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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (13): 66-74.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb17010105

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Change of Vegetation Coverage in Shiyang River Basin 2000-2014

Han Tao, Wang Dawei   

  1. (Northwest Regional Climate Center, Lanzhou 730020)
  • Received:2017-01-19 Revised:2017-03-17 Accepted:2017-03-20 Online:2017-05-16 Published:2017-05-16

Abstract: Vegetation coverage is an important indicator to measure vegetation growing and evaluate the regional ecosystem health, It is of great significance to study the temporal and spatial changes of vegetation coverage in the Shiyang River Basin for the environmental changes of terrestrial ecosystems research in inland arid areas of China. Based on the EOS/MODIS satellite data and the analysis of landscape ecological spatial distribution patterns, the evolution of spatial distribution and pattern of vegetation in the Shiyang River Basin during the period from 2000 to 2014 were analyzed by the change of vegetation coverage area and the trend of type conversion. The results showed that the low coverage vegetation in the Shiyang River Basin was mainly vegetation coverage type from 2000 to 2014, the very low vegetation coverage’ fluctuation was the most intense and the mid-high vegetation coverage’ fluctuation was the least. The Shiyang River Basin vegetation ecological degradation process appeared four times in 2001, 2004, 2009 and 2013. Vegetation coverage in four land cover types showed an increasing trend in inter-annual variation, ecological restoration of farmland vegetation was evident, ecological restoration of unused land was relatively slow. The ecological quality of the Shiyang River Basin had been restoring in the recent 15 years. The area transfer paths and the amplitudes of all the vegetation cover grades were similar between the early stages(2000-2009) and late stages(2005-2014), and the ecological restoration degree of late stages was more severe than the early one. The change of vegetation cover was concentrated in the areas with more human activities. Ecological changes of vegetation were mainly stable and slight recovery. Among several land cover types, the spatial change of farmland vegetation coverage was the largest. The spatial distribution and unequal use of water resources were the main factors leading to the uneven spatial distribution of vegetation cover change. The ecological restoration in the middle reaches plain area was better,the ecological degradation significantly in Minqin oasis after 2010.