Abstract
Agriculture a major source of food and fibre affects the natural land cover and in turn is affected by climatic factors like
temperature and precipitation patterns beside other factors. The soil temperature and moisture, wind, relative humidity and
crop water requirements also affect the crop growth. Local farming practices also alter the natural landscape structure and
biodiversity in croplands. This study was conducted with the objective to find out seasonality trend and to determine the land
cover classification in Potohar region using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Moreover, random points
throughout the study area were selected in order to detect the vegetation index pattern in different land cover types. For land
cover classification and acquiring seasonality trend, crop growth patterns were determined by phenological phases of a
particular crop. Land cover was classified with standard Level 1 Terrain-corrected (L1T) orthorectified images from Landsat
8 from years 2012 to 2016. Seven land cover classes within the study area were identified namely; agriculture, grasses, forest,
shrubs/tall herbs, bare soil, built-up and water bodies. Moreover, the seasonality trend over the study was found related to
different land cover classifications using 959 sample plots with 97.81% accuracy. The phase trend analysis determined the
change in vegetation cover during the years under study, which was correlated to precipitation patterns in Potohar. The NDVI
pattern was highly fluctuating in agricultural land cover due to seasonal crop growth but it remained stable throughout the year
in forest covers. Urban land cover was found to have high impact on nearby vegetation as it was related to change in land cover
type, which affected the climate of the area. Climate being a vital deriving force, affected precipitation patterns of the rain-fed
(barani) land which in turn shifted the seasonal growth of various agricultural crops.
