Impacts of National Highway G214 on Vegetation in the Source Area of Yellow and Yangtze Rivers on the Southern Qinghai Plateau, West China

Xiaoying Jin; Jianjun Tang; Dongliang Luo; Qingfeng Wang; Ruixia He; Raul-D. Serban; Yan Li; Mihaela Serban; Xinze Li; Hongwei Wang; Xiaoying Li; Wenhui Wang; Qingbai Wu; Huijun Jin

doi:10.3390/rs15061547

Remote Sensing (Mar 2023)

Impacts of National Highway G214 on Vegetation in the Source Area of Yellow and Yangtze Rivers on the Southern Qinghai Plateau, West China

Xiaoying Jin,
Jianjun Tang,
Dongliang Luo,
Qingfeng Wang,
Ruixia He,
Raul-D. Serban,
Yan Li,
Mihaela Serban,
Xinze Li,
Hongwei Wang,
Xiaoying Li,
Wenhui Wang,
Qingbai Wu,
Huijun Jin

Affiliations

Xiaoying Jin: School of Civil Engineering, Permafrost Institute, Ministry of Education Observation and Research Station of Permafrost Geo-Environment System in Northeast China, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Jianjun Tang: School of Civil Engineering, Permafrost Institute, Ministry of Education Observation and Research Station of Permafrost Geo-Environment System in Northeast China, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Dongliang Luo: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Qingfeng Wang: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Ruixia He: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Raul-D. Serban: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yan Li: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Mihaela Serban: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xinze Li: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Hongwei Wang: School of Civil Engineering, Permafrost Institute, Ministry of Education Observation and Research Station of Permafrost Geo-Environment System in Northeast China, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Xiaoying Li: School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Wenhui Wang: School of Civil Engineering, Permafrost Institute, Ministry of Education Observation and Research Station of Permafrost Geo-Environment System in Northeast China, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Qingbai Wu: State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Huijun Jin: School of Civil Engineering, Permafrost Institute, Ministry of Education Observation and Research Station of Permafrost Geo-Environment System in Northeast China, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15061547
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 15, no. 6
p. 1547

Abstract

Read online

Engineering corridors on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau have substantially modified the regional ecosystem functions and environment, resulting in changes in the alpine ecosystem. In addition, the building and operation of these engineering corridors have led to rapid permafrost degradation, which in turn has impacted local vegetation along these corridors. This study investigated vegetation changes and their driving factors by the methods of coefficient of variation, correlation analysis, and GeoDetector in a 30 km wide buffer zone at each side along the National Highway G214 (G214) at the northern and southern flanks of the Bayan Har Mountains in part of the source area of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers on the southern Qinghai Plateau, West China. The following results were obtained: (1) The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index in Growing Season (NDVIgs) rose slightly in 2010–2019, with an average annual change rate of 0.006/a. Patterns of NDVIgs along the G214 exhibited “low at the northern flank and high at the southern flank of the Bayan Har Mountains”. (2) Spatially, average NDVIgs increased from the first buffer zone at the distance of 0–10 km from the highway centerline to the second buffer zone at 20–30 km perpendicularly away from the G214. Furthermore, the first buffer zone had the lowest coefficient of variation, possibly due to a low vegetation recovery as a result of the greatest influence of the G214 on NDVIgs at 0–10 km. (3) Furthermore, annual precipitation (AP) was the dominant factor for significantly (p gs (R = 0.75, p gs was more strongly influenced by the two combined factors than any single one, with the highest q-value (0.74) for the interactive influences of AP and annual average air temperature (AAAT) and followed by that of the AP and mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) at the depth of zero annual amplitude (15 m). Evidently, the construction and operation of the G214 have directly and indirectly affected vegetation through changing environmental variables, with significant impacts on NDVIgs extended at least 20 km outwards from the highway. This study helps better understand the environmental impacts along the engineering corridors in elevational permafrost regions at mid and low latitudes and their management.

Published in Remote Sensing

ISSN: 2072-4292 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords