DOCSLIB.ORG

Strengthening Protected Areas for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in China

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Strengthening Protected Areas for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in China Strengthening protected areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services in China Weihua Xua, Yi Xiaoa, Jingjing Zhanga, Wu Yangb, Lu Zhanga, Vanessa Hullc,1, Zhi Wangd, Hua Zhenga, Jianguo Liuc, Stephen Polaskye, Ling Jianga, Yang Xiaoa, Xuewei Shia, Enming Raoa, Fei Lua, Xiaoke Wanga, Gretchen C. Dailyf,2, and Zhiyun Ouyanga,2 aState Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; bCollege of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; cCenter for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823-5243; dNanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing 210042, China; eDepartment of Applied Economics and Natural Capital Project, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108; and fDepartment of Biology, Center for Conservation Biology, Natural Capital Project, and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 Contributed by Gretchen C. Daily, December 15, 2016 (sent for review October 28, 2016; reviewed by Nick M. Haddad and Guangchun Lei) Recent expansion of the scale of human activities poses severe Although the definition of PAs by the International Union for threats to Earth’s life-support systems. Increasingly, protected areas Conservation of Nature (IUCN) includes explicit reference to (PAs) are expected to serve dual goals: protect biodiversity and conserving “nature with associated ecosystem services” (6), bio- secure ecosystem services. We report a nationwide assessment for diversity has historically been the dominant goal for PA design, China, quantifying the provision of threatened species habitat and implementation, and management (7).Thereisnowamajorshift four key regulating services—water retention, soil retention, sand- underway toward broadening the goals of PAs from a dominant storm prevention, and carbon sequestration—in nature reserves focus on biodiversity to one that also encompasses the provision of ’ (the primary category of PAs in China). We find that China s nature ecosystem services for human well-being (8, 9). Well-designed PAs reserves serve moderately well for mammals and birds, but not for can harmonize people and nature and yield improvements in the other major taxa, nor for these key regulating ecosystem services. well-being of both (10). Evidence shows that PAs not only secure ’ ’ China s nature reserves encompass 15.1% of the country s land sur- biodiversity (11), but also provide ecosystem services such as miti- face. They capture 17.9% and 16.4% of the entire habitat area for gating climate change (12), and enhance ecosystem resilience (13). threatened mammals and birds, but only 13.1% for plants, 10.0% The need for research on how to achieve both biodiversity and for amphibians, and 8.5% for reptiles. Nature reserves encompass ecosystem services is of utmost urgency in China. Many globally only 10.2–12.5% of the source areas for the four key regulating important ecosystems occur in China, including boreal and services. They are concentrated in western China, whereas much threatened species’ habitat and regulating service source areas occur tropical forests, wetlands, grasslands, riparian zones, and marine in eastern provinces. Our analysis illuminates a strategy for greatly ecosystems (14). From the 1950s into the 1980s, forest cover was strengthening PAs, through creating the first comprehensive national reduced by half in the Yangtze River basin, causing severe soil park system of China. This would encompass both nature reserves, in erosion in 40% of the region (15), which later contributed to which human activities are highly restricted, and a new category of massive flooding in 1998 that destroyed nearly 5 million homes PAs for ecosystem services, in which human activities not impacting key services are permitted. This could close the gap in a politically Significance feasible way. We also propose a new category of PAs globally, for sustaining the provision of ecosystems services and achieving sustain- Following severe environmental degradation from rapid eco- able development goals. nomic development, China is now advancing policies to secure biodiversity and ecosystem services. We report the first nation- conservation strategy | threatened species representation | wide assessment, showing that protected areas (PAs) are not ecosystem services | protected areas | sustainable development well delineated to protect either biodiversity or key ecosystem services. This serious deficiency exists in many countries. We he increase in human population and escalating per-capita propose creating a national park system in China to help guide Timpacts over the last century have greatly intensified the threats development along a path of green growth, improving the well- to Earth’s life-support systems (1, 2). People have altered ecosys- being of both people and nature. This involves establishing new, tems in profound ways, including land-cover and land-use change, strictly protected PAs for biodiversity and ecosystem services spread of invasive species, climate disruption, and pollution, that are highly sensitive to human impacts, as well as a new PA causing reductions in biodiversity and key ecosystem services (1). category—in China and ideally worldwide—for integrating bio- A central approach to curbing such threats is establishing pro- diversity, ecosystem services, and human activities to achieve tected areas (PAs) (e.g., nature reserves, national parks)— sustainable development goals. geographical spaces where regulations are put in place to limit human impacts and conserve nature (3). The global coverage of Author contributions: W.X., G.C.D., and Z.O. designed research; W.X., Yi Xiao, J.Z., L.Z., Z.W., L.J., Yang Xiao, X.S., E.R., X.W., and Z.O. performed research; W.X., Yi Xiao, J.Z., PAs has increased from 13.4 million square kilometers in 1990 to W.Y., L.Z., H.Z., and F.L. analyzed data; and W.X., W.Y., V.H., J.L., S.P., G.C.D., and Z.O. SCIENCE 32 million square kilometers in 2014, with a total of 209,000 PAs wrote the paper. SUSTAINABILITY that cover 15.4% of the world’s terrestrial surface and 3.4% of the Reviewers: N.M.H., North Carolina State University; and G.L., Beijing Forest University. ocean area (3). The Aichi Biodiversity Targets proposed in 2010 The authors declare no conflict of interest. established goals of 17% coverage of terrestrial areas and 10% Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. coverage of coastal and marine areas by 2020, respectively (3, 4). 1Present address: Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, The specific motivations for establishing PAs range from pro- Gainesville, FL 32611-0430. tecting places for hunting and recreation to securing exceptional 2To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected] or zyouyang@ sites of geologic wonder, natural resources, or biodiversity. Even in rcees.ac.cn. ECOLOGY the case of biodiversity conservation as a goal, conflicting values This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. can make PA design challenging (5). 1073/pnas.1620503114/-/DCSupplemental. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1620503114 PNAS | February 14, 2017 | vol. 114 | no. 7 | 1601–1606 Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 (16). Although ecosystem service policies have restored some regions of China. Important conservation areas for all threatened forests and their services, biodiversity continues to decline (17). species are shown in Fig. 1. These varied significantly among dif- The principal PAs in China are nature reserves (the most strictly ferent taxonomic groups. The diversity of plants, mammals, and protected PAs, primarily for biodiversity conservation), spanning birds spans most of China, but amphibians and reptiles are con- over 80% of protected areas. By the end of 2014, 2,729 nature re- centrated mainly in the south. Our analysis reveals the important serves had been established, spanning approximately 15% of China’s conservation areas for each taxon (Fig. 1 A–E). land surface (18). Of them, 428 are national nature reserves (encompassing 9.9% of China’s land surface), and the remaining are Ecosystem Service Distribution in China. The important source areas for local reserves. Most nature reserves in China have been established water retention, soil retention, and carbon sequestration are dis- opportunistically, without a clear planning framework to maximize tributed mainly in places with forests, shrubs, and wetlands in the efficiency and representation of conservation targets (19). Previous north, south, and Qinghai–Tibet regions in China (Fig. 2 and Fig. nationwide assessments of the effectiveness of China’snaturere- S1). They are the Khingan, Changbai Mountains, and Loess Plateau serves have focused on ecological diversity (19), represented in in the north region, the Qinling-Ba Mountains, Nanling Mountains, ecoregions. They showed that about half of China’s ecoregions have and Jiangnan Hills in the south region, the eastern Tibetan plateau, >10% of their land area protected through the reserve system, and and Hengduan Mountains in the Qinghai–Tibet region. However, most natural vegetation communities are represented in at least one sandstorm prevention is concentrated mainly in the northwestern nature reserve. To date,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Genetic Composition of Captive Panda Population Jiandong Yang1, Fujun Shen2, Rong Hou2 and Yang Da3*
    Yang et al. BMC Genetics (2016) 17:133 DOI 10.1186/s12863-016-0441-y RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Genetic composition of captive panda population Jiandong Yang1, Fujun Shen2, Rong Hou2 and Yang Da3* Abstract Background: A major function of the captive panda population is to preserve the genetic diversity of wild panda populations in their natural habitats. Understanding the genetic composition of the captive panda population in terms of genetic contributions from the wild panda populations provides necessary knowledge for breeding plans to preserve the genetic diversity of the wild panda populations. Results: The genetic contributions from different wild populations to the captive panda population were highly unbalanced, with Qionglai accounting for 52.2 % of the captive panda gene pool, followed by Minshan with 21. 5 %, Qinling with 10.6 %, Liangshan with 8.2 %, and Xiaoxiangling with 3.6 %, whereas Daxiangling, which had similar population size as Xiaoxiangling, had no genetic representation in the captive population. The current breeding recommendations may increase the contribution of some small wild populations at the expense of decreasing the contributions of other small wild populations, i.e., increasing the Xiaoxiangling contribution while decreasing the contribution of Liangshan, or sharply increasing the Qinling contribution while decreasing the contributions of Xiaoxiangling and Liangshan, which were two of the three smallest wild populations and were already severely under-represented in the captive population. We developed three habitat-controlled breeding plans that could increase the genetic contributions from the smallest wild populations to 6.7–11.2 % for Xiaoxiangling, 11.5–12.3 % for Liangshan and 12.9–20.0 % for Qinling among the offspring of one breeding season while reducing the risk of hidden inbreeding due to related founders from the same habitat undetectable by pedigree data.
    [Show full text]
  • Preparing the Shaanxi-Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Management Project (Cofinanced by the Global Environment Facility)
    Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report Project Number: 39321 June 2008 PRC: Preparing the Shaanxi-Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Management Project (Cofinanced by the Global Environment Facility) Prepared by: ANZDEC Limited Australia For Shaanxi Province Development and Reform Commission This consultant’s report does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB or the Government concerned, and ADB and the Government cannot be held liable for its contents. (For project preparatory technical assistance: All the views expressed herein may not be incorporated into the proposed project’s design. FINAL REPORT SHAANXI QINLING BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECT PREPARED FOR Shaanxi Provincial Government And the Asian Development Bank ANZDEC LIMITED September 2007 CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (as at 1 June 2007) Currency Unit – Chinese Yuan {CNY}1.00 = US $0.1308 $1.00 = CNY 7.64 ABBREVIATIONS ADB – Asian Development Bank BAP – Biodiversity Action Plan (of the PRC Government) CAS – Chinese Academy of Sciences CASS – Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CBD – Convention on Biological Diversity CBRC – China Bank Regulatory Commission CDA - Conservation Demonstration Area CNY – Chinese Yuan CO – company CPF – country programming framework CTF – Conservation Trust Fund EA – Executing Agency EFCAs – Ecosystem Function Conservation Areas EIRR – economic internal rate of return EPB – Environmental Protection Bureau EU – European Union FIRR – financial internal rate of return FDI – Foreign Direct Investment FYP – Five-Year Plan FS – Feasibility
    [Show full text]
  • GIS Assessment of the Status of Protected Areas in East Asia
    CIS Assessment of the Status of Protected Areas in East Asia Compiled and edited by J. MacKinnon, Xie Yan, 1. Lysenko, S. Chape, I. May and C. Brown March 2005 IUCN V 9> m The World Conservation Union UNEP WCMC Digitized by the Internet Archive in 20/10 with funding from UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge http://www.archive.org/details/gisassessmentofs05mack GIS Assessment of the Status of Protected Areas in East Asia Compiled and edited by J. MacKinnon, Xie Yan, I. Lysenko, S. Chape, I. May and C. Brown March 2005 UNEP-WCMC IUCN - The World Conservation Union The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP, UNEP-WCMC, and IUCN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. UNEP-WCMC or its collaborators have obtained base data from documented sources believed to be reliable and made all reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of the data. UNEP-WCMC does not warrant the accuracy or reliability of the base data and excludes all conditions, warranties, undertakings and terms express or implied whether by statute, common law, trade usage, course of dealings or otherwise (including the fitness of the data for its intended use) to the fullest extent permitted by law. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of UNEP, UNEP-WCMC, and IUCN. Produced by: UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK Cffti IUCN UNEP WCMC The World Conservation Union Copyright: © 2005 UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged.
    [Show full text]
  • Co-Seismic and Cumulative Offsets of the Recent Earthquakes Along The
    Co-seismic and cumulative offsets of the recent earthquakes along the Karakax left-lateral strike-slip fault in western Tibet Haibing Li, Jerome van der Woerd, Zhiming Sun, Jialiang Si, Paul Tapponnier, Jiawei Pan, Dongliang Liu, Marie-Luce Chevalier To cite this version: Haibing Li, Jerome van der Woerd, Zhiming Sun, Jialiang Si, Paul Tapponnier, et al.. Co-seismic and cumulative offsets of the recent earthquakes along the Karakax left-lateral strike-slip fault inwestern Tibet. Gondwana Research, Elsevier, 2011, 21, pp.64-87. 10.1016/j.gr.2011.07.025. hal-00683742 HAL Id: hal-00683742 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00683742 Submitted on 29 Mar 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Co-seismic and cumulative offsets of the recent earthquakes along the Karakax left-lateral strike-slip fault in western Tibet Haibing Li a,b,*, Jérôme Van der Woerd c, Zhiming Sun d, Jialiang Si a,b, Paul Tapponniere,f, Jiawei Pan a,b, Dongliang Liu a,b, Marie-Luce Chevaliera,b a State Key Laboratory of Continental Tectonic and Dynamics b Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, P.R.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from Brill.Com10/07/2021 12:04:04PM Via Free Access © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017
    Amphibia-Reptilia 38 (2017): 517-532 A new moth-preying alpine pit viper species from Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (Viperidae, Crotalinae) Jingsong Shi1,2,∗, Gang Wang3, Xi’er Chen4, Yihao Fang5,LiDing6, Song Huang7,MianHou8,9, Jun Liu1,2, Pipeng Li9 Abstract. The Sanjiangyuan region of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot of alpine mammals but a barren area in terms of amphibians and reptiles. Here, we describe a new pit viper species, Gloydius rubromaculatus sp. n. Shi, Li and Liu, 2017 that was discovered in this region, with a brief taxonomic revision of the genus Gloydius.The new species can be distinguished from the other congeneric species by the following characteristics: cardinal crossbands on the back, indistinct canthus rostralis, glossy dorsal scales, colubrid-like oval head shape, irregular small black spots on the head scales, black eyes and high altitude distribution (3300-4770 m above sea level). The mitochondrial phylogenetic reconstruction supported the validity of the new species and furthermore reaffirms that G. intermedius changdaoensis, G. halys cognatus, G. h. caraganus and G. h. stejnegeri should be elevated as full species. Gloydius rubromaculatus sp. n. was found to be insectivorous: preying on moths (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Sideridis sp.) in the wild. This unusual diet may be one of the key factors to the survival of this species in such a harsh alpine environment. Keywords: Gloydius rubromaculatus sp. n., insectivorous, new species, Sanjiangyuan region. Introduction leopards (Uncia uncia), wild yaks (Bos grun- niens) and Tibetan antelopes (Pantholops hodg- The Sanjiangyuan region (the Source of Three sonii) (Shen and Tan, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • The Variations of Land Surface Phenology in Northeast China and Its Responses to Climate Change from 1982 to 2013
    remote sensing Article The Variations of Land Surface Phenology in Northeast China and Its Responses to Climate Change from 1982 to 2013 Jianjun Zhao 1,†, Yanying Wang 1,†, Zhengxiang Zhang 1,*, Hongyan Zhang 1,*, Xiaoyi Guo 1,†, Shan Yu 1,2,†, Wala Du 3,† and Fang Huang 1,† 1 School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China; [email protected] (J.Z.); [email protected] (Y.W.); [email protected] (X.G.); [email protected] (S.Y.); [email protected] (F.H.) 2 Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, Huhhot 010022, China 3 Ecological and Agricultural Meteorology Center of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Huhhot 010022, China; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] (Z.Z.); [email protected] (H.Z.); Tel./Fax: +86-431-8509-9550 (Z.Z.); +86-431-8509-9213 (H.Z.) † These authors contributed equally to this work. Academic Editors: Petri Pellikka, Lars Eklundh, Alfredo R. Huete and Prasad S. Thenkabail Received: 4 February 2016; Accepted: 4 May 2016; Published: 12 May 2016 Abstract: Northeast China is located at high northern latitudes and is a typical region of relatively high sensitivity to global climate change. Studies of the land surface phenology in Northeast China and its response to climate change are important for understanding global climate change. In this study, the land surface phenology parameters were calculated using the third generation dataset from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS 3g) that was collected from 1982 to 2013 were estimated to analyze the variations of the land surface phenology in Northeast China at different scales and to discuss the internal relationships between phenology and climate change.
    [Show full text]
  • Tetrao Urogalloides) in Northeast China from 1950 to 2010 Based on Local Historical Documents
    Pakistan J. Zool., vol. 48(6), pp. 1825-1830, 2016. Decline and Range Contraction of Black-Billed Capercaillie (Tetrao urogalloides) in Northeast China from 1950 to 2010 Based on Local Historical Documents Yueheng Ren, Li Yang, Rui Zhang, Jiang Lv, Mujiao Huang and Xiaofeng Luan* School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, NO.35 Tsinghua East Road Haidian District, Beijing, P. R. China, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China, Yueheng Ren, Li Yang, Rui Zhang contributed equally. A B S T R A C T Article Information Received 21 August 2015 The black-billed capercaillie (Tetrao urogalloides) is a large capercaillie which is considered an Revised 14 March 2016 endangered species that has undergone a dramatic decline throughout the late 20th century. This Accepted 19 May 2016 species is now rare or absent in Northeast China and needs immediate protection. Effective Available online 25 September 2016 conservation and management could be hampered by insufficient understanding of the population decline and range contraction; however, any historical information, whilst being crucial, is rare. In Authors’ Contribution this paper, we present local historical documents as one problem-solving resource for large-scale YR, LY and XL conceived and designed the study. LY, YR, JL and analysis of this endangered species in order to reveal the historical population trend in Northeast MH were involved in data collection. China from 1950 to 2010. Our results show that the population was widely distributed with a large YR, LY and RZ were involved in population in Northeast China before the 1980s. Because of increasing habitat destruction in data processing.
    [Show full text]
  • Sp. Nov. from Northeast China
    ISSN (print) 0093-4666 © 2013. Mycotaxon, Ltd. ISSN (online) 2154-8889 MYCOTAXON http://dx.doi.org/10.5248/124.269 Volume 124, pp. 269–278 April–June 2013 Russula changbaiensis sp. nov. from northeast China Guo-Jie Li1,2, Dong Zhao1, Sai-Fei Li1, Huai-Jun Yang3, Hua-An Wen1a*& Xing-Zhong Liu1b* 1State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No 3 1st Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 3 Shanxi Institute of Medicine and Life Science, No 61 Pingyang Road, Xiaodian District, Taiyuan 030006, China Correspondence to *: [email protected], [email protected] Abstract —Russula changbaiensis (subg. Tenellula sect. Rhodellinae) from the Changbai Mountains, northeast China, is described as a new species. It is characterized by the red tinged pileus, slightly yellowing context, small basidia, short pleurocystidia, septate dermatocystidia with crystal contents, and a coniferous habitat. The phylogenetic trees based on ITS1-5.8S- ITS2 rDNA sequences fully support the establishment of the new species. Key words —Russulales, Russulaceae, taxonomy, morphology, Basidiomycota Introduction The worldwide genus ofRussula Pers. (Russulaceae, Russulales) is characterized by colorful fragile pileus, amyloid warty spores, abundant sphaerocysts in a heteromerous trama, and absence of latex (Romagnesi 1967, 1985; Singer 1986; Sarnari 1998, 2005). As a group of ectomycorrhizal fungi, it includes a large number of edible and medicinal species (Li et al. 2010). The genus has been extensively investigated with a long, rich and intensive taxonomic history in Europe (Miller & Buyck 2002). Although Russula species have been consumed in China as edible and medicinal use for a long time, their taxonomy has been overlooked (Li & Wen 2009, Li 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • R Graphics Output
    China China LEGEND Previously sampled Malaise trap site Ecoregion Alashan Plateau semi−desert North Tibetan Plateau−Kunlun Mountains alpine desert Altai alpine meadow and tundra Northeast China Plain deciduous forests Altai montane forest and forest steppe Northeast Himalayan subalpine conifer forests Altai steppe and semi−desert Northern Indochina subtropical forests Amur meadow steppe Northern Triangle subtropical forests Bohai Sea saline meadow Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Central China Loess Plateau mixed forests Nujiang Langcang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe Ordos Plateau steppe Changbai Mountains mixed forests Pamir alpine desert and tundra Changjiang Plain evergreen forests Qaidam Basin semi−desert Da Hinggan−Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests Qilian Mountains conifer forests Daba Mountains evergreen forests Qilian Mountains subalpine meadows Daurian forest steppe Qin Ling Mountains deciduous forests East Siberian taiga Qionglai−Minshan conifer forests Eastern Gobi desert steppe Rock and Ice Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Sichuan Basin evergreen broadleaf forests Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests South China−Vietnam subtropical evergreen forests Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests Southeast Tibet shrublands and meadows Emin Valley steppe Southern Annamites montane rain forests Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests Suiphun−Khanka meadows and forest meadows Hainan Island monsoon rain forests Taklimakan desert Helanshan montane conifer forests
    [Show full text]
  • Potential Distribution Shifts of Plant Species Under Climate Change in Changbai Mountains, China
    Article Potential Distribution Shifts of Plant Species under Climate Change in Changbai Mountains, China Lei Wang 1, Wen J. Wang 1,*, Zhengfang Wu 2,*, Haibo Du 2, Shengwei Zong 2 and Shuang Ma 1,2 1 Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China; [email protected] (L.W.); [email protected] (S.M.) 2 Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China; [email protected] (H.D.); [email protected] (S.Z.) * Correspondence: [email protected] (W.J.W.); [email protected] (Z.W.) Received: 18 April 2019; Accepted: 7 June 2019; Published: 11 June 2019 Abstract: Shifts in alpine tundra plant species have important consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, recent research on upward species shifts have focused mainly on polar and high-latitude regions and it therefore remains unclear whether such vegetation change trends also are applicable to the alpine tundra at the southern edges of alpine tundra species distribution. This study evaluated an alpine tundra region within the Changbai Mountains, China, that is part of the southernmost alpine tundra in eastern Eurasia. We investigated plant species shifts in alpine tundra within the Changbai Mountains over the last three decades (1984–2015) by comparing contemporary survey results with historical ones and evaluated potential changes in the distribution of dwarf shrub and herbaceous species over the next three decades (2016–2045) using a combination of observations and simulations. The results of this study revealed that the encroachment of herbaceous plants had altered tundra vegetation to a significant extent over the last three decades, especially within low and middle alpine tundra regions in Changbai Mountains, China.
    [Show full text]
  • Architecture and Geography of China Proper: Influence of Geography on the Diversity of Chinese Traditional Architectural Motifs and the Cultural Values They Reflect
    Culture, Society, and Praxis Volume 12 Number 1 Justice is Blindfolded Article 3 May 2020 Architecture and Geography of China Proper: Influence of Geography on the Diversity of Chinese Traditional Architectural Motifs and the Cultural Values They Reflect Shiqi Liang University of California, Los Angeles Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/csp Part of the Architecture Commons, and the Human Geography Commons Recommended Citation Liang, Shiqi (2020) "Architecture and Geography of China Proper: Influence of Geography on the Diversity of Chinese Traditional Architectural Motifs and the Cultural Values They Reflect," Culture, Society, and Praxis: Vol. 12 : No. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/csp/vol12/iss1/3 This Main Theme / Tema Central is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Digital Commons @ CSUMB. It has been accepted for inclusion in Culture, Society, and Praxis by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CSUMB. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Liang: Architecture and Geography of China Proper: Influence of Geograph Culture, Society, and Praxis Architecture and Geography of China Proper: Influence of Geography on the Diversity of Chinese Traditional Architectural Motifs and the Cultural Values They Reflect Shiqi Liang Introduction served as the heart of early Chinese In 2016 the city government of Meixian civilization because of its favorable decided to remodel the area where my geographical and climatic conditions that family’s ancestral shrine is located into a supported early development of states and park. To collect my share of the governments. Zhongyuan is very flat with compensation money, I traveled down to few mountains; its soil is rich because of the southern China and visited the ancestral slit carried down by the Yellow River.
    [Show full text]
  • Active Strike-Slip Faulting and Systematic Deflection of Drainage
    remote sensing Article Active Strike-Slip Faulting and Systematic Deflection of Drainage Systems along the Altyn Tagh Fault, Northern Tibetan Plateau Peng Chen 1,2,3,*, Bing Yan 4 and Yuan Liu 5 1 Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China 2 Key Laboratory of Active Tectonics and Geological Safety, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100081, China 3 Key Laboratory of Deep-Earth Dynamics of Ministry of Natural Resources, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China 4 College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China; [email protected] 5 School of Earth Science and Resources, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Systematic deflection of drainage systems along strike-slip faults is the combination of re- peated faulting slipping and continuous headward erosion accumulated on the stream channels. The measurement and analysis of systematically deflected stream channels will enhance our understand- ing on the deformational behaviors of strike-slip faults and the relationship between topographic response and active strike-slip faulting. In this study, detailed interpretation and analysis of remote sensing images and DEM data were carried out along the Altyn Tagh Fault, one typical large-scale strike-slip fault in the northern Tibetan Plateau, and together with the statistical results of offset amounts of 153 stream channels, revealed that (i) the drainage systems have been systematically de- flected and/or offset in sinistral along the active Altyn Tagh Fault; (ii) The offset amounts recorded by Citation: Chen, P.; Yan, B.; Liu, Y.
    [Show full text]