Title: Regularity and causes of grassland variations in China over the past 30 years using remote sensing data
Abstract: Grasslands, one of the most widespread land cover types in China, are of great importance to natural environmental protection and socio-economic development. However, grasslands are facing threats of gradual decline; therefore, an accurate quantitative study of dynamics of grasslands on a national scale may provide significantly theoretical relevance for an understanding of natural resources conditions in China. We used moderate-to-high resolution remotely sensed data and applied an index and method of spatio-temporal analysis to reveal the regularity of spatio-temporal variations in the grasslands from 1980s to 2010. We further applied the dynamic matrix to examine the cause of variations. The results indicated that the grassland area is continuing to decline. What’s more, the reduction rate exhibited an upward trend in near years from 2008 to 2010. Sixty per cent of the reduction distributed in northern and western China; however, the significance of the grassland reduction in eastern China was obviously higher. The main reason for grassland loss is the reclamation of cropland; however, a policy that returns cropland to grassland has effectively slowed the rate of gradual decline in the total grassland area. In addition, there is a high level of consistency between the variation trends of grasslands and relevant national policies.
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-02-03
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 7
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