An Improved Habitat Quality Assessment Model Considering Vegetation Growth Status: A Case Study of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Abstract

Habitat quality is a key indicator of ecosystem services. However, current habitat quality assessment methods mainly depend on land-use types, which ignore the differences within the specific land-use type and have difficulty reflecting the actual situation of an ecosystem. Therefore, this study proposes an improved habitat quality assessment method that incorporates vegetation growth status by introducing the leaf area index (LAI). This method first uses the LAI to assess pixel-level habitat suitability and then incorporates threat indicators for refined habitat quality evaluation. Finally, the proposed method is used to assess habitat quality and its changes on the Qinghai‒Tibet Plateau (QTP). The results show that the proposed method can effectively distinguish habitat suitability differences among pixels with the same land use type, enabling a more reasonable and precise evaluation of habitat quality. Habitat quality assessment on the QTP revealed that most regions improved between 2000 and 2020, except for urban areas, southeastern forests, and the Qiangtang region, where significant declines occurred. In particular, the Ruoergai Wetland, Qilian Mountains, Datong Beichuan River Source, and Yellow River Source exhibited greater improvements, with net habitat quality growth exceeding 30%. Furthermore, the proposed method has great potential for habitat quality assessment in other regions with various vegetation growth conditions, which will provide further support for environmental management.

Keywords: habitat quality, LAI, Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, vegetation growth status, ecological restoration