Abstract:
Located at the convergence zone of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Barrier and the Northern Sand Control Belt, Babusha region serves as a frontline defense against the southward encroachment of the Tengger Desert. Assessing the changes in its ecological environment quality holds significant guidance value for evaluating regional desertification control effectiveness and advancing the "Three-North" Shelterbelt Development Program. This study utilized data from the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to investigate land use pattern changes in the Babusha region from 1986 to 2021. A comprehensive assessment of spatiotemporal changes in regional ecological environment quality was conducted using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI); Desertification Index (DI); and Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI). The results indicate that: (1) Temporally, the desert area in Babusha region has continued to decrease, grassland area has progressively increased, and vegetation coverage has improved. From 1986 to 2021, both NDVI and RSEI showed fluctuating upward trends, with NDVI increasing from 0.14 to 0.31 (more than doubling) and RSEI rising from 0.22 to 0.24 (9.39% increase). Meanwhile, DI exhibited a fluctuating downward trend, decreasing from 0.79 to 0.57 with a cumulative reduction of 27.85%. (2) Spatially, high-value areas of NDVI and RSEI were concentrated in the southern and northwestern parts of the study region, dominated by woodland and cultivated land, while low-value areas were distributed in the northern region characterized by extremely low vegetation coverage and desert. (3) The trend analysis revealed that NDVI and RSEI changes were primarily characterized by non-significant/significant increases, whereas DI mainly showed non-significant decreases. Specifically, 12.12% and 61.10% of the study area exhibited non-significant and significant NDVI increases respectively, while 5.06% and 38.63% showed non-significant and significant RSEI increases. Ecological improvement areas were concentrated in the northwestern and southeastern regions with higher human activity. From 1986 to 2021, Babusha region demonstrated remarkable vegetation restoration, continuous ecological environment improvement, and significant desertification control achievements, establishing a replicable Babusha model.