Correlation between landscape pattern and net primary productivity in
arid and semi-arid areas of Northwest China
Abstract
Human activities and environmental changes have affected the changes of
landscape pattern, and then profoundly affected the changes of net
primary productivity (NPP) of vegetation. Understanding the relationship
between landscape pattern and NPP is of great significance for
maintaining the stability of ecosystem and improving ecological
environment. Based on six types of land use in arid and semi-arid areas
of northwest China, this study selected five landscape pattern indexes
at the landscape level and four landscape pattern indexes at the class
level, and analyzed the relationship between landscape indexes and NPP
at the grid scale of 100km×100km by Pearson correlation and multiple
linear regression model. The results showed that the landscape pattern
index and NPP showed different degrees of correlation from 2001 to 2020,
and changed in different degrees in the past 20 years. The correlation
between indicators and NPP is higher at class level than at landscape
level, and the increase of landscape abundance and fragmentation
promotes the increase of NPP. At the landscape level, NP, PR and SHDI
explained 45.4% of NPP changes. At the class level, NP, TE and IJI were
the main influencing factors of NPP in cultivated land, woodland and
grassland. The correlation between landscape index and NPP and multiple
linear regression model can help us to quantitatively understand how the
change of landscape pattern affects the change of NPP, and we should
properly consider the change of landscape pattern in ecological
management, so as to maintain the stability of the ecosystem.