Effects of transport infrastructures and climate change on ecosystem services in the integrated transport corridor region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Siqi Yang; Lixiao Zhang; Gaoru Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163961

Effects of transport infrastructures and climate change on ecosystem services in the integrated transport corridor region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Aug 10:885:163961. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163961. Epub 2023 May 3.

Authors

Siqi Yang¹, Lixiao Zhang², Gaoru Zhu³

Affiliations

¹ Transport Planning and Research Institute, Ministry of Transport, Beijing 100028, China; State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
² State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: zhanglixiao@bnu.edu.cn.
³ Transport Planning and Research Institute, Ministry of Transport, Beijing 100028, China.

PMID: 37146824
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163961

Abstract

The ecosystem services of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been hot topics in recent decades due to their unique value, and the region's sensitivity to climate change and human activities is considered to be of major importance. However, few studies have focused on the variations of ecosystem services in response to traffic activities and climate change. This study applied different ecosystem service models, along with the buffer analysis, local correlation and regression analysis to quantitatively analyze the spatiotemporal variations of carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and soil retention, further detected the climatic and traffic influences in the transport corridor region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2000 to 2020. The obtained results showed the following: (1) The carbon sequestration and soil retention increased over time, while the habitat quality decreased during the railway construction period; in addition, the variations of ecosystem services between the two periods exhibited substantial spatial differences. (2) The distance trends of ecosystem service variations were similar for the railway and the highway corridors, and the positive ecosystem service trends were mainly observed within 2.5 km and 2 km of railway and highway corridors, respectively. (3) The impacts of climatic factors on ecosystem services were predominantly positive; however, temperature and precipitation displayed contrasting distance trends in their impacts on carbon sequestration. (4) The types of frozen ground and locations away from the railway or highway were the combined factors affecting the ecosystem services, among which carbon sequestration was negatively influenced by the distance from the highway in the continuous permafrost areas. It can be speculated that rising temperatures caused by climate change may intensify the decline of carbon sequestration in the continuous permafrost areas. This study provides guidance on ecological protection strategies for future expressway construction projects.

Keywords: Climate change; Ecosystem services; Frozen ground; Highway; Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; Railway.