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Simple Summary: Human activities have been found to be the major factor driving the changes in terrestrial ecosystems. However, large uncertainties remain in assessing the impact of human activities on terrestrial ecosystems. In consequence, we established a quantitative indicator based on terrestrial potential and actual net primary productivity (NPP), as well as the forage harvest NPP, to better reveal the spatiotemporal changes of grassland ecosystems in response to human activities in eastern Inner Mongolia, and to further explore the relationship between human activities and grassland degradation in typical ecologically fragile areas. The quantitative indicator showed that NPP loss induced by human activities is weakening in the study area, and a positive relationship between human activities and grassland degradation was found. The results of this study will provide a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the grassland degradation influenced by human activities, and a method reference for similar research. Global enhanced human activities have deeply influenced grassland ecosystems. Quantifying the impact of human activities on grasslands is crucial to understanding the grassland dynamic change mechanism, such as grassland degradation, and to establishing ecosystem protection measures. In this study, potential net primary productivity (PNPP), actual NPP (ANPP), and the forage harvest NPP (HNPP) were employed to establish the human activities index (HAI) to reveal the spatiotemporal changes of the effects of human activities on grassland ecosystems in eastern Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2017, and to further explore the relationship between human activities and grassland degradation. The results showed that the total average PNPP, ANPP, and HNPP of grasslands in eastern Inner Mongolia were 187.2 Tg C yr−1, 152.3 Tg C yr−1, and 8.9 Tg C yr−1, respectively, during the period of 2000 to 2017. The HAI exhibited a clear decreasing trend during the study period, with annual mean values ranging from 0.75 to 0.47, which indicates that the NPP loss induced by human activities is weakening, and this trend is dominated by the difference between potential NPP and actual NPP. About 42.4% of the study area was non-degraded grassland, and the declining grassland degradation index (GDI) indicated that the degradation grade in eastern Inner Mongolia improved from moderate to light degradation. A positive relationship was found between HAI and GDI. This relationship was more significant in Xilingol League, which is a typical ecologically fragile area, than that in Xing'an League and Hulunbuir City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassland aboveground biomass is crucial for evaluating grassland desertification, degradation, and grassland and livestock balance. Given the lack of understanding of mechanical processes and limited simulation accuracy for grassland aboveground biomass estimation, especially at the regional scale, this study investigates a new method combining remote sensing data assimilation technology and a grassland process-based model to estimate regional grassland biomass, focusing on improving the simulation accuracy by modeling and revealing the mechanism interpretability of grassland growth processes. Xilinhot City of Inner Mongolia was used as the study area. The ModVege model was selected as the grass dynamic simulation model. A likelihood function was constructed composed of the LAI, grassland aboveground biomass, and daily measurements wherein the accumulated temperature reached ST2 (the temperature sum defining the end of reproductive growth). Then, the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methodology was adapted to calibrate the ModVege model by maximizing the likelihood function. The time-series LAI from MOD15A3H was assimilated into the ModVege model, and the model parameters ST2 and BMGV0 (initial biomass and green vegetative tissues, respectively) were optimized at a 500 m pixel scale based on the four-dimensional variational method (4DVar) method. Compared with August 15th, the RMSE and MAPE of aboveground biomass were 242 kg/ha and 10%, respectively, after calibration. Data assimilation improved this accuracy, with the RMSE decreasing to 214 kg/ha. Overall, the aboveground grassland biomass of Xilinhot City shows spatial distribution patterns of high value in the northeast and low value in the central and southeast areas. Generally, the method implemented in this study provides an important reference for the aboveground biomass estimation of regional grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of heat and moderate precipitation are the primary factors that are used by grasslands to trigger a green-up date. The accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD) requirement over the preseason is an important indicator of the response of grassland spring phenology to climate change. This study adopted the Normalized Difference Phenology Index (NDPI), which derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), to extract annual green-up dates in the Hulun Buir grassland in China between 2001–2015. Our analysis indicated that the range (standard deviation) and trend for the green-up date were DOY (day of year) 104 to DOY 144 (10.6 days) and −2.0 days per decade. Nine point two percent of the study area had significant (p < 0.05) changes in AGDD requirements. The partial correlations between the AGDD requirements and chilling days (67.04%, pixels proportion) were negative and significant (p < 0.05). The partial correlations between the AGDD requirement and precipitation (28.87%) were positive and significant (p < 0.05). Finally, the partial correlation between the AGDD requirement and insolation (97.65%) were positive and significant (p < 0.05). The results of this study could reveal the response of vegetation to climate warming and contribute to improving the phenological mechanism model of different grassland types in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]