Ecosystem services relationship characteristics of the degraded alpine shrub meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Alpine shrub meadows hold significant importance as grassland ecosystems on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). They provide a range of vital ecosystem services (ESs) and are commonly utilized as summer pastures by herders, resulting in short grazing periods and high grazing intensities. Unfortunately, these practices have led to varying degrees of degradation, thereby affecting the sustainable provision of ESs.

Restoration of Degraded Grassland Significantly Improves Water Storage in Alpine Grasslands in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Alpine grassland has very important water conservation function. Grassland degradation seriously affects the water conservation function; moreover, there is little understanding of the change of water state during grassland restoration. Our study aims to bridge this gap and improve our understanding of changes in soil moisture during the restoration process.

Characterization of the spatial distribution of plateau pika burrows along an alpine grassland degradation gradient on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Plateau pika burrows are common feature of degraded grassland in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and serve as an important indicator of pika activity and grassland degradation. However, the current understanding of the spatial pattern changes of pika burrows and their critical thresholds across a degradation gradient in alpine grassland is deficient. In this study, we investigated and quantified changes in the spatial pattern of plateau pika burrows under typical degraded alpine shrub meadows in the northeastern QTP using an unmanned aerial vehicle and landscape pattern metrics.

Phytochemical profiles and the hypoglycemic effects of tree peony seed coats.

As emerging woody oil crops, the tree peony seeds recently have been attracting great attention for their metabolites and bioactivities. In this research, the phytochemical profiles of the seed coats of tree peonies from different production regions were investigated systematically. Twelve phytochemicals were separated and prepared, mainly belonging to stilbenes.

Alpine grassland management based on ecosystem service relationships on the southern slopes of the Qilian Mountains, China.

Grassland management is one of the most important means to address grassland degradation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but at present, the primary goal is still to improve grassland productivity, and little research has been conducted on grassland management based on its ecosystem service relationships. Based on remote sensing and meteorological data, we calculated and analyzed the spatial and temporal changes, trade-offs and synergistic relationships between livestock production and water retention services in alpine grassland on the southern slopes of the Qilian Mountains (SSQM), and designed a grazing management plan for sustainable development in the region. The results showed that the value of livestock production and water retention services of alpine grassland decreased from east to west, and their relationship is dominated by synergy and complemented by trade-offs.

Biomass allocation and productivity-richness relationship across four grassland types at the Qinghai Plateau.

Aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB) allocation and productivity-richness relationship are controversial. Here, we assessed AGB and BGB allocation and the productivity-richness relationship at community level across four grassland types based on the biomass data collected from 80 sites across the Qinghai Plateau during 2011-2012. The reduced major axis regression and general linear models were used and showed that (a) the median values of AGB were significantly higher in alpine meadow than in other three grassland types; the ratio of root to shoot (R/S) was significantly higher in desert grassland (36.

Impacts of climate change and human factors on land cover change in inland mountain protected areas: a case study of the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve in China.

Over the past few decades, natural reserves have been affected by both climate change and human activities, and their land cover has changed dramatically, especially in mountain reserves, which are more sensitive to climate change and human activities. This paper used long-term Landsat and MODIS NDVI remote sensing data to monitor the changes of land cover and vegetation conditions in the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve (QMNNR) in China from 1975 to 2015, and analysed the impacts of climate change and human activities in combination with meteorological and socioeconomic data. The results show that the land cover structure of the QMNNR has remained stable over the past 40 years, but the total area of natural vegetation has decreased by 49.

Monitoring the response of vegetation dynamics to ecological engineering in the Mu Us Sandy Land of China from 1982 to 2014.

The Mu Us Sandy Land (MUSL) has undergone climate changes and shifts in human activities driven by a series of ecological restoration projects in recent decades. We analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of vegetation in this region using the satellite-retrieved normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging and Spectroradiometer (MODIS) datasets during the past 33 years. The results show that (1) the vegetation in 53.

Monitoring coal mine changes and their impact on landscape patterns in an alpine region: a case study of the Muli coal mine in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The Muli coal mine is the largest open-cast coal mine in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and it consists of two independent mining sites named Juhugeng and Jiangcang. It has received much attention due to the ecological problems caused by rapid expansion in recent years. The objective of this paper was to monitor the mining area and its surrounding land cover over the period 1976-2016 utilizing Landsat images, and the network structure of land cover changes was determined to visualize the relationships and pattern of the mining-induced land cover changes.