Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability (CHESS), State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; School of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability (CHESS), State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; School of Life Sciences and School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA.
J Environ Manage. 2022 Jan 1;301:113816. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113816. Epub 2021 Sep 24.
The Mongolian Plateau, home to the world's largest contiguous temperate grasslands, has been known for its vast steppe landscapes and legendary history of the Mongol Empire. However, like temperate grasslands elsewhere around the world, the Mongolian steppe landscapes have been severely degraded by increasing human activities during the past several decades. The main objective of this study was to assess the landscape and ecosystem changes in the Wulagai River Basin (WRB) in Inner Mongolia, where China's last intact steppe ecosystem reportedly resides. Using remote sensing data and landscape metrics, we found that, during 1979-2016, WRB lost about 55 % of wetlands, 76 % of shrublands, and 46 % of sandy-land vegetation, with its most dominant vegetation type shifting from meadow steppe to dry steppe for the first time in history. Human land uses continued to intensify: cropland expanded by about 40 %; impervious surface area increased by almost 34 times; and surface coal mining rampaged through the heartland, tearing up vegetation and sucking up water near and far. The WRB landscape became more diverse compositionally (increasing land cover types), more fragmented ecologically (habitat loss and isolation), and more complex geometrically (anthropogenic and natural landscape elements entangled). Damming, mining, and overgrazing were the major direct drivers for the observed environmental changes. Government-sponsored restoration programs have had positive ecological changes across China, but landscape destruction and fragmentation in the Wulagai River Basin have continued. This dire situation demands urgent government policy intervention and stakeholder-involved governance actions to promote the sustainability of this legendary landscape.
蒙古高原拥有世界上最大的连续温带草原，以其广阔的草原景观和蒙古帝国的传奇历史而闻名。然而，与世界其他温带草原一样，在过去几十年里，由于人类活动的不断增加，蒙古草原景观已经严重退化。本研究的主要目的是评估内蒙古的乌兰盖河流域（WRB）的景观和生态系统变化，据称那里是中国最后一个完整的草原生态系统所在地。本研究利用遥感数据和景观指标，发现 1979 年至 2016 年间，WRB 失去了约 55%的湿地、76%的灌木林地和 46%的沙质植被，其最主要的植被类型历史上首次从草甸草原转变为干草原。人类土地利用持续加剧：耕地面积扩大了约 40%；不透水面面积增加了近 34 倍；地表煤炭开采肆虐，破坏了植被，吸走了远近的水。WRB 景观在组成上变得更加多样化（增加了土地覆盖类型），在生态上变得更加破碎（栖息地丧失和隔离），在几何形状上变得更加复杂（人为和自然景观元素交织在一起）。筑坝、采矿和过度放牧是造成观察到的环境变化的主要直接驱动因素。政府发起的恢复计划在中国各地产生了积极的生态变化，但乌兰盖河流域的景观破坏和破碎化仍在继续。这种严峻的形势需要政府紧急介入政策干预和利益相关方参与的治理行动，以促进这一传奇景观的可持续性。
