Deciphering Aeolian Landscape Dynamics: Vegetation Recovery and Dune Stabilization under Climatic and Human Influences

Dryland aeolian landscapes are among the most vulnerable ecosystems under accelerating climate shift and land-use changes, where complex interactions between vegetation, soils, and landforms play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem resilience and services. This study integrates remote sensing, field surveys, and numerical modeling to explore the coevolution of vegetation and aeolian landforms over the past four decades in East Asia’s arid regions, with a particular focus on the feedback mechanisms driving landscape stability in the arid zones under climatic and human forcing.
Analyses of aeolian landforms and climate systems in northern China reveal that declining wind speeds, associated with global terrestrial stilling, have significantly slowed dune migration rates over the past few decades, while widespread vegetation recovery has stabilized dune fields and mitigated desertification. Restoration practices, such as straw checkerboards, have accelerated vegetation recovery, increasing biodiversity and stabilizing soils, though soil fertility remains low compared to natural systems. Dust activity, an integral component of aeolian systems, have been suppressed in these areas, largely due to both climatic shifts and these large-scale restoration projects. Finally, high-resolution satellite images and field observations highlight how vegetation expansion modifies dune morphology through processes such as vegetation anchoring and sand transport alteration, leading to transitions from active to stabilized states. Conceptual models of vegetated dune morphodynamics provide insights into the role of vegetation-soil-landform feedbacks in shaping the arid landscapes.
This study emphasizes the interconnectedness of climate systems, vegetation dynamics, soil properties, and aeolian processes in maintaining ecosystem resilience and restoring ecosystem services. By linking dune morphologies and vegetation dynamics to thresholds of stability and nonlinear responses to climatic and anthropogenic pressures, the findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how dryland ecosystems adapt and evolve. These insights support more effective strategies for soil conservation, landform stabilization, and the restoration of ecosystem functions in the face of ongoing climate and land-use changes.