Influence of Anthropogenic Activities and Major Natural Factors on Vegetation Changes in Global Alpine Regions

Yuxin Zhang, Juying Sun, Yafeng Lu and Xueqian Song
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Yuxin Zhang: School of Management, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu 610225, China
Juying Sun: State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, College of Water Resource and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Yafeng Lu: Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
Xueqian Song: School of Management, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu 610225, China

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-11

Abstract: Understanding vegetation changes and their driving forces in global alpine areas is critical in the context of climate change. We aimed to reveal the changing trend in global alpine vegetation from 1981 to 2015 using the least squares regression method and Mann-Kendall (MK) test. The area-of-influence dominated by anthropogenic activity and natural factors was determined in an area with significant vegetation change by residual analysis; the primary driving force of vegetation change in the area-of-influence dominated by natural factors was identified using the partial correlation method. The results showed that (1) the vegetation in the global alpine area exhibited a browning trend from 1981 to 2015 on the annual scale; however, a greening trend was observed from May to July on the month scale. (2) The influence of natural factors was greater than that of anthropogenic activities, and the positive impact of natural factors was greater than the negative impact. (3) Among the factors that were often considered as the main natural factors, the contribution of albedo to significant changes in vegetation were greater than that of temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, and sunshine duration. This study provides a scientific basis for the protection of vegetation and sustainable development in alpine regions.

Keywords: global change; normalized difference vegetation index; alpine vegetation; anthropogenic activity; climate change; natural factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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