Vegetation change based on land use/cover in arid oasis: A case study of the Eighth Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) is in the transition zone of the Xinjiang oasis and desert. In the diverse natural environment, agriculture is the main stay in XPCC and the intensity of agriculture in XPCC is higher than in other areas of Xinjiang. Land use/cover types in XPCC have changed markedly with socio-economic development. The Eighth Division of XPCC was investigated in this study. Aided by field verification, the changes in land use/cover in the study region were determined in RS and GIS environments. The study used Landsat TM satellite imagery for 2000 and 2005 in combination with environment first satellite CCD imagery for 2010 to explore the dynamics of land use/cover and landscape patterns. The changes were analyzed for vegetation cover degree for different land use/cover types using MODIS data for 2000, 2005 and 2010. The results showed that: 1) the study area mainly composed of cultivated land, brush land and grassland, accounting for 88.9% of the study area. The changes in land use/cover in the region were mainly driven by natural and human factors. The areas of grassland and brush land decreased respectively from 2 603.2 km² and 1 166.2 km² in 2000 to 1 677.3 km² and 933.8 km² in 2010. On the contrary, the areas of cultivated land and urban land increased respectively from 2 892.8 km² and 209.2 km² in 2000 to 4 038.3 km² and 259.1 km² in 2010. Grassland and brush land were mainly converted into cultivated land and cultivated land converted into urban land. The overall state of land use/cover change in the study area was in unbalanced. 2) An increasing simplification was noted in the characteristics of the landscape in the study area. Land use/cover change had changed regional landscape pattern in the region. Landscape pattern analysis showed obvious increasing dominance with decreasing landscape diversity and evenness. While patchy fragmentation decreased, biodiversity appeared to shift in a single direction. 3) The order of vegetation cover degree for different land use/cover types was forest land > cultivated land > grassland > brush land > desert land. Vegetation cover degrees of forest land, brush land, grassland and cultivated land increased respectively by 6.7%, 38.2%, 15.6% and 12.3% from 2000 to 2010. While the areas of land under high vegetation increased, that under low vegetation decreased. 4) Rainfall was the key factor influencing vegetation change in the arid oasis. The findings of this study provided the scientific basis for the protection and management of the ecological environment and planning reasonable production modes in the XPCC region.