Changes Detection and Object-Oriented Classification of Major Wetland Cover Types in Response to Driving Forces in Zoige County, Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The Zoige alpine wetland of eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is one of the most important wetlands in the world, which suffered stronger human regulations of decades' drainage and recent restoration. It is so fragile that great efforts should be made to strengthen wetland protection. Based on wetland type classification for seven periods by the object-oriented classification method, we quantitatively discussed dynamically changes of wetland cover types and their driving forces. Conclusions show that alpine meadows accounts for 44.59% of the whole area of the county, and the transition between alpine meadows and swamp meadows mostly occurs in the process of wetland landscape changes. Changes of wetland cover types have taken place in Zoige County from 1990 to 2018 in which wetland loss was mainly caused by the decrease of marsh areas during 1995-2005. Particularly, shift from alpine meadows to swamp meadows led to wetland slightly expansion in two periods, i.e., 1990-1995 and 2005-2018. There is a significant negative correlation between marsh area and average temperature in growing season, average wind speed and rural population, and a significant negative correlation between water area and maximum wind speed. The increase of air temperature and wind speed lead to an enhancement of surface evapotranspiration and a decrease of water retention capacity. Whereas, positive feedback of ecosystem lead to an increase in air temperature and a decrease of marsh area. Both climatic changes and human activities have caused changes in wetland cover type, especially temperature in growing season, wind speed, agricultural development, and animal husbandry.

Automated summary

The study found that changes in wetland cover types in the Zoige alpine wetland are influenced by temperature, wind speed, and human activities. The decrease in marsh areas caused wetland loss, while the transition from alpine meadows to swamp meadows led to wetland expansion.