Vegetation over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in Response to Climate Change with a 2 ℃ Global Warming

Abstract

Global warming has brought about a series of economic and environmental problems， seriously threatening the survival and development of human beings.The Paris agreement calls for limiting global warming to 2 ℃ for industrialization by the end of the century.Based on model simulations from CMIP5 in RCP8.5， vegetation leaf area index （LAI） over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau （QXP）， vegetation carbon storage （NPP）， the dominating land cover fraction and natural vegetation types in response to the warming climate are investigated.The main conclusions are as follows： LAI significantly increases under 2 ℃ warming， the QXP becomes green.NPP also increased significantly.Three river source regions have the most rapid growth rate， indicating that the carbon storage capacity of vegetation on the plateau is increasing.The bare soil decreases rapidly， while the grassland slowly increases and expands； The declined forest fraction is stable during 2 ℃ warming period.The overall vegetation coverage of the plateau increased and the vegetation covered area increases.Temperature is the main controlling factor affecting the change of the plateau vegetation ecosystem.In the context of global warming， vegetation has a better correlation with changes in temperature and precipitation， indicating that vegetation growth is more dependent on climate factors， and vegetation growth may be more sensitive to climate change.

Keywords

• qinghai-xizang plateau （qxp）
• temperature increase of 2 ℃
• vegetation change
• leaf area index （lai）
• cmip5