Eastern Part Of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research Articles

Prediction of potential distributions of Morina kokonorica and Morina chinensis in China.

Changes in the habitats of species can provide insights into the impact of climate change on their habitats. Species in the genus Morina (Morinoideae) are perennial herbaceous plants that are mainly distributed in the South Asian Mountains and Eastern Mediterranean. In China, there are four species and two varieties of this genus distributed across the Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu provinces. This study used the optimal MaxEnt model to simulate past, current, and future potentially suitable habitats of Morina kokonorica and Morina chinensis. Seventy data of M. kokonorica occurrences and 3 of M. chinensis were used in the model to predict potentially suitable habitats. The model prediction results indicated that both M. kokonorica and M. chinensis exhibited trends of northward migration to higher latitudes and westward migration along the Himalayas to higher elevations, suggesting that the northern valleys of Hengduan Mountains and northern and eastern parts of the Himalayas were potential refugia for M. kokonorica, and the potential refugia for M. chinensis was located in the eastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results of this niche analysis showed that the two species had higher levels of interspecific competition and that the environmental adaptability of M. chinensis was stronger. This research could help further understand the response pattern of Morina to environmental change, to understand the adaptability of species to the environment, and promote the protection of species.

Household energy consumption patterns in agricultural zone, pastoral zone and agro-pastoral transitional zone in eastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Despite the rapid development in fossil fuel, biomass is still the main energy resource in rural China. However, the research on household energy consumption on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is limited. We investigated the differences in household energy consumption pattern, the influencing factors of fuel type choice, and the willingness to use clean energy in agricultural, pastoral and agro-pastoral transitional zones in eastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Information was collected through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Physical Monitoring (PM). We found that biomass was the main energy resource in pastoral regions while fossil energy was the main fuel in agricultural regions. Energy consumption per capita in pastoral regions was higher than that in agricultural regions in our study area, and annual household energy consumption in pastoral regions was much higher than the provincial average. Altitude, livelihood and education level were main factors affecting domestic fuel type choice, while altitude and household size were two factors determining energy consumption per capita. The use of biomass as fuel could have negative influence on the material cycle in ecosystem and affect the carbon budget on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Householders were willing to use clean energy and most interviewees chose electricity as their favorite fuel type. Therefore, the modern utilization of biomass and the exploration of renewable energy are promising in future energy development in eastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. However, energy transition might be constrained by poor local transportation and traditional consumption habit of indigenous community.

The Precursory Significance of Tectonic Stress Field Transformation Before the Wenchuan MW7.9 Earthquake and the Chi‐Chi MW7.6 Earthquake

AbstractThe 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and the 1999 Chi‐chi earthquake are both intraplate thrust fault earthquakes occurred under the tectonic setting of thrust‐nappe. Through comparative analysis on CMT solutions, focal mechanism solutions of small and moderate earthquakes and the tectonic stress field derived from focal mechanisms near the mainshcok region, we found that the thrust type focal mechanism of the Chi‐Chi mainshock coincides with the tectonic stress field from the CMT solutions of earthquakes occurred in Taiwan central and western inland; but for the small and moderate earthquakes randomly occurred near mainshock region, the strike slip type focal mechanism of regional stress field is not consistent with the tectonic stress field before the Chi‐Chi mainshock; the Chi‐Chi mainshcok occurred a few months after the local stress field became consistent with the tectonic stress field. Similarly, the compressive stress axis of the thrust fault type focal mechanism of Wenchuan mainshock coincides with the compressive stress axis of tectonic stress field determined by the CMT solutions of earthquake occurred in the eastern part of Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, the local stress field from the focal mechanisms of small and moderate earthquake near Wenchuan mainshock is consistent with the tectonic stress field. When the local stress field is consistent with the thrust fault type stress field, the Wenchuan mainshock occurred immediately. With the stress accumulation near the source region, there are similar local stress field transformation phenomena before the thrust fault mainshock. When the local stress state transformed to the stress state of mainshock, the stress level is up to very high near the source region. It may be a precursor of large earthquake and must arouse further concerns.

Characteristics of alpine grassland soils and their change with pasture degradation in the eastern part of Qinghai-Tibet plateau

Characteristics of alpine grassland soils and their change with pasture degradation in the eastern part of Qinghai-Tibet plateau