Tibetan Plateau greening driven by warming‐wetting climate change and ecological restoration in the 21st century

Abstract

AbstractHigh altitude areas play an essential role in the global climate system, and their fragile ecosystems sensitively respond to climate change and human activities. An improved understanding of the influences of multiple factors on the spatiotemporal dynamics of vegetation is needed. This study aimed to understand further the impacts of climate, geography, and human on vegetation and disentangle the contributions of climate and humans to vegetation changes using the MOD13Q1 enhanced vegetation index (EVI, 2000–2019). Greening was detected for 70% of the Tibetan Plateau under increased warming and wetting in the 21st century. A rise in temperature of up to 0.66 ± 0.49°C decade−1 occurred over 2/3 of the Tibetan Plateau, while precipitation increased slightly. In particular, significant greening covered 1/4 of the Tibetan Plateau and occurred within the steppe and desert on the northern due to wetting and ecological protection. Browning depended on urbanization, overgrazing, and lake expansion in 1.9% of the total area. Orbicular browning around lakes accounted for 18.4% of significant browning, and significant browning trends were also detected in densely populated cities situated at low‐altitude and flat areas. The EVI was more strongly positively correlated with the annual mean minimum temperature than the annual mean temperature and maximum temperature and was sensitive to extreme low precipitation events. Residual analysis showed that the relative contribution of climate change was 34%, and that of human activities was 66%. A comprehensive description of the vegetation changes on the Tibetan Plateau will help humans to cope with climate change and ecosystem evolution in high altitude.