Table Of ContentSpringer Geography
Gary John Brierley
Xilai Li
Carola Cullum
Jay Gao Editors
Landscape and
Ecosystem Diversity,
Dynamics and
Management in the
Yellow River Source Zone
Springer Geography
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Gary John Brierley · Xilai Li
Carola Cullum · Jay Gao
Editors
Landscape and Ecosystem
Diversity, Dynamics
and Management
in the Yellow River Source
Zone
1 3
Editors
Gary John Brierley Carola Cullum
The University of Auckland The University of Auckland
Auckland Auckland
New Zealand New Zealand
Xilai Li Jay Gao
Qinghai University The University of Auckland
Qinghai, Xining Auckland
China New Zealand
ISSN 2194-315X ISSN 2194-3168 (electronic)
Springer Geography
ISBN 978-3-319-30473-1 ISBN 978-3-319-30475-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30475-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016934441
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To our families and colleagues who provided
immense support that helped us make this
project happen
Preface—A Personal Comment
Just as landscape defines character, culture springs from a spirit of place.
Wade Davis (2009, p. 33).
Landscapes evoke multiple memories and emotions through layers upon layers
of interactions and interpretations, convergent and divergent, steadfast and emer-
gent, contemporary and historical. They evoke notions of place. Identity. Home.
Belonging. Nostalgia (Solastalgia). Perhaps inevitably, contestation is common.
Hopefully, a ‘duty of care’ emerges from the midst of these connections.
Just as ‘beauty lies in the eye of the beholder’, scientific framings that are used to
tackle any issue bring particular perspectives to bear, shaping what is seen (entities,
patterns, linkages, etc.) and how it is assessed. Inevitably, approaches to landscape
analysis reflect our training and experience. Everything is contextual. Instinct and
intuition come to the fore. What is new/familiar? How does it relate to what has been
seen/experienced previously? This has enormous implications for how these under-
standings are derived and how they are used to inform management applications.
The Upper Yellow River is an intriguing and awe-inspiring place. Although it
presently attracts relatively few overseas visitors, rapid infrastructure develop-
ments will make the area much more accessible in coming years. To date, most
environmental research in this region has been derived from remotely sensed and
modelled applications. This book supplements these analyses through various
field investigations. Work conducted by researchers at Qinghai University is sup-
plemented by insights and perspectives from various researchers at the University
of Auckland in New Zealand, who worked alongside researchers at Tsinghua
University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing as part of the environ-
mental arm of the Three Brothers (Plus) Project since 2007.
Writing and compiling this book has been a very demanding process, pulling
together threads of enquiry from divergent sources and perspectives. Given many
contestations relating to various issues in environmental science and management
in the region, we have not tried to force a consistent perspective throughout the
book. Such is the nature of research. Having said this, we hope that the book does
justice to our own voices among many others that are not directly considered here.
vii
viii Preface—A Personal Comment
Although it is not always possible to avoid technical terminology, we have tried
to minimize the use of jargon in efforts to make the book accessible to a non-spe-
cialist audience.
The landscapes and ecosystems of the Upper Yellow River have their own par-
ticular magic. Hopefully, our efforts in this book enable others to share some of
that magic, and encourage others to experience it directly. At the same time, we
have to look after the special values of such places …
The dark night gave me black eyes,
I use them nonetheless seeking for the light.
A Generation: Gu Cheng
Reference
Davis, W. (2009). The wayfinders: Why ancient wisdom matters in the modern world. House of
Anansi.
Oneroa, Waiheke Island Gary John Brierley
November 2015
Acknowledgements
Significant support for the production of this book has been provided by host insti-
tutions involved in the Three Brothers (Plus) Project (The University of Auckland,
Qinghai University, Tsinghua University, The Chinese Academy of Sciences).
We thank these institutions for their support. The Chinese Ministry of Science
and Technology and Education New Zealand provided supplementary support for
fieldwork activities and workshops.
Although this book is first and foremost New Zealand–China collaboration, a
recurrent thread of Australian thinking pervades those parts of the book with which
the lead editor was involved. Reflections upon vast landscapes provide an ongoing
sense of intrigue and inspiration, providing a distinctly calming influence among
tempestuous circumstances (anyone undertaking such ventures should carefully con-
sider the practicalities of workload, professional and personal commitments within
which such work is completed, remembering that opportunistic moments of inspira-
tion may be somewhat delusional). With patience and hard work, we got there in the
end! This would not have happened without support structures around us. We extend
particular thanks to family and friends who helped us get there, in the sincere hope
that our efforts to work through challenges that were faced, and successfully negoti-
ated, prove to be both productive and worthwhile. Truly, sincere thanks!
We particularly acknowledge the efforts of many colleagues who sup-
ported field ventures in the Upper Yellow River Basin. This includes those who
helped make this happen through logistical and administrative support from afar.
Conversations and sharing of perspective were truly invaluable. Thanks to all par-
ticipants for openness in promoting a healthy and lively spirit of enquiry. Also,
the parties were truly memorable, underpinning the remarkable social and cultural
spirit of the New Zealand–Qinghai connections. And if these spirits weren’t quite
sufficient, the baijou did the rest!
We extend particular thanks to Louise Cotterill at the University of Auckland
who drafted and modified many of the figures in this book. In addition, we thank
ix
x Acknowledgements
various publishers who granted permission to reuse or modify numerous figures in
the book. We thank Wiley for permission to use figures from:
• Zheng, H. et al. 2009 Responses of streamflow to climate and land surface
change in the headwaters of the Yellow River Basin. Water Resources Research.
45: 7, W00A19, doi:10.1029/2007WR006665.
• Figure 1 on page 2 in Yao, T., Masson‐Delmotte, V., Gao, J. et al. (2013). A
review of climatic controls on δ18O in precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau:
Observations and simulations. Reviews of Geophysics. 51: 525–548.
• Figure 1 on p. 2941 in Chen, H., Zhu, Q., Peng, C. et al. (2013). The impacts of
climate change and human activities on biogeochemical cycles on the Qinghai-
Tibetan Plateau. Global Change Biology. 19: 2940–2955, doi: 10.1111/gcb.12277
• Figure 3 on p. 77 in Li X.L, Gao J., Brierley G., et al., (2013a). Rangeland deg-
radation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: Implications for rehabilitation. Land
Degradation and Development, 24: 72–80.
In addition, we thank Elsevier for permission to use:
• Figure 2 on p. 146 in Yu, G., Brierley, G.J., Huang, H.Q. et al. (2014). An envi-
ronmental gradient of vegetative controls upon channel planform in the source
region of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. Catena. 119: 143–153.
We also thank American Society of Civil Engineers for granting the use of:
• Figures 2, 3 and 5 on pp. 05015003–4 in Yuan, F., Berndtsson, R., Zhang, L.
et al. (2015a). Hydro climatic trend and periodicity for the Source Region of the
Yellow River. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering. 10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-
5584.0001182, 05015003.
In addition, permission has been granted to use figures from publications by
China Communication Press, (China) Geological Publishing House (publisher
of Quaternary Geology and Ecological Environment in the Source Area of the
Yellow River), Editorial Board of Geology in China, Xian Institute of Geology and
Mineralogy, Ministry of Land Resources (China) (publisher of Geological Bulletin
of China), Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology (publisher of Journal
of Glaciology and Geocryology), Qinghai Meteorology Bureau/Association of
Qinghai Meteorology (publisher of Journal of Qinghai Meteorology), Institute of
Geographical Science and Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences for
the use of figure 1 on p. 328 in Acta Geographica Sinica 61(3), and Institute of
Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences for the use of figure 1 on
p. 971 in Quaternary Sciences 28: 6.
Funding that supported editorial tasks and some of the underlying research
undertaken in completing this book was provided by grants from the Program for
Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, Ministry of
Education of China (IRT13074); International Science & Technology Cooperation
Program of China, MOST (2011DFG93160, 2015DFG31870) and Special Fund
for Agroscientific Research in the Public Interest, MOA (201203041). Funding
