Evaluating ecosystem health in the grasslands of Xinjiang

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  • 1. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography Chinese, Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
    2. Joint Laboratory for Remote Sensing Observation of Grassland Ecosystem in Arid Area, Urumqi 830049, Xinjiang, China
    3. Xinjiang Grassland Technical Promotion Station, Urumqi 830049, Xinjiang, China

Received date: 2021-04-11

  Revised date: 2021-06-09

  Online published: 2022-01-24

Abstract

The evaluation of the health of grasslands (an important terrestrial ecosystem) is a crucial part of grassland health research, especially in arid regions. The grasslands of Xinjiang, an arid region in Central Asia, show a distinct variation in vertical zonality because of its special geographical environment. Particularly, the differences in hydrothermal combination at each geographical location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) have resulted in a rich variety of grasslands. Therefore, assessing the health of Xinjiang grasslands is a systematic and complex task. In this study, we constructed an overall framework, including data sources and evaluation methods, for evaluating the ecosystem health of Xinjiang grasslands. An ecological geographic database of these grassland ecosystems was designed based on grassland quadrats, biometeorology, and multi-source remote sensing data that together form the data basis for grassland health evaluation. The steps in the grassland health evaluation method are as follows: Defining the evaluation objective, determining the evaluation area and reference system, filtering evaluation indicators, and finally selecting the specific method for performing grassland health evaluation. The objective of evaluation contains biological and non-biological components, as well as ecosystem services of grassland ecosystem. The evaluation area is often based on administrative divisions, grassland types, and grassland divisions. The reference system is a stable state achieved by maintaining balance with the local climate. The recommended evaluation methods include the analytic hierarchy process, vigor-organization-resilience, condition-organization-vigor-resilience, and pressure-state-response. The evaluation results were divided into health, sub-health, vigilance, and collapse based on the quarter method. This grassland health evaluation was validated in Minfeng County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang. The research area, Minfeng County, is located at the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains and the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert. The temperate desert grassland of Minfeng County primarily contains Seriphidium rhodanthum, Ceratoides latens, Reaumuria soongarica, and Ephedra intermedia. The objective of evaluation was based on the biological components of grassland ecosystems. Our results showed that the temperate desert grasslands within the fenced area were in a healthy state, but those outside the exclosure were in sub-healthy state. Thus, we gave a further explanation for healthy and sub-healthy state in the verification area. By constructing this grassland ecosystem health evaluation system for Xinjiang, we hope to provide a reference for the local management of grasslands, with the goal of fostering ecological health of these systems and promoting the sustainable development of grassland areas in Xinjiang.

Cite this article

CHEN Chunbo,PENG Jian,LI Gangyong . Evaluating ecosystem health in the grasslands of Xinjiang[J]. Arid Zone Research, 2022 , 39(1) : 270 -281 . DOI: 10.13866/j.azr.2022.01.26

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