Abstract
ABSTRACT Rapid urbanization in Addis Ababa and the surrounding area resulted in the rapid land use/land cover (LULC) change that affected landscape structures and ecological functions. This study aimed at quantifying and mapping the spatial patterns of landscape structure for a sustainable city region landscape conservation planning and management. GIS and statistical tools were used to compute important landscape metrics. Pearson Correlation and factor analysis were also applied to reduce redundant indices and identify underlining factor of the landscape structure by network of hexagonal area. The analysis depicted four landscape and four class-level underlined metrics. Accordingly, as the region overall landscape was characterized by patch size and density, shape and texture (interspersion) index, the forest class also attributed by patch size and density, and shape metrics. The result shows that the region landscape planning and management schemes must emphasize on the level of patch fragmentation and landscape complexity to maintain the natural land cover habitat functioning, the amount of ecological process and extent of human intervention. This research will help scientific base decision-making in conservation planning and management of the tropical highland urban landscape in general, and the study area in particular.
Highlights
Urban areas, nowadays, are growing at an alarming rate and becoming more complex
The summary gives the general pictures of the quantitative result of the landscape metrics at forest class level and, the overall landscape-level analysis
The study tries to see at least some of the representative measures of the broader landscape metrics categories (Area, Patch Size and Density, Edge, Shape, Diversity and Interspersion, and Core Area), the measures are not applied at the landscape level, an average total landscape area of forest- and landscape-level metrics is equal to 2500 hectare, as it is considered the equal-sized hexagonal area
Summary
Urban built-up, agriculture and other anthropogenic uses take over areas which are previously covered by natural vegetation, forest and other green spaces (Yared, Heyaw, Pauleit, & Mengistie, 2019). Such a degradation of the city regions’ vegetation and the rate of their ecosystem functions caused by uncontrolled urban growth and other anthropogenic activities have not yet given much emphasis. Studies were dealing more on the identification and quantification of the ecosystem services and goods generated from the city region’s vegetation. Dobbs, Escobedo, and Zipperer (2011) indicated soil PH and organic matter as the most influential ecosystem services and goods generated from urban trees Nowak et al (2008) measure urban forest contribution to pollution removal and carbon storage and sequestration. Dobbs, Escobedo, and Zipperer (2011) indicated soil PH and organic matter as the most influential ecosystem services and goods generated from urban trees
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