Vegetation Growth Status and Topographic Effects in the Pisha Sandstone Area of China

Fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) plays an important role in monitoring vegetation growth status and evaluating restoration efforts in ecological environments. In this study, FVC was calculated using a binary pixel model and analyzed in the Pisha Sandstone area of China, using MODIS-EVI data from 2000 to 2019. Topographic effects were analyzed from elevation, slope and aspect using a terrain niche index model. The results were as follows. (1) From 2000 to 2019, FVC in the Pisha Sandstone area of China gradually increased at a mean rate of 0.0074/a, and the growth status of vegetation gradually improved. (2) The spatial distribution of FVC steadily decreased from southeast to northwest. FVC was the lowest in bare parts of the Pisha Sandstone area, whereas those in the sand- and soil-covered parts were the middle and highest, respectively. (3) With increasing elevation, the inferior coverage area and terrain niche index increased, and inferior coverage distribution changed from non-dominant to dominant. Meanwhile, the low, medium and high coverage areas decreased, and their distributions changed from dominance to non-dominance. (4) With increasing slope, distributions of the inferior, medium and high coverage areas changed from dominant to non-dominant, while the low coverage area had a dominant distribution. (5) Analyses of aspect effects revealed that the inferior coverage area was the dominant distribution in shady slopes but was non-dominant in semi-shady, semi-sunny and sunny slopes. The low, medium and high coverage areas were non-dominant in shady slopes, but dominant in semi-shady, semi-sunny and sunny slopes.