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Declining grassland canopy height in China under asymmetric biomass allocation
Huaqiang Li1,2, Xinmiao Hu1, Fei Li3,4,5
1Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, IM, China.
Nature Communications
|March 3, 2026
Summary
Chinese grasslands are shrinking in height due to changes in biomass allocation, driven by warming and grazing. This decline in grassland canopy height impacts livestock and ecosystem resilience.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Remote Sensing
- Climate Science
Background:
- Grassland canopy height is crucial for plant diversity, community structure, and livestock resource use efficiency.
- Broad-scale changes in grassland canopy height are poorly understood due to complex species interactions.
- Decoupling aboveground biomass into vertical and horizontal allocations offers a novel approach to track canopy height dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate changes in grassland canopy height across China from 2001 to 2022.
- To investigate the drivers behind observed changes in grassland canopy height.
- To assess the ecological implications of declining grassland canopy height.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a machine learning algorithm to estimate grassland aboveground biomass by integrating climatic factors, satellite-derived metrics, and ground-truth data.
- Employed optimized linear spectral mixture analysis to derive the horizontal allocation of grassland aboveground biomass.
- Analyzed the relationship between biomass allocation, climatic factors, grazing, and plant diversity.
Main Results:
- Changes in horizontal biomass allocation were the primary driver of increased grassland aboveground biomass in China between 2001 and 2022.
- This shift in biomass allocation led to a significant decline in overall grassland canopy height.
- Declining canopy height was linked to reduced radiation, warming, grazing, and variations in plant diversity.
Conclusions:
- The observed decline in grassland canopy height, particularly in China, is a complex phenomenon driven by multiple environmental factors.
- A 'dwarfing' grassland community may heighten the impact of livestock disturbances, reducing ecosystem resistance to climate change.
- Further research is needed to understand the long-term consequences for grassland ecosystem stability and function.
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