Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Western China

Western Development is an important strategy of China Government. The ecological environment in the western region of China is very fragile, and any improper human activity or resource utilization will lead to irrecoverable ecological degradation. Therefore, the integrated ecosystem assessment in the western region of China is of great significance to the Western Development Strategy. This project, Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Western China (MAWEC), will provide very important scientific foundations for both the central and local governments to make decisions on ecological construction, thus assuring the successful implementation of the Western Development Strategy. Meanwhile, MAWEC as one of the MA sub-global assessments is contributing to strengthen capability in boosting the development of the ecological science, interaction between different subjects, and combination between scientific research and practice, and pushing forward international cooperation in the relevant fields

Lower Atmosphere Meteorology

The Atmosphere Special Issue “Lower Atmosphere Meteorology” deals with the meteorological processes that occur in the layer of the atmosphere close to the surface. The interaction between the biosphere and the atmosphere is made through the lower layer and can greatly influence living beings and materials. The analysis of the meteorological parameters provides a better understanding of processes within the lower atmosphere and involved in air pollution, climate, and weather. The mixed layer height, the wind speed, and the air parcel trajectory have a relevant interest due to their marked impact on population and energy production. The research also comprises aerosols, clouds, and precipitation, analysing their spatiotemporal variations. This issue addresses features of gases in the atmosphere and anthropogenic greenhouse emission estimates, which are also conditioned by the lower atmosphere meteorology

Agroclimatic analysis for mainland East Asia by a GIS approach

Climate has been long recognised as an important constraint to crop production. Many agroclimatic analyses have been developed in Mainland East Asian countries to assist their agricultural development and resource management. These analyses were all restricted to using a limited number of data points and static summations of climatic variables. The complex climatic patterns and the non-linear responses of crops to climate cannot be captured by such agroclimatic analyses. This thesis addressed the agroclimatic environment and its impact on crop production using a different philosophy and methodology in order to overcome these shortcomings. There are four related components in this study. They are: 1). regular grid climatic data sets; 2). crop responses to the environmental elements in Mainland East Asia; 3). agroclimatic classification; and 4). crop modeling at selected representative stations from various agroclimatic zones. The regular grid climatic data sets consist of climatic surfaces and a digital elevation model (DEM). In this study they were developed at a resolution of l/20th degree. While this study focused on agroclimatic analysis these data sets can be applied to any other fields that relate to climate such as forestry, ecology and conservation. These climatic surfaces express climatic variables as functions of multi-dimensional thin plate smoothing splines in term of longitude, latitude and elevation. They were developed using the ANUSPLIN package, and are based on a network of up to 3800 stations across Mainland East Asia. Estimates for climatic variables at any location in the Mainland East Asian countries can be calculated from these surfaces with input of the appropriate independent variables. A DEM at a resolution of l/20th degree, calculated using the ANUDEM package and based on terrain data digitised from topographic maps, was used to construct data sets in this study. These data sets consist of 434,484 grid cells across the studying area. Based on such data sets, crop responses to the climatic environment were simulated using a general plant growth model GROWEST. This model transforms the non-linear responses of key plant groups to linear dimensionless scalars. These include a light index (LI), a thermal index (Tl), a moisture index (MI) and an integrated multi-factor growth index (GI). The spatial and seasonal variations of these indices were analysed for each of the 434,484 grid cells across Mainland East Asia. With 39 selected GROWEST attributes, Mainland East Asia was classified into 66 groups and further aggregated to 14 agroclimatic zones using the ALOC and FUSE modules of a numerical taxonomic package PATN. These agroclimatic zones have been given descriptive labels, thus; 1.Cold high plateau zone 2.Hot dry desert 3.Grassland zone 4.Single-crop 5.Double crop/wheat and 6.Double crop/rice 7.Warm hills 8.Warm highlands 9.Tropical mountain tops 10.Tropical forest 11.Triple-crop 12.Humid tropical lowlands 13.Perhumid tropical highlands 14.Perhumid tropical lowlands Finally, 14 representative stations were selected from the major cropping zones of Mainland East Asia for more detailed crop modeling using the DSSAT v3 package. The Seasonal Analysis module was used to model wheat, maize and rice production for for a period of 15 years, and has further demonstrated the major climatic constraints on crop production for various agroclimatic zones

Emerging Hydro-Climatic Patterns, Teleconnections and Extreme Events in Changing World at Different Timescales

This Special Issue is expected to advance our understanding of these emerging patterns, teleconnections, and extreme events in a changing world for more accurate prediction or projection of their changes especially on different spatial–time scales

Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole

As the most prominent and complicated terrain on the globe, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is often called the “Roof of the World”, “Third Pole” or “Asian Water Tower”. The energy and water cycles in the Third Pole have great impacts on the atmospheric circulation, Asian monsoon system and global climate change. On the other hand, the TP and the surrounding higher elevation area are also experiencing evident and rapid environmental changes under the background of global warming. As the headwater area of major rivers in Asia, the TP’s environmental changes—such as glacial retreat, snow melting, lake expanding and permafrost degradation—pose potential long-term threats to water resources of the local and surrounding regions. To promote quantitative understanding of energy and water cycles of the TP, several field campaigns, including GAME/Tibet, CAMP/Tibet and TORP, have been carried out. A large amount of data have been collected to gain a better understanding of the atmospheric boundary layer structure, turbulent heat fluxes and their coupling with atmospheric circulation and hydrological processes. The focus of this reprint is to present recent advances in quantifying land–atmosphere interactions, the water cycle and its components, energy balance components, climate change and hydrological feedbacks by in situ measurements, remote sensing or numerical modelling approaches in the “Third Pole” region

Modeling of Species Distribution and Biodiversity in Forests

Understanding the patterns of biodiversity and their relationship with environmental gradients is a key issue in ecological research and conservation in forests. Several environmental factors can influence species distributions in these complex ecosystems. It is therefore important to distinguish the effects of natural factors from the anthropogenic ones (e.g., environmental pollution, climate change, and forest management) by adopting reliable models able to predict future scenarios of species distribution. In the last 20 years, the use of statistical tools, such as Species Distribution Models (SDM) or Ecological Niche Models (ENM), allowed researchers to make great strides in the subject, with hundreds of scientific research works in this field. This book collects several research articles where these methodological approaches are the starting point to deepen the knowledge in many timely and emerging topics in forest ecosystems around the world, from Eurasia to America

Causes and Consequences of Species Diversity in Forest Ecosystems

What are the causes and consequences of species diversity in forested ecosystems, and how is this species diversity being affected by rapid environmental and climatic change, movement of invertebrate and vertebrate herbivores into new biogeographic regions, and expanding human populations and associated shifts in land-use patterns? In this book, we explore these questions for assemblages of forest trees, shrubs, and understory herbs at spatial scales ranging from small plots to large forest dynamics plots, at temporal scales ranging from seasons to centuries, in both temperate and tropical regions, and across rural-to-urban gradients in land use