Climate variability rather than overstocking causes recent large scale cover changes of Tibetan pastures.

ABSTRACT: The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is a globally important "water tower" that provides water for nearly 40% of the world's population. This supply function is claimed to be threatened by pasture degradation on the TP and the associated loss of water regulation functions. However, neither potential large scale degradation changes nor their drivers are known. Here, we analyse trends in a high-resolution dataset of grassland cover to determine the interactions among vegetation dynamics, climate change and human impacts on the TP. The results reveal that vegetation changes have regionally different triggers: While the vegetation cover has increased since the year 2000 in the north-eastern part of the TP due to an increase in precipitation, it has declined in the central and western parts of the TP due t

SUBMITTER: Lehnert LW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4829870 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature