Theories and practice of the comprehensive regionalization of natural resources at a long time scale: A case study of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Comprehensive regionalization of natural resources is the basis of unified management and utilization of natural resources, and its dynamic change is an important scientific basis for the sustainable utilization of natural resources. Due to the high altitude and cold climate of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the largest glacier remains are distributed here except the Polar Regions. The extreme environment and climate have a great impact on the distribution of natural resources. With remote sensing and geographic information system technology, the authors in this paper have selected 14 indicators including glacier snow cover, and used the K-means clustering algorithm to cluster the comprehensive index of natural resources to determine the regionalization range. By using the combination of "top-down" deduction method and "bottom-up" induction method, the division grade was determined. Besides, the comprehensive division of natural resources in the study area was established to discuss the dynamic division changes of the comprehensive division of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 1990 to 2018 and analyze the dynamic change characteristics and spatial differences of natural resources. The research results could help researchers to clearly understand the relationship and evolution trend of natural resources in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and provide a case for the interdisciplinary application of regionalization.