| Title | Excessive Afforestation and Soil Drying on China's Loess Plateau |
| Authors | Zhang, Shuilei Yang, Dawen Yang, Yuting Piao, Shilong Yang, Hanbo Lei, Huimin Fu, Bojie |
| Affiliation | Tsinghua Univ, Dept Hydraul Engn, State Key Lab Hydrosci & Engn, Beijing, Peoples R China. CSIRO Land & Water, Canberra, ACT, Australia. Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China. Chinese Acad Sci, Ecoenvironm Sci Res Ctr, State Key Lab Urban & Reg Ecol, Beijing, Peoples R China. |
| Keywords | climate-soil-vegetation interaction ecohydrological optimality equilibrium vegetation cover vegetation restoration the Loess Plateau climate change GREEN VEGETATION FRACTION WATER-BALANCE LAND-USE PLANT COVERAGE GULLY REGION HILLY AREA NDVI DATA CLIMATE CARBON MODEL |
| Issue Date | 2018 |
| Publisher | JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES |
| Citation | JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES. 2018, 123(3), 923-935. |
| Abstract | Afforestation and deforestation as human disturbances to vegetation have profound impacts on ecohydrological processes influencing both water and carbon cycles and ecosystem sustainability. Since 1999, large-scale revegetation activities such as Grain-to-Green Program have been implemented across China's Loess Plateau. However, negative ecohydrological consequences, including streamflow decline and soil drying have emerged. Here we estimate the equilibrium vegetation cover over the Loess Plateau based on an ecohydrological model and assess the water balance under the equilibrium and actual vegetation cover over the past decade. Results show that the current vegetation cover (0.48 on average) has already exceeded the climate-defined equilibrium vegetation cover (0.43 on average) in many parts of the Loess Plateau, especially in the middle-to-east regions. This indicates a widespread overplanting, which is found to primarily responsible for soil drying in the area. Additionally, both the equilibrium vegetation cover and soil moisture tend to decrease under future (i.e., 2011-2050) climate scenarios due to declined atmospheric water supply (i.e., precipitation) and increased atmospheric water demand (i.e., potential evapotranspiration). Our findings suggest that further revegetation on the Loess Plateau should be applied with caution. To maintain a sustainable ecohydrological environment in the region, a revegetation threshold is urgently needed to guide future revegetation activities. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/524780 |
| ISSN | 2169-8953 |
| DOI | 10.1002/2017JG004038 |
| Indexed | SCI(E) |
| Appears in Collections: | 城市与环境学院 |
