Assessment of vulnerability of natural ecosystems in China under the changing climate
Vulnerability of natural ecosystems has become a key issue both in assessing the impact of climate change and in planning the adaptation to climate change. In the paper, we elucidated the concepts of vulnerability, sensibility and threshold, analyzed distributions of the ecological sensitive zones, vulnerability of natural ecosystems and adaptation to climate and ecosystem changes in China. Numerous studies show that natural ecosystems are high sensitivity to climate change, particularly in the transitional zones (i. e. eco-tones). The first-class sensitive zone in China is the region between the east of Inner Mongolia and the southeast of Tibetan Plateau. The climate zones and vegetation zones will produce a northward or westward shift, and the proportion of vegetations is one of the factors responsible for global warming will change. The productivity and carbon flux of terrestrial ecosystems are also highly sensitive to climate change. The Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of terrestrial vegetation has been increasing since the 1980s in China. Annual Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP) varies between 0. 32 and 0. 25 Gt C a-1 , with a mean value of 0. 07 Gt C a-1. Terrestrial ecosystems in China are currently a carbon sink, but the carbon uptake rate may diminish as anticipated with the rapid warming of climate in this century. Seven regions vulnerable to climate change in China account for 20% of the whole country, in which five are in the west of China. The natural hazards are associated with climate change such as drought, fire, pest infestation etc. Excessive use of resources will increase the vulnerability of ecosystems. Applications of some measures are helpful to the adaptation to the climate change and mitigation of the vulnerability. However, there are still high uncertainties in assessing the vulnerability of natural ecosystems, many issues warrant further studies.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
