Abstract
The different ecological components of fragile ecosystems in the Pantanos de Villa Wildlife Refuge are naturally affected by fluctuations in climate variability, mainly due to climatological elements. The impact of vegetation by climatic variability was determined based on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with climatic data for the dry season from 2000 to 2020 (May). The results showed an increasing trend in the NDVI during the study period. Vegetation was most vigorous in 2020 with an NDVI of 0.548. Likewise, in the summer season, vegetation cover had an inverse association with correlation values of -0.323, -0.252, -0.138 and -0.270 for temperature, precipitation, humidity and insolation, respectively. In addition, using Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 8 OLI satellite imagery and geographic information systems (GIS), 8 vegetation units were identified in the wetland, which were dominated by a greater distribution of desert saltgrass (Distichlis spicata). From the results, it was concluded that some climatic elements have a greater impact on the ecological components, especially on vegetation.
