Vegetation is the main body of the terrestrial ecosystem and is a significant indicator of environmental changes in the regional ecosystem. As an essential link connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Lancang-Mekong River Basin(LMRB) can provide essential data support and a decision-making basis for the assessment of terrestrial ecosystem environmental changes and the research and management of hydrology and water resources in the basin by monitoring changes in its vegetation cover. This study takes the Lancang-Mekong River Basin as the study area, and employs the Sen slope estimation, Mann–Kendall test, and Hurst exponent based on the MODIS NDVI data from 2000 to 2021 to study the spatial and temporal evolution trend and future sustainability of its NDVI. Besides, the nonlinear characteristics such as mutation type and mutation year are detected and analyzed using the BFAST01 method. Results demonstrated that: (1) In the past 22 years, the NDVI of the Lancang-Mekong River Basin generally exhibited a fluctuating upward trend, and the NDVI value in 2021 was the largest, which was 0.825, showing an increase of 4.29% compared with 2000. However, the increase rate was different: China has the most considerable NDVI growth rate of 7.25%, followed by Thailand with an increase of 7.21%, Myanmar and Laos as the third, while Cambodia and Vietnam have relatively stable vegetation changes. The overall performance of NDVI is high in the south and low in the north, and is dominated by high and relatively high vegetation coverage, of which the area with vegetation coverage exceeding 0.8 accounts for 62%. (2) The Sen-MK trend showed that from 2000 to 2021, the area where the vegetation coverage in the basin showed a trend of increase and decrease accounted for 66.59% and 18.88%, respectively. The Hurst exponent indicated that the areas where NDVI will continue to increase, decrease, and remain unchanged in the future account for 60.14%, 25.29%, and 14.53%, respectively, and the future development trend of NDVI is uncertain, accounting for 0.04%. Thus, more attention should be paid to areas with a descending future development trend. (3) BFAST01 detected eight NDVI mutation types in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin over the past 22 years. The mutations mainly occurred in 2002–2018, while 2002–2004 and 2014–2018 were the most frequent periods of breakpoints. The mutation type of “interruption: increase with negative break” was changed the most during this period, which accounts for 36.54%, and the smallest was “monotonic decrease (with negative break)”, which only accounts for 0.65%. This research demonstrates that combining the conventional trend analysis method with the BFAST mutation test can more accurately analyze the spatiotemporal variation and nonlinear mutation of NDVI, thus providing a scientific reference to develop ecological environment-related work.

Land use/cover change (LULCC) is an integral part of global environmental change and is influenced by both natural and socioeconomic factors. This study aims to comprehensively analyze land use and land cover (LULC) in Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces in eastern South Africa from 1995 to 2020 and to identify the driving force behind LULCC. Utilizing Landsat series satellite imagery as a data source and based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and eCognition software 9.0, two different classification methods, pixel-based classification and object-oriented classification, were adopted to gather LULC data every five years. The spatiotemporal characteristics of the data were then analyzed. Using an optimal parameter-based geodetector (OPGD), this study explored the driving factors of LULCC in this region. The results show the following: (1) Of the two classification methods examined, the object-oriented classification had higher accuracy, with an overall accuracy of 80–90%. The pixel-based classification had lower accuracy, with an overall accuracy of 62.33–72.14%. (2) From 1995 to 2020, the area of farmland in the study area showed a fluctuating increase, while the areas of forest and grassland declined annually. The area of constructed land increased annually, whereas the areas of water and unused land fluctuated over time. (3) Socioeconomic factors generally had greater explanatory power than natural factors, with population growth and economic development being the main drivers of LULCC in the region. This study provides a reliable scientific basis for the formulation of sustainable land resource development strategies in the area, as well as for the management and implementation of urban and rural planning, ecological protection, and environmental governance by relevant departments.

The leaf area index (LAI) is widely used as an important indicator and ecological parameter of vegetation structure and growth status, but the LAI lacks bibliometric analysis. To further understand the LAI’s research status and frontier dynamics, we used 75 years of data (1947–2021) from the Web of Science for scientific bibliometric analysis. The results showed that 22,276 LAI re-search papers were published from 1947 to 2021. According to the characteristics of the literature growth, LAI research can be divided into five stages: incubation, cultivation, acceleration, evolution, and outbreak periods. The research power at the different stages had different characteristics. The overall research power of the United States is number one globally, followed by China, Canada, and France. The related disciplines were widely varied, involving agriculture (the most studied field of LAI research), environmental science and ecology, remote sensing, and other fields. The development of the Google Earth engine, cloud computing platforms, and unmanned aerial vehicle technology will provide more critical support for LAI research. The results of this paper quantitatively show the development history, research hotspots, and application of LAI research and provide a reference for understanding the current situation and development trends of global LAI research.

Land use and land cover changes significantly affect the function and value of ecosystem services (ES). Exploring the spatial correspondence between changes in land cover and ES is conducive to optimizing the land use structure and increasing regional coordinated development. Thus, this study aimed to examine changes in land use and land cover (30 × 30 m) in Laos between 2000 and 2020 and their effects on ecosystem services value (ESV) using the Global Surface Cover Database land use data for 2000 to 2020, ArcGIS technology, and the table of Costanza’s value coefficients. The study results indicated that forest (79.5%), cultivated land (10.6%), and grassland (8.3%) were the dominant land use types in Laos over the past two decades. The forest area decreased significantly, while there were increases in other land types, and the forest was transformed into cultivated land and grassland. ES in Laos was valued at about USD 140–150 billion, with forest contributing the most, followed by cultivated land and grassland. ESV over the last two decades in Laos has increased by USD 3.94 million. Large values were assigned to regulating services (40%) and supporting services (14%). The ESV of food production, soil formation, and water supply increased, and the ESV of climate regulation, genetic resources, and erosion control decreased. In addition, the elasticity value of artificial surfaces was more prominent, with a more evident impact on ESV. For future development, Laos should rationally plan land resources, develop sustainable industries, maintain the dynamic balance of second-category ESV, and achieve sustainable economic and ecological development. This study provides a scientific basis for revealing changes in ESV in Laos over the past two decades, maintaining the stability and sustainable development of the environment in Laos, and realizing the sustainable use and efficient management of the local environmental resources.