dynamics (Delbart et al....
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...These datasets have been calibrated for ozone, aerosols and water vapor (Rahman and Dedieu, 1994) and widely used to characterize the vegetation dynamics (Delbart et al., 2008; Xiao et al., 2002), land cover change (Bartholome and Belward, 2005), and model the productivity (Lu et al., 2009; Maselli…...
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify the biospheric sinks for about half the total carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and consider both below-ground ecosystem processes and those more easily measured above-ground.
Abstract: The challenge to identify the biospheric sinks for about half the total carbon emissions from fossil fuels must include a consideration of below-ground ecosystem processes as well as those more easily measured above-ground. Recent studies suggest that tropical grasslands and savannas may contribute more to the ‘missing sink’ than was previously appreciated, perhaps as much as 0.5 Pg (= 0.5 Gt) carbon per annum. The rapid increase in availability of productivity data facilitated by the Internet will be important for future scaling-up of global change responses, to establish independent lines of evidence about the location and size of carbon sinks.
683 citations
"Human-induced grassland degradation..." refers background in this paper
...The grassland ecosystem as one of the world’s most widespread terrestrial ecosystems, occupies approximately 13% of the earth surface (Gong et al., 2013) and holds approximately 20% of the global carbon storage (Scurlock and Hall, 1998)....
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..., 2013) and holds approximately 20% of the global carbon storage (Scurlock and Hall, 1998)....
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