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The responses of the ecosystems along the 0°C mean annual isotherm to global climate change are intense and involve significant changes in land cover at the watershed scale. This paper evaluates changes in land cover in the center of Qinghai-Tibet, the headwater region of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, on the basis of two sets of remote sensing data (1986 and 2000) and field investigations. Over a period of 15 years, 23% and 34% of alpine cold swamp were recently turned into alpine cold meadow or alpine cold steppe, and decreased in area by 25.9% and 42.7% in the headwater areas of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, respectively. Moreover, more than 20% of high-coverage alpine cold meadow and alpine cold steppe were converted to lower-coverage alpine cold meadow (vegetation coverage > 80%) and alpine cold steppe (vegetation coverage > 50%). Desertified land increased by 18.4% (bare rocks and sparse land) and 31.1% (sandy land) in the headwater area of the Yellow River and by 17.8%–18.5% in the headwater area of the Yangtze River. Land cover change in this region involves a complex transition between land cover types, which have a great influence on soil nutrients and the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. Land cover changes in the study area over the 15-year study period led to the loss of 336.6 Gg of SOC, of which 61.6% were lost by alpine cold swamp transformation, and a total nitrogen (N) loss of 26.9 Gg, of which 81.9% occurred in the headwater area of the Yangtze River. The changes in the carbon and nitrogen cycles have serious implications for greenhouse gas emissions due to land cover change caused by climate warming in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Land Cover Change and Its Impacts on Soil C and N in Two Watersheds in the Center of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau