Abstract
The rapid assessment of the effectiveness of landscape protection in nature reserves is of great significance for the scientific formulation of protection and management countermeasures. There is also an urgent problem to be solved for the construction and management of nature reserves in China. Using high-resolution remote sensing image data, this study analyzes the landscape dynamics in the Liancheng National Nature Reserve (LNNR) and their driving factors since the reserve’s promotion to the national level in 2005, and proposes a comprehensive evaluation method for the effectiveness of landscape protection in protected areas based on the Landscape Transfer Index (LTI), Protected Landscape Integrity Index (PLII), and Interfered Landscape Sprawl Index (ILSI). Between 2006 and 2019, the area of protected landscape—namely woodland, grassland, and water—in the LNNR decreased, while the area of interfered landscape such as residential land, industrial and mining land, and water conservancy facility land increased. The LTI was −0.14, and among the driving factors, the development of industry and mining, land use by indigenous inhabitants, and the development of the transport industry made the highest contributions to the landscape transfer tendency, respectively 34.79%, 28.98%, and 17.30%. The results indicate that the overall quality of the landscape declined slightly during this period, mainly as a result of industrial and mining development, indigenous use of the land, and road construction. The PLII decreased from 82.7 to 68.7; this result indicates that the spatial pattern of the protected landscape became more fragmented, and the degree of human interference in the landscape increased. The ILSI increased from 26.61 to 26.68 which indicates that the scope of influence of human interference did not change significantly. The effectiveness of landscape protection in the LNNR is low. Despite the insignificant nature of these changes, they still require attention and timely remedial measures. The methodology proposed in this study may be applicable to the rapid assessment of the effectiveness of landscape conservation in various types of nature conservation sites around the world.
Highlights
Woodland occupies the largest area among all landscape types in the Liancheng National Nature Reserve (LNNR), and its area decreased from 41,325.16 hm2 (85.80% of the reserve’s total area) in 2006 to 41,292.32 hm2 (85.73%) in 2019, a decrease of 32.84 hm2
The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) From 2006 to 2019, the area of protected landscapes—namely woodland, grassland, and water—within the protected area of the LNNR decreased from 42,505.59 hm2
Increased from 5526.36 hm2 (11.47% of the reserve’s total area) to 5546.71 hm2 (11.52%), resulting in a decrease in the overall quality of the landscape and an increase in the degree of human interference in the reserve. These changes were mostly concentrated in the experimental zone of the protected area of the LNNR, and the main causes of the overall deterioration of the landscape were industrial and mining exploitation, land use by indigenous inhabitants, and the construction of transportation facilities with contributions of 34.79%, 28.98, and 17.30%, respectively
Summary
Natural habitat loss and fragmentation are important threats to global biodiversity conservation [1,2]. Studies have shown that the establishment of protected areas (PAs) can effectively curb the destruction of natural ecosystems, and this approach is a major component of biodiversity conservation [3,4,5]. In 2019, there were 261,200 PAs of various types in the world, covering 15.3% of the global terrestrial and freshwater environment [6]. Analyzing landscape changes in PAs is an intuitive way to monitor and evaluate such areas. Scholars classify the landscapes in PAs into two categories according to their attributes, 4.0/)
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