Comparison of two approaches for detecting the depth of edge influence on vegetation diversity in the arid valley of southwestern China

Abstract

Three types of landscape boundary (forest/pepper field, forest/cabbage field, and forest/grassland) were selected in the aird valley of upper reaches of Minjiang River, southwestern China. On the basis of vegetation diversity, the depth of edge influence (DEI) on different types of landscape boundaries was estimated using principal components analysis (PCA) method and moving split-window techniques (MSWT). The results showed that in the 5 transects, PCA method was able to detect the edge influence depth with 3 transects, while MSWT could explain 4 transects. It is concluded that PCA and MSWT both can be used to detect the depth of edge influence within 50 m from the edge to the interior. Similar conclusions were drawn in the forest of each transect with the two methods, but no similar conclusions were drawn in the pepper field of each transect. Although the two methods have advantages and disadvantages respectively, they are useful tools for characterizing edge dynamics. Comparing the two methods, MSWT is more successful.

Keywords

Boundary / Moving split-window techniques (MSWT) / Principal components analysis (PCA) / Depth of edge influence (DEI) / S711 / A

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