Effect of Land Use and Land Cover Change on the Changes in Net Primary Productivity in Karst Areas of Southwest China: A Case Study of Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County

doi:10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2020.06.008

Abstract

Abstract:

Karst areas in southwest China have experienced significant land cover and land use change (LUCC) due to utilization for human activity and a comprehensive rocky desertification control project (RDCP) since 2008. It is important to quantify the effect of LUCC on ecosystem productivity in this region for assessing the overall benefit of this ecological restoration project. In this study, we used using MODIS land cover and NPP products to investigate the relative contribution of LUCC to the change in net primary productivity (NPP) during 2008-2013 in Huanjiang County, one of first one hundred pilot counties to implement RDCP. Our results show that NPP increased in 95.53% of the county, and the average growth of NPP in non-rocky desertification area was higher than in rocky desertification or potential rocky desertification areas. LUCC has an important contribution (25.23%) to the NPP increase in the county, especially in the LUCC area (70.97%), which increased the average NPP by 3.9% and 10.5%, respectively. Across the six RDCP regions in the county, the average increase in NPP for the vegetation restoration measure of governed karst area is significantly greater than in the ungoverned karst area, and the positive change in NPP increased with the increasing implementation area of the vegetation restoration measure.

Key words: land use change, net primary productivity, karst area, comprehensive control project for rocky desertification

ZHANG Mengyu, ZHANG Li, REN Xiaoli, HE Honglin, LV Yan, WANG Junbang, YAN Huimin. Effect of Land Use and Land Cover Change on the Changes in Net Primary Productivity in Karst Areas of Southwest China: A Case Study of Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2020, 11(6): 606-616.

Figures/Tables 10

Fig. 1 Location of the study area Note: Numbers 1 to 6 represent Dongmei, Caixia, Guzhou, Sancai, Hanwen, and Renhe small watersheds, respectively. The rocky desertification control project (referred to as RDCP) and the status of rocky desertification in all of the small watersheds were organized according to the “Huanjiang County Rock Desertification Comprehensive Management and Construction Project” and related implementation plans during 2008-2010. Due to the lag of the effect of project implementation, the RDCP activity during 2011-2013 was not considered in this study.

Table 1 Landuse types in the reclassification

Reclassified type	MODIS land cover type 2 (UMD)
Water	Water bodies
Forests	Evergreen needleleaf forest, Evergreen broadleaf forest, Deciduous needleleaf forest, Deciduous broadleaf forest, Mixed forest
Shrublands	Closed shrublands, Open shrublands
Grasslands	Woody savannas, Savannas, Grasslands
Croplands	Croplands
Urban	Urban and built-up lands
Barren	Barren or sparsely vegetated lands

Fig. 2 Land use classification and mapping in Huanjiang County in (a) 2008 and (b) 2013

Fig. 3 NPP changes in Huanjiang County during 2008-2013. (a) Distribution of NPP values in the county, (b) Distribution of NPP values in non-rocky desertification area (NRDL) and the potential rocky desertification or rocky desertification land (P/RDL); (c) Distribution and (d) spatial pattern of the NPP change index (K). Red dots are the averages.

Fig. 4 Spatial patterns of effects of (a) LUCC, (b) ECF and (c) their interaction on NPP, and (d) statistics for the total effect of factors on the |K|≥0.21 (i.e. the third quantile of the NPP change index) area.

Table 2 Statistics of K that are attributed to land use and land cover change (referred to as LUCC), the environmental comprehensive factor (ECF), and their interaction.

Region	K_LUCC		K_ECF		K_interaction		K mean
Region	Effect	Contribution (%)	Effect	Contribution (%)	Effect	Contribution (%)	K mean
-0.36≤K<0.09	0.013	36.47	0.021	61.60	0.001	1.92	0.034
0.09≤K<0.15	0.037	30.28	0.080	65.90	0.005	3.82	0.121
0.15≤K<0.21	0.049	27.19	0.121	67.68	0.009	5.14	0.178
\|K\|≥0.21	0.053	19.89	0.197	73.92	0.017	6.18	0.267
Areas where LUCC occurs	0.105	70.97	0.021	14.51	0.021	14.51	0.148
Huanjiang County	0.039	25.23	0.106	69.61	0.008	5.16	0.153

Table 3 Land use transfer matrix (2008-2013) (unit: km2)

2008-2013	Forests	Shrublands	Grasslands	Croplands	2008
Forests	—	0.21	585.16	15.46	600.83
Shrublands	6.01	—	39.50	1.93	47.44
Grasslands	748.30	1.29	—	130.08	879.67
Croplands	18.03	0.00	104.75	—	122.78
2013	772.34	1.50	729.41	147.47	—

Fig. 5 Spatial distribution of (a) RDCP (see Fig. 1) and (b-g) vegetation restoration measures (referred to as VRM; i.e. closing hills for afforestation, artificial afforestation, and artificial grass) in each of the six small watersheds

Table 4 Comparison of the NPP dynamic index (K) values between regions with the implementation of vegetation restoration measures and 1 km buffer areas outside of those governance regions in the six small watersheds

Regions	K		Watersheds	K of VRM	Areas (km²)
Regions	VRM	Non-RDCP	Watersheds	K of VRM	Areas (km²)
Region 1	0.174*	0.161*	Guzhou	0.151	18.43
			Dongmei	0.131	13.16
			Caixia	0.208	29.26
Region 2	0.128**	0.106**	Sancai	0.108	27.41
Region 2	0.128**	0.106**	Hanwen	0.162	26.08
Region 3	0.137**	0.078**	Renhe	0.137	15.73

Fig. 6 The relative contributions of LUCC, ECF change and their interaction on NPP changes in the region with obviously changed NPP, i.e. the third quantile of the NPP change index (|K|≥0.21 during 2008-2013; |K|≥0.23 during 2005-2011).

References 46

1	Bastos A, Running S W, Gouveia C , et al. 2013. The global NPP dependence on ENSO: La-Niña and the extraordinary year of 2011. Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences, 118:1247-1255. DOI URL
2	Brandt M, Yue Y M, Wigneron J P , et al. 2018. Satellite-observed major greening and biomass increase in south China karst during recent decade. Earths Future, 6(7):1017-1028.
3	Cai H Y, Yang X H, Wang K J , et al. 2014. Is forest restoration in the southwest China karst promoted mainly by climate change or human-induced factors? Remote Sensing, 6(10):9895-9910. DOI URL
4	Cao C, Lee X H, Liu S D , et al. 2016. Urban heat islands in China enhanced by haze pollution. Nature Communications, 7:12509. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12509. DOI URL PMID
5	Charney J, Stone P H, Quirk W J , et al. 1975. Drought in the Sahara: A biogeophysical feedback mechanism. Science, 187(4175):434-435. DOI URL PMID
6	Chen B, Zhang X, Tao J , et al. 2014. The impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on alpine grassland over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 189-190:11-18. DOI URL
7	Chen H S, Yue Y M, Wang K L , et al. 2018. Comprehensive control on rocky desertification in karst regions of southwestern China: Achievements, problems, and countermeasures. Carsologica Sinica, 37(1):37-42. (in Chinese)
8	DeSouza P, Malhi Y . 2017. Land use change in India (1700-2000) as examined through the lens of human appropriation of net primary productivity. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 22(5):1202-1212. DOI URL
9	Fan Z Z, Lu S Y, Liu S , et al. 2019. Changes in plant rhizosphere microbial communities under different vegetation restoration patterns in karst and non-karst ecosystems. Scientific Reports, 9:8761. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44985-8. DOI URL PMID
10	Fang J Y, Guo Z D, Hu H F , et al. 2014. Forest biomass carbon sinks in east asia, with special reference to the relative contributions of forest expansion and forest growth. Global Change Biology, 20(6):2019-2030. DOI URL
11	Friedl M A, Sulla-Menashe D, Tan B , et al. 2010. Modis collection 5 global land cover: Algorithm refinements and characterization of new datasets. Remote Sensing of Environment, 114(1):168-182. DOI URL
12	Fu Y C, Lu X Y, Zhao Y L , et al. 2013. Assessment impacts of weather and land use/land cover (LULC) change on urban vegetation net primary productivity (NPP): A case study in Guangzhou, China. Remote Sensing, 5(8):4125-4144. DOI URL
13	Haberl H, Erb K, Krausmann F , et al. 2001. Changes in ecosystem processes induced by land use: Human appropriation of aboveground NPP and its influence on standing crop in Austria. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 15(4):929-942. DOI URL
14	Hasenauer H, Petritsch R, Zhao M S , et al. 2012. Reconciling satellite with ground data to estimate forest productivity at national scales. Forest Ecology & Management, 276:196-208.
15	Hu P L, Wang K L, Zeng Z X , et al. 2017. Ecological stoichiometric characteristics of plants,soil, and microbes of pennisetum purpureum cv. Guimu-1 pastures at different rehabilitation ages in a karst rocky desertification region. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 37(3):896-905. (in Chinese)
16	Jia Y L, Wang Q F, Zhu J X , et al. 2019. Spatial pattern data of atmospheric nitrogen and nitrogen deposition in China from 1996 to 2015. Chinese Scientific Data, 4(1):8-17. (in Chinese)
17	Lambin E F, Geist H, Rindfuss R R. 2006. Introduction: Local processes with global impacts. In: Lambin E F, Geist H (eds.). Land-use and land-cover change. Berlin, Germany: Springer, 1-8.
18	Li S, Liang W, Fu B J , et al. 2016. Vegetation changes in recent large-scale ecological restoration projects and subsequent impact on water resources in the China’s Loess Plateau. Science of the Total Environment, 569- 570:1032-1039. DOI URL
19	Liang D, Zuo Y, Huang L S , et al. 2015. Evaluation of the consistency of modis land cover product (MCD12Q1) based on Chinese 30 m globeland30 datasets: A case study in Anhui Province, China. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 4(4):2519-2541. DOI URL
20	Liao C J, Yue Y M, Wang K L , et al. 2018. Ecological restoration enhances ecosystem health in the karst regions of southwest China. Ecological Indicators, 90:416-425. DOI URL
21	Liu X, Zhang W, Wu M , et al. 2018. Changes in soil nitrogen stocks following vegetation restoration in a typical karst catchment. Land Degradation & Development. 30(1):60-72.
22	Lu F, Hu F, Sun WJ , et al. 2018. Effects of national ecological restoration projects on carbon sequestration in China from 2001 to 2010. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 115(6):4039-4044. DOI URL
23	Luo Y Q, Niu S L . 2020. Will mature forests absorb enough carbon from the atmosphere to mitigate climate change as levels of carbon dioxide increase? An experiment in a eucalyptus forest provides fresh evidence. Nature, 580:191-192. DOI URL PMID
24	Nemani R R, Keeling C D, Hashimoto H , et al. 2003. Climate-driven increases in global terrestrial net primary production from 1982 to 1999. Science, 300(5625):1560-1563. DOI URL PMID
25	Nicholson S E, Tucker C J, Ba M B . 1998. Desertification, drought, and surface vegetation: An example from the west African Sahel. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 79(5):815-829. DOI URL
26	Otterman J . 1974. Baring high-albedo soils by overgrazing: A hypothesized desertification mechanism. Science, 186(4163):531-533. DOI URL PMID
27	Sagan C, Toon O B, Pollack J B . 1979. Anthropogenic albedo changes and the earth’s climate. Science, 206(4425):1363-1368. DOI URL PMID
28	Song X Z, Peng C H, Zhou G M , et al. 2014. Chinese grain for green program led to highly increased soil organic carbon levels: A meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 4:4460. DOI: 10.1038/srep04460. DOI URL PMID
29	Sun Q Z, Liu R L, Chen J Y , et al. 2013. Effect of planting grass on soil erosion in karst demonstration areas of rocky desertification integrated rehabilitation in Guizhou Province. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 27(4):67-77. (in Chinese)
30	Tipping E, Davies J A C, Henrys P A , et al. 2019. Measured estimates of semi-natural terrestrial NPP in Great Britain: Comparison with modelled values, and dependence on atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Biogeochemistry, 144:215-227. DOI URL
31	Tong X W, Brandt M, Yue Y M , et al. 2018. Increased vegetation growth and carbon stock in China karst via ecological engineering. Nature Sustainability, 1(1):44-50. DOI URL
32	Tong X W, Wang K L, Yue Y M , et al. 2017. Quantifying the effectiveness of ecological restoration projects on long-term vegetation dynamics in the karst regions of southwest China. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 54:105-113. DOI URL
33	Turner D P, Ritts W D, Cohen W B , et al. 2006a. Evaluation of modis NPP and GPP products across multiple biomes. Remote Sensing of Environment, 102(3-4):282-292. DOI URL
34	Turner D P, Ritts W D, Zhao M , et al. 2006b. Assessing interannual variation in modis-based estimates of gross primary production. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience & Remote Sensing, 44(7):1899-1907.
35	Wang J B, Dong J W, Yi Y H , et al. 2017a. Decreasing net primary production due to drought and slight decreases in solar radiation in China from 2000 to 2012. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeoences, 122(1):261-278.
36	Wang J B, Wang J W, Ye H , et al. 2017b. An interpolated temperature and precipitation dataset at 1-km grid resolution in China (2000-2012). Chinese Scientific Data, 2(1):88-95.
37	Xiao D P, Tao F L, Moiwo J P . 2011. Research progress on surface albedo under global change. Advances in Earth Science, 26(11):1217-1224.
38	Xiao J Y, Pu X P, Xu C L . 2015. Effects of grazing prohibition on restoration of degraded grassland. Prataculture Science, 32(1):138-145. (in Chinese)
39	Yan D, Schneider U A, Schmid E , et al. 2013. Interactions between land use change, regional development, and climate change in the Poyang Lake district from 1985 to 2035. Agricultural Systems, 119:10-21. DOI URL
40	Yang Y K, Xiao P F, Feng X Z , et al. 2017. Accuracy assessment of seven global land cover datasets over China. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 125:156-173. DOI URL
41	Yu G R, Jia Y L, He N P , et al. 2019. Stabilization of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in China over the past decade. Nature Geoscience, 12:424-429. DOI URL
42	Zhang M Y, Wang K L, Chen H S , et al. 2010. Impacts of land use and land cover changes upon organic productivity values in karst ecosystems: A case study of northwest Guangxi, China. Frontiers of Earth Science in China, 4(1):3-13. DOI URL
43	Zhang M Y, Wang K L, Liu H Y , et al. 2015. How ecological restoration alters ecosystem services: An analysis of vegetation carbon sequestration in the karst area of northwest Guangxi, China. Environmental Earth Sciences, 74(6):5307-5317. DOI URL
44	Zhao L S, Hou R . 2019. Human causes of soil loss in rural karst environments: A case study of Guizhou, China. Scientific Reports, 9:3225. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-35808-3. DOI URL PMID
45	Zhao M S, Running S W . 2010. Drought-induced reduction in global terrestrial net primary production from 2000 through 2009. Science, 329(5994):940-943. DOI URL PMID
46	Zhao M S, Running S W, Nemani R R . 2015. Sensitivity of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) terrestrial primary production to the accuracy of meteorological reanalyses. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111(G1):338-356.

[1]	XIE Hualin, CHEN Qianru. Land Use and Ecological Civilization: A Collection of Empirical Studies [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2021, 12(2): 137-142.
[2]	LI Qing, ZHOU Yong, Mary Ann CUNNINGHAM, XU Tao. Spatio-temporal Changes in Wildlife Habitat Quality in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River from 1980 to 2100 based on the InVEST Model [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2021, 12(1): 43-55.
[3]	ZHAO Yuluan, REN Hongyu, LI Xiubin. Forest Transition and Its Driving Forces in the Qian-Gui Karst Mountainous Areas [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2020, 11(1): 59-68.
[4]	YANG Yihan,WANG Junbang,LIU Peng,LU Guangxin,LI Yingnian. Climatic Changes Dominant Interannual Trend in Net Primary Productivity of Alpine Vulnerable Ecosystems [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2019, 10(4): 379-388.
[5]	XING Yuanyuan, WANG Yongdong, YOU Yuan, SONG Qin, HARE Malicha Loje, JORRO Zinabu Bora, JIRMA Guyo Huka. Dynamic Changes of the Bush Encroachment in Low Altitude Area of Ethiopia [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2018, 9(3): 281-289.
[6]	DUAN Cheng, SHI Peili, ZHANG Xianzhou, ZONG Ning, CHAI Xi, GENG Shoubao, ZHU Wanrui. The Rangeland Livestock Carrying Capacity and Stocking Rate in the Kailash Sacred Landscape in China [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2017, 8(6): 551-558.
[7]	LIU Fang, YAN Huimin, GU Fengxue, NIU Zhongen, HUANG Mei. Net Primary Productivity Increased on the Loess Plateau Following Implementation of the Grain to Green Program [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2017, 8(4): 413-421.
[8]	LV Ligang, LI Yongle, SUN Yan. The Spatio-temporal Pattern of Regional Land Use Change and Eco-environmental Responses in Jiangsu, China [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2017, 8(3): 268-276.
[9]	LIU Fang, ZHANG Hongqi, XU Erqi, KANG Lei. Responses of Grassland Net Primary Productivity to Environmental Variables in Northern China [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2016, 7(2): 92-100.
[10]	Songlin Mu, Yifeng Zhang, Dhruba Bijaya G.C.. Land Use Changes of Valleys Based on Topographic Factors in Beijing Mountainous Regions of China^* [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2016, 7(1): 68-76.
[11]	YANG Hui,LIANG Jianhong, CHEN Jiarui and CAO Jianhua. Soil Calcium Speciation at Different Geomorphological Positions in the Yaji Karst Experimental Site in Guilin, China [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2015, 6(4): 224-229.
[12]	LIU Wenchao, LIU Jiyuan, YAN Changzhen, QIN Yuanwei, YAN Huimin. Cropland Dynamics and Their Influence on the Productivity in Northern Shaanxi, China, for the Past 20 Years: Based on Remotely Sensed Data [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2014, 5(3): 272-279.
[13]	CHEN Xiaoyue. Short-interval Land Use Change Detection with Microwave Remote Sensing Data [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2014, 5(2): 185-192.
[14]	HU Ruishan, DONG Suocheng. Land Use Dynamics and Landscape Patterns in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang [J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2013, 4(2): 141-148.