LCLUC Synthesis: Ecosystem-Society Interactions on a Changing Mongolian Plateau

Jiquan Chen, Michigan State University, jqchen@msu.edu (Presenter)
Ranjeet John, Michigan State University, ranjeetj@msu.edu
Daniel Brown, University of Michigan, danbrown@umich.edu
Changliang Shao, Michigan State University, clshao@msu.edu
Ginger Allington, University of Michigan, gallingt@umich.edu
Qianlai Zhuang, Purdue University, qzhuang@purdue.edu
Jingfeng Xiao, University of New Hampshire, j.xiao@unh.edu
Yichun Xie, Eastern Michigan University, yxie@emich.edu
Ge Sun, USDA Forest Service, ge_sun@ncsu.edu
Peille Fan, Michigan State University, fanpeile@msu.edu
Jiaguo Qi, Michigan State University, qi@msu.edu

The Mongolian Plateau, including Inner Mongolia (IM) of China and Mongolia (MG), is a climatic change “hotspot” and a region of 2.62 million km2 with rapid ecological and socioeconomic changes. Based on the concept of the coupled natural and human system (CNH) and evolved from our previous studies, we have organized a team involved in many ongoing studies on the Plateau to address our objective of synthesizing our data and knowledge on ecosystem and social resilience to the changing climate and dynamic socioeconomic pressures placed on these fragile ecosystems. This will be done by modeling natural system (NS) and human system (HS) processes and dynamics as well as the interactions and feedbacks among them. We will use multiple data sources to document human and natural dynamics at multiple temporal and spatial scales for the Plateau. The overarching hypothesis of this study is that while climate change produced uneven pressures among ecosystems and societies across the Plateau over time, the socioeconomic changes and their disparities among administrative units further escalated the complex causal relationships among the elements of the NS and HS, which affected ecosystem health and society performance. Three specific tasks are: (1) seamless integration of IM and MG datasets (i.e., Data Synthesis); (2) changes in time and space of the CNH systems (Knowledge Synthesis), (3) fforecasting and adaptation for the Plateau (i.e., Modeling Synthesis). This synthesis will move beyond the work of our individual projects by developing a harmonized database on the socioeconomic and environmental conditions in IM and MG, a conceptual framework and new knowledge on the interactions between the NS and HS both within the local land system and through exogenous processes driving the two contrasting systems (IM, MG), and a systems dynamics model that represents key interactions between the HS and NS that includes details on the key differences between IM and MG. Our close working relationships with our collaborators will ensure the success of this project, despite the multi-national nature of this collaboration.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Theme 4: Human influence on global ecosystems   (Mon 4:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Henebry, Geoff: Synergistic analyses of data from active and passive sensors to assess relationships between spatial heterogeneity of tropical forest structure and biodiversity dynamics ...details
• Zhou, Yuyu: Understanding and Simulating Global Urban Expansion in the Context of Climate Change ...details
• Zhuang, Qianlai: Regional and Global Climate and Societal Impacts of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Northern Eurasia: A Synthesis Study Using Remote Sensing Data and An Integrated Global System Model ...details

Poster Location ID: 37