| Vegetation is an important component of the ecological environment. It is the main function body for maintaining the ecological environment and playing an effective eco-efficiency. It is also the main indicator of measuring the quality of natural environment. Vegetation is capable of adjusting climate, improving the environment, water conservation and so on, among the factors such as soil erosion and soil loss, vegetation is a very important factor that directly affects the stability of the eco system. The situation of vegetation of any region is the major determinant for the formation of micro-climate in that area, especially the Hexigten area as it is located between two sand lands of Hunshandake and Ke’erqin, vegetation plays a very important role in the merits of the environment.Topography is the most controllable, integrated and intuitive factor in landscape-scale environmental features, vegetation pattern and topography pattern are closely related. Therefore this study is going to investigate vegetation patterns from the perspective of topography.Hexigten is located in eastern Inner Mongolia, northern-west of the city of Chifeng. The area is rich in natural resources; the famous World Geo-park of Hexigten China is located in this area. Hexigten is famous for its great variety of geological landscapes, but up to now, quantitative researches on the vegetation patterns and landscape of Hexigten has not been carried out world wide.This article relies on the 2009-2011 geological heritage protection projects, selecting the Hexigten Inner Mongolia as a targeted study area, using the scientific knowledge of geomorphology, vegetation and remote sensing, etc, based on the‘3S’technology, to carry out the investigation by using the data source of the SPOT5 remote sensing images and DEM of Hexigten in 2009. After the correction of the SPOT5 remote sensing images, combined with the field research, a large-scaled maps of the vegetation distribution of Hexigten and vegetation coverage of Hexigten were drawn. Both maps show and explain the vegetation distribution of Hexigten more accurately and intuitively. Based on the reference of 1:100 million digital landform mapping standard, using DEM to extract terrain factors of elevation, terrain roughness, gradient, slope directions, etc, to obtain its total number distribution and area ratio. The combination of stereotypes and quantitative approaches were used to unveil the natural features and distribution patterns in different locations. Finally, by using the ARCGIS spatial analyzing tool, the factors overlay analysis of the vegetation distribution and topography were conducted, and the results were used to analyzing the control and influence of the topography to the vegetation distribution in Hexigten.During the research of the spatial districution pattern of vegetation in Hexigten, it is found that landform is an important factor to the spatial distribution patterns. Vegetation in topographic gradients often show regular distribution, while various aspects of topography have influences on light, heat , water, nutrients and other plant ecological factors. and different terrain often corresponds with different populations of landscape ecological processes and the vegetation population.Currently, ecological protection and restoration is one of the important tasks for a geological park construction project.In this sense, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution of vegetation patterns Hexigten, cognizing the characteristics of the spatial distribution of vegetation, topography distribution and its effects on vegetation control and influence, will be a major significance in the ecological protection and construction of Hexigten. Hexigten is in an area where agriculture and animal husbandry are combined. Combating desertification, soil and water conservation is a long and hard task. Only finding every type of spatial pattern of vegetation, its distribution patterns, and the relationship between distribution of vegetation patterns and desertification, and making targeted ecological restoration development strategies, the work of abandoning cultivation in order to restore forest, abandoning animal husbandry in order to restore grass land will be carried out effectively. Therefore, setting Hexigten as an example to study the spatial distribution of vegetation play an important role in the project of abandoning cultivation in order to restore forest, abandoning animal husbandry in order to restore grass land in the whole eastern part of Inner Mongolia. In addition, this study also enriches the content of scientific research of Hexigten, and fills the gaps in vegetation remote sensing research in this area. |
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