Dynamic changes in landscape pattern in a large-scale opencast coal mine area from 1986 to 2015: A complex network approach

Abstract

Coal is the main resource in China, and opencast mining plays an important role. The impact of coal mining on landscape ecology is huge. Based on the interpreted six-phase land use status map, the study analyzed the land use evolution process in Pingshuo opencast mining area of China using the land use degree index and land use fractal characteristics. Landscape level index and patch type level index were used to further analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of landscape pattern. The Gephi software was used to construct the complex network of landscape level index and patch type level index, and calculate the degree value, centrality degree, clustering coefficient, and number of triangles. The study area was in the period of land use development and socio-economic conditions increased steadily. The fractal dimensions of the land use types in the coal mining area were significantly different, and the shape boundary of the regions in each land use type developed in a complicated direction. From 1986 to 2015, the landscape heterogeneity of the mining area was unstable, the degree of landscape fragmentation increased, ecological functions were affected, and the correlation between the nodes inside a complex network became larger, the network became tighter, and the stability became stronger. The dominance of cultivated land landscape declined, the mining activities in opencast mining area reached the strongest, and the industrial and mining land was the most fragmented in 2013. The nodes of landscape shape index were most closely connected with other nodes and played the most important role in the process of network information transmission.