Publications

Yang, WT; Qi, WW; Zhou, JX (2018). Effects of precipitation and topography on vegetation recovery at landslide sites after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT, 29(10), 3355-3365.

Abstract
An important form of land degradation is that induced by landslides. Vegetation recovery at coseismic landslide sites not only plays an important role in reducing soil erosion and increasing land stability but also records the transformation of loose, exposed landslide surfaces into stable hillslopes during the post-seismic years. However, little is known about the vegetation recovery process or its influencing factors. In this study, we use the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) dataset, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 daily precipitation data, and a digital elevation model (DEM) to study the impacts of precipitation and topographic parameters on vegetation recovery after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Our results reveal significant NDVI decreases during the 2008 earthquake and strong recovery in the following years at the coseismic landslide sites. We also found significant negative correlations between precipitation and derivative of the NDVI trend (NDVIDT) in 2010 and 2011 and significant positive correlations in 2009 and 2013 at the regional scale. These significant negative correlations indicate that precipitation may trigger landslides to remobilize, depressing the recovery of vegetation at coseismic landslide sites during the first few years following a major earthquake. The results further show that site-specific vegetation recovery is determined by topographic parameters at the local scale. In general, vegetation recovery is weaker at low elevations (<1,300m) and high elevations (>3,300m), and it is also weaker on gentler slopes (<35 degrees) than on steeper slopes (>35 degrees).

DOI:
10.1002/ldr.3098

ISSN:
1085-3278