Response of forest belt on the south slope of Tianshan Mountains in China to global warming during 1990−2020

Abstract

Mountain vegetation is highly sensitive to changes in climate. Currently, there is no consensus regarding the direction and magnitude of the spatial migration of mountain vegetation in response to climate change. Past studies have reported that climate change promotes upward or downward movement of plant species along an altitude gradient. Based on meteorological data and remote sensing images, this study analyzed the spatial distribution and dynamic trend of mountain altitudinal vegetation belts on the southern slope of the Tianshan Mountains over the past 30 years and discussed the climatic driving factors of these changes. The results showed that the forest belt in this area is unusual because it is embedded in the grassland belt in a patch-like manner and shows discontinuous changes or replacements along the vertical gradient. With the coexistence of warm humidification and warm drying on the southern slope of the Tianshan Mountains, the response of the upper and lower altitudes of the forest belt to climate change was similar, showing a trend of migration to higher-altitude areas. The main climatic factors affecting the migration of the upper and lower altitudes varied spatially. In general, the upper limit of the forest belt had a higher association with precipitation during the vegetative growth season, while the contribution of temperature-related factors to the lower limit of the forest belt was greater.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Tianshan Mountains / forest belt / spatial migration / altitude limitation / global warming

Liyuan ZHENG received her B.Sc. degree in geographic information science in 2021 from Lanzhou University and is currently conducting M.S. related research at Lanzhou University, China. His major field of study is climate change and environmental remote sensing in arid regions.

His email address is [e-mail].

Yong ZHANG received his M.S. degree from Gansu Agricultural University, China, in 2018, and is currently conducting Ph.D. related research at Lanzhou University, China. His research interests are climate change and environmental remote sensing in arid regions.

His email address is [e-mail].

Chao LU received his B.Sc. degree in cultural relics and museum science from Lanzhou University in 2017, and a M.S. degree in archeology in 2020. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in the School of Resources and Environment of Lanzhou University. His research interests include archeology and environmental archeology.

His email address is [e-mail].

Wensheng ZHANG is a Ph.D. student in palynology and Quaternary environmental change at Lanzhou University in China. He is passionate about the evolution and change of the Earth’s environment, especially the climate change and human activities of the past few thousand years. He is currently using palynology techniques to study the environmental evolution process of the arid regions in central Asia, and exploring the response mechanisms of the ecosystem over the past few thousand years.

His email address is [e-mail].

Bo TAN is a Ph.D. student at Lanzhou University in China. His research direction is environmental evolution, and he is mainly engaged in research on the relationship between environmental change and human activities.

His email address is [e-mail].

Lai JIANG is currently conducting M.S. related research at Lanzhou University, China.

His email address is [e-mail].

Yan-zhen ZHANG received her B.Sc. degree in geography in 2020 from Lanzhou University. Her major field of study is climate change.

Her email address is [e-mail].

Chengbang AN is a professor of Lanzhou University and is a doctoral supervisor. The main research direction is environmental change and environmental archeology. He is currently the Deputy Director of the Environmental Change and Environmental Archaeology Committee of the Chinese Geographical Society, and the Deputy Director of the Interglacial Climate and Environment Committee of the Chinese Quaternary Scientific Research Society.

His email address is [e-mail].

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42071102 and 42220104001). The Landsat satellite image used in the study can be obtained from the Google Earth Engine. The meteorological data we use can be obtained from the China Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Scientific Data Center.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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