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Differentiating anthropogenic modification and precipitation-driven change on vegetation productivity on the Mongolian Plateau

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Abstract

Context

The Mongolian Plateau, comprising Inner Mongolia, China (IM) and Mongolia (MG) is undergoing consistent warming and accelerated land cover/land use change. Extensive modifications of water-limited regions can alter ecosystem function and processes; hence, it is important to differentiate the impacts of human activities and precipitation dynamics on vegetation productivity.

Objectives

This study distinguished between human-induced and precipitation-driven changes in vegetation cover on the plateau across biome, vegetation type and administrative divisions.

Methods

Non-parametric trend tests were applied to the time series of vegetation indices (VI) derived from MODIS and AVHRR and precipitation from TRMM and MERRA reanalysis data. VI residuals adjusted for rainfall were obtained from the regression between growing season maximum VI and monthly accumulated rainfall (June–August) and were used to detect human-induced trends in vegetation productivity during 1981–2010. The total livestock and population density trends were identified and then used to explain the VI residual trends.

Results

The slope of precipitation-adjusted EVI and EVI2 residuals were negatively correlated to total livestock density (R2 = 0.59 and 0.16, p < 0.05) in MG and positively correlated with total population density (R2 = 0.31, p < 0.05) in IM. The slope of precipitation-adjusted EVI and EVI2 residuals were also negatively correlated with goat density (R2 = 0.59 and 0.19, p < 0.05) and sheep density in MG (R2 = 0.59 and 0.13, p < 0.05) but not in IM.

Conclusions

Some administrative subdivisions in IM and MG showed decreasing trends in VI residuals. These trends could be attributed to increasing livestock or population density and changes in livestock herd composition. Other subdivisions showed increasing trends residuals, suggesting that the vegetation cover increase could be attributed to conservation efforts.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the “Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH)” Program of the NSF (#1313761), the LCLUC program of NASA (NNX14AD85G), and the Natural Science Foundation of China (31229001). J. Xiao was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Macro Systems Biology (Award Number 1065777) and NASA through the Carbon Cycle Science Program (Award Number NNX14AJ18G). We would like to thank Gabriela Shirkey for editing the manuscript. We thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA

    Ranjeet John, Jiquan Chen, Zu-tao Ou-yang, Hoguen Park, Changliang Shao & Jiaguo Qi

  2. Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA

    Jiquan Chen, Zu-tao Ou-yang & Jiaguo Qi

  3. Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG)/College of Forestry and Conservation, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA

    Youngwook Kim

  4. Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Jingfeng Xiao

  5. School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36949, USA

    Yaoqi Zhang

  6. Department of Economics, University of the Humanities, Ulaanbaatar, 210620, Mongolia

    Amartuvshin Amarjargal

  7. Institute of Geography, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Sukhbaatar, Ulaanbaatar, 210620, Mongolia

    Ochirbat Batkhshig

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  1. Ranjeet John
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Correspondence to Ranjeet John.

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John, R., Chen, J., Kim, Y. et al. Differentiating anthropogenic modification and precipitation-driven change on vegetation productivity on the Mongolian Plateau. Landscape Ecol 31, 547–566 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0261-x

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