Abstract: To explore the influence of mountain wind farm construction on ecosystem properties, we investigated soil physicochemical properties, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), fractional vegetation cover (FVC), and land use conversion among forest, shrubland, grassland and croplands in Jiangjunshan wind farm area in Yunnan Province. The results showed that: (1) Compared with the natural ecosystems, the construction of wind farms significantly increased soil bulk density and pH, but decreased the contents of soil water, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen and total phosphorus. Soil pH was the highest in the waste slag area in the wind farm, while the contents of soil water, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen and total phosphorus were lowest in the wind turbine area; (2) Compared with 2015, the average values of normalized difference vegetation index and fractional vegetation cover in 2020 decreased by 7.04% and 10.02%, respectively; (3) Compared to 2014, the areas of forest, shrubland and grassland in 2017 decreased by 4.65%, 3.95% and 4.17%, respectively, while the areas of cropland and construction land increased by 1.73% and 315.3%, respectively. Our findings suggest that earthwork excavation and soil compaction during construction and maintenance of mountain wind farm would decrease soil organic carbon and nutrient accumulation, and change plant community composition and vegetation cover in short term. Appropriate ecological restoration should be carried out in mountain wind farms.

Key words: ecosystem,  , normalized difference vegetation index, fractional vegetation cover, land use.