Remote Sensing of Pasture Degradation in the Highlands of the Kyrgyz Republic: Finer-Scale Analysis Reveals Complicating Factors

Abstract

Degradation in the highland pastures of the Kyrgyz Republic, a small country in Central Asia, has been reported in several studies relying on coarse spatial resolution imagery, primarily MODIS. We used the results of land surface phenology modeling at higher spatial resolution to characterize spatial and temporal patterns of phenometrics indicative of the seasonal peak in herbaceous vegetation. In particular, we explored whether proximity to villages was associated with substantial decreases in the seasonal peak values. We found that terrain features—elevation and aspect—modulated the strength of the influence of village proximity on the phenometrics. Moreover, using contrasting hotter/drier and cooler/wetter years, we discovered that the growing season weather can interact with aspect to attenuate the negative influences of dry conditions on seasonal peak values. As these multiple contingent and interactive factors that shape the land surface phenology of the highland pastures may be blurred and obscured in coarser spatial resolution imagery, we discuss some limitations with prior and recent studies of pasture degradation.