Crop cover reconstruction and its effects on sediment retention in the Tibetan Plateau for 1900-2000

doi:10.1007/s11442-017-1406-4

Abstract

Abstract:

Geographically explicit historical land use and land cover datasets are increasingly required in studies of climatic and ecological effects of human activities. In this study, using historical population data as a proxy, the provincial cropland areas of Qinghai province and the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) for 1900, 1930, and 1950 were estimated. The cropland areas of Qinghai and the TAR for 1980 and 2000 were obtained from published statistical data with revisions. Using a land suitability for cultivation model, the provincial cropland areas for the 20th century were converted into crop cover datasets with a resolution of 1 × 1 km. Finally, changes of sediment retention due to crop cover change were assessed using the sediment delivery ratio module of the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model (version 3.3.1). There were two main results. (1) For 1950-1980 the fractional cropland area increased from 0.32% to 0.48% and land use clearly intensified in the Tibetan Plateau (TP), especially in the Yellow River-Huangshui River Valley (YHRV) and the midstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River and its two tributaries valley (YRTT). For other periods of the 20th century, stability was the main trend. (2) For 1950-1980, sediment export increased rapidly in the Minhe autonomous county of the YHRV, and in the Nianchu River and Lhasa River basins of the YRTT, which means that sediment retention clearly decreased in these regions over this period. The results of this assessment provide scientific support for conservation planning, development planning, or restoration activities.

Key words: cropland reconstruction, ecosystem services, InVEST model, the 20th century, Qinghai province, the Tibet Autonomous Region

Shicheng LI, Zhaofeng WANG, Yili ZHANG. Crop cover reconstruction and its effects on sediment retention in the Tibetan Plateau for 1900-2000[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2017, 27(7): 786-800.

Figures/Tables 9

Figure 1

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Table 5

References 56

[1]	Cao Shuji, Ge Jianxiong, 2001. China Population History (Volume V: Qing Dynasty). Shanghai: Fudan University Press. (in Chinese)
[2]	Chen Fahu, Dong Guanghui, Zhang Dongjuet al., 2015. Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP.Science, 347(6219): 248-250. doi: 10.1126/science.1259172
[3]	Cui Xuefeng, Graf Hans-F, 2009. Recent land cover changes on the Tibetan Plateau: A review.Climatic Change, 94(1/2): 47-61. doi: 10.1007/s10584-009-9556-8
[4]	De Brue H, Verstraeten G, 2014. Impact of the spatial and thematic resolution of Holocene anthropogenic land-cover scenarios on modeled soil erosion and sediment delivery rates.Holocene, 24(1): 67-77. doi: 10.1177/0959683613512168
[5]	de Vente Joris, Poesen Jean, Verstraeten Gertet al., 2013. Predicting soil erosion and sediment yield at regional scales: Where do we stand?Earth-Science Reviews, 127: 16-29. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.08.014
[6]	Dias L C P, Pimenta F M, Santos A Bet al., 2016. Patterns of land use, extensification, and intensification of Brazilian agriculture.Global Change Biology, 22(8): 2887-2903. doi: 10.1111/gcb.13314 pmid: 27170520
[7]	Ellis Erle C, Kaplan Jed O, Fuller Dorian Qet al., 2013. Used planet: A global history.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(20): 7978-7985. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1217241110 pmid: 23630271
[8]	Feng Zhiming, Liu Baoqin, Yang Yanzhao, 2005. A study of the changing trend of Chinese cultivated land amount and data reconstructing: 1949-2003.Journal of Natural Resources, 20(1): 35-43. (in Chinese)
[9]	Foley Jonathan A, DeFries Ruth, Asner Gregory Pet al., 2005. Global consequences of land use.Science, 309(5734): 570-574. doi: 10.1126/science.1111772 pmid: 16040698
[10]	Frolking S, Qiu J J, Boles Set al., 2002. Combining remote sensing and ground census data to develop new maps of the distribution of rice agriculture in China.Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 16(4): 1091. doi: 10.1029/2001GB001425
[11]	Fu B, Wang Y K, Xu Pet al., 2014. Value of ecosystem hydropower service and its impact on the payment for ecosystem services.Science of the Total Environment, 472: 338-346. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.11.015 pmid: 24291631
[12]	Future Earth, 2014. Future Earth 2025 Vision .
[13]	Gaillard M J, Sugita S, Mazier Fet al., 2010. Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks.Climate of the Past, 6(4): 483-499. doi: 10.5194/cp-6-483-2010
[14]	Hamel Perrine, Chaplin-Kramer Rebecca, Sim Sarahet al., 2015. A new approach to modeling the sediment retention service (InVEST 3.0): Case study of the Cape Fear catchment, North Carolina, USA. Science of the Total Environment, 524-525: 166-177. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.027 pmid: 25897725
[15]	He Fanneng, Li Shicheng, Zhang Xuezhen, 2015. A spatially explicit reconstruction of forest cover in China over 1700-2000.Global and Planetary Change, 131: 73-81. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2015.05.008
[16]	He Fanneng, Li Shicheng, Zhang Xuezhenet al., 2013. Comparisons of cropland area from multiple datasets over the past 300 years in the traditional cultivated region of China.Journal of Geographical Sciences, 23(6): 978-990. doi: 10.1007/s11442-013-1057-z
[17]	Institute of Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1997. Atlas of the Tibetan Plateau. (in Chinese)
[18]	Jantz S M, Barker B, Brooks T Met al., 2015. Future habitat loss and extinctions driven by land-use change in biodiversity hotspots under four scenarios of climate-change mitigation.Conservation Biology, 29(4): 1122-1131. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12549 pmid: 26129841
[19]	Jin Xiaobin, Pan Qian, Yang Xuhonget al., 2016. Reconstructing the historical spatial land use pattern for Jiangsu Province in mid-Qing Dynasty.Journal of Geographical Sciences, 26(12): 1689-1706. doi: 10.1007/s11442-016-1353-5
[20]	Kaplan Jed O, Krumhardt Kristen M, Ellis Erle Cet al., 2011. Holocene carbon emissions as a result of anthropogenic land cover change.Holocene, 21(5): 775-791. doi: 10.1177/0959683610386983
[21]	Klein Goldewijk Kees, Beusen Arthur, van Drecht Gerardet al., 2011. The HYDE 3.1 spatially explicit database of human-induced global land-use change over the past 12,000 years.Global Ecology and Biogeography, 20(1): 73-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00587.x
[22]	Klein Goldewijk Kees,Verburg Peter H, 2013. Uncertainties in global-scale reconstructions of historical land use: An illustration using the HYDE data set.Landscape Ecology, 28(5): 861-877. doi: 10.1007/s10980-013-9877-x
[23]	Lehnert L W, Wesche K, Trachte Ket al., 2016. Climate variability rather than overstocking causes recent large scale cover changes of Tibetan pastures.Scientific Reports, 6: 24367. doi: 10.1038/srep24367 pmid: 4829870
[24]	Leite Christiane C, Costa Marcos H, Soares-Filho Britaldo Set al., 2012. Historical land use change and associated carbon emissions in Brazil from 1940 to 1995. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 26: GB2011. doi: 10.1029/2011GB004133
[25]	Li Beibei, Fang Xiuqi, Ye Yuet al., 2010. Accuracy assessment of global historical cropland datasets based on regional reconstructed historical data: A case study in Northeast China.Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences, 53(11): 1689-1699. doi: 10.1007/s11430-010-4053-5
[26]	Li Shicheng, He Fanneng, Zhang Xuezhen, 2016. A spatially explicit reconstruction of cropland cover in China from 1661 to 1996.Regional Environmental Change, 16(2): 417-428. doi: 10.1007/s10113-014-0751-4
[27]	Li Shicheng, Zhang Yili, He Fanneng, 2015. Reconstruction of cropland distribution in Qinghai and Tibet for the past one hundred years and its spatiotemporal changes.Progress in Geography, 34(2): 197-206. (in Chinese) doi: 10.11820/dlkxjz.2015.02.008
[28]	Liu Bintao, Tao Heping, Shi Zhanet al., 2014a. Spatial distribution characteristics of soil erodibility K value in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation, 34(4): 13-16. (in Chinese)
[29]	Liu Jiyuan, Kuang Wenhui, Zhang Zengxianget al., 2014b. Spatiotemporal characteristics, patterns, and causes of land-use changes in China since the late 1980s.Journal of Geographical Sciences, 24(2): 195-210. doi: 10.1007/s11442-014-1082-6
[30]	Liu Jiyuan, Liu Mingliang, Tian Hanqinet al., 2005. Spatial and temporal patterns of China’s cropland during 1990-2000: An analysis based on Landsat TM data.Remote Sensing of Environment, 98(4): 442-456. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2005.08.012
[31]	Liu Xiaodong, Chen Baode, 2000. Climatic warming in the Tibetan Plateau during recent decades.International Journal of Climatology, 20(14): 1729-1742. doi: 10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0088
[32]	Luo Jing, Zhang Yili, Liu Fengguiet al., 2014. Reconstruction of cropland spatial patterns for 1726 on Yellow River-Huangshui River Valley in northeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Geographical Research, 33(7): 1285-1296. (in Chinese) doi: 10.11821/dlyj201407009
[33]	Miao Lijuan, Zhu Feng, He Binet al., 2013. Synthesis of China’s land use in the past 300 years.Global and Planetary Change, 100: 224-233. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.10.021
[34]	Miao Lijuan, Zhu Feng, Sun Zhanliet al., 2016. China’s land-use changes during the past 300 years: A historical perspective.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(9): 847. doi: 10.3390/ijerph13090847
[35]	Nelson Erik, Mendoza Guillermo, Regetz Jameset al., 2009. Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales.Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7(1): 4-11. doi: 10.1890/080023
[36]	Newbold T, Hudson L N, Hill S L Let al., 2015. Global effects of land use on local terrestrial biodiversity.Nature, 520(7545): 45-50. doi: 10.1038/nature14324 pmid: 25832402
[37]	Pan Tao, Wu Shaohong, Liu Yujie, 2015. Relative contributions of land use and climate change to water supply variations over Yellow River Source Area in Tibetan Plateau during the past three decades.PLoS One, 10(4): e0123793. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123793 pmid: 25906192
[38]	Posner S, Verutes G, Koh Iet al., 2016. Global use of ecosystem service models.Ecosystem Services, 17: 131-141. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.12.003
[39]	Ramankutty N, Foley J A, 1999. Estimating historical changes in global land cover: Croplands from 1700 to 1992.Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 13(4): 997-1027. doi: 10.1029/1999GB900046
[40]	Renard K G, Foster G R, Weesies G Aet al., 1997. Predicting Soil Erosion by Water: A Guide to Conservation Planning with the Revised Soil Loss Equation. (RUSLE). United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook, No.703, 1-367.
[41]	Ryavec Karl, 2001. Land use/cover change in central Tibet, c. 1830-1990: Devising a GIS methodology to study a historical Tibetan land decree.Geographical Journal, 167(4): 342-357. doi: 10.1111/1475-4959.00030
[42]	Sharp R, Tallis H T, Ricketts T Het al., 2015. InVEST 3.2.0 User’s Guide. The Natural Capital Project, Stanford University, University of Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund.
[43]	Simmons C T, Matthews H D, 2016. Assessing the implications of human land-use change for the transient climate response to cumulative carbon emissions.Environmental Research Letters, 11(3): 035001. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/035001
[44]	Smith M C, Singarayer J S, Valdes P Jet al., 2016. The biogeophysical climatic impacts of anthropogenic land use change during the Holocene.Climate of the Past, 12(4): 923-941. doi: 10.5194/cpd-11-4601-2015
[45]	Sturck J, Schulp C J E,Verburg P H, 2015. Spatio-temporal dynamics of regulating ecosystem services in Europe: The role of past and future land use change.Applied Geography, 63: 121-135. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2015.06.009
[46]	Su Changhong, Fu Bojie, 2013. Evolution of ecosystem services in the Chinese Loess Plateau under climatic and land use changes.Global and Planetary Change, 101: 119-128. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.12.014
[47]	Sun Honglie, Zheng Du, Yao Tandonget al., 2012. Protection and construction of the national ecological security shelter zone on Tibetan Plateau.Acta Geographica Sinica, 67(1): 3-12. (in Chinese) doi: 10.11821/xb201201001
[48]	Wang Xiaodan, Zhong Xianghao, Fan Jianrong, 2004. Assessment and spatial distribution of sensitivity of soil erosion in Tibet.Journal of Geographical Sciences, 14(1): 41-46. doi: 10.1007/BF02873089
[49]	Wang Yukun, Tao Juanping, Liu Fengguiet al., 2015. Reconstruction of cropland spatial pattern in 1830 in the middle reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River Valley.Geographical Research, 34(12): 2355-2367. (in Chinese)
[50]	Wei Xueqiong, Ye Yu, Zhang Qianet al., 2016. Reconstruction of cropland change over the past 300 years in the Jing-Jin-Ji area, China.Regional Environmental Change, 16(7): 2097-2109. doi: 10.1007/s10113-016-0933-3
[51]	Yang Xuhong, Jin Xiaobin, Du Xindonget al., 2016. Multi-agent model-based historical cropland spatial pattern reconstruction for 1661-1952, Shandong Province, China.Global and Planetary Change, 143: 175-188. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.06.010
[52]	Ye Yu, Fang Xiuqi, Ren Yuyuet al., 2009. Cropland cover change in Northeast China during the past 300 years. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences, 52(8): 1172-1182. doi: 10.1007/s11430-009-0118-8
[53]	Ye Yu, Wei Xueqiong, Li Fanet al., 2015. Reconstruction of cropland cover changes in the Shandong Province over the past 300 years.Scientific Reports, 5: 13642. doi: 10.1038/srep13642 pmid: 4570983
[54]	Zhang Xuezhen, He Fanneng, Li Shicheng, 2013. Reconstructed cropland in the mid-eleventh century in the traditional agricultural area of China: Implications of comparisons among datasets.Regional Environmental Change, 13(5): 969-977. doi: 10.1007/s10113-012-0390-6
[55]	Zhang Yili, Li Bingyuan, Zheng Du, 2002. A discussion on the boundary and area of the Tibetan Plateau in China.Geographical Research, 21(1): 1-8. (in Chinese) doi: 10.1007/s11769-002-0045-5
[56]	Zorrilla-Miras P, Palomo I, Gomez-Baggethun Eet al., 2014. Effects of land-use change on wetland ecosystem services: A case study in the Donana marshes (SW Spain).Landscape and Urban Planning, 122: 160-174. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.09.013

Province name	1880	1910	1953
Qinghai province	32.9	34.4	36.7
Tibet Autonomous Region	127	131.2	137.4

Input	Descriptions	Data sources
Digital elevation model (DEM)	Digital elevation model, reflecting topography properties	Geospatial data cloud (http://www.gscloud.cn/)
R	Rainfall erosivity index, reflecting climate properties	National earth system science data sharing infrastructure (http://www.geodata.cn/)
K	Soil erodibility index, reflecting soil properties	Liu et al., 2014a
Watersheds	A shapefile of polygons. The calculation is also at watershed scale	Institute of Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1997
P and C	P is the support practice factor and C is crop-management factor, reflecting vegetation and anthropogenic factors	RUSLE handbook (Renard et al., 1997) and the TP related studies (Wang et al., 2004)
Threshold flow accumulation	The number of upstream cells that must flow into a cell before it is considered part of a stream	Default
k_b and IC₀	Calibration parameters that determine the shape of the relationship between hydrologic connectivity and the SDR	Default
SDR_max	The maximum sediment delivery ratio (SDR) that a pixel can reach	Default

Land use/ cover categories	Cover-management factor C	Support practice factor P
Cropland	0.3	0.4
Forestland	0.003	0.2
Shrubland	0.02	0.2
Grassland	0.01	0.25
Waterbody	0	0
Snow	0	0.001
Wetland	0	0.001
Built-ups	0	0.001
Unused land	1	0.01

Province	1900	1930	1950	1980	2000
Qinghai	4272 (0.597)	4497 (0.628)	4527 (0.632)	6850 (0.957)	6875 (0.960)
Tibet Autonomous Region	1510 (0.126)	1590 (0.132)	1620 (0.135)	2350 (0.196)	2308 (0.192)
Entire study area	5782 (0.301)	6087 (0.317)	6147 (0.320)	9200 (0.479)	9183 (0.478)

Reconstruction	Resolution of input	Factors considered	Resolution	The percentage cropland area in each slope interval (°)				The percentage cropland area in each elevation interval (km)
Reconstruction	Resolution of input	Factors considered	Resolution	≤2	2-6	6-15	>15	≤2	2-3	3-4	>4
This study	Province	Elevation, slope	1 km	24.1	60.7	15.0	0.1	8.3	79.2	12.5	0.0
Luo et al. (2014)	County	Elevation, slope, climate, population	2 km	23.0	62.1	14.8	0.2	3.2	85.6	11.2	0.0
Li et al. (2016)	Province	Elevation, slope, climate	10 km	14.4	59.0	26.3	0.4	5.5	69.7	24.1	0.8