A spatiotemporal analysis of human digital footprint and the human activities exposure of grassland biomass in Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve

doi:10.17520/biods.2021310

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims: Quantifying the pressure of human activities in protected areas is important for protecting ecological systems and reducing the impact of human activities. While many researchers have evaluated the impacts of human activities on species diversity, biological habitats or ecosystem services, it remains challenging to quantify the short-term dynamics of human disturbance in protected areas due to the coarse spatial and temporal resolutions of data reflecting human activity. This research attempts to study the dynamics of the scope and intensity of human activities through high- resolution digital footprint data, providing a new pathway for human activity monitoring and management refinement in protected areas.
Methods: Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve was selected as the research area in this study. We used 0.01° daily Tencent location request data and grassland biomass to derive three indicators for exploring the intensity of human digital footprint invasion and its impact on the ecological environment in Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve. These indicators included the human digital footprint coverage (α), the human digital footprint intensity (β), and the human activities exposure of grassland biomass (ε).
Results: (1) The human digital footprint in Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve had a spatiotemporal pattern of “multiple peaks, high in the southern and low in the northern zones, and rhythm of attractions”. After the Qinghai Lake was opened to the public in April, the β increased and then decreased, with the highest in August and the lowest in February. Human digital footprints mainly distributed in the popular scenic spots in the south and along the highway around Qinghai Lake. (2) The α and β showed a pattern of aggregation by month, with the largest values observed in August. The maximum daily α and β were 7.42% and 5.24, respectively. The closure of the Bird Island Scenic Area and Sand Island Scenic Area played an important role in reducing human invasion. (3) During the peak travel period in July and August, the human digital footprints invaded more seriously into the buffer zone and Experimental zone of Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve. Analysis on the human activities exposure of grassland biomass showed that human digital footprints had the greatest impact on grassland biomass along the Erlangjian-Heimahe route in the Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve, with a highest impact of 2.24 at key tourist sites.
Conclusion: Our research demonstrated the potential effectiveness of digital human footprint data to study the impact of human activities on the ecological environment of the Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve, which could support the refined ecological management in the reserve.

Key words: digital footprint, big data, exposure, Qinghai Lake, nature reserve

Wenna Tu, Jiawei Yi, Yunyan Du, Nan Wang, Jiale Qian, Sheng Huang, Xiaoyue Wang. A spatiotemporal analysis of human digital footprint and the human activities exposure of grassland biomass in Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2022, 30(6): 21310.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2021310

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2022/V30/I6/21310

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 The spatial distribution of human digital footprint in the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve and its equal-area external buffer zone. The human digital footprint intensity (β) for each grid is the average of Tencent’s location requests throughout the year.

Fig. 2 The human digital footprint intensity (β) inside and outside Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve (a), the grey area is the holiday; The periodogram of β (b), the weekly rhythm of β (c) and the daily rhythm of β (d) inside and outside the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve.

Fig. 3 The kernel density estimation of daily human digital footprint coverage (α) (a); The scatter distribution of daily human digital footprint coverage (α) and daily human digital footprint intensity (β) (b); The kernel density estimation of daily human digital footprint intensity (β) (c); The monthly α histogram (d); The monthly β histogram (e), the legend of d and e are the same as that of b; The β of Sand Island in 2017 and 2018, respectively (f, g); The β of Birds Island in 2017 and 2018, respectively (h, i).

Fig. 4 The expansion of human digital footprint in different zones from August 2 to August 8 in Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve with different protection levels (a), α is human digital footprint coverage. The expansion intensity of human digital footprint in different zones from August 4 to August 10 in Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve with different protection levels (b), the increase human digital footprint intensity (β) is the average β from August 4 to August 10 minus the yearly average β in the long-term stable zone of human footprints.

Fig. 5 The human activities exposure of grassland biomass (ε) and grassland biomass in Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve. a, The spatial distribution of max ε from May to September; b-f, ε in some zones of Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve from May to September; g, The average ε from May to September in Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve; h, The number of months of max ε.

Table 1 The average human activities exposure of grassland biomass (ε) in different months in different protected zones. All values need to be multiplied by 10-3.

	5月 May	6月 June	7月 July	8月 August	9月 September
核心区 Core zone	0.014	0.017	0.013	0.018	0.010
缓冲区 Buffer zone	6.526	9.147	11.758	11.672	7.093
实验区 Experimental zone	5.579	7.301	10.848	11.640	5.739

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