The influence of land use change on the spatial–temporal variability of habitat quality between 1990 and 2010 in Northeast China

Abstract

Land use changes are a direct consequence of interactions between humans and nature. Analysing the spatial and temporal changes in habitat quality brought about by land use change can provide a scientific basis for ecological protection and land planning. Based on the analysis of land use change from 1990 to 2010 in Northeast China, we used the InVEST (integrated valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs) module to evaluate habitat quality based on watershed subdivision. The results show that: (1) the main land use changes from 1990 to 2010 were the transition from grasslands and forest lands to agricultural lands, which led to a decrease in connectivity of landscape and an increase in fragmentation; (2) areas of high habitat quality were distributed north of the Greater Khingan Mountains, the region of the Lesser Khingan Mountains and east of the Changbai Mountains, while the central plain had low habitat quality; (3) agricultural lands had the largest effect on habitat degradation among all habitat threats. During these 2 decades, the contribution of agricultural lands to habitat degradation were 43.4% in 1990, 44.6% in 2000 and 43.9% in 2010; and, (4) at a landscape scale, patch density and splitting index present noticeable negative correlations with habitat quality index. Habitat quality was significantly affected by landscape fragmentation and decreased connectivity.