Abstract:
Background The natural reserve of Liupan Mountain, Luo Mountain, and Helan Mountain in Ningxia (Abbreviated as "Three Mountains") is an important ecological security barrier in Northwest China. Studying on whether there are obvious differences between the degree and tendency of forest disturbance in "Three Mountains" or not, and the main reasons causing forest disturbance has great reference value in protecting the natural reserve of "Three Mountains", the Northwest region, even the ecological safety in The Yellow River basin.
Methods Based on the Landsat 5-8 time series stack (1990-2020) in the GEE (Google Earth Engine) remote sensing cloud platform, the forest disturbance in the "Three Mountains" of Ningxia over the past 30 years was monitored by the LandTrendr time series segmentation algorithm, and the accuracy of the monitoring results was evaluated with the help of Google images, and the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the forest disturbance were statistically analyzed.
Results 1) The user accuracy, producer accuracy and overall accuracy of LandTrendr algorithm were all >90%, Kappa coefficient reached 0.87, and there was no significant difference between the result of LandTrendr algorithm and manual visual inspection (McNemar's test>0.05). 2)The overall forest disturbance area ratio of "Three Mountains" in 1991-2020: Liupan (1.77%)>Luoshan (0.07%)>Helan (0.05%). The annual disturbance area ratio of the "Three Mountains" tended to decrease, and Liupan (52.60×10-4%/a)>Helan (1.58×10-4%/a)>Luoshan (0.40×10-4%/a). 3)The forest disturbance of "Three Mountains" mainly occurred in the northern part of Liupan Mountain and 2 exclaves to the east, "Daluo Mountain" in the northern part of Luo Mountain and the center of Helan Mountain. The duration of forest disturbance was 1-3 years, and mostly within a year.
Conclusions Among the "Three Mountains", the disturbance level of Liupan Mountain is much higher than that of Luo and Helan Mountain, but the disturbance area of the "Three Mountains" is decreasing year by year, with the most obvious decrease in Liupan Mountain followed by Helan Mountain and Luo Mountain. The disturbance in Liupan and Luo Mountain is mainly caused by human activities, but in Helan Mountain, it is caused by both human activities and natural conditions.