Effects of climate change on vegetation pattern in Baotou, China

The vegetation system in arid and semi-arid regions is facing severe challenges, so it is urgent to forecast the evolution of vegetation system. Vegetation pattern dynamics can be used to qualitatively analyze and quantitatively describe the formation mechanism and distribution law of vegetation based on dynamic equations and statistical data. Therefore, this paper selects Baotou region, Inner Mongolia which is a typical semi-arid region and applies vegetation-climate dynamics model to study the effect of climate change on vegetation distribution. The last 60 years of carbon dioxide concentration [CO \(_2\) ${}_2$ ], rainfall and temperature data in this region are collected and the correlation between these climatic factors and vegetation density is analyzed. Besides, vegetation growth over the next 100 years is predicted under different climate scenarios. The results reveal that precipitation makes a critical difference in the growth of vegetation, and the vegetation pattern is the result of the synergistic effect of temperature, precipitation and [CO \(_2\) ${}_2$ ]. The rate of vegetation desertification is the fastest under current scenario and SSP1-2.6 is the most ideal climate scenario for vegetation growth. Furthermore, we use the optimal control theory to provide a theoretical guidance for the prevention of desertification.