Monitoring the effects of land consolidation on the ecological environmental quality based on remote sensing: A case study of Chaohu Lake Basin, China

Abstract

As a kind of activity to break down the original land ecosystem, land consolidation causes the ecosystem to undergo a process of “stability-unstable-stable”. The Chaohu Lake Basin is a typical traditional agricultural planting area and extensive implementation of large-scale land consolidation projects. By monitoring the impact of land consolidation activities in a specific time period in the basin on the project areas and surrounding environment, the spatial and temporal impacts of large-scale land consolidation on regional eco-environmental quality are analyzed. This study mainly monitors crop growth, soil moisture and temperature changes in the land consolidation project area, and the corresponding changes in the surrounding environment. The response of ecological environment factors caused by land consolidation can be embodied in indicators such as humidity, greenness, heat and dryness. Four indicators of NDVI, WET, LST, and NDBSI were selected, using principal component analysis, monitoring the environmental quality changes in the land consolidation areas of Chaohu Lake Basin. Result shows that the ecological environmental quality of the study area exhibits long-term convergence and short-term divergence, and the correlation between the ecological indicators is not significant. The average contribution rate of the first principal component eigenvalue is 67.94 %. The implementation period of the land consolidation project will seriously interfere with the ecological environment, but it can be restored within 3–5 years after implementation, and the ecological environmental quality of the project area will continue to improve. Land consolidation not only can improve the quality of the ecological environment in the consolidation area, but also can promote the surrounding environment. The findings provide theoretical basis and decision guidance for the improvement of land consolidation planning and design (reconstruction) in China, and offer suggestions on strategy-oriented support and scientific basis for promoting the long-term development of land consolidation worldwide.