Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Temple, Texas » Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #398868
Research Project: Development of Enhanced Tools and Management Strategies to Support Sustainable Agricultural Systems and Water Quality

Location: Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory

Title: Cooling effects of increased green fodder area on native grassland in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Author
item LIU, WENQI - Oklahoma State University
item ZHOU, YUTING - Oklahoma State University
item DONG, JINWEI - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item ZHANG, GELI - China Agricultural University
item YANG, TONG - China Agricultural University
item YOU, NANSHAN - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item Flynn, Kyle
item Wagle, Pradeep
item YANG, HAOXUAN - Tongji Medical College

Submitted to: Environmental Research Letters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/3/2023
Publication Date: 5/12/2023
Citation: Liu, W., Zhou, Y., Dong, J., Zhang, G., Yang, T., You, N., Flynn, K.C., Wagle, P., Yang, H. 2023. Cooling effects of increased green fodder area on native grassland in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Environmental Research Letters. 18(6). Article 064006. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acc9d3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acc9d3

Interpretive Summary: With increasing livestock production due to the high demand for consumption, green fodder, as an essential livestock supplementation, has expanded rapidly in China. However, the climatic feedback of this rapid land cover conversion is still unclear. Here, using multisource, data (e.g., remote sensing observation, meteorological data, etc) we compared the land surface temperature (LST) and their driving factors on green fodder and native grassland in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Results indicated the potential cooling effects of green fodder expansion on native grassland, highlighting the necessity of focusing on climate feedback for green forage expansion.

Technical Abstract: With increasing livestock production due to the high demand for consumption, green fodder, as an essential livestock supplementation, has expanded rapidly in China. However, the climatic feedback of this rapid land cover conversion is still unclear. Here, using multisource, data (e.g., remote sensing observation, meteorological data, etc) we compared the land surface temperature (LST) and their driving factors on green fodder and native grassland in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The green fodder was detected cooler than native grass by -0.54 ± 0.98 ' in the daytime throughout the growing season. The highest magnitude (-1.20 ± 1.68 ') of cooling showed in August. The non-radiative process, indicated by the energy redistribution facto, dominated the cooling effects compared with the radiative process, indicated by the albedo. Results indicated the potential cooling effects of green fodder expansion on native grassland, highlighting the necessity of focusing on climate feedback for green forage expansion.