AUTHOR=Yang Mingxin , Chen Ang , Zhang Min , Gu Qiang , Wang Yanhe , Guo Jian , Yang Dong , Zhao Yun , Huang Qingdongzhi , Ma Leichao , Yang Xiuchun TITLE=Relationship between plant species diversity and aboveground biomass in alpine grasslands on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: Spatial patterns and the factors driving them JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution VOLUME=11 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1138884 DOI=10.3389/fevo.2023.1138884 ISSN=2296-701X ABSTRACT=
Alpine grasslands are important ecosystems on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and are extremely sensitive to climate change. However, the spatial responses of plant species diversity and biomass in alpine grasslands to environmental factors under the background of global climate change have not been thoroughly characterized. In this study, a random forest model was constructed using grassland ground monitoring data with satellite remote sensing data and environmental variables to characterize the plant species diversity and aboveground biomass of grasslands in the Three-River Headwaters Region within the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and analyze spatial variation in the relationship between the plant species diversity and aboveground biomass and their driving factors. The results show that (1) the selection of characteristic variables can effectively improve the accuracy of random forest models. The stepwise regression variable selection method was the most effective approach, with an