Estimating Ecological Responses to Climatic Variability on Reclaimed and Unmined Lands Using Enhanced Vegetation Index

Abstract

Climatic impact on re-established ecosystems at reclaimed mined lands may have changed. However, little knowledge is available about the difference in vegetation–climate relationships between reclaimed and unmined lands. In this study, ecological responses to climatic variability on reclaimed and neighbouring unmined lands were estimated using remote-sensing data at the Pingshuo Mega coal mine, one of the largest coal mines with long-term reclamation history in China. Time-series MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data and meteorological data from 1997 to 2017 were collected. Results show significantly different vegetation–climate relationships between reclaimed and unmined lands. First, the accumulation periods of all climatic variables were much longer on reclaimed mining lands. Second, vegetation on reclaimed lands responded to variabilities in temperature, rainfall, air humidity, and wind speed, while undisturbed vegetation only responded to variabilities of temperature and air humidity. Third, climatic variability made a much higher contribution to EVI variation on reclaimed land (20.0%–46.5%) than on unmined land (0.7%–1.7%). These differences were primarily caused by limited ecosystem resilience, and changed site hydrology and microclimate on reclaimed land. Thus, this study demonstrates that the legacy effects of surface mining can critically change on-site vegetation–climate relationships, which impacts the structure, functions, and stability of reclaimed ecosystems. Vegetation–climate relationships of reclaimed ecosystems deserve further research, and remote-sensing vegetation data are an effective source for relevant studies.

Characteristics of the Thermal Environment and its Guidance to Ecological Restoration in a Resource-Based Area in the Loess Area

“…Due to the particularity of the mining and reclamation layout, there are correlations among the indexes, and the legacy effects of mining should be quantified [ 53 ]. Consequently, the multiple regression equations cannot be established, and the degree of influence of different indexes is difficult to reflect.…”

Evaluation of Ecological Stability in Semi-Arid Open-Pit Coal Mining Area Based on Structure and Function Coupling during 2002–2017

“…Vidal-Macua et al [35] and Li et al [9] reported that after mining, soil conditions became nutrient poor, leading to slower vegetation development and landscape fragmentation, and eventually reducing ecological stability. Moreover, with the increase in the reclamation time, establishing permanent vegetation cover may have restored landscape connectivity and previous ecosystem functions, and improved ecosystem productivity [54] and ecological stability [35]. Therefore, the NDVI for areas A and B were significantly positively correlated with ecological stability (p < 0.05).…”

Comparison of the Vegetation Index of Reclamation Mining Areas Calculated by Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data

“…Relying only on traditional ground sampling experiments to monitor vegetation condition requires tremendous manpower and financial resources, which is not realistic. Compared with traditional methods, remote sensing monitoring can accomplish large-scale vegetation monitoring and provide effective and timely vegetation information [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”