Abstract
Traditional rural homegarden agroforestry systems (referred to as homegarden) in the Western Sichuan Plain of China are often referred to as “Linpan” in Chinese. These homegardens are usually composed of farm houses, trees, bamboos, and small patches of land for flowers, fruits and vegetables. Over the Western Sichuan Plain’s area of approximately 18,800 km2, there were more than 200,000 homegardens, accommodating 72.5% of the region’s rural population. As a unique local, cultural, and ecological resource, homegardens continuously support peasant households with provisioning, regulation, and landscape ecosystem services. This study combined low height remote sensing used unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photography, field investigation, and instrument monitoring. We try to identify the composition and structural characteristics of homegardens, as well as climatic regulation effects of the different types of homegardens. Temperature data were collected both for summer (June to August 2016) and winter (December 2016 to February 2017). The result shows that: (1) the average area of homegardens was 0.67ha (sizes ranging from 0.16ha to 1.24ha), and with vegetation coverage 43.5%-76.9% (including 310 plant species). (2)In comparision with outside the homegardens, the average temperature inside the homegardens was significantly lower in summer (approximately 0.31 °C -0.90°C). Although, the lowest summer temperature was differentiatee in between 13:30-16:00. Especially, the thermal effects of the home gardens were ranged from 2.00°C-2.65°C at high temperatures (≥30°C). (3) The cooling effect of homegardens were positively correlated (p<0.05) with tree area(X1), vegetation coverage(X2), tree coverage(X3), tree species(X4), and tree biomassper unit area(X5), and the contribution rate was represented by X3>X4>X5>X2>X1. (4)This study indicates the major role of homegardens for climate regulation and energy efficiency, providing suggestions for homegarden transformation and construction planning for new rural communities.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the national Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41401664) and the “135” Strategic Program of the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS (No. SDS-135-1703).
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Liu, Q., Peng, Ph., Wang, Yk. et al. Microclimate regulation efficiency of the rural homegarden agroforestry system in the Western Sichuan Plain, China. J. Mt. Sci. 16, 516–528 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5112-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5112-1