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Land-use regime shift triggered the recent degradation of alpine pastures in Nyanpo Yutse of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Context

The eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is a cultural landscape where traditional pastoralism substantially shaped the present mosaic structure of the alpine grasslands. During the past two decades, however, severe grassland degradations of this region has been considered as the major ecological concern.

Objectives

In this study we took an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the impact of the historical land-use regimes to the observed degradation, by conducting an in-depth case study in a local pastoral village in the Nyanpo Yutse region.

Methods

Firstly, we mapped historical land-use intensities (LUIs) of the study area at land-use transition time points of 1970s, 1984, 1994 and 2015 with oral history and participatory GIS (PGIS) approaches. Secondly, we conducted Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time series analysis to detect the temporal and spatial patterns of the degradation. Thirdly, we discussed the causal relations between the land-use and land-cover changes.

Results

Livestock and pasture privatization from 1984 to 1994 created the land-use regime shift which resulted in a marked increase in LUIs and decreased pastoral mobility. The LUI increase in this transition period fostered the establishment of short-grass vegetation which facilitated the spreading of plateau pikas. The installment of iron fences as private pasture borders from 2004 to 2007 eventually started the onset of degradation.

Conclusions

Our case study illustrates that the past land-use regime shift triggered the recent ecological regime shift in Nyanpo Yutse. Severe grassland degradation occurred with a time lag during which cumulative LUIs surpassed the vulnerability threshold of the biophysical system.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express our deep gratitude to the Nyanpo Yutse Environment Association. We thank Drugkyab and Kenpo Tashi Zangpo for sharing their knowledge of Tibetan cultures. We are grateful to Benjamin Pulver for his expert opinion regarding alpine grassland degradation, as well as to Andreas Fritz for providing drone images of the study area. We acknowledge the Rufford foundation and Shanshui Conservation Center for financing our field trips. The Rapid Eye-base maps was supported by Blackbridge (project ID 996). We acknowledge NASA, the USGS and LP DAAC for providing free Landsat and MODIS data. Last and most important, we thank every interviewees from the study village for their openness and friendship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacher Straße 4, 79106, Freiburg, Germany

    Li Li & Ilse Storch

  2. Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstraße 12, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Fabian E. Fassnacht

  3. Research Unit Landscape Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstraße 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Matthias Bürgi

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  1. Li Li
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Correspondence to Li Li.

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Li, L., Fassnacht, F.E., Storch, I. et al. Land-use regime shift triggered the recent degradation of alpine pastures in Nyanpo Yutse of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Landscape Ecol 32, 2187–2203 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0510-2

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