Arid Zone Research ›› 2022, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (2): 510-521.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2022.02.19

• Plant and Plant Physiology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Dynamic changes and driving factors of vegetation cover in the oasis-desert ecotone: A case study of Cele, Xinjiang

CAO Yongxiang1(),MAO Donglei1,Xue Jie2,3(),SU Songling1,Kaimaierguli Abulaiti1,CAI Fuyan4   

  1. 1. College of Geography Science and Tourism, Xinjiang Normal University, Xinjiang Laboratory of Lake Environment and Resources in Arid Zone, Urumqi 830054, Xinjiang, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
    3. Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystem in Xinjiang, Cele 848300, Xinjiang, China
    4. College of Application Engineering, Urumqi Vocational University, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2021-08-17 Revised:2021-12-13 Online:2022-03-15 Published:2022-03-30
  • Contact: Jie Xue E-mail:1298668601@qq.com;xuejie11@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Abstract:

The oasis-desert ecotone is an ecological buffer zone between the oasis and desert ecosystems,playing an important ecological role in maintaining oasis stability, preventing wind, and fixing sand. Based on Landsat remote sensing image data taken from 1993 to 2017, and meteorological and socioeconomic data, we used the normalized vegetation index (NDVI), the pixel dichotomy model, and the principal component analysis method to investigate long-term vegetation changes and their driving factors in small-scale regions. The results show that (1) the average annual NDVI of the Cele oasis-desert ecotone has been increasing yearly in the last 25 years. The high-value area of the NDVI is mainly distributed in the southeast, whereas the low-value area is mainly distributed in the west and northwest of study area; (2) the annual mean fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) was 0.23, and the FVC in 1993, 1998, 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2017 were 0.20, 0.18, 0.19, 0.23, 0.27, and 0.28, respectively, indicating that vegetation coverage has continuously improved; (3) regional vegetation coverage was mainly medium and low, accounting for 30.73% and 21.47% of the total area of the study area, respectively. Low, high, higher, and very low vegetation coverage accounted for 21.48%, 20.39%, 20.12%, and 7.26% of the total study area, respectively. The areas with improved vegetation coverage were relatively small and mainly concentrated in the middle and southeast of the Cele River basin, whereas the distribution of other vegetation cover types was scattered; and (4) on the interannual timescale, human activities are the dominant factor affecting vegetation change in the oasis-desert ecotone, and vegetation is more sensitive to precipitation than to air temperature. Artificially forested land, cultivated land, populated areas, and shelter belt areas accounted for 0.850, 0.810, 0.853, and 0.779 of the first principal component, respectively. Atmospheric relative humidity, precipitation, and livestock inventory accounted for 0.845, 0.753, and -0.608 of the second principal component, respectively, but air temperature accounted for 0.883 of the third principal component. This study provides a theoretical basis to further understand vegetation change, the analysis of influencing factors, and vegetation conservation and restoration in the oasis-desert ecotone.

Key words: normalized difference vegetation index, vegetation coverage, oasis-desert ecotone, influencing factors, principal component analysis