Evaluate the spatio-temporal changes of vegetation and human activities in China’s Wulingyuan Natural World Heritage Site

Abstract

The Wulingyuan area, in Zhangjiajie, China, is a world natural heritage site famous for quartz sand and rock peak landscape. The assessment of vegetation dynamics and human activities are conducive to protecting the heritage value and to formulating sustainable development plans. Here, we use long-term MODIS data to quantify the spatiotemporal changes of vegetation and the response to environmental variables through three NDVI processing methods. We also analyze human activities and policy changes. The results indicated the following. (i) The vegetation in Wu has been in good condition on average for the past 18 years, with a high vegetation index and high vegetation productivity. (ii) The vegetation in Wu and each subarea shows an overall improvement trend, 71.00% (60.03%, 46.80%), and shows an increase in AM-NDVI (SG-NDVI and STI). Spatially, the vegetation increase area is mainly located in the buffer area, and a very small vegetation decrease area is in the development region. (iii) There are correlations between vegetation and temperature and precipitation, but neither of them passed the significance test. (iv)To comply with the World Heritage Convention, establishing national scenic areas and supplementing woodland protection planning may be the key policies having a positive effect on the vegetation change.