Vulnerability Identification and Analysis of Contributors to Desertification in Inner Mongolia

Abstract

Desertification vulnerability and contributing factors are of global concern. This study analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution of net primary productivity (NPP), precipitation, and temperature from 1985 to 2015. The rain use efficiency (RUE) of vegetation was selected as an indicator; and desertification vulnerability and contributors were evaluated with the Mann−Kendall test (M−K test) and the Thornthwaite−Memorial model. The results showed that NPP was lower in that years that had lower precipitation and higher temperatures, and vice versa. NPP was spatially consistent with precipitation distribution and roughly opposite to the spatial distribution of the annual change rate of temperature. The desertification vulnerability decreased from west to east, among which both the western sub−region (WSR) and the central sub−region (CSR) had the largest proportion of regions with high desertification vulnerability. On the other hand, the eastern sub−region (ESR) mostly comprises areas with extremely low or low desertification vulnerability. The vulnerability contributors for desertification differed among each sub−region. The desertified regions in WSR and ESR were mainly influenced by human activity (HA), but primarily driven by the combined impact of Precipitation−Temperature (PT) and HA in CSR. The south−east part of the CSR was only affected by HA, whereas the lesser affected regions in the study area were affected by PT and HA simultaneously. The study provides recommendations for the improvement of regional ecological environments to prevent future disasters.