Beyond hydrogeologic evidence: challenging the current assumptions about salinity processes in the Corangamite region, Australia

In keeping with the standard scientific methods, investigations of salinity processes focus on the collection and interpretation of contemporary scientific data. However, using multiple lines of evidence from non-hydrogeologic sources such as geomorphic, archaeological and historical records can substantially add value to the scientific investigations. By using such evidence, the validity of the assumptions about salinity processes in Australian landscapes is challenged, especially the assumption that the clearing of native vegetation has resulted in rising saline groundwater in all landscapes. In the Corangamite region of south-west Victoria, salinity has been an episodic feature of the landscapes throughout the Quaternary and was present at the time of the Aboriginal inhabitants and the first pastoral settlement by Europeans. Although surface-water salinity has increased in some waterways and the area of salinised land has expanded in some landscapes, there is no recorded evidence found which supports significant rises in groundwater following widespread land-use change. In many areas, salinity is an inherent component of the region’s landscapes, and sustains world-class environmental assets that require appropriate salinity levels for their ecological health. Managing salinity requires understanding the specific salinity processes in each landscape.     

Geology, landscape and human interactions: examples from the Isle of Wight

The British Geological Survey has recently re-mapped the Isle of Wight at a scale of 1:10,000. This has added to a wealth of geological research already published. Within this paper, we highlight the importance of geology to the heritage of the Isle of Wight and its impacts on everyday life. There is a growing cultural awareness of the variety of landscapes and resources, the geology that underpins them, and the need to manage and understand them in a sensitive and sustainable way. ‘Geodiversity’, which collectively embraces these themes, is defined as “… the natural range (diversity) of geological (rocks, minerals, fossils), geomorphological (land form, processes) and soil features …” (Gray, 2004). This paper will focus on the geomorphological features; that is, the link between geology, the landscape it influences, and the human interactions with it. Examples from the Isle of Wight of the influences of geology on landscape include the landslides at Ventnor; geotourism at The Needles, Alum Bay and various dinosaur sites; and the artificial landscapes resulting from resource extraction. The geological issues and examples that we have used are some of the most applicable to everyday life, and therefore ones that many people will be able to relate to, such as geohazards (e.g. landslides), water supply, economic value (e.g. quarrying) and tourism. The paper is aimed at the non-specialist and students but also may provide a contextual element to professionals.     

Some geological implications of average Quaternary glacial conditions

Analyses of Quaternary landscape evolution tend to focus on events associated with culminations of glacial and interglacial ages, but for most of Quaternary time, environments were intermediate in character. Average Quaternary glacial conditions, based on assessment of the marine isotope record, approximated those near the stage 2/stage 1 transition and during substages 5b and 5d; isotope stages 3 and 4 and substages 5a-d lie within one standard deviation of the mean value. Under average glacial conditions, ice sheets lying over northern North America and Europe were much more contracted than their full-glacial counterparts, and the distribution of mountain glaciers reflected a snowline depression of some 500 m. Geomorphic processes operating under average Quaternary conditions contributed importantly to landscape evolution. Examples of landscapes that may represent such average conditions include cirques and fluvial deposits of the Pacific Northwest, the fjords and strandflat of western Norway, and atolls of the tropical oceans. By examining the geologic record from the perspective of average conditions, rather than those of climatic extremes, added insight can be gained regarding the evolution of Quaternary landscapes.     

Paleoecological perspectives on human adaptation in central Panama. I. The Pleistocene

Paleoecological data from two sites in central Pacific Panama have allowed the reconstruction of Late Pleistocene climate and vegetation in lowland areas, the timing of important environmental changes, and the generation of predictions concerning Paleoindian settlement and subsistence. The last 9000 years of the glacial period, from 20,000 B.P. until 11,050 B.P. were marked by climates cooler and drier than today's. The period from ca. 16,000 B.P. until 11,000 B.P. appears to have been the coolest and driest. We postulate that the major effects of these conditions were to have brought montane vegetation 900 m lower than its present range and to create tracts of open landscape along the Pacific coast. Forests, however, were widespread in extent and many lowland forest taxa apparently persisted, creating the basis for the rejection of refugial theory as an explanatory model for early human occupation. Neither the admittedly limited archaeological or paleoecological data indicated the presence of pre-Clovis populations in Panama, and we chose to view Clovis as the first human expression on the Isthmus. Correlation of reconstructed environmental setting with Paleoindian site location suggests that Clovis adaptations were fluid and flexible, and utilized a wide variety of vegetation types. Occupation and modification of tropical forest appear to have been integral parts of Clovis subsistence and settlement strategies.     

Reverse osmosis on a small barrier island: transformations of water,landscape, and vulnerability on Ocracoke Island,NC, USA

Globally, modifications to the landscape have drastically transformed social and ecological communities. The implication of global climate change for small islands and small island communities is especially troublesome. Socially, small islands have a limited resource base, deal with varying degrees of insularity, generally have little political power, and have limited economic opportunities. The physical attributes of small islands also increase their vulnerability to global climate change, including limited land area, limited fresh water supplies, and greater distances to resources. The focus of this research project is to document place-specific human–environmental interactions from a political ecology perspective as a means to address local concerns and possible consequences of global environmental change. The place in which these interactions are examined is the barrier island and village of Ocracoke, NC. I focus on the specific historical-geography of land and water management on Ocracoke as a means to examine relationships between local human–environmental interactions and environmental change. I provide an account of technological changes in potable water procurement and the paralleling development of island growth (i.e. people, buildings, tourism). Then, relying on interviews with island residents, I consider how advancements in local water infrastructure, specifically the installation of an additional reverse osmosis unit, are hinged on anticipated future economic development. Lastly the social dimensions of change are discussed with specific focus on the increase in housing density and overburdened septic drainage fields in relation to changing hydrologic processes with an examination of how all of these factors affect local vulnerability.     

Physicochemical and biological interfacial interactions: impacts on soil ecosystem and biodiversity

Soil is a vital biological habitat, which is of primary importance in determining and regulating biological activity and biodiversity. Therefore, it is Earth’s most important resource in sustaining both belowground and aboveground biological activities. Biodiversity versus landscape diversity and land use practices in multifunctional landscapes have been addressed. Humans have so manipulated nature that few locations in the world remain without human influence, causing unforeseen changes in ecosystem continuously and biodiversity. Among the environmental compartments, about 90 % of environmental pollutants are bound with soil particles. The soil-bound pollutants may be released to the soil solution through physical, chemical and biological interfacial interactions and pose a threat to biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. These interfacial interactions are especially important in the rhizosphere, where the kinds and concentrations of biomolecules are different from the bulk soil because of intense biological activity. These biomolecules affect biogeochemical processes, soil microbial ecology, nutrient and contaminant dynamics, abiotic and biotic factors, and soil biodiversity through allelopathic interactions. Soil interfacial interactions under different pedogenic processes and anthropogenic activity in relation to belowground biodiversity and the impact on aboveground biodiversity, productivity and integrity should be an important and exciting area of science for years to come.     

Optically stimulated luminescence dating of large storm events in Northern Scotland

Climate changes over the Holocene have directly impacted on both coastal processes and human use of coastal areas. This paper presents results from the dating of wind blown sand deposits collected from coastal and archaeological sites in Northern Scotland. Archaeological remains are frequently found interspersed with sand deposits and represent distinct periods of occupation of settlement sites within the local landscapes. In some cases storm events sufficiently inundate the sites with sand to result in periodic abandonment. Storm events can also have dramatic results on adjacent rock coastlines, with storm boulder ridges emplaced by large waves, burying sand deposits on cliff-top sites. Work has been undertaken using a quartz SAR protocol to date sand deposition at two archaeological sites in Orkney and a cliff-top site in Shetland. These dates provide chronological information, which help to construct regional chronologies of climatic instability and environmental change and allow the SAR-OSL method to be assessed as an accurate sediment dating tool in this context.     

Insights from Earth Sciences into Human Evolution studies: The example of prehistoric landscape use in Africa and the Levant

Fossil remains are embedded in a continually evolving landscape. Earth scientists have the methods and approaches to study the processes that shape the landscape at various temporal and spatial scales. Some of these methods can generate insights that are of potential use for researchers in other fields, such as archaeology and palaeoanthropology. Here we present two case studies to illustrate how a broader landscape perspective can provide new insights into the land use by Pliocene hominins in southern Africa, and more recently, by Palaeolithic hominins in the southern Levant. Key landscape attributes can help explain why humans, hominins and the wider animal community exploit certain types of landscapes in predictable ways. Our first case study examines how active tectonics or volcanism appears to be important in creating fertile regions with reliable water sources and complex topography. While relatively easy for agile primates such as hominins to negotiate, zones of complex topography are harder for certain predators and prey animals to traverse. In the second case study, we consider that differences in soil edaphics can exert a major control on animals by supplying or failing to supply necessary trace elements, such as selenium, copper, phosphate and potassium (Henkin et al., 1995). We show that the pattern of trace element distribution can accurately map animal movements between areas of suitable grazing. This predictability could have enabled Levantine humans to ambush megafauna during these seasonal migrations. By studying the landscape attributes around fossil site locations, Earth scientists can offer new insights and perspectives into the past, particularly on the ways in which the inhabitants would have used their landscapes.     

Effects of land use change on landscape pattern of the Manas River watershed in Xinjiang, China

The mechanism of interaction between land use change and landscape pattern is pivotal in research concerning global environmental change. Quantitative evaluation of land use change that has resulted from excessive land development and its impact on landscape pattern are important for sustainable utilization of local land resources. The study area was the Manas River watershed, a typical watershed in an arid area. The present study evaluated the influence of long-term land use change on the landscape pattern; the findings are valuable for economic development and environmental protection. The processes for land use change and changes in landscape pattern were reconstructed and analyzed for data in topographic maps dated 1962 and in remote sensing images taken in 1976, 1989, 1999 and 2008 using mathematical models and landscape metrics. The results indicate significant changes in land use over the past 50 years, with increases in the areas of cultivated land and construction land, and a significant decrease in unused land and woodland areas; grassland and water resources first increased and then tended to decrease over this time. The comprehensive index of land use change is 0.55, indicating an unbalanced, one-way transition in the study area. Landscape fragmentation and diversity increased and landscape dominance decreased; in other words, differences between landscapes decreased. The changes resulted in a significant tendency toward diversity and fragmentation of the landscape. Therefore, large-scale intensive agricultural development can reduce the negative influence of land use change on the landscape pattern.     

早期农业聚落的野生食物资源域研究——以长江下游和中原地区为例

遗址资源域分析(Site Catchment Analysis)已被广泛应用于对史前经济和人类行为模式的研究中,有别于西方普遍采用的“遗址外”(off-site)研究模式,本文提倡一种以“遗址内”(on-site)为核心的研究方法。主要通过遗址所见大植物遗存,结合古环境研究成果,模拟复原当时的植被分布,进而讨论遗址资源域及其反映的生业经济特点。第一个案例是长江下游的田螺山遗址,属于河姆渡文化（6900～6500cal.aB.P.）,分析表明: 早期的水稻栽培活动是长期伴生于采集经济模式中的;  当时的采集经济具有广域性、专门性、季节性和强调储存性等特点;  这一时期聚落的选址会优先考虑生态环境的多样性,在步行一天的活动半径便可获得大部分植物资源,但也有一些资源分布于12小时半径之外,必须短期露营（可能与狩猎同时进行）方可获取。第二个案例是中原地区的颍河上游,分析以袁桥遗址为中心的仰韶文化聚落（6000cal.aB.P.）: 尽管 2～3 小时的步行范围内就有条件获取各类野生植物资源,仰韶文化时期的生业活动已经集中在更小空间范围内的作物栽培上。遗址资源域缩小、对小范围景观进行改造、聚落间产生土地分配和资源共享等社会关系问题——这些构成了农业聚落资源域的一般特点。比较两个案例,农业聚落的产生可以看作是一种景观环境上发生的变化。遗址资源域分析为我们提供了一个新的视角来理解早期农业社会的产生、发展及不同生业社会与周边景观的互动关系。     

Measuring alluvial fan sensitivity to past climate changes using a self‐similarity approach to grain‐size fining,Death Valley,California

The effects of climate change on eroding landscapes and the terrestrial sedimentary record are poorly understood. Using mountain catchment–alluvial fan systems as simple analogues for larger landscapes, a wide range of theoretical studies, numerical models and physical experiments have hypothesized that a change in precipitation rate could leave a characteristic signal in alluvial fan sediment flux, grain size and down‐system fining rate. However, this hypothesis remains largely untested in real landscapes. This study measures grain‐size fining rates from apex to toe on two alluvial fan systems in northern Death Valley, California, USA, which each have well‐exposed modern and ca 70 ka surfaces, and where the long‐term tectonic boundary conditions can be constrained. Between them, these surfaces capture a well‐constrained temporal gradient in climate. A grain‐size fining model is adapted, based on self‐similarity and selective deposition, for application to these alluvial fans. This model is then integrated with cosmogenic nuclide constraints on catchment erosion rates, and observed grain‐size fining data from two catchment‐fan systems, to estimate the change in sediment flux from canyon to alluvial fan that occurred between mid‐glacial and modern interglacial conditions. In a fan system with negligible sediment recycling, a ca 30% decrease in precipitation rate led to a 20% decrease in sediment flux and a clear increase in the down‐fan rate of fining, supporting existing landscape evolution models. Consequently, this study shows that small mountain catchments and their alluvial fan stratigraphy can be highly sensitive to orbital climate changes over <10⁵ year timescales. However, in the second fan system it is observed that this sensitivity is completely lost when sediment is remobilized and recycled over a time period longer than the duration of the climatic perturbation. These analyses offer a new approach to quantitatively reconstructing the effects of past climate changes on sedimentation, using simple grain‐size data measured in the field.     

A New Model for Coastal Resource Productivity and Sea‐Level Change: The Role of Physical Sedimentary Processes in Assessing the Archaeological Potential of Submerged Landscapes from the Northwest Australian Continental Shelf

Existing models of coastal occupation, in one form or another, embrace the assumption that changes in mean sea level were the prime driver for shifts in coastal resource productivity of consequence to coastal foragers. Focusing on the North West Shelf of Australia, this paper considers the role of physical sedimentary processes in understanding both past coastal resource productivity and the archaeology of drowned coastal landscapes. From a review of up‐to‐date literature on sea‐level related coastal formation process related to the North West Shelf, we describe the complex interplay of sea‐level change and sedimentary processes in determining (i) coastal resource availability, and (ii) archaeological site preservation potential through time. We argue that human behavioral models that have been linked solely to changes in sea level change from ca. 45 ka onward along the Australia continental shelf have inadequately accounted for local sedimentary regimes. It is not past sea‐level per se, which is of relevance to coastal productivity and human behavioral ecology models but changes in tidal regimes, coastal configurations and sedimentation. We conclude that our understanding of maritime adaptations for Sahul (Greater Australia) remain incomplete without investigating former coastlines and archaeological information that now lies submerged offshore.     

Understanding the Interactions between Climate Change, Landscape Evolution, Surface Processes and Tectonics in the Earth System: What Can the Studies of Chinese Deserts Contribute?

Due to large deserts on Earth surface a thorough understanding of climate change, landscape evolution and geomorphological processes having occurred in deserts is crucial for Earth System Science. The landscapes in deserts are, however, diverse and different over the globe with regard to their geomorphological nature, human activities and geological histories. In the last decades a great number of efforts have been put to the investigation of the initial timing of the occurrence of arid climate, e. g. in northwestern China. Silty sediments in the downwind directions have been used to deduce the histories of deserts. In general, there is a lack of knowledge about processes and landscapes in Chinese drylands between the initial Miocene silt sedimentation at desert margins and the late Quaternary multiple occurrences of wetter climate with assumed large lakes in many of the deserts in northern China. The geomorphological concept of three primary triggering factors, i.e., the sediment supply, sediment availability and transport capacity of wind, and additionally the underground geology need to be fully considered for a better understanding of the environmental histories of sand seas which should not be viewed as equivalent for deserts because sand seas cover between < 1% and ca. 45% of the desert areas in various continents dependent on a complex interaction between various processes of both exogenous and endogenous origins.     

Coastal paleogeography and human land use at Tecolote Canyon,southern California,U.S.A.

A buried archaeological site at Tecolote Canyon provides an ideal case study for relating past human land use patterns to changes in coastal paleogeography. Postglacial sea level transgression, erosion, and other marine and fluvial processes form the context for examining two deeply buried archaeological components excavated at CA‐SBA‐72. Archaeological shellfish assemblages provide proxy data for evaluating the evolution of local marine environments. Pismo clams dominate shellfish assemblages dated to 5800 cal yr B.P., suggesting the presence of a broad and sandy, high‐energy beach environment. At 5500 cal yr B.P., the almost exclusive use of California mussels by humans signals the development of rocky intertidal habitats. During the late Holocene, estuarine species dominate the marine mollusk assemblages at CA‐SBA‐72, reflecting the development of local estuarine conditions or trade with nearby Goleta Slough villages. The buried components at Tecolote Canyon appear to have served as temporary camps for shellfish harvesting and processing. While general changes in coastal paleogeography and human subsistence have been reconstructed for the Santa Barbara Coast, high resolution ecological data from Tecolote Canyon suggest that Native peoples also adapted to localized and shorter‐term shifts in intertidal habitats, changes not evident in most larger or more disturbed surface sites in the region. Linking these changes with shifts in human land use patterns highlights the interaction between humans and a dynamic coastal system. These data demonstrate the importance of small, buried sites in understanding the full spectrum of human subsistence and settlement choices and local environmental change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

额济纳蒙古族民间景观格局反映的区域环境状况

以内蒙古额济纳旗为例,对当地土尔扈特蒙古族自18世纪初定牧于此开始,至20世纪之前形成的水域、植被和沙丘3大类蒙古族民间自然景观类型进行了研究.水域景观格局特征表明,相对于现代生态环境状况,在20世纪之前,额济纳冲积平原水环境较为优越,整个地区水域景观广布,地下水埋藏较浅.在植被景观格局方面,两河地区主要以胡杨-沙枣河岸林和河岸湿地为主;两湖地区主要以芦苇沼泽-芨芨草草甸和湖岸梭梭林为主;整个地区植被景观处于早期演替阶段.绿洲内部荒漠沙丘景观分布格局体现了干旱荒漠地区的景观基质特征.     

Classification et cartographie du paysage sur base écologique avec application à l'Italie

It is well known that although the geographic landscape and the ecosystem are both terrestrial units involving physical and biological components, including man and his activity, they are in nature extremely different. The geographic landscape is a complex of directly perceptible forms produced by the interaction (synergism) of three main components (synergizing) present in varying degrees and in unstable equilibrium (physical base, the biotic element and the results of human activity); whilst the ecosystem may not be directly perceived and is composed of a stable system of matter and energy, contained in the living and non-living parts of an environment, where exchanges between the two parts take place in a continuous flux (Odum, 1958). The geographic landscape is characterized by formal, structural aspects, whereas the ecosystem is, by nature, functional and biological and is dominated by two cycles, one of matter and the other of energy, within which man can be included in varying degrees. Ever since man began to alter the natural biological processes with his constructive, destructive and polluting activity, structures have emerged within the ecosystem which show local modifications in quality and energy imbalance. These have survived in the form of truncated anthropo-ecosystems (Delpoux, 1972), where the artificially interrupted trophic chain survives with a disturbed energy balance. Imbalances are caused by alterations which are difficult to perceive directly in ecosystems, but are observable in landscapes which have been modified in response to such changes. The ecosystem must, therefore, be considered a determinant of landscape. Hence it is possible to distinguish fairly precisely the existence of different types of landscape on the basis of the material and energy balance of their associated ecosystems where ecosystem and geographic landscape are closely linked by cause and effect. Hence the term landscape ecology (Landschaftsöcologie;Troll, 1939) where the term “ecology” is taken to mean “the functional study of the dynamics of a system of action, determining landscape” (Schmithüsen, 1973). If the energy balance and the natural and human transformations of ecosystems are jointly considered, it is possible to obtain a significant ecologically based landscape classification. The first category is that of ecologically balanced landscapes, within which transfer phenomena are cyclic as energy, or even matter, are completely utilized by their biological constituents. This applies to all natural landscapes, even those with a dominant natural factor, that are unaffected by human action; their limits can therefore be considered similar to those of natural ecosystems. Amongst these can also be included areas with a gathering economy and primitive and subsistence farming. By contrast with these is the category of ecologically unbalanced landscapes where the presence of man in the environment has transformed natural ecosystems into anthropoecosystems with different characteristics. Two types can be distinguished, one hyperenergetic with a positive energy balance and thus an exporter of energy, the other hypoenergetic characterised by a negative energy balance,and thus importing energy (Delpoux, 1972). In hyperenergetic landscapes man intervenes with advanced agriculture and animal husbandry and thus transforms in different ways and in varying degrees the natural setting. They therefore include agrobiosystems, typical of specialized agriculture, intensive polyculture and plantation monoculture, and trophobiosystems typical of rationalized animal husbandry. Both produce vegetable and animal foods for the market. In hypoenergetic landscapes, the production of organic substances with an energy value becomes increasingly deficient, so that the biological community has to become dependent on external contributions; they mainly occur in high density population landscapes with low productivity rural activities due to poor natural conditions, poor organization, or a high degree of urban and industrial development. To these categories, which are mainly dependent on the ratio of population to resources, can be added that of degraded landscapes or ecosystems, caused by natural degradation (exogenous or endogenous) or by pollution and despoliation (biological and mineral) caused by human activity. Then follow landscapes with artificial or substitution ecosystems (urban or industrial) the elements of which are characteristically formal in appearance. The last category is that of ecologically integrated and complex landscapes, the result of the combination of two or more different ecological aspects (rural and urban, and, for example, outside this group, rural and industrial, agricultural and moderately urbanized) which interdigitate and encroach upon each other. On the basis of this classification, it is possible to discern the distinguishing features typical of landscapes and thus our ability to delimit their extent on maps. They have been applied in the production of an ecologically based landscape map of Italy at an original scale of 1:1,500,000, a reduced black-and-white version of which has been reproduced in the main body of this paper. As a first attempt at such a representation it is both adequate and useful and provides a basis for further work and analysis. The exercise confirms that the consideration of landscape, especially humanized landscape, in an ecological perspective, supplies important information for the interpretation of its structure from a functional and physiological stand-point, as well as for the understanding of its dynamics. It also facilitates the consideration of the environment as a whole, presenting more effectively the problems of its evaluation and consequently adds to our appreciation of its economic and social significance.     

Aeolian processes and landscape change under human disturbances on the Sonid grassland of inner Mongolian Plateau,northern China

Based on remote sensing monitoring, observations and experiments in wind tunnel and field, aeolian processes and landscape change of the Sonid grassland of Inner Mongolia Plateau in northern China were explored in this paper. Aeolian process was very strong and seriously affected by human disturbances on the Sonid grassland of Inner Mongolia Plateau. Sand transport rate of grassland increased quickly with the increase of desertification severities, especially at the very severe desertification stage of sand sheet emergence. Human disturbances can seriously destroy balanced-state soil surface to induce new soil wind erosion over and over again, in particular at the higher wind speeds. Spatial variation of wind erosion was strongly related to land use/cover change, and finally led to landscape change, while emergence of erosional bare patches might be the key link, especially around herdsmen’s settlements and along roads or fences. Avoiding grazing before windy season is very important for decreasing soil wind erosion, not only to protect vegetation cover, but also to reduce trampling-inducing destruction of the soil surface structure. Prohibition of overgrazing must be strictly obeyed under any possible climate conditions, and reclamation should be more careful. Reducing human disturbances by selective emigration and eco-compensation mechanism would be considered as a priority for reducing local wind erosion.     

Dynamic monitoring of landscape patterns and ecological processes using HJ-1 and SPOT satellite data over Hulunbeier grassland,China

Landscape patterns and ecological processes have been in long-term research focus in the field of landscape ecology, but how to measure their quantitative relations is still open. This work chooses the Hulunbeier grassland as the study area where ecosystem shows high vulnerability, frequent evolvement of landscape patterns and ecological processes. With remote sensing technology, the relationships between landscape patterns and ecological processes were analyzed quantitatively from multi-scale, multi-temporal and time series perspective. Firstly, the information about the current situation and change of landscape patterns and ecological processes are obtained from HJ-1 (Environmental and Disaster Small Satellite) and LANDSAT TM (Thermal Mapper) data. Secondly, SPOT NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data during 2000–2008 are used to analyze the dynamic changes of ecological processes, and to simulate its inter-annual variety at pixel scale. Finally, the dynamic change trends of ecological processes of grassland vegetation are described. The results indicate that the unchanged ecosystem types account for most of the study area, unused land in the central part expands continuously which results in the increase of desertification, and most ecosystem types in the eastern part are changed to grassland and woodland. Furthermore, the vegetation vulnerability is the highest in the grassland-dominated region, the second in grassland–farmland–woodland transition, and the smallest in the woodland-dominated region, where the stability is enhanced in turn. Due to the dynamic change of vegetation, it can be concluded that the study area underwent ecological processes of vegetation cover with a negative trend and a changed phenology.