22-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, China

Karst area usually suffered from dry duo to its thin soil thickness, resulting in a sparse vegetation cover than other areas’, further ecological unbalance. This paper investigates the changes in vegetation cover over 22 years (2001–2022) for Guangxi, the largest karst area globally. With MOD13Q1 da...

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Main Authors: Guoqing Zhou, Xiao Zhou, Tianyi Song, Qusheng Li, Yuefeng Wang, Hongchao Fan, Yufu Cai, Haiyang Zhi, Yongju Geng, Ziqi Zhang, Ertao Gao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-08-01
Series:International Journal of Digital Earth
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2497097
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author Guoqing Zhou
Xiao Zhou
Tianyi Song
Qusheng Li
Yuefeng Wang
Hongchao Fan
Yufu Cai
Haiyang Zhi
Yongju Geng
Ziqi Zhang
Ertao Gao
author_facet Guoqing Zhou
Xiao Zhou
Tianyi Song
Qusheng Li
Yuefeng Wang
Hongchao Fan
Yufu Cai
Haiyang Zhi
Yongju Geng
Ziqi Zhang
Ertao Gao
author_sort Guoqing Zhou
collection DOAJ
description Karst area usually suffered from dry duo to its thin soil thickness, resulting in a sparse vegetation cover than other areas’, further ecological unbalance. This paper investigates the changes in vegetation cover over 22 years (2001–2022) for Guangxi, the largest karst area globally. With MOD13Q1 data products, Theil–Sen trend analysis and Mann–Kendall tests are combinedly applied to investigate the spatial–temporal variations of NDVI vs. human activities and climate change. A long-term observation to vegetation coverage dynamics has discovered: (1) The NDVI in Guangxi generally showed an upward trend, averaging an annual growth rate of 0.0074, particularly in 2012. Spatially, 94.44% of the areas showed an improvement trend, while only 3.08% experienced degradation. (2) Human activities and climate change positively impacted NDVI changes, with land-use transformations playing a crucial role. Temperature had a greater impact than precipitation. (3) Human activities were responsible for 72.7% of the NDVI changes, demonstrating that they were the main driving factor. These findings have sufficiently demonstrated that the effective environmental protection policy made by local government is correct and the insights for the mechanisms of influencing vegetation changes discovered in this paper can be used for local government’s policy-making.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 1753-8947
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language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series International Journal of Digital Earth
spelling doaj-art-f08b667e733944d3a804c051d1ac35eb2025-08-25T11:31:47ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552025-08-0118110.1080/17538947.2025.249709722-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, ChinaGuoqing Zhou0Xiao Zhou1Tianyi Song2Qusheng Li3Yuefeng Wang4Hongchao Fan5Yufu Cai6Haiyang Zhi7Yongju Geng8Ziqi Zhang9Ertao Gao10Guangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Institute of Natural Resources Remote Sensing, Nanning, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, NorwayGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, People’s Republic of ChinaKarst area usually suffered from dry duo to its thin soil thickness, resulting in a sparse vegetation cover than other areas’, further ecological unbalance. This paper investigates the changes in vegetation cover over 22 years (2001–2022) for Guangxi, the largest karst area globally. With MOD13Q1 data products, Theil–Sen trend analysis and Mann–Kendall tests are combinedly applied to investigate the spatial–temporal variations of NDVI vs. human activities and climate change. A long-term observation to vegetation coverage dynamics has discovered: (1) The NDVI in Guangxi generally showed an upward trend, averaging an annual growth rate of 0.0074, particularly in 2012. Spatially, 94.44% of the areas showed an improvement trend, while only 3.08% experienced degradation. (2) Human activities and climate change positively impacted NDVI changes, with land-use transformations playing a crucial role. Temperature had a greater impact than precipitation. (3) Human activities were responsible for 72.7% of the NDVI changes, demonstrating that they were the main driving factor. These findings have sufficiently demonstrated that the effective environmental protection policy made by local government is correct and the insights for the mechanisms of influencing vegetation changes discovered in this paper can be used for local government’s policy-making.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2497097VegetationNDVIhuman activitieskarstclimate change
spellingShingle Guoqing Zhou
Xiao Zhou
Tianyi Song
Qusheng Li
Yuefeng Wang
Hongchao Fan
Yufu Cai
Haiyang Zhi
Yongju Geng
Ziqi Zhang
Ertao Gao
22-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, China
International Journal of Digital Earth
Vegetation
NDVI
human activities
karst
climate change
title 22-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, China
title_full 22-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, China
title_fullStr 22-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, China
title_full_unstemmed 22-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, China
title_short 22-year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area: a case study in Guangxi, China
title_sort 22 year dynamic analysis of vegetation cover in karst area a case study in guangxi china
topic Vegetation
NDVI
human activities
karst
climate change
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2497097
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