Abstract

Vegetation is essential for the provision of ecosystem services. To ensure that ecosystem services are provided, urban planning must consider vegetation cover in both urban core areas and in peripheral areas. This study explored changes in vegetation cover in both urban core and peripheral areas (buffers of 5, 10 and 15 km from the urban core areas) and the relationships between these changes and urban development. To compare the differences in vegetation cover between the urban core and peripheral areas, we developed two vegetation indices, the vegetation influence strength index (VISI) and the vegetation restoration index (VRI), using normalized difference vegetation index datasets and nighttime stable light data from 50 cities in southern China. Using these two indices, we clustered the cities into four types based on their vegetation cover characteristics. The city types varied among the different regions of the study area and cities of the same type tended to occur together geographically. In addition, the two indices showed temporal changes during the study period: A downtrend from 1992 to 2000, an uptrend from 2000 to 2005, and stability from 2005 to 2013. Furthermore, in all cities, the range of the VISI was larger in the peripheral areas than in the urban core areas. However, the range of the VRI was smaller in the peripheral areas than in the urban core areas. As the distance to the urban core areas increased, the fluctuation range of both the VISI and VRI decreased, suggesting that there was less vegetation disturbance farther from the urban core areas. We also showed that changes in vegetation cover were related to differences in urbanization rates, gross domestic products, population densities, and stages of urban development among the cities. These results provide scientific support for urban planning and sustainable development in rapid urbanization areas.

Highlights

  • The urbanization process, which is a type of extreme anthropogenic landscape change, includes urban expansion, population growth and migration, and economic development; the process is accelerating worldwide [1]

  • The fluctuation ranges of both vegetation influence strength index (VISI) and vegetation restoration index (VRI) decreased with increasing buffer distance

  • The results of this study showed that vegetation cover change in the study area had obvious regional characteristics

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Summary

Introduction

The urbanization process, which is a type of extreme anthropogenic landscape change, includes urban expansion, population growth and migration, and economic development; the process is accelerating worldwide [1]. Urbanization has caused some environmental problems, such as the urban heat island effect and air and water pollution, which constitute significant threats to human health. Urban vegetation provides other crucial ecosystem services, including reducing noise [6], absorbing pollution [7,8], improving air quality [9], mitigating the urban heat island effect [10], and conserving soil and water. Plants can be affected during the processes of the initial habitat transformation or during landscape fragmentation [11]; as a result, the vegetation conditions in urban and peripheral areas are important indicators of urbanization pressure on biodiversity. Vegetation patches, which are included in urban planning and design, are expected to increase aesthetic value and provide recreational spaces in cities [12]

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