Quantifying Impacts of Land Ownership on Regional Forest NDVI Dynamics

Identifying the impacts of human activities on local and regional ecological processes is important for protecting essential ecological functions. In this study, the spatial and temporal dynamics of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at three adjacent areas with different proportions of private land (6 percent, 20 percent and 55 percent) in the Bankhead National Forest in Alabama, USA from 1998 to 2004 were examined. The phase coupling, synchrony, and information entropy of NDVI at multiple temporal scales for each of these areas were examined. A higher proportion of private land (e.g., 55 percent) resulted in decrease of annual mean, coefficient of variance, seasonal maximum, and absolute value of rate of increase/ rate of decrease for NDVI values as well as increase in seasonal minimum NDVI and decrease in spatial coupling and synchrony of NDVI dynamics. Thus, a higher proportion of private land could affect regional NDVI dynamics in complex and ecologically significant ways.