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© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Human activities are critical factors influencing ecosystem sustainability. However, knowledge on regarding the mechanisms underlying the response of vegetation dynamics to human activities remains limited. To detect the driving factors and their individual contribution to the grassland vegetation dynamics in China’s Loess Plateau, a structural equation model (SEM) and a principal component regression model were built. The SEM showed that population change and urbanization, temperature and humidity, and agriculture and economy accounted for 62.5%, 31.2%, and 7.7%, respectively, of the overall impact directly affecting grassland vegetation dynamics. Furthermore, the principal component regression model demonstrated that the effects of the urbanization rate on the grassland above-ground biomass exceeded those of the other factors. The agriculture population had the maximum negative effect on grassland area. The higher the urbanization rate means the higher the number of residents migrates from rural to urban areas. Following this argument, the disturbances of human activities to grassland vegetation were expected to gradually decrease in rural areas, where the vast majority of the Loess Plateau is located. The migration of rural residents to urban areas promoted the increase in biomass and areas of grassland vegetation. Our findings suggest that the effect of urbanization should be considered when assessing vegetation change.

Details

Title
Migration of Rural Residents to Urban Areas Drives Grassland Vegetation Increase in China’s Loess Plateau
Author
Jian-Zhou, Wei 1 ; Zheng, Kai 2 ; Zhang, Feng 3 ; Chao, Fang 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Yu-Yu, Zhou 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Xue-Cao, Li 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Feng-Min, Li 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Jian-Sheng, Ye 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China; [email protected] (J.-Z.W.); [email protected] (K.Z.); [email protected] (C.F.) 
 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China; [email protected] (J.-Z.W.); [email protected] (K.Z.); [email protected] (C.F.); State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China 
 Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China; [email protected] 
 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou 730000, China; [email protected] (J.-Z.W.); [email protected] (K.Z.); [email protected] (C.F.); PLECO (Plants and Ecosystems), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium 
 Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA; [email protected] (Y.-Y.Z.); [email protected] (X.-C.L.) 
First page
6764
Publication year
2019
Publication date
2019
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20711050
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2533334163
Copyright
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.