Assessment of vegetation vulnerability under compound drought-heat stress from an ecological engineering perspective in China

Beginning in 2000, China initiated a series of large-scale ecological restoration projects to address the dual challenges posed by socioeconomic development and extreme climate events. This study employed Vine Copula functions to develop a probabilistic assessment model for vegetation loss, quantitatively evaluating how ecological engineering implementation has modified vegetation vulnerability to compound drought-heat stress across China. We analysed temporal changes in vegetation vulnerability associated with project implementation to assess the effectiveness of different ecological engineering initiatives in reducing vegetation vulnerability. The results revealed that (1) Following ecological engineering implementation, the positive correlation between the kernel normalized difference vegetation index (KNDVI) and standardized soil moisture index (SSMI) strengthened significantly (P​P​