Change in land cover and human occupancy of the arid region of Central-East Asia

This paper aimed to study the characteristics of land cover change and the impact of human activities on potential natural vegetation (PNV) in the arid region of Central-East Asia. This information is of great significance for the protection of the ecological environment and the rational use of land resources. Firstly, the study simulated the distribution of PNV in the arid region of Central-East Asia based on meteorological data and a CSCS model. Secondly, the study analysed the land cover change based on the 2001-2013 MODIS land cover datasets. Finally, we studied the variation characteristics of human occupancy intensity on PNV. The results showed that:1) the PNV in the arid region of Central-East Asia included potential forestland, potential grassland, potential tundra, and potential desert; 2) the shrubland increased dynamically in Central Asia, the croplands expanded significantly in the arid region of China, and the areas of shrubland and grassland in the middle and west of Mongolia decreased; 3) the human occupancy increased in the study area. The human occupancy proportion of the study area was notably increased by 1.45% from 2010 to 2013. The human occupancy proportion of the potential grassland showed the largest increase (2.88%) from 2009 to 2013 and the human occupancy proportion of the potential forest showed the largest increase (6.99%) from 2001 to 2005; 4) in the North Kazakhstan Tri-State(Солтүстiк Казакстаноблысы,Акмолаоблысы,Костанайоблысы), migration was the major factor that affected PNV, as the human occupancy proportion increased by 11.38% from 2006 to 2013; in the arid regions of Hulunbuir and Shanxi, agricultural development was the main factor for increased human occupancy, which increased by 6.62% and 17.64%, respectively, from 2001 to 2013.