Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, China
Climate change and rural depopulation are changing the ecological and hydrological cycles in China. Data on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), temperature, precipitation, streamflow, sediment and rural population are available for the Gan River basin from 1981 to 2017. We investigate...
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doaj-59801a2f18804ed0bb02cf916c0eee302020-11-25T03:57:46ZengIWA PublishingHydrology Research1998-95632224-79552020-08-0151476878010.2166/nh.2020.120120Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, ChinaLidong Huang0Aizhong Ye1Chongjun Tang2Qingyun Duan3Yahai Zhang4 State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface and Ecological Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface and Ecological Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Prevention of Jiangxi Province, Jiangxi Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Nanchang 330029, China State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface and Ecological Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface and Ecological Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China Climate change and rural depopulation are changing the ecological and hydrological cycles in China. Data on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), temperature, precipitation, streamflow, sediment and rural population are available for the Gan River basin from 1981 to 2017. We investigated the spatio-temporal variations in climate, human activity and vegetation mainly using the Mann–Kendall test and examined their relationship using the Granger causality test. The results showed that (1) the temperature markedly increased in all seasons; (2) the precipitation increased in summer and winter but decreased in spring and autumn; (3) overall, the NDVI increased markedly during 2005–2017, but showed seasonal differences, with decreases in summer and winter and increases in spring and autumn; (4) the annual sediment transport showed a significant decreasing trend and (5) a large number of the population shifted from rural to urban areas, resulting in a decrease in the rural population between 1998 and 2018. Rural depopulation has brought about farmland abandonment, conversion of farmland to forests, which was the factor driving the recovery of the vegetation and the decrease in sediment. The results of this study can provide support for climate change adaptation and sustainable development.http://hr.iwaponline.com/content/51/4/768climate changeeco-hydrology effectsgranger causality testrural depopulation |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lidong Huang Aizhong Ye Chongjun Tang Qingyun Duan Yahai Zhang |
spellingShingle |
Lidong Huang Aizhong Ye Chongjun Tang Qingyun Duan Yahai Zhang Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, China Hydrology Research climate change eco-hydrology effects granger causality test rural depopulation |
author_facet |
Lidong Huang Aizhong Ye Chongjun Tang Qingyun Duan Yahai Zhang |
author_sort |
Lidong Huang |
title |
Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, China |
title_short |
Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, China |
title_full |
Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, China |
title_fullStr |
Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, China |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the Gan River basin, China |
title_sort |
impact of rural depopulation and climate change on vegetation, runoff and sediment load in the gan river basin, china |
publisher |
IWA Publishing |
series |
Hydrology Research |
issn |
1998-9563 2224-7955 |
publishDate |
2020-08-01 |
description |
Climate change and rural depopulation are changing the ecological and hydrological cycles in China. Data on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), temperature, precipitation, streamflow, sediment and rural population are available for the Gan River basin from 1981 to 2017. We investigated the spatio-temporal variations in climate, human activity and vegetation mainly using the Mann–Kendall test and examined their relationship using the Granger causality test. The results showed that (1) the temperature markedly increased in all seasons; (2) the precipitation increased in summer and winter but decreased in spring and autumn; (3) overall, the NDVI increased markedly during 2005–2017, but showed seasonal differences, with decreases in summer and winter and increases in spring and autumn; (4) the annual sediment transport showed a significant decreasing trend and (5) a large number of the population shifted from rural to urban areas, resulting in a decrease in the rural population between 1998 and 2018. Rural depopulation has brought about farmland abandonment, conversion of farmland to forests, which was the factor driving the recovery of the vegetation and the decrease in sediment. The results of this study can provide support for climate change adaptation and sustainable development. |
topic |
climate change eco-hydrology effects granger causality test rural depopulation |
url |
http://hr.iwaponline.com/content/51/4/768 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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