Vegetation survey and mapping on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

doi:10.17520/biods.2022430

Abstract

Abstract:

Background & Aim: Surveying and mapping has always been an important part of vegetation research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Historically, China has performed several vegetation surveys of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and compiled a series of important vegetation maps. In this research, we aim to review the history of vegetation surveys and mapping on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and evaluate the consistency across maps, and to investigate the consistency between vegetation types in several maps and vegetation survey points provided by the Second Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program.

Results: (1) The vegetation surveys of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have a long history, with systematic and scientific vegetation surveys of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau starting after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In vegetation mapping, the Vegetation Map of China (1 : 4,000,000), the Grassland Resource Map of China (1 : 1,000,000), and the Vegetation Map of China (1 : 1,000,000) were the most widely used vegetation maps that cover the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. However, they are quite different in vegetation classification systems. (2) The comparison between different vegetation maps shows that the vegetation formation groups covering a large area, such as forest and grassland, have high consistency between different vegetation maps, while the vegetation formation groups covering a small area, such as aquatic and agricultural vegetation, have low consistency between different vegetation maps. Furthermore, we select Carex parvula meadow, Stipa purpurea grassland, Carex moorcroftii grassland, Stipa glareosa grassland, Carex alatauensis meadow, Artemisia wellbyi grassland, Stipa roborowskyi grassland, and Orinus thoroldii grassland to investigate the differences in the areas and spatial distribution patterns between the Vegetation Map of China (1 : 1,000,000) and the Grassland Resource Map of China (1 : 1,000,000). The results show that there are significant differences in the area and spatial distribution pattern between the two maps for these selected vegetation types. (3) The comparison of vegetation types between vegetation survey points and the Vegetation Map of China (1 : 1,000,000), the Grassland Resource Map of China (1 : 1,000,000), and the Current Vegetation Map of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (2019−2020) indicates that 45.05%, 21.02%, and 50.83% of the vegetation survey points, respectively, are not consistent with the three vegetation maps at the vegetation formation group level. (4) In the past 30 years, due to the influence of climate change and human activities, the vegetation distribution pattern of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has changed significantly.

Conclusion: Vegetation survey and mapping technology has undergone great progress in recent decades. Remote imaging with high spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution and deep learning technology have been widely used in vegetation identification and mapping. It is the right time to produce new vegetation maps of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at medium or large scales, which will provide more detailed and fundamental data for ecosystem management, and ecological restoration projects on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Key words: vegetation mapping, vegetation type, vegetation change, climate change, surveying

Jiawen Sang, Chuangye Song, Ningxia Jia, Yuan Jia, Changcheng Liu, Xianguo Qiao, Lin Zhang, Weiying Yuan, Dongxiu Wu, Linghao Li, Ke Guo. Vegetation survey and mapping on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2023, 31(3): 22430.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2022430

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2023/V31/I3/22430

Figures/Tables 7

References 47

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	草本植被 Herb	荒漠 Desert	沼泽与水生植被 Swamp
样点数 No. of points^*	350,335	27,669	889
相吻合样点数量 No. of consistency points	265,689	12,571	257
相吻合样点比率 Ratio of consistency points	75.84%	45.43%	28.91%

	草本植被 Herb	荒漠 Desert	沼泽与水生植被 Swamp
样点数 No. of points^*	350,335	27,669	889
相吻合样点数量 No. of consistency points	265,689	12,571	257
相吻合样点比率 Ratio of consistency points	75.84%	45.43%	28.91%

	森林 Forest	灌丛 Shrubland	草本植被 Herb	高山植被 Alpine	沼泽植被 Swamp	农业植被 Agricultural vegetation	无植被地段 Non-vegetation
样点数 No. of points^*	41,100	47,577	357,118	71,761	1,318	3,783	68,489
相吻合样点数量 No. of consistency points	29,784	1,308	268,271	30,298	13	682	43,730
相吻合样点比率 Ratio of consistency points	72.47%	2.75%	75.12%	42.22%	0.99%	18.03%	63.85%

	森林 Forest	灌丛 Shrubland	草本植被 Herb	高山植被 Alpine	沼泽植被 Swamp	农业植被 Agricultural vegetation	无植被地段 Non-vegetation
样点数 No. of points^*	41,100	47,577	357,118	71,761	1,318	3,783	68,489
相吻合样点数量 No. of consistency points	29,784	1,308	268,271	30,298	13	682	43,730
相吻合样点比率 Ratio of consistency points	72.47%	2.75%	75.12%	42.22%	0.99%	18.03%	63.85%

植被图 Vegetation map	分类单元 Units of classification	斑块数量 No. of patches	面积 Area (km²)
《1 : 400万中国植被图》Vegetation Map of China (1 : 4,000,000)	草甸和草本沼泽 Meadows and herbaceous swamp	98	446,241.2
	草原和稀树灌木草原 Grassland and sparse shrub grassland	97	595,161.2
	荒漠 Desert	57	649,758.2
	灌丛和萌生矮林 Shrubland and brushwood	294	576,196.3
《1 : 100万中国植被图》Vegetation Map of China (1 : 1,000,000)	草丛 Tussock	72	3,597.9
	草原 Grassland	1,295	717,883.9
	草甸 Meadow	2,755	720,985.4
	灌丛 Shubland	2,321	195,163.2
	荒漠 Desert	665	250,867.2
	沼泽 Swamp	70	5,773.7
《1 : 100万中国草地资源图》 Grassland Resource Map of China (1 : 1,000,000)	草丛 Tussock¹	69	1,039.9
	草原 Grassland²	2,922	655,195.2
	草甸 Meadow³	8,744	709,558.7
	改良草地 Improved grassland	44	321.5
	灌草丛 Shrubby tussock⁴	233	6,140.3
	荒漠 Desert⁵	505	124,494.2
	沼泽 Swamp	85	3,427.9
《青藏高原现状植被图》 Current Vegetation Map of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau	灌丛 Shrubland	35,368	3,867.9
	草本植被 Herbaceous vegetation	357,454	1,541,392.69
	沼泽 Swamp	7,776	762.61