Abstract:
This paper selected two sample regions named Shennongjia and Funiushan which spread nature reserves intensively in the eastern Qinling-Daba Mountains as the study area, discussed the north and south transitional characteristics of the vegetation phenology in the eastern Qinling-Daba Mountains through the comparative analysis of the phenological pattern on a fine scale from two different north and south regions. Based on the information from the time series of remote sensing images during the recent twenty years, this paper extracted comprehensively the spatial pattern of vegetation phenology to analyze the relation and differences between the two study areas from the general distribution characteristics of phenology, the relationship between phenology and elevation and other aspects. Then based on the elevation correction of phenological information, this paper compared and analyzed the characteristics and laws from the different regions but the same elevation of phenological change from north to south. The results showed that: without considering the influence of terrain elevation, the beginning of vegetation growth season in Shennongjia was 8.49 days later than Funiu Mountains area; the length of growth was 9.31 days shorter than Funiu Mountains area; different elevation showed a different influence on the phenology of the north and south study areas: every 100 m elevation rose in the study areas, the beginning of the growth delayed 1.72 days, and the length of the growth decreased 2.54 days in Shennongjia area; the beginning of the growth delayed 2.05 days and the length of the growth decreased 1.56 days in the Funiu Mountains area. However, after elevation correction, the general vegetation at the beginning of the growth was 2.52 days earlier than in the Funiu Mountains area; the growth length increased by 3.91 days in the Funiu Mountains area. After Comparing the main vegetation type named the deciduous broad-leaved forest and the evergreen coniferous forest in the two study areas, this paper found that: the beginning of the growth of the deciduous broad-leaved forest in the Shennongjia area was 3.25 days earlier than Funiu Mountains; the beginning of the evergreen coniferous forest in the Shennongjia area was 1.78 days earlier than Funiu Mountains area, and the length of the growth was 11.96 days longer than the Funiu Mountains area. Before and after elevation correction of vegetation phenological information, the relative time of the beginning of the vegetation growing season in the two study areas, and the relative size of the length of the growing season are reversed. This complex distribution characteristics of phenological pattern fairly indicated the complex transitional characteristics of vegetation in the eastern Qinling-Daba Mountains formed by the barrier and differentiation of multiple mountain ranges.