Three decades of oasis transition and its driving factors of Turpan-Hami
Basin in Xinjiang, China: a complex network approach
Abstract
Oasis, as a predominant and distinctive resource in arid regions, plays
an important role in maintaining land stability, human production and
living activities. The research on oasis transition dynamics and driving
factors owns vital significance in supporting arid regions sustainable
development. As a typical mountain-desert-oasis landscape, Turpan-Hami
(Tuha) Basin in Xinjiang of China, exhibits sophisticated interactions
among different land types. In this study, we inspected the
spatio-temporal patterns and transition processes of the oasis using a
complex network during 1990 and 2020 in Tuha Basin. In the oasis
transition network, degree value, betweenness centrality, and average
path length were calculated to express the transition relationship, key
oasis type, and oasis structural stability, corresponding. Six factors
were selected to investigate the driving forces for oasis transition
behind climate change and human activities. Our results showed that the
oasis area of Tuha Basin, including natural oasis and artificial oasis,
all grew from 1990 to 2020, with the natural oasis expanding more than
the artificial oasis. The transitions between oasis types became more
frequent as the number of the nodes increased throughout the study
period. Grassland acted as the most important oasis type in the network
with the highest betweenness centrality, but its importance declined due
to the increasing complexity in the oasis transition network from 1990
to 2020. The transitions between oasis types became simpler and the
oasis structural stability were increasingly unstable. Through the
driving analysis, the oasis changes showed positive correlation with
temperature ( P-value < 0.05, r = 0.88), and
urbanization and industrialization factors prompted the transitions of
built-up and cropland from grassland and shrubland. Totally, preventing
the degraded grassland and excessive reclamation of land cover,
protecting the shrubland and water resources are suggested in this study
to conduct a harmonious symbiotic relationship between natural
environment and human activities, and promote the oasis sustainable
development.