Grassland-type ecosystem stability in China differs under the influence of drought and wet events
CAO Wenyu1, BAI Jianjun1,*(), YU Leshan2
1School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, China 2International Business School, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, China
Ecological stability is a core issue in ecological research and holds significant implications for humanity. The increased frequency and intensity of drought and wet climate events resulting from climate change pose a major threat to global ecological stability. Variations in stability among different ecosystems have been confirmed, but it remains unclear whether there are differences in stability within the same terrestrial vegetation ecosystem under the influence of climate events in different directions and intensities. China's grassland ecosystem includes most grassland types and is a good choice for studying this issue. This study used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index-12 (SPEI-12) to identify the directions and intensities of different types of climate events, and based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), calculated the resistance and resilience of different grassland types for 30 consecutive years from 1990 to 2019 (resistance and resilience are important indicators to measure stability). Based on a traditional regression model, standardized methods were integrated to analyze the impacts of the intensity and duration of drought and wet events on vegetation stability. The results showed that meadow steppe exhibited the highest stability, while alpine steppe and desert steppe had the lowest overall stability. The stability of typical steppe, alpine meadow, temperate meadow was at an intermediate level. Regarding the impact of the duration and intensity of climate events on vegetation ecosystem stability for the same grassland type, the resilience of desert steppe during drought was mainly affected by the duration. In contrast, the impact of intensity was not significant. However, alpine steppe was mainly affected by intensity in wet environments, and duration had no significant impact. Our conclusions can provide decision support for the future grassland ecosystem governance.
CAO Wenyu, BAI Jianjun, YU Leshan. Grassland-type ecosystem stability in China differs under the influence of drought and wet events. Journal of Arid Land, 2024, 16(5): 615-631.
Fig. 1Distribution of six grassland types in China. Note that this map is based on the standard map (No. GS (2020)4619) of the Map Service System (http://bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn/) marked by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China, and the base map has not been modified.
Climate event type
SPEI-12
Climate event type
SPEI-12
Severe drought
< -1.28
Mild to moderate wet
0.67-1.28
Mild to moderate drought
-1.28- -0.67
Severe wet
≥1.28
Normal
-0.67-0.67
Table 1 Category of climate event types of grassland ecosystem based on Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index-12 (SPEI-12) value
Fig. 2Percentage of area influenced by different climate event types in six grassland types in China from 1990 to 2019. (a), meadow steppe; (b), typical steppe; (c), desert steppe; (d), alpine steppe; (e), temperate meadow; (f), alpine meadow.
Fig. 3Annual duration of drought events in six grassland types in China from 1990 to 2019. (a), meadow steppe; (b), typical steppe; (c), desert steppe; (d), alpine steppe; (e), temperate meadow; (f), alpine meadow. The dotted line indicates the trend of annual duration as the number of years increase. The missing data points in the graph indicate that no climate events were detected in that particular year.
Fig. 4Annual duration of wet events in six grassland types in China from 1990 to 2019. (a), meadow steppe; (b), typical steppe; (c), desert steppe; (d), alpine steppe; (e), temperate meadow; (f), alpine meadow. The dotted line indicates the trend of annual duration as the number of years increase. The missing data points in the graph indicate that no climate events were detected in that particular year.
Fig. 5Distribution of resistance value (a) and resilience value (b) of grassland in China from 1990 to 2019. Note that these maps are based on the standard map (No. GS(2020)4619) of the Map Service System (http://bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn/) marked by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China, and the base map has not been modified.
Fig. 6Resistance value (a) and resilience value (b) of six different grassland types in China from 1990 to 2019. The lines across the boxes indicate the median values, and the points represent the mean values. The lower and upper boxes show the interquartile range (the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively). The whiskers (the lines on the ends of the boxes) in a box plot correspond to the range within 1.5 times the interquartile range.
Fig. 7Rank of resistance (a) and resilience (b) levels of six grassland types under different climate event types in China. SD, severe drought; MD, mild to moderate drought; MW, mild to moderate wet; SW, severe wet.
Fig. 8Effect of the duration and intensity of drought and wet climate events on desert steppe (a) and alpine steppe (b)
Grassland type
Capability
Aspect
Estimate
SE
t-value
P (>|t|) value
Desert steppe
Resistance to drought event
Intensity
0.061
0.005
12.578
0.000***
Duration
-0.020
0.005
-4.204
0.000***
Resistance to wet event
Intensity
-0.114
0.005
-21.690
0.000***
Duration
0.164
0.005
31.240
0.000***
Resilience to drought event
Intensity
-0.001
0.014
-0.104
0.917
Duration
0.093
0.014
6.559
0.000***
Resilience to wet event
Intensity
0.167
0.012
13.372
0.000***
Duration
-0.085
0.012
-6.788
0.000***
Alpine steppe
Resistance to drought event
Intensity
0.101
0.003
29.050
0.000***
Duration
-0.107
0.003
-30.610
0.000***
Resistance to wet event
Intensity
-0.059
0.003
17.211
0.000***
Duration
-0.001
0.003
-0.385
0.700
Resilience to drought event
Intensity
0.147
0.018
8.146
0.000***
Duration
-0.183
0.018
-10.164
0.000***
Resilience to wet event
Intensity
0.182
0.013
13.370
0.000***
Duration
-0.157
0.013
-11.530
0.000***
Table S1 Results of the response model of the resistance and resilience of desert steppe and alpine steppe to the intensity and duration of climate event under the influence of drought and wet climate event
Fig. S1 Box plot of mean Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI) for different grassland types in China from 1990 to 2019. The lines across the boxes indicate the median values, and the points represent the mean values. The lower and upper boxes show the interquartile range (the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively). The whiskers (the lines on the ends of the boxes) in a box plot correspond to the range within 1.5 times the interquartile range.
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