Publications

Wei, BC; Xie, YW; Jia, X; Wang, XY; He, HJ; Xue, XY (2018). Land use/land cover change and it's impacts on diurnal temperature range over the agricultural pastoral ecotone of Northern China. LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT, 29(9), 3009-3020.

Abstract
The agricultural pastoral ecotone of Northern China (APENC), as a fragile ecological zone, has experienced dramatic land use/land cover changes (LULCC) owing to intensive human disturbances. The understanding of the impacts of LULCC on climate, especially the diurnal temperature range (DTR), is not sufficient in this region. The spatio-temporal processes of LULCC and its impacts on DTR were quantitatively analyzed, using the Terra/Aqua MODIS data (MYD11A2 and MCD12Q1, 2003-2013), on the premise of eliminating or weakening the effects of background climate. Results showed that the areas of croplands, forests, and waterbody increased with the annual rate of 2.84%, 0.95%, and 8.2%, respectively, whereas grasslands and bare land decreased with the annual rate of 0.69% and 7.32%, and built-up remained quite stable during the period of 2003-2013. The annual changing rate of LULC for 2008-2013 was nearly 2.84 times the value for 2003-2008. In general, LULC contributed to a decline of DTR over the whole APENC both at monthly/seasonal timescale. Croplands, forests, and mutual transformation between croplands and grasslands tended to decrease daytime maximum temperature (T-max), resulting in a decline of DTR. The grasslands could reduce the DTR by decreasing T-max and increasing nighttime minimum temperature (T-min). By contrast, the conversion of grasslands into forests tended to increase T-max and decrease T-min, thus a rise of DTR for winter, summer, and autumn had observed. These results can assist land resource development and relevant policies making in APENC.

DOI:
10.1002/ldr.3052

ISSN:
1085-3278