Spatio-temporal Changes and Attribution of Vegetation in the Jungar Banner of Inner Mongolia During 2010 to 2022

Abstract

Abstract Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an important feature of the ecosystem, which reflects the ecological degeneration and restoration in the semi-arid areas. In this study, the spatio-temporal FVC changes were quantitatively evaluated from 2010 to 2022 in Jungar Banner of Inner Mongolia, China. Theil-Sen slope estimator and Mann-Kendall algorithm were used to monitor the spatio-temporal change trend of the FVC. Then, Hurst exponent and Theil-Sen Slope were integrated to evaluate the consistency of FVC change and predict its spatiotemporal evolution trend. Finally, we used correlation analysis to determine the association between FVC and other factors, such as terrain, temperature and precipitation. These results demonstrated that the condition of FVC in the Jungar Banner is good which was predominated by medium-low and medium FVC. The area with increasing FVC was little smaller than that with decreased FVC, but the decreased area was mainly dominated by no significant decrease. However, the Kubuqi Dessert, Yellow River, Loess plateau and mining areas accounted for the majority of the degraded areas. At present, the 42.7% of Jungar Banner appeared improved in the FVC, while the 57.3% appeared the degradation in the FVC, but the area of degradation was mainly slightly degraded in the future. In addition, the terrain and mining activity in Jungar Banner had a significant impact on the spatio-temporal distribution of FVC. This work will provide basic data and information for the future ecological development of Jungar Banner.