RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON LAND USE IN TEMPERATE EAST ASIA (LUTEA)

Dr. Dennis S. Ojima
Chairperson, LUTEA Steering Committee
Senior Research Scientist
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO
80523-1499 USA
email: dennis@nrel.colostate.edu
phone: (970) 491-1976
fax: (970) 491-1965

The first LUTEA workshop held in Kyoto in November of 1996 defined the scope of LUTEA and made a number of recommendations. The workshop was organized to provide a review of what research is being conducted in the region, and to begin to identify the scope of research being conducted. This set of project descriptions was followed by discussions by sectoral or topic issues of critical questions to be addressed in TEA region. These break out groups discussed the major issues of concern relative to land cover and land use changes and worked to identify the social and environmental links toward a better understanding of what are the major factors modifying land use and land cover changes in the TEA region.

The specific outcomes of the workshop were:

The acceptance of LUTEA project

A large number of recently funded research projects are currently investigating various aspects of land use/cover changes in the TEA region. The studies involve a large international set of research groups, and highlight the importance this region represents globally. These studies include researchers from China, Mongolia, Japan, Russia, various other European countries and the USA. Representation of these projects participated at the Kyoto workshop and suggested a number of activities which the LUTEA network could serve as the lead organization as the TEACOM project. The following activities were recommend for LUTEA:

In order to accomplish these goals, we will hold a workshop of the LUTEA network, comprised essentially of the research groups who were invited to participate in the KYOTO workshop. The workshop will bring the scientific groups together in order to synthesize the research findings and to identify the gaps in information regarding critical policy and research needs. The workshop will consist of invited papers, poster sessions and working group discussion on critical issues on LUTEA objectives. The outcome of the workshop will be a proceedings that will define the current research issues and identify what critical research gaps are present. The workshop will review the progress with the development of the analytical framework and set priorities of future research and integration efforts. Evaluation of critical data sets relative to land cover maps, socio-economic data, important policy trends, physical data, and ecological resource data will be made. The workshop will develop a strategy to address critical policy issues in the region relative to impacts of global change on land use and land cover and implications of future land use/cover changes on the environmental and human systems in the region.

As part of the preparations for the workshop and in order to facilitate communication among the LUTEA network and other TEACOM scientists, we propose the development of a website for LUTEA and an integrated database framework for the sharing of physical, ecological and socio-economic data among the LUTEA researchers. The data base will be a distribute system that can be accessible from Asia and abroad. We will make arrangements for certain data acquisition and archival centers to serve the LUTEA community. The TEACOM secretariat and the CISNAR center in Beijing will serve as one of the Asian nodes. We are currently working an integrated database to use to organize the LUTEA information for use by other researchers within the network. We plan to coordinate this effort with other regional studies being developed by IIASA, CIESIN, TEACOM, and others.

In order to promote the development of land use/cover studies in the region, the development of a fellowship program that can provide training grants, young investigators fellowships, and short-term research fellowships to facilitate the interactions among LUTEA network research groups would greatly enhance the growth of the research community and the links to policy relevant organizations. The fellowships could be developed to encourage both short-term training activities as well as long-term research stays, for instance a two year post-doctoral fellowship. A steering committee of LUTEA, TEACOM, and agency representatives could serve ad the screening committee in order to make the selections.

We have support for activities in the areas 2 and 4, data base development and regional training in land use analysis techniques. The regional workshop has been scheduled for the March 2-5 1998, in Beijing. In addition, the first effort in database development has been accomplished with support from START and NASA for a 1-km AVHRR derived Temperate East Asian land cover (TEAL) data base. A third activity is a training workshop in June of 1998 in Ulanbataar, Mongolia. A brief description of these activities are given below.

In view of the important role of land use/cover changes in the TEA region plays in regional earth system dynamics and the sustainable development of the region, accurate determination of land cover in the region is critical. We commissioned a working group to develop a consistent land cover map for the TEA region using NOAA-AVHRR 1-km remote sensing information and existing land cover maps developed using traditional geographical techniques.

The purpose of this workshop was:

The project was led by Dennis Ojima and Larry Tieszen and involved scientists at the EROS Data Center, Colorado State University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment, and Chiba University CERE. Funding support was provided by START and NASA.

We developed 1-km land cover map based on the AVHRR-derived satellite data prepared by EROS-DC. A hierarchy of land cover maps was generated which will include at the coarsest level the IGBP classes and at the more refined level a map of ecosystem types, Olson's land cover and Seasonal Land Cover Regions. The value of the land cover map products is that they are generated in a consistent fashion for the entire region. We also developed data layers of ancillary data for global change and regional studies. Identification of sources of climate, soil, and DEM, data layers relative to current efforts of research groups to study land use and cover changes in the region we compiled. These data are now being prepared for viewing on our LUTEA homepage.

The land cover maps for the TEAL database were derived from the IGBP 1-km AVHRR data processes at the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota using procedures developed by Tom Loveland. A hierarchy of land cover maps will be generated which will include at the coarsest level the IGBP classes and at the more refined level a map of ecosystem types. The value of the land cover map products will be that they will be generated in a consistent fashion for the entire region.

The technique applied made use of the seasonal differences which various land cover types express over the course of a year. Seasonal Land Cover Regions (SLCR) are defined for different land cover types. The TEAL region consisted of over 200 SLCR classes. The analysis of these SLCR were compared to existing land cover maps based on more traditional methods of land cover mapping. These maps were provided by the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment. Use of other information related to topographic characteristics were also incorporated into the identification of SLCR. A reduction in the number of SLCR classes to approximately 150 was accomplished by aggregation of similar SLCR types within similar regions of the TEAL study area.

The classification of land cover types were grouped in three main categories, of croplands, grasslands, and forests. For each of these thematic groups, analysis of regional distribution of SLCR was conducted. The resulting set of products from the analysis includes the initial set of SLCR, aggregated land cover types (as in Figure 1a-c)., AOlson@ map translation, and the AIGBP@ land cover classes. The analysis here presents results from the aggregated land cover types.

The region of analysis comprises approximately 17.8 million square km, and cover the region from Japan to the Tibetan massif, and the eastern portion of Russia and the northern reaches of Southeast Asia. The primary study area of the LUTEA region is focussed in the temperate portion, however this analysis includes a broader geographical area. In this analysis we have created three set of maps to represent forest, grassland, and cropland land cover types for the region (Figure 1). In this larger geographical domain the land area represented by these classes are 29, 38, and 33 %, respectively, of the total land area represented. In general, forests are predominantly found in the northern and in the mountainous regions in the temperate and subtropical regions. Grasslands and sparsely vegetated regions are found in the more central portions of the region, with about two-thirds of the land area found in the high elevations of the Himalayas range and in the surrounding desert areas. Although about 10% of the total land area is still covered by grassland communities. The cropland areas are found in the flood plain areas in the south eastern portion of the study area. This area is characterized by ample water supply and rich soils in this floodplain region.

As for the forested region, evergreen coniferous forests are still prevalent in the mountain regions of Japan, Korea, Mongolia and China (Figure 1x). In the northern portion of the region Larch is an important component of the tree mix and contributes to the deciduous nature of the Siberian-like boreal forests. In the interior regions of China and Japan, there still exists areas of extensive deciduous broad-leaf forests. However, the dominant class of tree cover is characterized as a mixed evergreen-deciduous forest. This class accounts for approximately 60% of the forested areas and constitutes the boreal forested regions of northern Mongolia and Eastern Russia.

The grassland region has been broken down to true grasslands or steppes, alpine and montane grasslands (including meadows), forest-grassland mosaics, shrublands, and desert area with bare rock or sparsely vegetated regions (Figure 1xx). The sparsely vegetated areas and deserts constitute about 40% of the grassland area. This region is found predominantly in the extreme continental region of the Asian continent and are located in the high Himalayan mountains and the surrounding desert areas on its southern and eastern flanks. The harsh climate and low precipitation is not favorable for extensive expanses of grasslands. The true grasslands and steppe vegetation can be found in the Mongolian Plateau region of China and Mongolia. These steppe communities are very diverse and can attain fairly productive grasslands herbage, however the high variable rainfall and dry winters precludes any intensive use in cropping systems. Several attempts to convert these steppe and grassland systems into agriculture have faired poorly during the drought years.

The cropland area of this region have been grouped in the wheat and small grain areas accounting for about one-third of the cropland area, rice growing region accounting for about 25% of the cropped area, and the rest in a mixture of varied cropping systems (Figure 1xxx). The wheat and grain growing areas are found to occupy the northern region of the cropland cover types and in the central regions. These areas have cold winters and good growing season rainfall levels to maintain crop production. The rice growing areas are found in the rich floodplain regions and the coastal areas of the temperate and subtropical areas. Certain areas of the rice growing region can grow double cropped rice, and account for the high productivity of the rice growing region of Asia. The rest of the croplands are scattered throughout the TEA region and are found mixed with forested and grassland regions where topographic and climate characteristics preclude the complete conversion of land area to cropping. In these rich pockets of cropland, crop productivity can be quite high and provides a means for a diversity of land uses within a relatively small area. The mixture of land uses, challenges the use of remote sensing at the 1-km resolution, and continued effort will be needed to ascertain greater definition of land use in regions such as these.

The analysis conducted here as part of the LUTEA study, is only an initial step in refining the characteristics of land use and cover for this region. Ground truthing of the TEAL data base will continue, and applications will be developed making use of the data base for analysis and modeling studies. The effort to develop a consistent data base for the entire region will have many benefits in the future as cross-regional studies will further define the land cover relationships to human and physical factors.

This analysis provides critical information for a number of international projects which cut across a variety of scientific disciplines, including physical, ecological, social, and economic sciences. Field and modeling studies will also benefit from the development of the evaluation of the land cover characteristics for this region in order to better characterize the factors controlling ecosystem dynamics (i.e., soil C and fertility, plant composition and production, isotopic C composition of soils, land use, and vegetation) and evaluate the sensitivity of these ecosystems to changes in climate and land use are planned. A number of IGBP projects will be benefited by this analysis, primarily the START Temperate East Asia Regional Projects, IGBP Core Projects Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems, Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle, and IGBP-Data Information System, and especially the IGBP/HDP Core Project on Land Use/Cover Change.

Currently a number of funded projects are using the TEAL database to assist in their classification of land cover in the region. These projects include: Northern East China Transect, Chinese Ecological Research Network (CERN) Projects, IIASA study on Eurasian Steppe, Japanese Institute of Remote Sensing Project for ADEOS and various US funded activities funded by the NSF, NASA, USGS, and USDA. These international studies are underway or are in the planning stages, and will investigate changes in climate, biogeochemical, and social-economic systems due to changes in human activities in Temperate East Asia region and related to land use changes.

The project sponsored by a grant from NASA (NAGW-2662), USGS, START, and NSF Long-Term Ecological Studies Program (DEB-xxx). The completion of this phase of research could not have been completed without the total support of the EROS Data Center Land Cover group, especially Jesslyn Brown, Brad Reed and Limin Yang. Travel support for Anotoly Prishchepa was granted by funds secured by Raymond Herrmann of the USGS. In addition much thanks for the untiring efforts of scientists from the EDC, Colorado State University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment, Chiba University CERE, Arid lands Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences.

Plans for the second LUTEA workshop (March 2-5, 1998 in Beijing, China) are developing and approximately 50 scientists will be invited to the second LUTEA meeting. The scientific meeting will provide a forum for scientific exchange of results from the different research projects. The first two days of the meeting will be devoted to scientific presentations followed by a two day workshop to further develop research plans within the LUTEA network. The LUTEA scientific workshop will invite research groups to present results of their research efforts to date. This portion of the workshop will consist of oral presentations and poster sessions dealing with the different sectoral topics (i.e., pastoral, forest, agriculture, and urban- interface issues) identified in the LUTEA science prospectus. In addition to these sectoral presentations, we invite speakers to present material dealing with cross-cutting issues related to land use change studies. The meeting will be designed to encourage discussion among researchers and to compare results. The outcome of the meeting will be a synthesis volume of research findings from the various research teams.

We will organize the scientific presentations so that we will begin the meeting with introductory comments and overview of TEACOM and LUTEA science plans and then invite each research project to make a 30 minute presentation of key findings from their LUTEA related research. Additional material may be presented as a poster. The poster session will allow for additional interaction among scientists. We will finish the scientific exchange with presentations of new research techniques being developed relevant to land use and cover change studies. These presentations will deal with research tools such as linked model and remote sensing analysis, social-economic analysis linked to environmental changes, land use projection techniques, and integrated assessment tools.

The following two days will deal with further research developments in LUTEA. The workshop will focus on several themes which include remote sensing analysis of land use/land cover change, integrated model development for LUTEA, data base development for land use/cover analysis, etc. This portion of the meeting will last two days and recommendations will define working group activities for LUTEA.

We plan to hold a two week training workshop that will provide technological development regarding applications of toward database development for land use/cover change studies. We will provide training in ecosystem modeling, GIS, and remote sensing techniques for evaluation of land use and land cover dynamics. The two week workshop will be instructed by researchers involved in LUCC, GCTE, and LUTEA studies relevant to the region. We will use examples developed for the region and provide tutorials for researchers of the region.

The workshop will provide hands-on experience with ecosystem modeling using the Century, training in PC-ARC/INFO, and remote sensing applications. The workshop will also cover the methodology of coupling information between the analytical tools, and provide insight of how to best apply the various techniques to land use and cover studies.

The workshop will be held in Ulanbataar, Mongolia in collaboration with the Ministry of Nature and Environment and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. We will plan to hold this

Workshop June 1-13 1998: we will use as part of the instructional material the land cover analyzes and remote sensing coverage that will be developed this year (May 1997) of the temperate east Asia landcover (TEAL) database. Model analyzes will be generated for the workshop to cover current and potential changes in climate under different GCM outputs. The workshop will cover basic techniques and incorporate key concepts dealing with global change studies and land use/cover change studies. We will have room for approximately 15 to 20 participants for the workshop, 5 to 7 from Mongolia, 3 to 5 each from China, other Asian countries, and other regions. We plan to have 4 to 5 instructors from the US, Japan, China, and Mongolia.

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