Where Anthropogenic Activity Occurs, Anthropogenic Activity Dominates Vegetation Net Primary Productivity Change

• Published in: Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-03, Vol.14 (5), p.1092
• Main Authors: Xie, Conghui, Wu, Shixin, Zhuang, Qingwei, Zhang, Zihui, Hou, Guanyu, Luo, Geping, Hu, Zengyun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural land; anthropogenic activities; Anthropogenic factors; Arable land; Arid zones; Chlorophyll; Climate change; Ecosystems; Environmental impact; Human influences; Land cover; Land use; Mountains; Net Primary Productivity; Photosynthesis; Precipitation; Productivity; Radiation; Remote sensing; spatiotemporal patterns; Structure-function relationships; Variation; Vegetation; vegetation photosynthesis model
• ISSN: 2072-4292; 2072-4292
• DOI: 10.3390/rs14051092

Anthropogenic activities and climate change affect the type, structure and function of ecosystems, resulting in important changes in vegetation net primary productivity (NPP). Therefore, in this study we used the vegetation photosynthesis model (VPM) to reveal the spatiotemporal variations in NPP in Xinjiang from 2000 to 2019. The impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on NPP changes were quantified and separated by the residual analysis-control variables (RES-CON) method. The results showed that the average NPP in Xinjiang increased by 17.77% from 2000 to 2019. Anthropogenic activities and climate change generally had a positive impact on NPP from 2000 to 2019. The most important anthropogenic activity was land use and land cover (LULC) transformation from grass to arable land, which significantly increased vegetation productivity. Regarding climate change, precipitation has played a significant role in promoting the productivity of vegetation. Overall, the average contribution of climate change (temperature and precipitation) to NPP variation (21.44%) is much greater than the contribution of anthropogenic activities (3.46%), but in areas where anthropogenic activities occur, the average contribution of anthropogenic activities to NPP variation (75.01%) is much greater than the average contribution of climate change (15.53%). Where there are no anthropogenic activities, the average contribution of climate change to NPP variation is 21.72%. In summary, anthropogenic activities are the main driver of NPP variation in areas where anthropogenic activities occur, while the total area in Xinjiang where climate change is the most important driver is larger than the total area where anthropogenic activities are the dominant driver.