Abstract
Attributing the extent of changes in vegetation cover which are the result of human actions or of climate variability is challenging. The Negev Desert, bordered by two countries and the Palestinian Authority and crossing three climate zones, provides a natural laboratory for unveiling the impact of land practices on natural vegetation. Desert vegetation on both sides of the border was traditionally subject to herds grazing and bush gathering, but in recent decades; grazing policy, military training areas, and nature protection have excluded traditional uses. We used remotely sensed derived proxies of vegetation (the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and surface albedo from satellite images inside and outside of the large exclosures to estimate the anthropogenic impact on vegetation cover in the past four decades, and ultimately isolate the effect of traditional land uses on vegetation cover. Our results showed that the cross-border differences in land use led to a significant impact on vegetation cover outside the exclosed areas. These cross-border differences were more pronounced in the semi-arid - arid climate regions and decreased in the hyper-arid climate region. Exclosures provide a natural experiment which enables us the testing of the factors driving changes in natural vegetation.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 104930 |
| Journal | Journal of Arid Environments |
| Volume | 211 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was funded by the support of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem through the support of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Atid Scholarship and the Guntern Scholarship by the Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We thank Mr. Said Abu Siam (Responsible for issuing grazing permits, Ministry of Agriculture, Israel) for helping us understand the grazing policy in the state of Israel; private communication (09/19/2019).
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the support of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem through the support of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Atid Scholarship and the Guntern Scholarship by the Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem . We thank Mr. Said Abu Siam (Responsible for issuing grazing permits, Ministry of Agriculture, Israel) for helping us understand the grazing policy in the state of Israel; private communication (09/19/2019).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
Keywords
- Arid environment
- Military areas
- National borders
- Remote sensing
- The negev
- Traditional land use
- Vegetation cover
