Heterogeneity of Increases in Net Primary Production under Intensified Human Activity and Climate Variability on the Loess Plateau of China

Regrowth of forests is expected to be an important driver in the large uptake of anthropogenic CO2 emissions by the terrestrial biosphere. Yet estimates of carbon sink capacity in mid-high latitude regrowth forests still remain unclear. The Loess Plateau (LP), a key region of the Grain to Green Program (GTGP), leads in the greening of China, while China leads in the greening of the world. For the sake of global ecological sustainability and accurate global carbon sink evaluation, the detection and attribution of vegetation growth on the LP requires further research after 20 years of ecological restoration. In this study, significant continuous rises (increases of 7.45 gC·m−2·a−2, R2 = 0.9328, p < 0.01) in net primary production (NPP) have occurred in the past 20 years. Rapid growth of forest NPP and expansion of forested areas in the southeastern regions has led to vegetation restoration on the LP. Human activities contributed 64.2% to the NPP increases, while climate variations contributed 35.8%. NPP in forests and croplands was dominated by human activities, while grassland NPP was mainly influenced by climate variations on the LP. Meanwhile, a strong El Niño event exacerbated the obstruction of large-scale ecological restoration. These conclusions can provide theoretical support for carbon-cycle assessment and the evaluation of sustainable development.

• Publication year

  2022

• Venue

  Remote Sensing

• Publication date

  2022-09-21

• Fields of study

  Geography, Computer Science, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3390/rs14194706
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Temporal and spatial variation of rainfall erosivity in the Loess Plateau of China and its impact on sediment load

  2022cited by this paper
• Productivity and water use in forage-winter wheat cropping systems across variable precipitation gradients on the Loess Plateau of China

  2022cited by this paper
• The variation of net primary productivity and underlying mechanisms vary under different drought stress in Central Asia from 1990 to 2020

  2022cited by this paper
• Quantifying spatiotemporal variations in soil moisture driven by vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau of China

  2021cited by this paper
• Livelihood consequences of the Grain for Green Programme across regional and household scales: A case study in the Loess Plateau

  2021cited by this paper
• High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests

  2021cited by this paper
• Rapid greening response of China’s 2020 spring vegetation to COVID-19 restrictions: Implications for climate change

  2021cited by this paper
• Seasonal biological carryover dominates northern vegetation growth

  2021cited by this paper
• Complex anthropogenic interaction on vegetation greening in the Chinese Loess Plateau.

  2021cited by this paper
• Drivers and impacts of changes in China’s drylands

  2021cited by this paper
• Climate-growth pattern of Pinus tabulaeformis plantations and their resilience to drought events in the Loess Plateau

  2021cited by this paper
• Active restoration accelerates the carbon recovery of human-modified tropical forests

  2020cited by this paper
• Sensitivity of Vegetation Growth to Precipitation in a Typical Afforestation Area in the Loess Plateau: Plant-Water Coupled Modelling

  2020cited by this paper
• Health risks associated with multiple metal(loid)s in groundwater: A case study at Hetao Plain, northern China.

  2020cited by this paper
• Spatial variation patterns of plant herbaceous community response to warming along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients in mountainous forests of the Loess Plateau, China

  2020cited by this paper
• Anomaly Variation of Vegetation and Its Influencing Factors in Mainland China During ENSO Period

  2020cited by this paper
• ENSO-related impact on the vapor sources of China based on case simulations of summer 2015 and 2010

  2020cited by this paper
• Integrating vegetation suitability in sustainable revegetation for the Loess Plateau, China.

  2020cited by this paper
• Quantitative contributions of climate change and human activities to vegetation changes over multiple time scales on the Loess Plateau.

  2020cited by this paper
• Ecological restoration impact on total terrestrial water storage

  2020cited by this paper
• Time lag of vegetation growth on the Loess Plateau in response to climate factors: Estimation, distribution, and influence.

  2020cited by this paper
• Hierarchical mapping of annual global land cover 2001 to present: The MODIS Collection 6 Land Cover product

  2019cited by this paper
• Impacts of Chinese Grain for Green program and climate change on vegetation in the Loess Plateau during 1982-2015.

  2019cited by this paper
• Impacts of climate change and human activities on grassland vegetation variation in the Chinese Loess Plateau.

  2019cited by this paper
• Role of forest regrowth in global carbon sink dynamics

  2019cited by this paper
• China and India lead in greening of the world through land-use management

  2019cited by this paper
• Socio-ecological changes on the Loess Plateau of China after Grain to Green Program.

  2019cited by this paper
• The global soil community and its influence on biogeochemistry

  2019cited by this paper
• Divergent hydrological response to large-scale afforestation and vegetation greening in China

  2018cited by this paper
• Climate, ecosystems, and planetary futures: The challenge to predict life in Earth system models

  2018cited by this paper
• Aerosol-weakened summer monsoons decrease lake fertilization on the Chinese Loess Plateau

  2017cited by this paper
• Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass

  2017cited by this paper
• Human-induced greening of the northern extratropical land surface

  2016cited by this paper
• Revegetation in China’s Loess Plateau is approaching sustainable water resource limits

  2016cited by this paper
• Vegetation dynamics and its driving forces from climate change and human activities in the Three-River Source Region, China from 1982 to 2012.

  2016cited by this paper
• Increasing frequency of extreme El Niño events due to greenhouse warming

  2014cited by this paper
• Agricultural Green Revolution as a driver of increasing atmospheric CO2 seasonal amplitude

  2014cited by this paper
• Assessment of the sensitivity of vegetation to El-Nino/Southern Oscillation events over China

  2012cited by this paper
• A Large and Persistent Carbon Sink in the World’s Forests

  2011cited by this paper
• Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate

  2010cited by this paper
• Geographical Detectors‐Based Health Risk Assessment and its Application in the Neural Tube Defects Study of the Heshun Region, China

  2010cited by this paper
• Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009

  2010cited by this paper
• The Evolution and Future of Earth’s Nitrogen Cycle

  2010cited by this paper
• Increasing carbon storage in intact African tropical forests

  2009cited by this paper
• Spatial Patterns of NDVI Variation over Indonesia and Their Relationship to ENSO Warm Events during the Period 1982-2006

  2009cited by this paper
• Forests and Climate Change: Forcings, Feedbacks, and the Climate Benefits of Forests

  2008cited by this paper
• ESTIMATION OF NET PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY OF CHINESE TERRESTRIAL VEGETATION BASED ON REMOTE SENSING

  2007cited by this paper
• Primary production of the biosphere: integrating terrestrial and oceanic components

  1998cited by this paper
• Global model estimates of carbon and nitrogen storage in litter and soil pools: response to changes in vegetation quality and biomass allocation

  1997cited by this paper
• Global net primary production: Combining ecology and remote sensing

  1995cited by this paper
• Methodology for the estimation of terrestrial net primary production from remotely sensed data

  1994cited by this paper
• Terrestrial ecosystem production: A process model based on global satellite and surface data

  1993cited by this paper

• Exploration of ecological environment quality in the “Two Mountains, Seven Rivers and One Basin” area of Shanxi Province, China

  2025influential citation
• Spatiotemporal Patterns of NPP and Hydrothermal Sensitivity Under Land-Use Change: A Case Study of Guangxi, China

  2025cites this paper
• Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Drivers of Vegetation NPP in the Yanshan-Taihang Mountain Ecological Conservation Zone from 2004 to 2023

  2025cites this paper
• Analysis of Spatiotemporal Variation and Driving Forces of Vegetation Net Primary Productivity in the North China Plain over the Past Two Decades

  2025cites this paper
• A Comprehensive Analysis of Vegetation Dynamics and Their Response to Climate Change in the Loess Plateau: Insight from Long-Term kernel Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Data

  2024cites this paper
• Spatiotemporal changes of forest vegetation after the implementation of a natural forest protection project and underlying driving factors: Case study of a typical natural secondary forest area in the Loess Plateau

  2024cites this paper
• Detection and Attribution of Vegetation Dynamics in the Yellow River Basin Based on Long-Term Kernel NDVI Data

  2024cites this paper
• Evaluating net primary productivity dynamics and their response to land-use change in the loess plateau after the 'Grain for Green' program.

  2024cites this paper
• The Role of Climate Change and Human Intervention in Shaping Vegetation Patterns in the Fen River Basin of China: Implications of the Grain for Green Program

  2024cites this paper
• Temporal and spatial characteristics of ecological drought in the Inland River Basin and its driving factors

  2024cites this paper
• Exploring quantification and analyzing driving force for spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of vegetation net primary productivity in Shandong Province, China

  2023cites this paper
• Analysis of Net Primary Productivity of Retired Farmlands in the Grain-for-Green Project in China from 2011 to 2020

  2023cites this paper
• Changes in phenological events and long‐term seasonality in response to climate change and the ecological restoration in China's Loess Plateau

  2023cites this paper
• Spatial–Temporal Dynamics of Grassland Net Primary Productivity and Its Driving Mechanisms in Northern Shaanxi, China

  2023cites this paper
• Effect of Elevation Gradient on Carbon Pools in a Juniperus przewalskii Kom. Forest in Qinghai, China

  2023cites this paper
• Vegetation Change and Eco-Environmental Quality Evaluation in the Loess Plateau of China from 2000 to 2020

  2023cites this paper
• Effects of a changing climate and anthropogenic impacts on net primary production in Yinshanbeilu, Inner Mongolia, China

  2023cites this paper