Remote-sensing-based analysis of vegetation cover pattern in Jinghe Basin

Accurate and rapid monitoring of vegetation coverage is a key factor in restoring and building of ecosystems.Based on MODIS remote-sensing images,the paper analyzed and evaluated vegetation coverage of the Jinghe basin from viewpoint of landscape ecology with the aid of RS and GIS technologies.The results show:(1)degraded grassland and grassland were the main type of vegetation cover in the basin,accounting for 53.30% of the basin area,and degraded grassland accounted for 23.80% of the total area. Forests and sparse forests which provide the highest land cover only accounted for 9.83% of the basin area,suggesting that the vegetation cover of the base was very low;(2) affected by natural environment conditions and human activities the degraded grassland,sparse shrubs,dense shrubs and sparse forest were all distributed in small patches,and the degraded grasslands,providing the lowest land cover,were mainly distributed in the northern part and scattered in the central and southern parts of the basin.Its patches were highest in number and varied in shape.It should be of the first priority for vegetation restoration;(3) small patches dominated all the types of vegetation cover.Patches of forestland varied the most while those of grassland the least.