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Arid Land Geography ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (5): 841-849.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2023.489

• Biology and Pedology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Change trend of vegetation cover and its response to soil moisture status in Weihe River Basin

HUANG Yunbo(), ZHANG Chong(), WANG Yudan   

  1. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Monitoring and Mechanism Modeling, School of Geographic & Environmerntal Sciences, Baoji University of Arts and Sciences, Baoji 721000, Shannxi, China
  • Received:2023-09-07 Revised:2023-10-19 Online:2024-05-25 Published:2024-05-30
  • Contact: ZHANG Chong E-mail:h200o1@163.com;zhangch3348@126.com

Abstract:

With the rapid global climate change and the swift urban development in the Weihe River Basin, the vegetation ecosystem in this region faces numerous challenges. Investigating the spatiotemporal changes in vegetation and their response to soil moisture conditions is crucial. Utilizing normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) data from MODIS for the years 2001 to 2020, this study inverted the soil moisture conditions in the Weihe River Basin, northwest China. Through linear regression, residual analysis, and contribution analysis, we thoroughly examined the spatiotemporal characteristics of vegetation cover during the growing seasons and the driving factors and contributions to soil moisture conditions from 2001 to 2020. The results indicate: (1) During the period from 2001 to 2020, the overall trend of the growing season NDVI mean values in the Weihe River Basin exhibited a fluctuating increase, with an average trend rate of 0.47×10-2·a-1. The vegetation showed a recovery trend. However, during the years 2012 to 2016, the growing season NDVI mean values experienced a declining trend, attributed to the inhibitory effect of human activities. (2) The impact of soil moisture conditions and human activities on the growing season NDVI in the Weihe River Basin diverged significantly. The influence of soil moisture conditions primarily exhibited a relatively weak and slow growth effect, while the impact of human activities was mainly characterized by promoting vegetation recovery. (3) The contributions of soil moisture conditions and human activities to the changes on the growing season NDVI mean values in the Weihe River Basin were mainly concentrated in the same direction. Negative contributions, accounting for 19.77%, were solely attributed to soil moisture conditions. On the other hand, positive contributions, indicating higher influence, primarily originated from human activities. This suggests that human activities are the primary driving force behind vegetation cover changes in the Weihe River Basin. (4) The overall vegetation in the Weihe River Basin is influenced by a dual promotion from both soil moisture conditions and human activities. Inhibitory effects are primarily concentrated in the agricultural ecological zone of the Fenwei Basin, which corresponds to a high contribution rate from human activities in the same direction. This suggests that current human activities are the main factor inhibiting the growth of vegetation cover. This study can provide a more accurate scientific basis for ecological conservation and sustainable development in the Weihe River Basin.

Key words: vegetation change, soil moisture status, human activities, vegetation cover, residual analysis, Weihe River Basin