Reviews and syntheses: How do abiotic and biotic processes respond to climatic variations in the Nam Co catchment (Tibetan Plateau)?
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Published:2020-03-06
Issue:5
Volume:17
Page:1261-1279
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ISSN:1726-4189
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Container-title:Biogeosciences
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Biogeosciences
Author:
Anslan StenORCID, Azizi Rad Mina, Buckel JohannesORCID, Echeverria Galindo Paula, Kai Jinlei, Kang Wengang, Keys Laura, Maurischat PhilippORCID, Nieberding Felix, Reinosch Eike, Tang Handuo, Tran Tuong ViORCID, Wang Yuyang, Schwalb AntjeORCID
Abstract
Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is the largest alpine plateau on
Earth and plays an important role in global climate dynamics. On the TP,
climate change is happening particularly fast, with an increase in air
temperature twice the global average. The particular sensitivity of this
high mountain environment allows observation and tracking of abiotic and
biotic feedback mechanisms. Closed lake systems, such as Nam Co on the
central TP, represent important natural laboratories for tracking past and
recent climatic changes, as well as geobiological processes and interactions
within their respective catchments. This review gives an interdisciplinary
overview of past and modern environmental changes using Nam Co as a case
study. In the catchment area, ongoing rise in air temperature forces
glaciers to melt, contributing to a rise in lake level and changes in water
chemistry. Some studies base their conclusions on inconsistent glacier
inventories, but an ever-increasing deglaciation and thus higher water
availability have persisted over the last few decades. Increasing water
availability causes translocation of sediments, nutrients and dissolved
organic matter to the lake, as well as higher carbon emissions to the
atmosphere. The intensity of grazing has an additional and significant
effect on CO2 fluxes, with moderate grazing enhancing belowground
allocation of carbon while adversely affecting the C sink potential through
reduction of above-surface and subsurface biomass at higher grazing intensities.
Furthermore, increasing pressure from human activities and livestock grazing
are enhancing grassland degradation processes, thus shaping biodiversity
patterns in the lake and catchment. The environmental signal provided by
taxon-specific analysis (e.g., diatoms and ostracods) in Nam Co revealed
profound climatic fluctuations between warmer–cooler and wetter–drier
periods since the late Pleistocene and an increasing input of freshwater and
nutrients from the catchment in recent years. Based on the reviewed
literature, we outline perspectives to further understand the effects of
global warming on geodiversity and biodiversity and their interplay at Nam Co,
which acts as a case study for potentially TP-level or even worldwide processes
that are currently shaping high mountain areas.
Funder
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Earth-Surface Processes,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
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