Impacts of climate change and ecological restoration programs on
vegetation activity dynamic in the Mu Us Desert, China
Abstract
As an important component of terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation is a
commonly used indicator to evaluate climate change and ecological
restoration efforts. In the farming-pastoral zone in China, the Mu Us
Desert is a typical area utilizing desertification control methods where
vegetation cover has significantly changed. However, few studies have
considered vegetation changes due to multiple factors in this region. In
this study we investigated spatiotemporal variations in vegetation cover
in the Mu Us Desert (including 11 counties) from 2000 to 2019 using
Normal Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series data. Our results
indicate that NDVI during the growing season (May to October) across the
whole region increased by 0.0058 per year during the 20-year study
period. Correlation analysis between NDVI and climatic factors indicated
that precipitation, temperature and relative humidity had a significant
positive correlation, and mean wind speed and sunshine hours had a
significant negative correlation across the study area (except for mean
wind speed in Shenmu and Yuyang). Climatic and ecological restoration
had a 44% and 61% effect on NDVI change in the study region,
respectively, indicating that the ecological restoration program played
a dominant role in driving NDVI in the majority of counties in the Mu Us
Desert from 2000 to 2019. Findings from our study may help to reveal the
dynamics of the ecological environment, providing valuable information
for decision making concerning vegetation resources management and
further ecological restoration measures in other similar desert areas.