Work

Ecosystem evolution and drivers across the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The Tibetan Plateau (TP) and surrounding regions, vital to global energy and water cycles, are profoundly influenced by climate change and anthropogenic activities. Despite widespread attention to vegetation greening across the region since the 1980s, its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study employs the eigen microstates method to quantify vegetation greening dynamics using long-term remote sensing and reanalysis data. We identify two dominant modes that collectively explain more than 61% of the vegetation dynamics. The strong seasonal heterogeneity in the southern TP, primarily driven by radiation and agricultural activities, is reflected in the first mode, which accounts for 46.34% of the variance. The second mode, which explains 15% of the variance, is closely linked to deep soil moisture (SM 3 , 28 cm to 1 m). Compared to precipitation and surface soil moisture (SM 1 and SM 2 , 0–28 cm), our results show that deep soil moisture exerts a stronger and more immediate influence on vegetation growth, with a one-month response time. This study provides a complexity theory-based framework to quantify vegetation dynamics and underscores the critical influence of deep soil moisture on greening patterns in the TP. • Eigen microstates method offers a novel perspective on vegetation dynamics. • Agricultural activities and radiation drive seasonal cycle heterogeneity. • Soil moisture, especially deep moisture, is vital for vegetation greening.

Source: Journal of Environmental Management

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124885

Authors: Yiran Xie, Xu Wang, Yatong Qian, Teng Liu, Hao Fan, Xiaosong Chen