Study on the effectiveness and influencing factors of vegetation protection in national nature reserves on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract

Protected areas are the cornerstone of national and global efforts to mitigate biodiversity loss. This study focused on the national nature reserves (NNRs) of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), using a long-term series of NDVI data from 2010 to 2020 to assess the effectiveness of vegetation protection across the entire region. By employing a multiple regression model, we accounted for 71% of the variation in the NDVI change rate, indicating a goodness of fit (R-squared) that indicated an interplay between factors such as the natural environment, management capabilities, human-mediated disturbance, and population density in shaping vegetation protection effectiveness within the NNRs of the QTP. The managerial capacity, natural environment, population, and human-mediated disturbance factors contributed 46.0%, 37.5%, 11.4%, and 5.1%, respectively, of the total. The regression analysis findings highlight the crucial role that environmental elements play in the success of conservation by showing that latitude, longitude, elevation, and average annual precipitation all have a major impact on the effectiveness of NNRs. The effectiveness of conservation is significantly positively impacted by province and per capita patrol area, and negatively by per capita management area. Practical conservation and management solutions appropriate for the NNRs of the QTP are also offered to meet current challenges and management restrictions. These suggestions are meant to help the QTP function as an ecological security barrier more successfully.