Abstract
The frequency and amplitude of water level fluctuations were major driving forces for wetland vegetation evolution in the Poyang Lake Deltas. This study examined changes in wetland vegetation evolution of two deltas, namely Ganjiang Main-branch Delta wetland (GMD) and Ganjiang Southern-branch Delta wetland (GSD), in autumns from 1973 to 2009. Wetland vegetation evolution monitoring using Landsat remotely sensed imageries was related to changes in hydrology stemming including the annual peak, lowest water levels and number of flooded days at four characteristic water levels (10, 13, 15 and 17 m) from natural climatic variations. Results showed that the annual peak water level of GMD (Xingzi station) decreased by 5.78 m and the annual lowest water level decreased by 2.27 m; while the annual peak water level of GSD (Tangyin station) decreased by 6.41 m and the annual lowest water level decreased by 2.53 m. The number of flooded days at water levels 15 and 17 m indicated a consistent trend while flooded days at water levels 10 and 13 m were significantly different. Vegetation coverage of both deltas showed trends of increasing and expanded fan-shaped towards the middle of the lake area. The annual peak and lowest water levels had negative correlation with the vegetation coverage areas for both deltas. The flooded days at water level 13 m had the greatest effect on the vegetation coverage area at GMD; while the flooded days at water level 17 m had the greatest effect on the vegetation coverage area at GSD.
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