IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i22p9403-d443682.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Vegetation Indices to Characterize Vegetation Cover Change in the Urban Areas of Southern China

Author

Listed:
  • Yu Zhang

    (College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences/Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Forestry Information, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Pengcheng Wang

    (College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences/Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Forestry Information, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Tianwei Wang

    (College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Jingwei Li

    (College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Zhaoxia Li

    (College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Mingjun Teng

    (College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences/Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Forestry Information, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Yunbing Gao

    (Beijing Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Beijing 100097, China)

Abstract

Vegetation is essential for the provision of ecosystem services. To ensure that ecosystem services are provided, urban planning must consider vegetation cover in both urban core areas and in peripheral areas. This study explored changes in vegetation cover in both urban core and peripheral areas (buffers of 5, 10 and 15 km from the urban core areas) and the relationships between these changes and urban development. To compare the differences in vegetation cover between the urban core and peripheral areas, we developed two vegetation indices, the vegetation influence strength index (VISI) and the vegetation restoration index (VRI), using normalized difference vegetation index datasets and nighttime stable light data from 50 cities in southern China. Using these two indices, we clustered the cities into four types based on their vegetation cover characteristics. The city types varied among the different regions of the study area and cities of the same type tended to occur together geographically. In addition, the two indices showed temporal changes during the study period: A downtrend from 1992 to 2000, an uptrend from 2000 to 2005, and stability from 2005 to 2013. Furthermore, in all cities, the range of the VISI was larger in the peripheral areas than in the urban core areas. However, the range of the VRI was smaller in the peripheral areas than in the urban core areas. As the distance to the urban core areas increased, the fluctuation range of both the VISI and VRI decreased, suggesting that there was less vegetation disturbance farther from the urban core areas. We also showed that changes in vegetation cover were related to differences in urbanization rates, gross domestic products, population densities, and stages of urban development among the cities. These results provide scientific support for urban planning and sustainable development in rapid urbanization areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu Zhang & Pengcheng Wang & Tianwei Wang & Jingwei Li & Zhaoxia Li & Mingjun Teng & Yunbing Gao, 2020. "Using Vegetation Indices to Characterize Vegetation Cover Change in the Urban Areas of Southern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9403-:d:443682
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9403/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9403/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henderson, Vernon, 2003. "The Urbanization Process and Economic Growth: The So-What Question," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 47-71, March.
    2. Lin Chu & Tiancheng Sun & Tianwei Wang & Zhaoxia Li & Chongfa Cai, 2018. "Evolution and Prediction of Landscape Pattern and Habitat Quality Based on CA-Markov and InVEST Model in Hubei Section of Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-28, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nora Libertun de Duren & Roberto Guerrero Compeán, 2016. "Growing resources for growing cities: Density and the cost of municipal public services in Latin America," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(14), pages 3082-3107, November.
    2. Dorota Ciołek & Anna Golejewska & Adriana Zabłocka‐Abi Yaghi, 2022. "Innovation drivers in regions. Does urbanization matter?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 1933-1960, December.
    3. Roberto Ganau & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2022. "Does urban concentration matter for changes in country economic performance?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(6), pages 1275-1299, May.
    4. Frederick van der Ploeg & Steven Poelhekke, 2008. "Globalization and the rise of mega-cities in the developing world," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(3), pages 477-501.
    5. J. Vernon Henderson & Sebastian Kriticos, 2018. "The Development of the African System of Cities," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 287-314, August.
    6. Dong Chen & Rongrong Liu & Maoxian Zhou, 2023. "Delineation of Urban Growth Boundary Based on Habitat Quality and Carbon Storage: A Case Study of Weiyuan County in Gansu, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, May.
    7. Jorge M. Uribe, 2023. ""Fiscal crises and climate change"," IREA Working Papers 202303, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Feb 2023.
    8. Dusan Paredes Araya & Tomothy M Komarek, 2013. "Spatial Income Inequality in Chile and the Rol of Spatial Labor Sorting," Documentos de Trabajo en Economia y Ciencia Regional 46, Universidad Catolica del Norte, Chile, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2013.
    9. Luc Christiaensen & Joachim Weerdt & Yasuyuki Todo, 2013. "Urbanization and poverty reduction: the role of rural diversification and secondary towns," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(4-5), pages 435-447, July.
    10. QIN, Bo & WU, Jianfeng, 2015. "Does urban concentration mitigate CO2 emissions? Evidence from China 1998–2008," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 220-231.
    11. Xuesong Sun & Zaisheng Zhang, 2021. "Coupling and Coordination Level of the Population, Land, Economy, Ecology and Society in the Process of Urbanization: Measurement and Spatial Differentiation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    12. Yun-Hsuan Lee & Li-Ling Kao & Wen-Hsiang Liu & Jen-Te Pai, 2023. "A Study on the Economic Resilience of Industrial Parks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, January.
    13. Neil Lee & Davide Luca, 2019. "The big-city bias in access to finance: evidence from firm perceptions in almost 100 countries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 199-224.
    14. Alina Botezat & Mihaela David & Cristian Incaltarau & Peter Nijkamp, 2021. "The Illusion of Urbanization: Impact of Administrative Reform on Communities’ Resilience," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 44(1), pages 33-84, January.
    15. Lin Chu & Tiancheng Sun & Tianwei Wang & Zhaoxia Li & Chongfa Cai, 2020. "Temporal and Spatial Heterogeneity of Soil Erosion and a Quantitative Analysis of its Determinants in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-20, November.
    16. Partha Mukhopadhyay, 2018. "Engines without Drivers: Cities in India’s Growth Story," Working Papers id:12724, eSocialSciences.
    17. Floater, Graham & Rode, Philipp & Robert, Alexis & Kennedy, Chris & Hoornweg, Dan & Slavcheva, Roxana & Godfrey, Nick, 2014. "Cities and the New Climate Economy: the transformative role of global urban growth," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60775, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Partha Mukhopadhyay & Marie‐Hélène Zérah & Eric Denis, 2020. "Subaltern Urbanization: Indian Insights for Urban Theory," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 582-598, July.
    19. Richard Bluhm & Christian Lessmann & Paul Schaudt, 2021. "The Political Geography of Cities," SoDa Laboratories Working Paper Series 2021-11, Monash University, SoDa Laboratories.
    20. Peter Tyler & Emil Evenhuis & Ron Martin & Peter Sunley & Ben Gardiner, 2017. "Growing apart? Structural transformation and the uneven development of British cities," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 10(3), pages 425-454.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9403-:d:443682. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.