Abstract
To prevent potentially unsuitable activities during vegetation restoration, it is important to examine the impact of historical restoration activities on the target ecological system to inform future restoration policies. Taking the Loess Plateau of China as an example, a regionalization method and corresponding scheme were proposed to select suitable vegetation types (forested lands, woody grasslands/bushlands, grasslands, or xerophytic shrublands and semi-shrublands) for a given location using remote sensing technology in order to analyze the vegetation growth status before and after the largest ecological conservation project in the country: The Grain for Green Program (GTGP). To design the scheme, remote sensing data covering the periods before and after the implementation of the GTGP (the 1980s and 2001–2013) were collected, along with soil, meteorological, and topographic data. The net primary production (NPP) values for 2001–2013 were calculated using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model. Locations representing the native vegetation and the restored vegetation were first recognized using maps of vegetation cover. Then, for the restored vegetation area, the places suitable for planting the covered vegetation type were selected by comparing the NPP value of the corresponding vegetation type in the native vegetation area to the NPP value in the site under consideration. Third, half of these sites were uniformly selected based on their NPP value, and these areas and the native vegetation area were used as training regions. Based on weather, soil, and topographic data, a new regionalization scheme was designed using standardized Euclidean distances. Finally, data from the remainder of the Loess Plateau were used to validate the new regionalization scheme, which was also compared to an existing Chinese eco-geographical regionalization scheme. The results showed that the new regionalization scheme performed well, with an average potential classification accuracy of 81.81%. Compared with the eco-geographical regionalization scheme, the new scheme exhibited improved the consistency of vegetation dynamics, reflecting the potential to better guide vegetation restoration activities on the Loess Plateau.
Highlights
The Loess Plateau is located in the arid and semi-arid region of northwestern China, which was a critical area for ancient Chinese civilization
The net primary productivity (NPP) values on the Loess Plateau generally decrease from the southeast to the northwest
By comparing the different restoration vegetation types used in the Liudaogou catchment in the northern part of Yulin City, Li et al [37] suggested that secondary natural grassland restoration through the establishment of artificial grassland might be best for ameliorating the soil structure
Summary
The Loess Plateau is located in the arid and semi-arid region of northwestern China, which was a critical area for ancient Chinese civilization. To reduce soil erosion and restore ecosystem health, many ecological restoration projects have been performed by the Chinese government over the past few decades, and China’s Grain for Green Program (GTGP) is an outstanding example of these national ecological restoration programs. It started in 1999 and is the largest ecological restoration program in a developing country [4]. Increasing drought and excessive soil erosion have been reported in many places on the Loess Plateau [5,9]. Strategies that help make decisions about whether to re-vegetate, and if so, how to do it and which species to use, are highly needed
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