Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.

Net primary production (NPP) can regulate global climate change and carbon balance. Although scholars have qualitatively studied the influencing factors of NPP, few have quantified the contribution of different degrees of drought aggravation or mitigation and major land-use changes to NPP changes. B...

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Main Authors: Xiaowei Jiang, Jianjun Bai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238997
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author Xiaowei Jiang
Jianjun Bai
author_facet Xiaowei Jiang
Jianjun Bai
author_sort Xiaowei Jiang
collection DOAJ
description Net primary production (NPP) can regulate global climate change and carbon balance. Although scholars have qualitatively studied the influencing factors of NPP, few have quantified the contribution of different degrees of drought aggravation or mitigation and major land-use changes to NPP changes. Based on the temporal and spatial characteristics of NPP for 2000-2015 in the Chinese Loess Plateau, we quantified the contribution of drought, land use and land cover change (LUCC), and hydrothermal conditions to changes in NPP. Particularly, we analyzed the contribution of major land-use change and different drought levels to NPP. Our results showed that the 15-years average NPP was approximately 227 gC/m2 and decreased from southeast to northwest. Overall, NPP showed a linear increasing trend over the 15-years period. The results suggested that changes in hydrothermal conditions had the strongest impact on NPP (~61%), followed by drought (~33%), and land use and land cover change had the weakest impact (~1.4%). In particular, ~13% of the NPP decreases was affected by light drought aggravation, ~10% of the NPP decreases was affected by moderate drought aggravation, and ~0.3% was affected by the conversion of cropland to grassland or non-NPP main production land. Moreover, ~12.7% of the NPP increase was affected by light drought alleviation, ~9.4% was affected by moderate drought alleviation, and ~1.1% was affected by the conversion of grassland to cropland or forestland. The mechanisms underlying the effect of drought and land-use change on NPP were clarified and provide an important reference value for future research on the carbon cycle and regional ecological environmental restoration.
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spelling doaj.art-1081641214434007988cb1d6d808e9ed2022-12-21T22:36:58ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01159e023899710.1371/journal.pone.0238997Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.Xiaowei JiangJianjun BaiNet primary production (NPP) can regulate global climate change and carbon balance. Although scholars have qualitatively studied the influencing factors of NPP, few have quantified the contribution of different degrees of drought aggravation or mitigation and major land-use changes to NPP changes. Based on the temporal and spatial characteristics of NPP for 2000-2015 in the Chinese Loess Plateau, we quantified the contribution of drought, land use and land cover change (LUCC), and hydrothermal conditions to changes in NPP. Particularly, we analyzed the contribution of major land-use change and different drought levels to NPP. Our results showed that the 15-years average NPP was approximately 227 gC/m2 and decreased from southeast to northwest. Overall, NPP showed a linear increasing trend over the 15-years period. The results suggested that changes in hydrothermal conditions had the strongest impact on NPP (~61%), followed by drought (~33%), and land use and land cover change had the weakest impact (~1.4%). In particular, ~13% of the NPP decreases was affected by light drought aggravation, ~10% of the NPP decreases was affected by moderate drought aggravation, and ~0.3% was affected by the conversion of cropland to grassland or non-NPP main production land. Moreover, ~12.7% of the NPP increase was affected by light drought alleviation, ~9.4% was affected by moderate drought alleviation, and ~1.1% was affected by the conversion of grassland to cropland or forestland. The mechanisms underlying the effect of drought and land-use change on NPP were clarified and provide an important reference value for future research on the carbon cycle and regional ecological environmental restoration.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238997
spellingShingle Xiaowei Jiang
Jianjun Bai
Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.
PLoS ONE
title Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.
title_full Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.
title_fullStr Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.
title_short Quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau.
title_sort quantifying the impacts of drought and ecological restoration on net primary production changes in the chinese loess plateau
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238997
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