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

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 5; p. 2528
• Main Authors: Chen, Panpan, Liu, Huamin, Wang, Zongming, Mao, Dehua, Liang, Cunzhu, Wen, Lu, Li, Zhiyong, Zhang, Jinghui, Liu, Dongwei, Zhuo, Yi, Wang, Lixin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04-03-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Algorithms; Anthropogenic factors; Biodegradation; Biomass; China; Climate change; Datasets; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Environmental changes; Environmental degradation; Environmental Monitoring; Grassland; Grassland management; Grasslands; Human factors; Human influences; Humans; Land degradation; Meadows; Normalized difference vegetative index; Pasture; Pasture management; Plant communities; Polls & surveys; Precipitation; Regional development; Regional planning; Regions; Remote sensing; River basin development; River basins; River ecology; Rivers; Satellites; Species diversity; Strategic management; Sustainability; Trends; Vegetation; Vegetation changes; China; Tibet; West Africa; residual trend analysis; anthropogenic impacts; ecosystem communities; vegetation dynamics; NDVI
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18052528

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.