Abstract
Vegetation is one of the most important components of the terrestrial ecosystem and, thus, monitoring the spatial and temporal dynamics of vegetation has become the key to exploring the basic process of the terrestrial ecosystem. Vegetation change studies have focused on the relationship between climatic factors and vegetation dynamics. However, correlations among the climatic factors always disturb the results. In addition, the impact of anthropogenic activities on vegetation dynamics was indeterminate. Here, vegetation dynamics in 14 provinces in Eastern China over a 10-year period was quantified to determine the driving mechanisms relating to climate and anthropogenic factors using partial correlation analysis. The results showed that from 1999 to 2008, the vegetation density increased in the whole, with spatial variations. The vegetation improvement was concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, with the vegetation degradation concentrated in the other developed areas, such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and the Pearl River Delta. The annual NDVI changes were mainly driven by temperature in Northeast China and the Pearl River Delta, and by precipitation in the Bohai Rim; while in the Yangtze River Delta, the driving forces of temperature and precipitation almost equaled each other. Furthermore, the impact of anthropogenic activities on vegetation dynamics had accumulative effects in the time series, and had a phase effect on the vegetation change trend.
Highlights
Vegetation plays an important role in the mineral and energy cycle at a global level, adjusting the global carbon balance, decreasing the trend of rising greenhouse gas levels, such as carbon dioxide, as well as maintaining the global climate [1]
The main findings were as follows: (i) during the study period, the general density of vegetation increased in Eastern China, and there were large spatial variations in the linear trends of vegetation dynamics
The vegetation improvement was concentrated in Yangtze River Delta and the vegetation degradation was concentrated in the other developed areas, such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Pearl River Delta; (ii) climatic factors, such as temperature and precipitation, influenced the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) change, and the impact showed distinct spatial variation
Summary
Vegetation plays an important role in the mineral and energy cycle at a global level, adjusting the global carbon balance, decreasing the trend of rising greenhouse gas levels, such as carbon dioxide, as well as maintaining the global climate [1]. Monitoring vegetation dynamics effectively and accurately is the key to imitating the dynamics of the terrestrial ecosystem [2,3]. In other studies of global change, scientists have highlighted the close relationship among vegetation change, climate change, and anthropogenic activities [4]. Vegetation patterns and their changes are driven by natural and anthropogenic factors [5]. Both natural and artificial vegetation grow under the influence of climatic factors, such as temperature and precipitation. Vegetation change reflects climate change and anthropogenic interference. Most studies focus on the relation between vegetation dynamics and climate, as well as the relation between vegetation dynamics and anthropogenic activities [6,7,8,9,10]
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