Impacts of Climate and Land-Use Change on Fraction Vegetation Coverage Based on PLUS-Dimidiate Pixel Model

Abstract

Climate and land-use change are key factors of vegetation dynamics, and impacts arising from both of them need to be further studied. This study simulated the fraction of vegetation coverage in 2050 through coupling the Patch-Generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model and the Dimidiate Pixel model and explored the effects of climate and land-use change on fraction vegetation coverage in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle region. The findings indicated that: (1) fraction vegetation coverage was mainly restored over the 2000–2020 period, accounting for 59.38% of the investigation area. Under the SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios, fraction vegetation coverage increased by 40.57% and 46.38%, respectively. (2) under the SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios, the superposition effect of climate and land use change on fraction vegetation coverage significantly outweighed the compensation effect. Specifically, the superposition effect of climate and land use change on fraction vegetation cover accounted for 90.69% and 90.57% of the total area, respectively. Conversely, the compensation effect constituted a relatively minor proportion, representing 9.31% and 9.43% of the total area, respectively. (3) the positive superposition effect of climate changes and land use on fraction vegetation coverage was 35.47% and 40.90%, respectively, while the negative superposition effect was 55.22% and 49.67%, respectively. These findings aimed to offer guidance for the execution of vegetation restoration initiatives in the upstream region.