Large scale rocky desertification reversal in South China karst
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Large scale rocky desertification reversal in South China karst. / Yue, Yuemin; Qi, Xiangkun; Wang, Kelin; Liao, Chujie; Tong, Xiaowei; Brandt, Martin; Liu, Bo.
In: Progress in Physical Geography, Vol. 46, No. 5, 2022, p. 661-675.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Large scale rocky desertification reversal in South China karst
AU - Yue, Yuemin
AU - Qi, Xiangkun
AU - Wang, Kelin
AU - Liao, Chujie
AU - Tong, Xiaowei
AU - Brandt, Martin
AU - Liu, Bo
N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD1100103), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41930652, U20A2048), the Key Research and Development Program of Guangxi (AB20297004, AB21196063), the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team (JCTD-2021-16), DFF Sapere Aude (9064-00049B) and Open Fund of Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. ISA2020102. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The karst area in southwest China is, in recent decades, one of the world’s regions with the fastest vegetation growth and increase in aboveground biomass. The improvement in the ecological conditions within this region can, to a large extent, be attributed to ecological protection projects. However, it remains unclear whether the observed increase in vegetation cover could mitigate rocky desertification at large scale. In this study, we utilized information from large field campaigns in the years 2005, 2011, and 2016, supported by satellite imagery interpretation and statistics on ecological protection projects, to explore the impact of restoration efforts on rocky desertification mitigation and vegetation resilience/resistance. The results show that restoration efforts caused a net decrease of 26.14% in areas affected by rocky desertification from 2005 to 2016. The larger the restoration efforts, the stronger the decrease in rocky desertification areas, and also the vulnerability of landscapes towards desertification; the probability of rocky desertification occurring decreased almost linearly with increased restoration efforts. In addition, both vegetation resilience and resistance against climate variations increased with restoration efforts. Restoration efforts were mainly responsible for the recovery of the ecosystem, showing that human impact is the main driver for the reversal of rocky desertification. Our study provides scientific evidence on rocky desertification control being an important step towards a sustainable development of the landscapes of Southwest China.
AB - The karst area in southwest China is, in recent decades, one of the world’s regions with the fastest vegetation growth and increase in aboveground biomass. The improvement in the ecological conditions within this region can, to a large extent, be attributed to ecological protection projects. However, it remains unclear whether the observed increase in vegetation cover could mitigate rocky desertification at large scale. In this study, we utilized information from large field campaigns in the years 2005, 2011, and 2016, supported by satellite imagery interpretation and statistics on ecological protection projects, to explore the impact of restoration efforts on rocky desertification mitigation and vegetation resilience/resistance. The results show that restoration efforts caused a net decrease of 26.14% in areas affected by rocky desertification from 2005 to 2016. The larger the restoration efforts, the stronger the decrease in rocky desertification areas, and also the vulnerability of landscapes towards desertification; the probability of rocky desertification occurring decreased almost linearly with increased restoration efforts. In addition, both vegetation resilience and resistance against climate variations increased with restoration efforts. Restoration efforts were mainly responsible for the recovery of the ecosystem, showing that human impact is the main driver for the reversal of rocky desertification. Our study provides scientific evidence on rocky desertification control being an important step towards a sustainable development of the landscapes of Southwest China.
KW - ecological management
KW - ecological protection project
KW - karst
KW - Rocky desertification
KW - vegetation restoration
U2 - 10.1177/03091333221083111
DO - 10.1177/03091333221083111
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85129300182
VL - 46
SP - 661
EP - 675
JO - Progress in Physical Geography
JF - Progress in Physical Geography
SN - 0309-1333
IS - 5
ER -
ID: 306114890