Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (4): 623-635.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.04.11

• Plant Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatiotemporal change and analysis of factors driving forest-grass vegetation coverage in Hetao Irrigation District based on geographical detector

LI Xinlei1(),LI Ruiping1,2(),WANG Xiuqing3,WANG Sinan1,WANG Chengkun1   

  1. 1. College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    2. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Big Data Research and Application in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    3. Surveying, Mapping and Geographic Information Center of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot 010050, Inner Mongolia, China
  • Received:2022-05-24 Revised:2022-11-25 Online:2023-04-15 Published:2023-04-28

Abstract:

Based on the data on forest and grass vegetation coverage from 2000 to 2019, the spatiotemporal change of forest and grass vegetation in Hetao Irrigation District over 20 years was analyzed, and the influence of various factors driving forest and grass vegetation coverage was quantitatively analyzed using a geographical detector. The results showed the following: (1) The area of forest and grassland in Hetao Irrigation District showed a decreasing trend in the studied 20 years, with a decrease of 966.15 km2. The vegetation coverage level of forest and grassland showed an overall upward trend. The average annual vegetation coverage of forest and grassland was 28.3%. On the spatial scale, the vegetation coverage of forest and grassland in Hetao Irrigation District showed a spatial variation characteristic of decreasing from northeast to southwest. (2) In the studied 20 years, the centers of gravity of low forest and grass vegetation coverage and medium forest and grass vegetation coverage have mainly been located in the northeast of Yongji irrigation area and the southwest of Yichang irrigation area, respectively. The centers of gravity of forest and grass vegetation coverage at all levels show a decreasing trend from northeast to southwest, and all show a trend of migration to the southwest. The migration distance in each period was between 0.71 and 15.46 km. (3) Distance from water, groundwater depth, temperature, and precipitation are the dominant environmental factors affecting the forest and grass vegetation coverage in the region, with explanatory power of 0.427, 0.439, 0.318, and 0.368, respectively. The interaction between distance from water, groundwater depth, annual average precipitation, and other factors is generally higher, and the regional water content is the main driving force affecting the growth of forest and grassland in Hetao Irrigation District.

Key words: Hetao Irrigation District, vegetation coverage, spatiotemporal change, driving factor, geographical detector