[Dynamic changes of forest vegetation coverage in letianxi basin of Three Gorges Reservoir Area: a study based on...

Based on the multi-temporal and multi-source sensor images of 1987-2005, the dynamic changes of forest vegetation coverage in Letianxi basin of Three Gorges Reservoir Area were investigated by the methods of color balancing, image fusion, and radiometric normalization. The results showed that in 1987-2005, the forest area in the basin increased from 265.82 km2 to 346.45 km2. Vegetation coverage also had an increasing trend, but the increment was not uniform in the whole basin. The change process of the forest vegetation could be divided into three stages, i.e., slight destroying, starting restoration, and complete restoration. The gravity center of the forests in different coverage classes changed significantly, e.g., the gravity center of the forests with vegetation coverage less than 45% transferred to the north before 1987, but moved back to the south thereafter, while that of the forests with vegetation coverage greater than 45% moved constantly from northwest to southeast. The changes of forest vegetation coverage in the study area were deeply affected by the human disturbance, regional economic development, and national comprehensive management measures. Through 10 years ecological restoration, human disturbance was decreasing, and the forest area with vegetation coverage above 60% reached 217.88 km2, occupying about 62.9% of the total forest area, which implied that the ecological environment was improved gradually.