title: Ecological restoration and its effects on a regional climate: the source region of the Yellow River, China.
abstract: The source region of the Yellow River, China, experienced degradation during the 1980s and 1990s, but effective ecological restoration projects have restored the alpine grassland ecosystem. The local government has taken action to restore the grassland area since 1996. Remote sensing monitoring results show an initial restoration of this alpine grassland ecosystem with the structural transformation of land cover from 2000 to 2009 as low- and high-coverage grassland recovered. From 2000 to 2009, the low-coverage grassland area expanded by over 25% and the bare soil area decreased by approximately 15%. To examine the relationship between ecological structure and function, surface temperature (Ts) and evapotranspiration (ET) levels were estimated to study the dynamics of the hydro-heat pattern. The results show a turning point in approximately the year 2000 from a declining ET to a rising ET, eventually reaching the 1990 level of approximately 1.5 cm/day. We conclude that grassland coverage expansion has improved the regional hydrologic cycle as a consequence of ecological restoration. Thus, we suggest that long-term restoration and monitoring efforts would help maintain the climatic adjustment functions of this alpine grassland ecosystem.
authors.affiliation: †State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, and School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhouyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: †State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, and School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuehua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: †State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, and School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tianlin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: ‡Qinghai Academy of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Qinghai University, Xining, Qinghai 810016, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: De
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kejia
authors.affiliation: ‡Qinghai Academy of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Qinghai University, Xining, Qinghai 810016, People's Republic of China.|§Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qingping
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: ∥College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tianxiao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: †State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, and School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yunyang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation; D006109:Poaceae; D045483:Rivers; D012987:Soil; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D012987:Soil