This is a common practice to use imagery classification method to assess vegetation changes. The accuracy of
classification of remote sensing data affects objective assessment of changes, but high accurate classification is difficult
to obtain through the use of low spatial resolution and visual interpretation techniques. Once classified, these land use
and land cover maps need to be validated to assess how accurate they are using field in-situ survey data. Validation with
in-situ data, however, is quite labor intensive and sometimes economically impossible. Therefore, a simple and easy
way of estimating classification accuracy of a low spatial resolution map is a still difficult problem. In this paper, we use
high spatial resolution data to validate the classification maps derived from low resolution data. Using NOAA AVHRR
images and Landsat-TM over the same area acquired in the same year, we developed a method to validate vegetation
classification maps from the NOAA image with classification maps derived from high resolution TM images. Once
scaled to the same spatial resolution, TM-image derived maps were compared with those from NOAA AVHRR
classification data. The results suggested that over two separate areas that we compared; the accuracies of classification
images were 0.804 and 0.793, respectively, suggesting that the classification accuracy is nearly as high as 80% from the
NOAA AVHRR images. The method presented here is very useful in assessing accuracies of classification maps
derived from coarse resolution images such as those from AVHRR data.
In this article, the analytic hierarchy process was used to make evaluation on ecological security in Xinjiang, China , we
have calculated the degree of environmental subsystem, social subsystem, economic subsystem and total system of
ecological security system in Xinjiang from 1988 to 2010. We have analyzed warning and controlling ecological
security of Xinjiang in short-medium range(2004-2010). By using sensitivity factors that influence ecological security
system of Xinjiang, which includes environmental subsystem, social subsystem, economic subsystem and total system.
The main conclusions as follows: From 2004 to 2010,the ecological security situations of environmental subsystem are
rising and economic subsystems are obviously ascendant in Xinjiang; According to the contributions of these three
subsystem, the list is successively: Environmental subsystem >Social subsystem >Economic subsystem; proved that the
ecological environment structure of Xinjiang is very fragile and unstable from holistic standard of ecological security
and quantity.
In this article, the factor analysis models were used to make evaluations on ecological security in Xinjiang, China, and
establishing the ecological security evaluation indicators system to assess the ecological security during 1988-2003 in
Xinjiang, ranking the factors that affect Xinjiang's ecological security. At the same time, according to the size of
comprehensive factors value that affect the ecological security, Xinjiang's ecological security during 1988-2003 was
sequenced. The main conclusions as follows: during 1988-2003, Xinjiang ecological security situation had been steadily
improving as a whole, and the ecological security was in a better-toward trend, but with the existence of local indicators,
local area being deteriorated.
There are many means to monitor the Land Use and Land Cover Change (LUCC) in time. Phase difference Image, is
one of these means that is often used. By using gaps images to analyze the changes, errors in result images happen
easily by accident. Another disadvantage of Phase difference Image is not adequately using the time-serial images. The
pixel at the same position in time-serial images will structure a sequence change of points, this sequence include
information of LUCC, and it is important to describe the change process of those points for understanding the change of
Land Cover. In this paper, we use Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) images that were derived from NOAA/AVHRR
time series data from 1982 to 2000 and time (year) is the independent variable. Every pixel is an attributive variable,
using the regress method to analyze the change of vegetaion cover in Westen China. Meanwhile, we discuss the results
and significance of the F-test and t-test for this regression. Through the above work: 1) the result of the regression
method for time series data is more stabilizing than Phase Difference Image; 2) Regression method can be used to
forecast the change of vegetation and Phase difference image can not; 3) By the regression image, we can find that the
increase of vegetation cover is close relationship with old oasis, and that human activities is obviously one of the most
important factors contributing to the change of vegetation cover in the arid lands in Westen China. In Qaidam High
Basin, there are few signs of human habitation, the vegetation cover decreased, indicating the environment has degraded
in this area.
Increasing populations and economics intensify the urban growth and cropland encroachment in Beijing metropolitan area. In this paper we investigated the effects of recent urban sprawl (1991-2001) in Beijing metropolitan region, People's Republic of China on ecosystem net primary production (NPP). The analysis employed a mechanistic model of NPP in combination with satellite-derived and ecological data. Our analysis shows that urban growth in the 10-year study period significantly altered the urban ecosystem component of the regional carbon cycle. The annual amount of atmospheric carbon assimilated into phytomass through NPP was reduced by approximately 50.71×104 Mg C (-15.08%). More than half of this reduction is attributed to the loss of cultivated land. Vegetation removal and road disturbance by the expansion of urban areas reduced the amount of carbon uptake.
Urban sprawl has sparked a new debate over land-use policy in Beijing metropolitan area in China during past three decades. Increasing populations and economics intensify the urban growth and cropland encroachment. The metropolitan area has gone through a rapid urban growth and transformation from rural to developed land over a short period of time and provided an excellent study area for this study. Using historical land use maps and a spatially explicit dynamic cellular automata urban sprawl model we present applications of a spatially explicit model of land use change. The use of the results for environmental assessments is illustrated by calculating spatial indices to assess the impact of land use change on forest fragmentation. It is concluded that spatially explicit modeling of land use change yields important information for environmental management and land use planning. We quantify the urban sprawl and model the spatial landscape pattern change in Beijing metropolitan area, China. These results constitute a foundation for spatial and ecosystem models to predict long-term environmental impacts of land use change in China.
We studied changes in the oasis-desert ecosystems of Akesu Oasis in Xingjiang, China. We used the ‘frontier theory’ of landscape ecology to analyze changes from 1990 to 2000. The results show that considerable landscape changes occurred during that time as a result of changes in both natural and social-economic factors. However, the influence of socioeconomic factors predominated.
Since we started the National Key Project of Fundamental Research (China), “The research on eco-environmental evolution, control and adjustment for arid land in Western China,” four years ago we have made a number of important progresses. These progresses include many research fields: the palaeoclimate rebuilding and environmental change; the development process and driving forces of oases; the water-salt balance and main hydrology processes of oases; the oasis ecosystem’s structure, ecological process and stability; the coupling mechanism of three major ecosystems of mountain, oasis, and desert; the ecological landscape patterns’ evolution and its responses climate change; the ecological environmental effects of large industrial (construction) projects; the cause and spatial-temporal distribution of desertification; the establishment of experimental demonstration bases of ecological recovery and rebuilding; and adjustment and control of ecosystem and management models.
KEYWORDS: Ecosystems, Vegetation, Carbon, Process modeling, Data modeling, Ecology, Geographic information systems, Satellites, Climatology, Near infrared
This study was conducted to develop an appropriate assessment technique to define impact of mountain-desert-oasis ecosystem on net primary productivity (NPP) in northern foothills of Tianshan Mountains. Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to estimate land use/land cover of the mountain, desert and oasis zones. An ecological process model was used to estimate NPP by using data entirely derived from satellite. The results show that landscape heterogeneity was important factor to affect NPP values in mountain-desert-oasis ecosystem. Simulated results indicated a total annual NPP of 1.5081×1014 g C for selected transect in 2002. There was 32.67% of total NPP which came from oasis areas, 28.16% from alpine meadows areas, 9.15% from forests area. Mean NPP values over the selected transect was 150.29 g C m-2 year-1 in 2002. However, NPP values varied greatly with different geography and season.
Heat, precipitation and humidity affect vegetation types and their distribution. However, their degree of effects is highly spatial and temporal dependent. When we study the major factors which affect vegetation cover, we need define a specific region and a time period. In order to study land cover and vegetation change in Xinjiang and to probe its driving force from 1992 to 2000, we analyzed sensitivity of land-cover to climate change using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) with multi-temporal NOAA/AVHRR NDVI images. Major factors we considered in this study were temperature, precipitation, humidity and their long-term and seasonal impacts on land cover and vegetation change. Results provided different sensitive levels as following: bare lands, partially vegetated lands, agriculture uses and water bodies. Concerning meteorological parameters impact we found in eastern Xinjiang humidity was more important than temperature and precipitation, in southern Xinjiang precipitation had more impact than temperature and humidity, and in both northern Xinjiang and Ili area temperature was more important than precipitation and humidity.
Soil samples collected from vegetation zone of Fukang oasis in South Junggar Basin were analyzed. The soil samples were air-dried and their PH values, electrical conductivity and total salts were analyzed in the laboratory. Soil samples were weighted and mixed with distilled water by a ratio of 1:5 after stirred and settled over night. Moisture content of soil was measured by the dry-method, PH value was measured by SM-10 digital acidity-meter, and electrical conductivity was measured by weight-method. The PH value, electrical conductivity and total salts of soil were measured from 0-10cm, 10-30cm and 30-50cm vertically. The study uses SAS software to analyze the statistical characteristic of the moisture content, electrical conductivity and total salts of the soil samples. The results show that soil properties are inhomogeneous. From the surface to below 50cm, moisture content and electrical conductivity increase successively, the change of PH value is not significant. The soil is alkalescence. In most circumstances, the data of moisture content, PH value and electrical conductivity are normally distributed. But, in the procession, soil properties influenced by systematic variance of soil properties deviated for normal distribution with various degrees. Soil moisture content, PH value and electrical conductivity do not satisfy simple linear relation at the vegetation zone of Fukang oasis. Using the method of trend surface analysis, the polynomial relation of variances (P<0.01) was obtained and found that moisture content is higher related with electrical conductivity at different depths, but the correlation between moisture content and PH value, and the correlation between PH value and electrical conductivity change with different environment factors.
NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) values range from -1.0 to +1.0, areas with NDVI < 0 rarely contain any vegetation, while NDVI >0.6, vegetation cover reaches 100%. The FVC (Fractional Vegetation Cover) values range from 0 to +1.0. Above this threshold the fractional vegetation cover increases approximately as the square of the NDVI, and reaches 100% at an upper NDVI threshold, which is considerably less than 1.0. In arid and semi-arid regions, FVC is superior to NDVI. In this article we got the classification rules by using the resolution 1km FVC combining with DEM (Digital Elevation Model) to classify the vegetation types in arid parts of western China. This classification system was used to classify all FVC images of the resolution 8km*8km from 1982a to 2000a, in this way, we got the classification maps of vegetation for every year. From these classification maps we calculated three majority maps from 1982-1989a, 1990-1995a and 1996-2000a. Supported by software ARC/INFO allowed us to decided wheter cells were degraded or improved after comparing every cell value at same location in three serial maps and then getting the evolution map of vegetation. The main results are as follows: 1) the vegetation in all of arid west China has increased; 2) the vegetation was increased and the rate is higher than in all study area; cells showing improvement in mountainous areas are almost equal to cells showing degradation3) there were two types of improvement patches; the oasis patch increases around old oases and the plain sparse desert patch has also increased; 4) degradation patches appear more frequently in the lower reaches of the Tarim River, in all reaches of Cherchen River, the Jungger basin and to the south of Alxa Right County of Inner Mongolia; 5) in mountainous areas, most of the improvement cells took place in the south of the Tianshan mountains and Pamir high plain, degradation cells are located on the slope of the north Kunlun mountains as a long narrow region and big patch assembled in the Aljin Mountains and the north slope of the Qilian Mountains.
We used Landsat TM imagery and GIS to quantify the rates and patterns of landscape change of two different oasis ecosystems transects --- Fukang oasis and Yutian oasis in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, P. R. China. Human dimension is a major disturbance agent throughout the area and desert-oasis ecotone is also important. Maximum likelihood classification of satellite imagery identified landscape class types and changes among the landscape mosaics in two transects. Rate and pattern of the spatial and temporal of landscape change in two oases agricultural landscapes were detected at class and landscape level. The resulting landscape changes have a multitude of consequences; for agricultural production, landscape aesthetics, recreational and amenity values of the landscape, and for biodiversity.
Results show that further intensification of the intensively managed landscape has led to an increasingly homogeneous, large-scale landscape featuring fewer boundaries. In contrast, reduced management in the oasis-farm system has resulted in an increasingly heterogeneous, small-scale landscape. The main pattern and key factors of dynamic changes of oasis-desert heterogeneity with frequent human’s activities especially land use were discussed. Because land use changes are triggered by socioeconomic forces in two oases, a through comprehension of historical change will enhance our capability to predict future landscape dynamics and devise effective landscape management strategies.
This paper attempts to solve the doubt that whether climate factors motion could lead to the variation of water area across the Tarim Basin on decadal scale. NOAA/AVHRR NDVI digital images and monthly climate data of 25 standard stations were used from 1992 to 2001 in Tarim Basin. Relationships between water area and climate factors were analyzed in temporal and geographic variation. The result shows that the general tendency of the variation of water area is not sensitive to climate factors, which confirms that typical arid climate and irrigating agriculture affect the variation of water area across the Tarim Basin on decadal time scale, and short-term climate factors do not affect it significantly.
This article is about wilderness vegetation zone at Fukang oasis. We studied the time and space stability of vegetation community of wilderness vegetation zone at Fukang oasis, by regular researching materials of vegetation in the sample zone, inspecting the succession process and spatial distribution law of plant in the wilderness vegetation zone and using the improved method of contribution law, which was discovered and led into ecology study in the industry manufacture by French ecologist M. Godron, and in the process spread this method to the study of the spatial stability of community of vegetation. Firstly, we calculated all kinds of numbers and these kinds of cover degree on the vegetation community, and corresponded every kind of percentage on the vegetation accumulation and every accumulated relative cover degree, and drew scatter diagram on graph paper, and connected every spot by smooth curve. We connected a straight line between the two points on the coordinate axis,(all coordinate value equal 100) and the node of straight line, and curve is the point we calculated. According to this method, the kind of percentage accumulation and accumulated relative cover degree will be more stability when the ratio is trend to 20/80, which is the stability ratio of community. The researching result verified that stability of different plant community is different at wilderness vegetation zone of Oasis from the space. The community stability of wilderness vegetation of plant at Fukang Oasis is influenced by three factors such as species contest, environmental pressure and interference activity, even if the stability of the same edificator appears bigger difference.
Desertification outside the oasis and salinization inside are the main factors threatening the survival of oasis. The severity and extend of desertification and salinization depend on the spatial and temporal dynamics of soil water and salt concentration. A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of soil water and salt concentration on oasis stability near Fukang City, XinJiang, P. R. China. The dynamics of water resources for the region was analyzed
using data from 1988 to 1998. Soil water content and salinity, ground water table and salt EC were investigated for months of May to September in 2000 and 2001. Changes of land use in the region were examined from 1987 to 1998 and causes of the changes were explored. There was no salinity difference among oasis, ecotone and sand
dune. Ecotone was stable in terms of area and boundary because of the irrigation in the oasis supplied critical water needs for vegetation to the two adjacent systems. There were large salinity differences among oasis, abandoned land and desert grassland. For regions of abandoned land and peripheral desert of oasis, salinization
had become a serious problem due to the salt accumulation on the soil surface and root zone from evaporated irrigation water. Because of the same reason, abandoned land increased dramatically from 1987 to 1998 in the lower reaches of Sangonghe River, especially inside of new oasis. Land salinization and second salinization were the major factors that threaten the survival of the oasis. Sound and effective plans for water use with proper irrigation and drainage systems are needed in order to minimize salinization effect and protect stable oasis.
In this paper, the author make up a way of dividing whole remote sensing image into sub images to classify the type of vegetation. There are different types of vegetation in different geographic unit. So according to geographical region feature in a remote sensing image, the whole image is divided to several sub images, the types of vegetation in a sub image is less than in a whole image. Types of vegetation in a region graphic is easy to be showed, the threshold of classifying has a wide scope, with the assistance of Digital Elevation model (DEM) and slope maps, classification accurateness was improved. This way was applied in Xinjiang north, we hold NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) image as data resource, dividing whole research area into four regions: Altai grassland region, West Zungaer region, Zhaosu region and East Tianshan region. Different classifying standard was used in different region, and then using GIS software together four regions into a whole classified image. Because this method was grounded on knowledge, the classification result of vegetation in Xinjiang north was improved to 89.33%.
Based on aerial images the GIS technique supported by ARC/INFO software was used to analyze the oasis-desert landscape heterogeneity and its dynamics of Fukang transect with spatial scale change, using landscape structural indices to reveal and compare the structural characteristics of oasis-desert landscape heterogeneity, which was useful to study the dynamics process of landscape heterogeneity through time from different aspect in arid area, which was useful to study the dynamics process of landscape heterogeneity. The results show that oasis-desert landscape in studied area was controlled by the combination of environment heterogeneity, human dimension and activities, and natural vegetation succession. The mutation, contrast and heterogeneity of ecological interface between oasis and desert ecosystem increased. Rare natural or non-regional mosaic of patch show obvious sensitivity to spatial scale, the change ratios of theirs area and perimeter are greater than large patch. With the disturbance of moderate scale more small patchiness combines into more large patchiness. But more patchiness of mosaic will vanish with violent disturbances or isolations of scales. At the same time it has proved that the analysis of landscape heterogeneity is quite effective research means in ecology to measure and quantify the relationship, interaction and response between the structure and function, patterns and processes of oasis-desert ecosystem.
Fractional vegetation cover data (FVC) based on the annual maximum NOAA/AVHRR NDVI (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer normalized difference vegetation index) data and the ground meteorological data have been used to analyze the relationship between the temporal and spatial evolution of ecological landscape pattern and climate change in Xinjiang autonomous region, China from 1982 to 1993. It is found that during this period, the averaged oasis cropland or low-damp forest-shrub meadow occupies 7.50% of the whole region, desert dune/barren desert 25.70%; temperate semi-arbor desert 21.70%; temperate shrub and semi-shrub desert 8.36%; alpine subalpine desert steppe 7.71%; temperature gramineous and ruderal steppe 7.63%; mountain forest steppe 2.13%; high-cold barren 8.93%; high-cold low semi-shrub desert 9.08%; water/ice 1.26%. Compared with the 30-year (1961-1990) climatology, the 12-year averaged annual surface air temperature and precipitation does not incur over the mountain region; instead it occurs over the region with a concentrated distribution of oases, suggesting the positive role of oases in adjusting regional climate. The area of temporal steppe also increases with the increase of precipitation and temperature. Together, these results demonstrate that, during the 12-year period, the condition of vegetation cover has been improved and large-scale desertification does not occur in Xinjiang.
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