Analysis of Land Use/Cover Change and Driving Forces in the Selenga River Basin

Spatial and Temporal Evolution and Prediction of the Coordination Level of "Production-Living-Ecological" Function Coupling in the Yellow River Basin, China

To clarify the evolution of "production-living-ecological" function coupling in the Yellow River Basin, coordinating the spatial allocation of resources, development management and layout optimization, is an important means for achieving ecological protection and high-quality development in the region. In this paper, we conducted an empirical analysis and ARIMA prediction of the coupled production-living-ecological function coordination level in the Yellow River Basin of China from 2008 to 2018, and found that: (1) In terms of temporal evolution, the production-living-ecological function and coupling coordination level of each province and region in the Yellow River Basin generally shows a sharp and then slow upward trend, with the living functions changing more than the production and ecological functions; (2) in terms of spatial pattern, the production and living functions of each province and region show the trend of functional level increasing from east to west over time; the ecological functions, contrary to production and living functions, show a "high-low" aggregation, midstream shows "low-low" aggregation, and downstream shows "low-high" aggregation; (3) According to the regression results of the spatial Dubin model, the environmental governance level, technological research and development level, and social security level and resource dependence degree have positive promoting and spillover effects on the coupling coordination level of the "production-living-ecological" function in the region. However, population density and carbon emission intensity will hinder the development of regional coupling coordination level; (4) from the ARIMA prediction, the coupling coordination level of "production-living-ecological" in the Yellow River Basin continues the development trend of 2008-2018 in the short term, the overall coordination level is at a high level, and the variability of coupling coordination level among provinces and regions is further reduced. Finally, corresponding development countermeasures and suggestions are given to different provinces and regions based on the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics, influencing factors and development trend of the "production-living-ecological" function in the Yellow River basin.

Assessing the Impact of Wildlife on Vegetation Cover Change, Northeast Namibia, Based on MODIS Satellite Imagery (2002–2021)

Human–wildlife conflict in the Zambezi region of northeast Namibia is well documented, but the impact of wildlife (e.g., elephants) on vegetation cover change has not been adequately addressed. Here, we assessed human–wildlife interaction and impact on vegetation cover change. We analyzed the 250 m MODIS and ERA5 0.25° × 0.25° drone and GPS-collar datasets. We used Time Series Segmented Residual Trends (TSS-RESTREND), Mann–Kendall Test Statistics, Sen’s Slope, ensemble, Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), and Pearson correlation methods. Our results revealed (i) widespread vegetation browning along elephant migration routes and within National Parks, (ii) Pearson correlation (p-value = 5.5 × 10−8) showed that vegetation browning areas do not sustain high population densities of elephants. Currently, the Zambezi has about 12,008 elephants while these numbers were 1468, 7950, and 5242 in 1989, 1994, and 2005, respectively, (iii) settlements and artificial barriers have a negative impact on wildlife movement, driving vegetation browning, and (iv) vegetation greening was found mostly within communal areas where intensive farming and cattle grazing is a common practice. The findings of this study will serve as a reference for policy and decision makers. Future studies should consider integrating higher resolution multi-platform datasets for detailed micro analysis and mapping of vegetation cover change.