The Response of Plateau Vegetation to Climatic and Anthropogenic Drivers

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a follow-up of the first Special Issue, entitled “Response of Vegetation to Climatic and Anthropogenic Drivers in the Plateau” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphere/special_issues/BJNR1SIJR4) published in Atmosphere.

Vegetation is a natural link connecting various spheres and the main body of the terrestrial ecosystem; moreover, it is an indicator of regional climate change and human activities, and plays an important role in regulating carbon, water, and energy cycles. With diverse vegetation types and a complex geographical environment, vegetation growth in the plateau region is more sensitive to climate change and human activities, and is a sensitive and vulnerable zone for global climate change and ecological environment changes. Since the beginning of the Anthropocene, the vegetation ecosystem has been significantly changed by both climate warming and human activities, mainly in the form of glacial retreat, land desertification, and grassland degradation. If humans continue to develop and use the earth's resources unreasonably in the future, it will lead to the gradual depletion of natural resources and further degradation of the ecosystem, which will threaten the ecosystem and ecological security of the plateau region. Therefore, it is of great scientific and practical significance to investigate dynamic changes in plateau vegetation and the interrelationship between vegetation, climate change, and human activities, in order to understand the current state of the global plateau ecosystem, restore ecosystem balance, and promote the sustainable development of the ecosystem.

This Special Issue will focus on papers that contribute to a better understanding of the characteristics of synergistic vegetation–water–soil changes in plateau regions in the context of climate change and increased human activities. Examples topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Response of vegetation (growth, health, phenology, etc.) to climate change and human activities in plateau regions;
• Relationship between extreme weather changes such as droughts and floods and vegetation biomass;
• Effects of land use/cover change or ecological engineering on regional vegetation (cover, leaf area index, etc.);
• Differences in vegetation response to climate change and human activities for different substrate conditions (elevation, slope, etc.);
• Relationship between environmental factors, such as glacier, snow, permafrost, etc., and vegetation changes in the context of climate warming;
• Impacts of excessive logging and grazing activities on vegetation;
• Characteristics of vegetation response to urbanization process;
• Response of vegetation ecosystem quality to coupled atmosphere–water changes;
• Climate–vegetation–soil–water–ecosystem feedback mechanisms.

This call solicits process-level studies based on both observations and model simulations. This includes intensive observational field campaign studies, long-term in situ observatories, satellite observations, and simulations from plot-scale process-oriented models or regional/global Earth system models.

Dr. Fanhao Meng
Dr. Min Luo
Dr. Wenfeng Chi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• vegetation degradation
• land use and cover change
• climate change impact
• deforestation
• extreme climate factors
• droughts and floods
• Plateau vegetation