TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL CHANGES OF VEGETATION COVER AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH PRECIPITATION IN JINGHE WATERSHED OF CHINA

doi:10.3773/j.issn.1005-264x.2009.02.002

Abstract

Abstract:

Aim Vegetation and environmental degeneration from global change and intensive human activities are among the most serious problems on the Loess Plateau of China. Our objective was to study the trend in vegetation cover and its relationship with dominant environmental factors to provide a basis for ecological restoration and regional assessment on the Loess Plateau.

Methods We analyzed the temporal and spatial changes of vegetation cover and its relationship with rainfall in the Jinghe Watershed using the GIMMS-NDVI time series data and rainfall data for 1982-2003.

Important findings Annual NDVI slightly increased during the study period and varied spatially. Vegetation cover increased 69.2%, of which the 16.61% of the study area in the middle-west and lower reach of the watershed had a significant increase of vegetation cover. NDVI strongly decreased in the upper reach and the surrounding area, which accounts for 1.65% the whole watershed.NDVI was highly correlated with precipitation, and annual NDVI and annual rainfall had logarithmic distributions. There was a one-month lag of monthly NDVIafter rainfall in the growing season. Rain use efficiency (RUE) decreased during the study period, which indicated lack of improvement of the land situation. Our finding that RUE decreased with increased precipitation contrasts with previous research.

Key words: vegetation coverage, NDVI, precipitation, rainfall use efficiency (RUE), Jinghe Watershed

QI Qing, WANG Tian-Ming, KOU Xiao-Jun, GE Jian-Ping. TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL CHANGES OF VEGETATION COVER AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH PRECIPITATION IN JINGHE WATERSHED OF CHINA[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2009, 33(2): 246-253.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3773/j.issn.1005-264x.2009.02.002

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2009/V33/I2/246

Figures/Tables 9

Fig. 1 The distribution of sub-watersheds of Jinghe River watershed

Fig. 2 Annual variation of NDVI during the period of 1982 and 2003 in Jinghe watershed

Fig. 3 Inter-annual trend image of NDVI and significant test of trend in Jinghe watershed

Fig. 4 Variations of monthly cumulative NDVI

Fig. 5 Annual variation of rainfall in Jinghe watershed

Fig. 6 Relationship of annual NDVI and rainfall

Table 1 Correlation coefficients of monthly NDVI with precipitation from April to November

	4月 April	5月 May	6月 June	7月 July	8月 August	9月 September	10月 October	11月 November
当月降水 Contemporaneous precipitation	0.29	0.29	0.16	0.27	0.33	0.25	0.12	0.06
上月降水 Precipitation in previous month	0.15	0.29	0.37	0.504^*	0.474^*	0.571^**	0.09	-0.02
2月前降水 Precipitation in previous 2 months	0.03	0.15	0.37	0.35	0.05	0.18	0.35	0.02

Fig. 7 Annual variations of rain use efficiency (RUE) during the period of 1982 and 2003

Fig. 8 Relationship of rain use efficiency (RUE) and annual rainfall

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