SPATIOTEMPORAL VARIATION OF VEGETATION COVERAGE ON LANDSCAPE SCALE IN HILLY LOESS REGION: A Case Study of Jincheng City in Shanxi Province

Vegetation coverage is the main factor affecting the evaluation of regional eco-environment. Through the landscape ecological analysis method, the vegetation coverage index (VCI) is acquired to study the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation coverage in Jincheng City of Shanxi Province based on the MOD13Q1 remote sensing data during 2006-2015. The results indicate that the vegetation coverage show an increasing trend, dominated by high coverage vegetation. The distribution of VCI is positively correlated with elevation and slope, i.e., the higher elevation and the steeper slope, the greater VCI. The vegetation coverage types show a concentrated tendency at landscape scale, while the internal heterogeneity and diversity of landscape are reduced, the high vegetation coverage patch becomes more dominant and gradually superior. At patch scale, high coverage vegetation is dominant, with increasing proportion of patch. Furthermore, the high coverage vegetation is characterized by reduced landscape fragmentation and complexity, and gradually regular shape.