Lanhui Wang
Forskare
Multifaceted characteristics of aridity changes and causal mechanisms in Chinese drylands
Författare
Summary, in English
The water cycle is accelerating in the context of global warming. However, how the multifaceted characteristics of aridity, particularly atmospheric, hydrological, and ecological drying, change and interact with each other are largely unknown. A gap we bridged was discovering the causal relationships underlying the atmosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere nexus from the nonlinear dynamic system perspective based on convergent cross mapping (CCM). Dryland area in China has expanded since 1982, while the vegetation greenness indicated by leaf area index has been increasing during the same period. The results showed that the causality among atmospheric, hydrological, and ecological drying in different subtypes of drylands was different. In arid and semi-arid regions: vegetation changes were mainly driven by soil moisture (SM) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and VPD regulated SM. In hyper-arid and dry sub-humid areas: VPD dominated vegetation changes. VPD increases did not contribute to SM loss under the intense water stress in hyper-arid regions, as the soil water supply cannot meet the atmospheric water demand. In dry sub-humid areas, human disturbances have attenuated the dependence of vegetation changes on SM variability. This research pioneers complex nonlinear dynamic analyses on the multifaceted characteristics of ecosystems, which can deepen our understanding of atmosphere-vegetation-soil interactions in drylands and guide the sustainable management of dryland ecosystems in China and elsewhere.
Publiceringsår
2023-06
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
438-453
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Progress in Physical Geography
Volym
47
Avvikelse
3
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
SAGE Publications
Ämne
- Soil Science
- Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation (including Biodiversity)
Nyckelord
- Aridity
- causality
- convergent cross mapping
- soil moisture
- vapor pressure deficit
Aktiv
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 0309-1333