Prediction and Evaluation of the Ecological Impact of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Author: Shen Weishou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The newly constructed Qinghai-Tibet Railway crosses the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is the highest-altitude and most fragile ecological environment in the world, and is also one of the least disturbed regions by human activities. Due to the harsh natural conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, such as its high altitude, coldness, aridity, and low oxygen levels, the alpine ecosystem on the plateau is highly unique, fragile, and extremely sensitive to human disturbances. The construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will inevitably cause certain impacts on the alpine ecosystems along the route. The extent of these impacts and whether the alpine ecosystems can recover after being damaged and disturbed are issues of great concern to the world. This book is part of the author's work on the environmental impact assessment and research of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the newly constructed Qinghai-Tibet Railway project and the ecological, social, and economic conditions along the route. The second chapter provides a detailed description of the alpine vegetation along the newly constructed Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Tanggula Pass to Lhasa, including its species composition, dominant species, common associate species, floristic components, and main resource plants. Using a comparative investigation method, the natural recovery of alpine vegetation after the disturbance caused by the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project is predicted by investigating the recovery of alpine vegetation after the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. The third chapter, through the compilation of alpine ecosystem type maps and the calculation of ecosystem vulnerability along the newly constructed Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Tanggula Pass to Lhasa, employs geographic information system (GIS) technology. Based on engineering design data, various engineering activities are overlaid onto the ecosystem type maps to calculate the impact scope and area of these activities on the ecosystems along the route, as well as the evaluation index of the impact of the construction project on the ecosystems and biodiversity along the route. This quantitative analysis and evaluation assess the impact methods and extent of the railway construction on the alpine ecosystems along the route, and proposes countermeasures to mitigate the impact of the construction on ecosystems. The fourth chapter employs remote sensing (RS) and GIS technology to analyze the changes in landscape indices at different scales before and after the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Tanggula Pass to Lhasa, assessing the impact of the railway construction on the landscape pattern. Combined with the visual management system of the newly constructed Qinghai-Tibet Railway along the route, the potential impact of the railway construction project on the plateau landscape is quantitatively analyzed and evaluated. The fifth chapter, based on field investigations and analysis, compiles a soil erosion shape map within a 50 km range along the newly constructed Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Tanggula Pass to Lhasa. Through the analysis of soil erosion patterns along the railway route and the impact of construction activities on soil erosion, the changes in soil erosion types and intensity during the construction period, as well as the potential total soil erosion caused by the project, are predicted. Based on this, the potential hazards of soil erosion caused by the project are analyzed.