Vegetation Dynamic Assessment by NDVI and Field Observations for Sustainability of China’s Wulagai River Basin

Panpan Chen, Huamin Liu, Zongming Wang, Dehua Mao, Cunzhu Liang, Lu Wen, Zhiyong Li, Jinghui Zhang, Dongwei Liu, Yi Zhuo and Lixin Wang
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Panpan Chen: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Huamin Liu: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Zongming Wang: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Dehua Mao: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Cunzhu Liang: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Lu Wen: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Zhiyong Li: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Jinghui Zhang: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Dongwei Liu: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Yi Zhuo: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
Lixin Wang: College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Accurate monitoring of grassland vegetation dynamics is essential for ecosystem restoration and the implementation of integrated management policies. A lack of information on vegetation changes in the Wulagai River Basin restricts regional development. Therefore, in this study, we integrated remote sensing, meteorological, and field plant community survey data in order to characterize vegetation and ecosystem changes from 1997 to 2018. The residual trend (RESTREND) method was utilized to detect vegetation changes caused by human factors, as well as to evaluate the impact of the management of pastures. Our results reveal that the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of each examined ecosystem type showed an increasing trend, in which anthropogenic impact was the primary driving force of vegetation change. Our field survey confirmed that the meadow steppe ecosystem increased in species diversity and aboveground biomass; however, the typical steppe and riparian wet meadow ecosystems experienced species diversity and biomass degradation, therefore suggesting that an increase in NDVI may not directly reflect ecosystem improvement. Selecting an optimal indicator or indicator system is necessary in order to formulate reasonable grassland management policies for increasing the sustainability of grassland ecosystems.

Keywords: NDVI; vegetation dynamics; ecosystem communities; residual trend analysis; anthropogenic impacts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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