Quantifying Degradation Classifications on Alpine Grassland in the Lhasa River Basin, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Wangya Han, Huiting Lu, Guohua Liu, Jingsheng Wang and Xukun Su
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Wangya Han: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Huiting Lu: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Guohua Liu: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Jingsheng Wang: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xukun Su: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 24, 1-14

Abstract: The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has the world’s largest alpine grassland ecosystem. The QTP ecosystem is extremely fragile and suffers continuous degradation. An accurate determination of the status of alpine grassland is the first crucial step in monitoring its degradation. A novel method combining field survey with remote sensing information based on ecological indicators is proposed. The degradation classification of alpine grassland was identified by multivariate hierarchical analysis based on 270 field plots. The spatial pattern of alpine grassland degradation was mapped by determining remote sensing variables that corresponded to field indicators of the degradation classification system. The results showed that clustering analysis divided the degradation classification of alpine grassland into five classes: Non-Degraded (ND), Slightly Degraded (SLD), Moderately Degraded (MD), Severely Degraded (SD), and Extremely Degraded (ED). The most significant factors for alpine grassland degradation included the dominance of Cyperaceae plants, soil total nitrogen content, soil organic carbon content, soil total carbon content, soil bulk density, soil pH, dominance of miscellaneous plants, and elevation among all 17 variables. The assessment and mapping of alpine grassland degradation provide an important basis for alpine grassland protection and management, particularly at a large scale.

Keywords: alpine grassland; quantitative degradation classifications; remote sensing; Lhasa river basin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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