The Compound Effects of Highway Reconstruction and Climate Change on Vegetation Activity over the Qinghai Tibet Plateau: The G318 Highway as a Case Study

Abstract

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) is among one of the most sensitive regions to global environmental change worldwide. Although climate change and engineering construction on the QTP have jointly modified the regional vegetation activity, little is known about how this affects the vegetation variation. Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data from 2000–2021, this study investigated the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation activity and the compound effects of climate change and reconstruction along the Tibetan section of the G318 national highway (TG318) through a novel contribution quantification model and partial correlation analysis, as well as through a structural equation model (SEM). The results showed that the mean growing-season EVI increased significantly at a rate of about 0.0020/year in the western side of the TG318 after reconstruction but fluctuated in the east. Reconstruction generally had a significant effect on the mean growing-season EVI, with contributions of 7.67%, 19.12%, 18.24%, and −4.15% in different sections of the TG318, whereas climate change contributed from −10.14% to 8.84% of the total variation. The mean growing-season EVI negatively correlated with snow cover and minimum temperature in humid and sub-humid regions, whereas it was positively related with vapor pressure in semi-arid regions. Moreover, there existed an obvious lag effect of climate change on the mean growing-season EVI, with lag time generally decreasing from west to east and apparent heterogeneity among different months and regions. These findings will help better understand the environmental impacts along the engineering corridors and provide a scientific basis for ecological conservation in the QTP regions.