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Quantifying the hazardous impacts of human-induced land degradation on terrestrial ecosystems: a case study of karst areas of south China

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Abstract

This paper assesses the harm that human-induced land degradation poses on terrestrial ecosystems. We propose and define a hazardous impact (HI) indicator and a method to quantify this degradation and promote sustainable land use under the pressure resulting from population growth. Taking human appropriation of the net primary productivity owing to land-use conversion (HANPPluc) as a proxy, the quantification of HI was developed with support from remotely sensed net primary productivity (NPP) data and using the co-kriging method. A case study in the karst area of south China showed that HI in the study area decreased from southwest to northeast. Areas with the highest level of HI occupied 4.77 % of the total area and were distributed in northwest Sichuan Province, southwest Yunnan Province, and southern Guangxi Autonomous Region. Lower HI areas were mainly located in Hunan Province and Hubei Province. This indicates that land use has a strong impact on karst rocky desertification. To maintain a decreasing trend in HI, a land-use policy must guide human activity. In the karst areas of south China, HI and rocky desertification have similar spatial distribution and intensity. This suggests that HI can effectively reveal adverse effects on the ecosystem due to human-induced land degradation, and that it can potentially be applied to other related issues. We also argue that NPP reduction and HI level do not follow a simple 1:1 relationship, so revisions may be needed when applying the proposed indicator and approach to other regions. This approach also needs to be improved in its accuracy in terms of natural vegetation extraction.

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Acknowledgments

Support from the National Key Research and Development Program (No. 2016YFA0602402), the National Basic Research Program of China: (Project Nos. 2012CB955403 and 2015CB954102), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.: 41431177), Natural Science Research Program of Jiangsu(14KJA170001), PAPD, and National Key Technology Innovation Project for Water Pollution Control and Remediation (Project No.: 2013ZX07103006) and support from A-Xing Zhu through the Vilas Associate Award, the Hammel Faculty Fellow Award, the Manasse Chair Professorship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the “One-Thousand Talents” Program of China are greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Degen Lin, Han Yu, Fang Lian, Jing-ai Wang & Yaojie Yue

  2. Key Laboratory of Regional Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Degen Lin, Han Yu, Fang Lian, Jing-ai Wang & Yaojie Yue

  3. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Jing-ai Wang & Yaojie Yue

  4. Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application and School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China

    A-xing Zhu

  5. Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    A-xing Zhu

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Lin, D., Yu, H., Lian, F. et al. Quantifying the hazardous impacts of human-induced land degradation on terrestrial ecosystems: a case study of karst areas of south China. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1127 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-5903-z

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