IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i17p3160-d262296.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Spatiotemporal Pattern of Grassland Cover in Western China from 1661 to 1996

Author

Listed:
  • Fan Yang

    (Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Fanneng He

    (Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

  • Shicheng Li

    (School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China)

  • Meijiao Li

    (Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Abstract

Historical grassland cover change is vital for global and regional environmental change modeling; however, in China, estimates of this are rare, and therefore, we propose a method to reconstruct grassland cover over the past 300 years. By synthesizing remote sensing-derived Chinese land use and land cover change (LULCC) data (1980–2015) and potential natural vegetation data simulated by the relationship between vegetation and environment, we first determined the potential extent of natural grassland vegetation (PENG) in the absence of human activities. Then we reconstructed grassland cover across western China between 1661 and 1996 at 10 km resolution by overlaying the Chinese historical cropland dataset (CHCD) over the PENG. As this land cover type has been significantly influenced by anthropogenic factors, the data show that the proportion of grassland in western China continuously decreased from 304.84 × 10 6 ha in 1661 to 277.69 × 10 6 ha in 1996. This reduction can be divided into four phases, comprising a rapid decrease between 1661 and 1724, a slow decrease between 1724 and 1873, a sharp decrease between 1873 and 1980, and a gradual increase since 1980. These reductions correspond to annual loss rates of 7.32 × 10 4 ha, 2.90 × 10 4 ha, 17.04 × 10 4 ha, and −2.37 × 10 4 ha, respectively. The data reconstructed here show that the decrease in grassland area between 1661 and 1724 was mainly limited to the Gan-Ning region (Gansu and Ningxia) and was driven by the early agricultural development policies of the Qing Dynasty. Grassland was extensively cultivated in northeastern China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning) and in the Xinjiang region between 1724 and 1980, a process which resulted from an exponential increase in immigrants to these provinces. The reconstruction results enable provide crucial data that can be used for modeling long-term climate change and carbon emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan Yang & Fanneng He & Shicheng Li & Meijiao Li, 2019. "Exploring Spatiotemporal Pattern of Grassland Cover in Western China from 1661 to 1996," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-17, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:17:p:3160-:d:262296
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/17/3160/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/17/3160/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miao, Lijuan & Zhu, Feng & Sun, Zhanli & Moore, John C. & Cui, Xuefeng, 2016. "China's land-use changes during the past 300 years: a historical perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16.
    2. Jed O. Kaplan & Kristen M. Krumhardt & Marie-José Gaillard & Shinya Sugita & Anna-Kari Trondman & Ralph Fyfe & Laurent Marquer & Florence Mazier & Anne Birgitte Nielsen, 2017. "Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Yuanyuan Yang & Shuwen Zhang, 2018. "Historical Arable Land Change in an Eco-Fragile Area: A Case Study in Zhenlai County, Northeastern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yunfeng Hu & Batu Nacun, 2018. "An Analysis of Land-Use Change and Grassland Degradation from a Policy Perspective in Inner Mongolia, China, 1990–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Iga Solecka & Dietmar Bothmer & Arkadiusz Głogowski, 2019. "Recognizing Landscapes for the Purpose of Sustainable Development—Experiences from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Ryan E. Hughes & Erika Weiberg & Anton Bonnier & Martin Finné & Jed O. Kaplan, 2018. "Quantifying Land Use in Past Societies from Cultural Practice and Archaeological Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Roberta Fontan Pereira Galvão & Andrea Yuri Flores Urushima & Shoichiro Hara & Wil De Jong, 2020. "Analysis of Land Transition Features and Mechanisms in Peripheral Areas of Kyoto (1950–1960)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Yang, Xuhong & Jin, Xiaobin & Xue, Qiaofeng & Zhou, Yinkang, 2022. "Reconstruction of the spatial distribution of historical farmland in the Taiwan Province of China for 1659–1945," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    6. Bingshun He & Xianlong Huang & Meihong Ma & Qingrui Chang & Yong Tu & Qing Li & Ke Zhang & Yang Hong, 2018. "Analysis of flash flood disaster characteristics in China from 2011 to 2015," 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. 90(1), pages 407-420, January.
    7. Shuangxi Miao & Shuyu Wang & Chunyan Huang & Xiaohong Xia & Lingling Sang & Jianxi Huang & Han Liu & Zheng Zhang & Junxiao Zhang & Xu Huang & Fei Gao, 2023. "A Big Data Grided Organization and Management Method for Cropland Quality Evaluation," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, October.
    8. Fan Yang & Fanneng He & Shicheng Li, 2020. "Spatially Explicit Reconstruction of Anthropogenic Grassland Cover Change in China from 1700 to 2000," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Giulio Fusco & Benedetta Coluccia & Federica De Leo, 2020. "Effect of Trade Openness on Food Security in the EU: A Dynamic Panel Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-13, June.
    10. Raju Rai & Yili Zhang & Basanta Paudel & Bipin Kumar Acharya & Laxmi Basnet, 2018. "Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Assessing the Ecosystem Service Values in the Trans-Boundary Gandaki River Basin, Central Himalayas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, August.
    11. Simon Odawa & Yongwon Seo, 2019. "Water Tower Ecosystems under the Influence of Land Cover Change and Population Growth: Focus on Mau Water Tower in Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-17, June.
    12. Eshetu Shifaw & Jinming Sha & Xiaomei Li, 2020. "Detection of spatiotemporal dynamics of land cover and its drivers using remote sensing and landscape metrics (Pingtan Island, China)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 1269-1298, February.

    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:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:17:p:3160-:d:262296. 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.