Liu et al. (2026) Sensing Vegetation Resistance and Recovery Along Urban–Rural Gradients

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Buildings
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-26
• Authors: Kexin Liu, Na Li, Lifang Zhang, Hui Gan, Zhewei Liu, Hao Teng, Xiaomu Wang, Yulong Zeng, Jingxue Xie
• DOI: 10.3390/buildings16071308

Research Groups

[Information not available in the provided text.]

Short Summary

This study investigates how vegetation resistance and recovery to extreme heat events vary along urban-rural gradients in the North Tianshan Slope Urban Agglomeration, China. It finds that rural vegetation provides a strong cooling effect and exhibits higher resistance and recovery than urban vegetation, with driving factors varying by spatial scale.

Objective

• To quantify vegetation resistance and recovery dynamics during extreme heat events along urban-rural gradients and identify their key driving factors across multiple spatial scales.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: North Tianshan Slope Urban Agglomeration (TNSUA) in Xinjiang, China, analyzed along an urban–rural gradient, and at county and pixel scales.
• Temporal Scale: 2000 to 2022 (23 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Generalized additive models (GAMs), Random Forest (RF) models.
• Data sources: Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data (likely satellite-derived), impervious surface fraction data.

Main Results

• Rural land cover along the urban-rural gradient provides a strong cooling effect, particularly in areas with an urban development intensity (UDI) of 70–85%.
• Vegetation responses exhibit pronounced seasonal differences.
• Urban vegetation generally shows lower resistance and recovery to extreme heat events compared to rural vegetation.
• At the county scale, local Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensity is the dominant driver of vegetation responses.
• At the pixel scale, precipitation and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) play the most critical roles in driving vegetation responses.

Contributions

• Improves the understanding of vegetation responses to extreme heat events specifically in arid regions.
• Provides novel evidence on how vegetation resistance and recovery dynamics vary along urban-rural gradients, addressing a gap in existing literature.
• Offers scientific support for the development of nature-based urban heat adaptation strategies.

Funding

[Information not available in the provided text.]

Citation

@article{Liu2026Sensing,
  author = {Liu, Kexin and Li, Na and Zhang, Lifang and Gan, Hui and Liu, Zhewei and Teng, Hao and Wang, Xiaomu and Zeng, Yulong and Xie, Jingxue},
  title = {Sensing Vegetation Resistance and Recovery Along Urban–Rural Gradients},
  journal = {Buildings},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/buildings16071308},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16071308}
}