The responses of the ecosystems in the Tianshan North Slope under multiple representative concentration pathway scenarios in the middle of the 21st Century
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Authors
Cai, Peng
Li, Chaofan
Luo, Geping
Zhang, Chi
Uchenna Ochege, Friday
Caluwaerts, Steven
De Cruz, Lesley
De Troch, Rozemien
Top, Sara
Termonia, Piet
De Maeyer, Philippe
Discipline
Natural sciences
Earth and related Environmental sciences
Subject
arid ecosystem
arid ecosystem model (AEM)
representative concentration pathway (RCP)
future climate change
net primary productivity
evapotranspiration
Tianshan North Slope
Audience
Scientific
Date
2020-01-06Publisher
MDPI AG
Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
The arid ecosystem is fragile and sensitive to the changes in climate and CO2 concentration. Exploring the responses of the arid ecosystem to the changes under different representative concentration pathways (RCPs) is of particular significance for the sustainable development of the ecosystem. In this study, the dynamics of net primary productivity (NPP), evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE) for arid ecosystems in Tianshan North Slope are explored by running the arid ecosystem model at 25 km resolution under RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. The climate in Tianshan North Slope presents a wet-warming trend during 2006–2055 under each RCP scenario with temporal and spatial heterogeneity. In response to the changes in climate and CO2, the regional annual NPP and ET increased during 2006–2055 by a respectively maximum rate of 2.15 g C m−2 year−1 and 0.52 mm year−1 under RCP8.5. Both the NPP and ET share a similar temporal and spatial heterogeneity with climate change. Different vegetation types respond differently to the changes under different RCP scenarios with increasing WUE. Under each RCP, the non-phreatophyte, phreatophyte, and grass are more sensitive to the changes than in the others, and the broadleaf forest and cropland are less sensitive to the changes.
Citation
Cai, P., Li, C., Luo, G., Zhang, C., Ochege, F. U., Caluwaerts, S., De Cruz, L., De Troch, R., Top, S., Termonia, P., De Maeyer, P. (2020). The Responses of the Ecosystems in the Tianshan North Slope under Multiple Representative Concentration Pathway Scenarios in the Middle of the 21st Century. Sustainability, 12(1), 427.
Type
Article
Peer-Review
Yes
Language
eng