Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern China
Grasslands are crucial ecosystem biomes for breeding livestock and combatting climate change. By 2018, the national nature reserves (NNRs) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) had constituted 8.55% of the land area. However, there is still a knowledge gap about their effectiveness in grass...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/7/1760 |
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| author | Siqing Zhao Xiang Zhao Jiacheng Zhao Naijing Liu Mengmeng Sun Baohui Mu Na Sun Yinkun Guo |
| author_facet | Siqing Zhao Xiang Zhao Jiacheng Zhao Naijing Liu Mengmeng Sun Baohui Mu Na Sun Yinkun Guo |
| author_sort | Siqing Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Grasslands are crucial ecosystem biomes for breeding livestock and combatting climate change. By 2018, the national nature reserves (NNRs) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) had constituted 8.55% of the land area. However, there is still a knowledge gap about their effectiveness in grasslands. Based on a multiyear time series of the growing season composite from 2000 to 2020, we proposed an effectiveness score to assess the effectiveness of the NNRs, using the 250 m MOD13Q1 NDVI data with Theil–Sen and Mann–Kendall trend analysis methods. We found the following: 22 of 30 NNRs were deemed effective in protecting the Inner Mongolian grasslands. The NNRs increased pixels with a sustainable trend 19.26% and 20.55% higher than the unprotected areas and the IMAR, respectively. The pixels with a CV<sub>NDVI</sub> < 0.1 (i.e., NDVI coefficient of variation) in the NNRs increased >35.22% more than those in the unprotected areas and the IMAR. The NDVI changes within the NNRs showed that 63.64% of NNRs had a more significant trend of greening than before the change point, which suggests a general greening in NNRs. We also found that the NNRs achieved heterogeneous effectiveness scores across protection types. Forest ecology protection and wildlife animal protection types are the most efficient, whereas wildlife vegetation protection is the least effective type. This study enriches the understanding of grassland conservation and sheds light on the future direction of the sustainable management of NNRs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:27:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-773a2142e2654de9bc87d15238bab684 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:27:37Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-773a2142e2654de9bc87d15238bab6842023-11-30T23:58:36ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-04-01147176010.3390/rs14071760Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern ChinaSiqing Zhao0Xiang Zhao1Jiacheng Zhao2Naijing Liu3Mengmeng Sun4Baohui Mu5Na Sun6Yinkun Guo7State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Aerospace Information Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Geospatial Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaGrasslands are crucial ecosystem biomes for breeding livestock and combatting climate change. By 2018, the national nature reserves (NNRs) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) had constituted 8.55% of the land area. However, there is still a knowledge gap about their effectiveness in grasslands. Based on a multiyear time series of the growing season composite from 2000 to 2020, we proposed an effectiveness score to assess the effectiveness of the NNRs, using the 250 m MOD13Q1 NDVI data with Theil–Sen and Mann–Kendall trend analysis methods. We found the following: 22 of 30 NNRs were deemed effective in protecting the Inner Mongolian grasslands. The NNRs increased pixels with a sustainable trend 19.26% and 20.55% higher than the unprotected areas and the IMAR, respectively. The pixels with a CV<sub>NDVI</sub> < 0.1 (i.e., NDVI coefficient of variation) in the NNRs increased >35.22% more than those in the unprotected areas and the IMAR. The NDVI changes within the NNRs showed that 63.64% of NNRs had a more significant trend of greening than before the change point, which suggests a general greening in NNRs. We also found that the NNRs achieved heterogeneous effectiveness scores across protection types. Forest ecology protection and wildlife animal protection types are the most efficient, whereas wildlife vegetation protection is the least effective type. This study enriches the understanding of grassland conservation and sheds light on the future direction of the sustainable management of NNRs.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/7/1760NDVInational nature reserveprotected areanature reservenational parkInner Mongolia |
| spellingShingle | Siqing Zhao Xiang Zhao Jiacheng Zhao Naijing Liu Mengmeng Sun Baohui Mu Na Sun Yinkun Guo Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern China Remote Sensing NDVI national nature reserve protected area nature reserve national park Inner Mongolia |
| title | Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern China |
| title_full | Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern China |
| title_fullStr | Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern China |
| title_short | Grassland Conservation Effectiveness of National Nature Reserves in Northern China |
| title_sort | grassland conservation effectiveness of national nature reserves in northern china |
| topic | NDVI national nature reserve protected area nature reserve national park Inner Mongolia |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/7/1760 |
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