Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (2): 326-336.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.02.16

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles    

Detecting the change and trend of remote sensing ecological quality in Inner Mongolia from 1990-2021: A case study of Chenbarhu Banner of Hulunbuir City

ZHANG Yusi1,2(),BAO Yuhai1,2(),HE Zhonghua3   

  1. 1. School of Geographical Sciences, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, Inner Mongolia, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hohhot 010022, Inner Mongolia, China
    3. Zhejiang Climate Center, Hangzhou 310056, Zhejiang, China
  • Received:2022-05-28 Revised:2022-11-24 Online:2023-02-15 Published:2023-03-08

Abstract:

The ecological civilization construction in Inner Mongolia, an important ecological barrier in northern China, is important for national ecological security, the stability of the border areas, and the sustainable economic and societal development of the minority areas. In this study, we extracted four key indices based on long-term satellite observations to describe the quality of the ecosystem. We constructed the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) through principal component analysis. Furthermore, we adopted the Mann-Kendall (M-K) trend test for analyzing the changes in ecological quality in the Hulunbuir grassland of Inner Mongolia from 1990 to 2021. The RSEI can comprehensively reflect the quality of the ecological environment, and results revealed that the quality of grassland in Inner Mongolia has improved in the past 30 years, with an increasing trend of 0.0037 every year (P < 0.01; R2 = 0.39). The significant increasing trend of RSEI and the improved ecological quality from 2012 to 2021 was further verified through the M-K trend significance test. A single factor cannot fully characterize regional ecological quality so, four factors i.e., greenness, dryness, humidity, and heat were included in RSEI. The space quality showed a gradual improvement from west to east, with lower RSEI for grassland in the west compared with that for forest and farming areas in the east. A similar trend for quality was observed with the variation of the vegetation coverage. This study enriched the assessment methods of grassland ecological quality in Inner Mongolia, which can provide an important reference for the ecological protection, restoration, utilization, and sustainable development of meadow steppe in Inner Mongolia.

Key words: Hulunbuir grassland, Chenbarhu Banner, RSEI, Landsat, spatiotemporal analysis