Effects of Climate and Land Use changes on Vegetation Dynamics in the Yangtze River Delta, China Based on Abrupt Change Analysis

Lei Wan, Huiyu Liu, Haibo Gong and Yujia Ren
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Lei Wan: Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Huiyu Liu: Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Haibo Gong: Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Yujia Ren: Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Vegetation dynamics is thought to be affected by climate and land use changes. However, how the effects vary after abrupt vegetation changes remains unclear. Based on the Mann-Kendall trend and abrupt change analysis, we monitored vegetation dynamics and its abrupt change in the Yangtze River delta during 1982–2016. With the correlation analysis, we revealed the relationship of vegetation dynamics with climate changes (temperature and precipitation) pixel-by-pixel and then with land use changes analysis we studied the effects of land use changes (unchanged or changed land use) on their relationship. Results showed that: (1) the Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI) during growing season that is represented as GSN (growing season NDVI) showed an overall increasing trend and had an abrupt change in 2000. After then, the area percentages with decreasing GSN trend increased in cropland and built-up land, mainly located in the eastern, while those with increasing GSN trend increased in woodland and grassland, mainly located in the southern. Changed land use, except the land conversions from/to built-up land, is more favor for vegetation greening than unchanged land use (2) after abrupt change, the significant positive correlation between precipitation and GSN increased in all unchanged land use types, especially for woodland and grassland (natural land use) and changed land use except built-up land conversion. Meanwhile, the insignificant positive correlation between temperature and GSN increased in woodland, while decreased in the cropland and built-up land in the northwest (3) after abrupt change, precipitation became more important and favor, especially for natural land use. However, temperature became less important and favor for all land use types, especially for built-up land. This research indicates that abrupt change analysis will help to effectively monitor vegetation trend and to accurately assess the relationship of vegetation dynamics with climate and land use changes.

Keywords: climate change; land use change; NDVI; Yangtze River Delta; abrupt change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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