Effects of the interaction among climate, terrain and human activities on biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Yongxiu Sun; Shiliang Liu; Yixuan Liu; Yuhong Dong; Mingqi Li; Yi An; Fangning Shi; Robert Beazley

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148497

Effects of the interaction among climate, terrain and human activities on biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Nov 10:794:148497. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148497. Epub 2021 Jun 26.

Authors

Yongxiu Sun¹, Shiliang Liu², Yixuan Liu¹, Yuhong Dong³, Mingqi Li¹, Yi An¹, Fangning Shi¹, Robert Beazley⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: shiliangliu@bnu.edu.cn.
³ Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of State Forestry Administration, Beijing 100091, China.
⁴ Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Fernow Hall 302, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

PMID: 34214807
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148497

Abstract

Disentangling the driving factors of biodiversity is critical for understanding biogeographical patterns of vegetation and ecosystem function. However, the biotic and abiotic attributes that shape biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) are still not been quantified. Previous studies have not distinguished the direct and indirect effects of climate, terrain, and human disturbance on biodiversity. In this study, we applied a structural equation model (SEM) to assess the interactions among 4 attributes and biodiversity. A conceptual framework with 8 explanatory variables was built to identify the driving forces of biodiversity. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was applied to explore the response sensitivity of biodiversity to climate, terrain, and human attributes. We found that the SEM passed the tests of validity, reliability and fit, indicating that the hypothetical model was reasonable and credible. Among terrain conditions, elevation had the greatest, most-negative effect on biodiversity. Among the human factors, distance to town showed the strongest and most negative influence on biodiversity. Among the climate factors, precipitation had the greatest influence on biodiversity. Moreover, the direct effects of terrain and human activity were 0.348 and 0.135, respectively, and their indirect effects were 0.769 and 0.213, respectively, revealing that they had stronger indirect effects on biodiversity than direct effects. Climate exhibited only direct effects on biodiversity and had no indirect effects. The total effects of climate, terrain and human activity on biodiversity were 1.39, 0.35 and 0.13, respectively, indicating that climate was the main driving force of biodiversity on the QTP. The response sensitivity of biodiversity to climate, terrain and human factors showed obvious spatial variations. This study contributes to exploring the interactive effects and driving mechanisms of human-natural attributes on biodiversity and provides further effective guidance and support for biodiversity conservation and restoration.

Keywords: Biodiversity; Climate; Human activities; Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; Structural equation model; Terrain.

MeSH terms

Biodiversity*
Climate Change
Ecosystem*
Human Activities
Humans
Reproducibility of Results
Tibet