Analysis Of Landscape Metrics Research Articles

Landscapes of risk: A comparative analysis of landscape metrics for the ecotoxicological assessment of pesticide risk to bees

Abstract Pesticide use in agricultural landscapes creates environmental contamination that is heterogenous in space and time. Mobile organisms, such as bees, are exposed to multiple contamination sources when visiting patches that vary in the amount, timing and toxicity of pesticides used. Yet, environmental risk assessments (ERA) typically fail to consider this heterogeneity, in part because of the complexities of estimating exposure to different pesticides, and subsequent risk at organism‐relevant scales. We use pesticide assays of 269 bee‐collected pollen samples to understand the spatiotemporal variability of risk across a network of 41 field sites in southern Sweden. Observed bee pesticide risk is calculated based on compound‐specific residue quantifications in pollen and standardized toxicity data. We then compare the ability of three classes of landscape‐scale variables to predict this risk: (1) landscape composition and configuration metrics, (2) landscape load based on national pesticide use data and (3) predictions from a newly developed bee pesticide exposure model. Based on use data, 10 crops account for 81% of the total risk. We detected 49 pesticide compounds in bee‐collected pollen. Although herbicides and fungicides constitute the bulk of detected pesticides, both in frequency and amount quantified, unsurprisingly, insecticides contribute the most to risk. Landscape composition and configuration metrics did not predict observed pesticide risk, and interactions with bee species indicate taxa‐dependency in predictions. Landscape load predicted observed risk consistently between taxa. Risk estimates from our exposure model were strongly predictive but only when considering realized risk (i.e., risk estimates based on prior pesticide use information). Synthesis and applications. Predicting pesticide risk based on landscape patterns could enable landscape‐scale ERA. However, simple metrics of landscape pattern, such as proportion of agricultural land, are not sufficient. We found that risk observed in bee‐collected pollen was best predicted when integrating spatialized pesticide use in the pesticide exposure model, underscoring the importance of such data for research, monitoring and mitigation. Further, we propose a guidance framework for future landscape ecotoxicological risk analyses that clarifies data needs relative to risk prediction goals.

Assessing the environmental destruction in forest ecosystems using landscape metrics and spatial analysis

Forest degradation is a serious environmental issue that has significant implications for ecological stability, biodiversity, and human well-being. Identifying the extent and severity of forest degradation is crucial for effective management and conservation of forest ecosystems. The objective of this study was to assess the ecological vulnerability of the forest in the Dadabad region using spatial analysis and landscape metrics. The land cover map of the area was divided into 13 sub-basins to quantify landscape metrics, and the severity of human activities, degradation level, and ecological vulnerability were calculated for each sub-basin. Each sub-basin was evaluated as a single landscape to determine the extent of degradation, and landscape zoning was performed based on the degradation coefficients. The study found that sub-basins 2 and 4 had the highest levels of degradation, while sub-basins 3, 7, 8, 11, and 12 were the least degraded. Over half of the Dadabad region, 37.8% for protection and 32.25% for rehabilitation, was recommended for conservation planning. The research highlights the importance of using spatial analysis of landscape metrics to assist managers and planners in protecting and conserving natural areas.

Simulating future land use by coupling ecological security patterns and multiple scenarios

A land use simulation model with coupling constraints of ecological security patterns (ESPs) and multiple scenarios (MSs) was developed using the PLUS model. The research scale was zoned with environmental functional regions, where land management policies were formulated. A case study in Anji County successfully demonstrated the application of the ESP-MS-PLUS model. First, we constructed three different levels of ESPs as ecological constraints by utilizing ecosystem services evaluation and circuit theory. Second, four scenarios of land use and land cover changes (LUCCs) in 2034 were assumed, namely business as usual (BAU), priority given to urban development (PUD), priority given to ecological protection (PEP), and balanced urban development and ecological protection (BUE). Then, the basic ecological constraints (ecological red line areas and waters) and three types of ESPs were coupled with the four scenarios. The results of the simulation and analysis of landscape metrics under each scenario showed that the PEP and BUE scenarios would effectively reduce the degree and speed of ecological destruction. In addition, there were three environmental functional areas that could be used as priority areas for urban construction to ensure economic development. This study provides a new mechanism for land use optimization in the context of ecological protection at scales conducive to practice.

Hot Spots Analysis of Landscape Metrics and Runoff Landscape Index in Ardabil Province

Hot Spots Analysis of Landscape Metrics and Runoff Landscape Index in Ardabil Province

The Use of Selected Landscape Metrics to Evaluate the Transformation of the Rural Landscape as a Result of the Development of the Mining Function—A Case Study of the Puchaczów Commune

Landscape metrics have been used for years in research on the evolution of landscapes. They are also important in the process of monitoring changes taking place in the functional and spatial structure of rural areas. The main aim of this article is to assess the transformation of the rural landscape of the Puchaczów commune, which is based on a comparative analysis of selected landscape metrics. In the Puchaczów commune, due to the availability of raw materials, a mining industry has developed, which has a decisive influence on the development of the region. The study included schemes of the commune’s land cover from four periods: the pre-war period, the 1960s and the 1970s (i.e., shortly before the construction of the hard coal mine), 1990–2000, and 2020. Then, for the given time frames, with the help of the FRAGSTATS version 4.2 program, the following landscape indicators were calculated: the percentage of the landscape coverage by particular land cover units, the number of patches, the mean class area, the Shannon diversity index, and the Simpson diversity index. A comparative analysis of landscape metrics showed that the landscape of the Puchaczów commune was constantly transformed in the years 1937–2020. Despite the decrease in the area of agricultural land, agricultural production remains the dominant function of the commune. The percentage of industrial areas is the smallest, but the metric values do not reflect the enormous environmental impact of the mine. A broader description of the changes taking place in the landscape of the Puchaczów commune can therefore be obtained only by combining research with the use of landscape metrics and analyses of the impact of land cover units on the environment.

Relationships between habitat quality and ecological properties across Ziarat Basin in northern Iran

This study aimed to examine the relationships between habitat quality and ecological properties including land use, elevation, slope, and soil parameters (SOC, phosphorus, and color parameters in the standard CIE L*a*b* color system), across the Ziarat Basin of the Gharehsoo River in northern Iran. Data from satellite imagery, field sampling, and previous reports were used to quantify habitat quality using InVEST, while soil properties were mapped using the IDW method. The relationships between all criteria were assessed using the ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The impact of land use on habitat quality was also evaluated based on a subset of landscape metrics including NP, PD, LPI, LSI, and PCI. The results demonstrated that the southern habitats had higher quality than the northern parts of the basin. Habitat quality had a significant positive relationship with elevation (R = 0.9), slope (R = 0.77), SOC (R = 0.65), and a* parameter (R = 0.57), whereas it had a significant inverse relationship with phosphorus (R = − 0.61) and L* parameter (R = − 0.84). Moreover, elevation and slope had a significant positive correlation with SOC (R > 0.53) and a* parameter (R > 0.47), and a significant negative correlation with phosphorus (R < − 0.42) and L* parameter (R < − 0.76). The analysis of landscape metrics also revealed that an enhance in the number of rangeland and forest patches increase habitat quality, whereas increasing agricultural and built-up land uses downgrade habitat quality. Conclusively, habitat quality can be correlated to landform and soil properties influenced by spatial patterns and land use types, which facilitate the understanding of ecological characteristics and land degradation.

Characterizing landscape patterns in urban-rural interfaces

Due to new urbanization patterns, where cities’ edges are becoming increasingly difficult to delimit, a better understanding of urban-rural gradients has become a key issue for urban planning. These interstitial territories are characterized for being highly heterogeneous, with hybrid and complex dynamics and -due to their landscape ambiguity and rapid transformation-frequently lack of clear regulations. Through calculation and analysis of landscape metrics in high resolution satellite images, this study proposes a novel and accurate method to identify urbanization patterns. It was applied to the urban-rural gradient of the Metropolitan District of Quito (MDQ), an Andean city. After analyzing five land use/land covers in six transects, results suggest that the MDQ presents patterns of urban diffusion and coalescence. The diffusion starts at the urban core and expand to rural parishes where some emerging traditional settlements merge, constituting a complex pattern of urbanization. Also, significant levels of fragmentation were identified for the vegetation cover in periurban areas, threatening the territory environmental sustainability. Finally, a multivariate cluster analysis was developed, evidencing five main tendencies of urbanization patterns. This knowledge can be particularly useful for urban planning in terms of reducing randomness in urban development processes. This paper proposes and tests an analytical approach which could be applied to other Latin-American cities, where urban expansion patterns remain unknown.

Quantifying urban expansion using Landsat images and landscape metrics: a case study of the Halton Region, Ontario

The Halton Region, as part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), is regarded as one of the fastest growing regions in Canada, generating 20% of national gross domestic product. It is also one of the most desirable places for living and for thriving businesses. This research attempts to assess the urban expansion in the Halton Region, Ontario, Canada from 1989 to 2019 using satellite images, analysis approaches, and landscape metrics. Multitemporal Landsat images and the supervised learning algorithms in GIS software were used to explore the dynamic changes and to classify the urban and nonurban areas. The temporal urban expansion in the Halton Region experienced a dramatic rise, and it mainly occurred from the centre of the area. The analysis of landscape metrics based on different methods including the Land Use in Central Indiana (LUCI) model, the vegetation-impervious surface-soil (V-I-S) model, and the census data of Canada was carried out to understand the transition mode of the urbanization in the Halton Region. Also, the population growth in the centre of the Halton Region was considered as one of the driving forces affecting urban expansion. The results showed that most of the landscape metrics rose between 1989 and 2019, indicating that leapfrog pattern of urbanization occurred over the entire period. The purpose of this research is to evaluate urbanization in the Halton Region and give the city managers data to make appropriate decisions in further urban planning.

Changes in landscape composition and configuration in the Beressa watershed, Blue Nile basin of Ethiopian Highlands: historical and future exploration

Analyzing long-term dynamics of landscape patterns can provide important insights into the changes in landscape functions, that are necessary for optimizing resource management strategies. This study primarily aimed at quantifying landscape structural change. The Land use/land cover (LULC) layers of 1972, 1987, 2002, and 2017 were mapped from Landsat images, and projected to 2032 and 2047. Factor analysis was then employed to select independent core metrics of landscape composition and configuration to characterize the landscape. A post-classification comparison indicated that, between 1972 and 2017, natural vegetation, grassland, barren land and waterbody covers declined by 89.9%, 67.9%, 67.8 and 15.9%, respectively. On the other hand, plantation increased by 692.1% followed by human settlement (138%) and farmland (21.8%). A similar trend is likely to continue in 2032 and 2047 with a slight decline in the plantation category in 2047. Analysis of landscape metrics revealed that between 1972 and 2017, the number of patches increased. Specifically, plantation, barren land, settlement and grassland increased by 171.4%, 69.7%, 65.8% and 28.6%, respectively. In contrast, natural vegetation, farmland and waterbody declined by 53.1%, 46.3% and 33.9%, respectively. Future predictions showed a declining trend of the number of patches for all LULC types. An increasing trend in the largest patch index and patch size for farmland, plantation, and settlement categories was observed across all years, suggesting intensified human activities in the landscape. Consequently, natural habitat category has declined and become fragmented. Landscape pattern has changed considerably and become more fragmented over the last 45 years. Nevertheless, the future projections suggest a decline in fragmentation and potentially increased assemblage of patches forming simple patterns with fewer number of large size class patches. The results of this study could perhaps be applied in designing strategies for landscape management planning and resource conservation decision-making.

Political-military crisis and forest fragmentation in the Mont Péko national Park in Côte d'Ivoire

In Côte d'Ivoire, the political-military crisis from 2002 to 2011 caused an intensification of human pressure on certain protected areas. This increased pressure has led to significant deforestation in the Mont Péko national Park. However, the impact of disturbances on the forest cover structure of this park is little known. The purpose of this study was to document the impact of the crisis on the fragmentation of the forest cover of Mont Péko national Park in order to contribute to its rehabilitation. Thus, the structural dynamics of the landscape were analyzed using metrics of landscape ecology derived from four thematic digital maps from Landsat satellite imagery, throughout the periods before, during and after the crisis. Analysis of landscape spatial transformation processes between 1988 and 2016 showed a growing trend in forest cover fragmentation. Statistics on selected landscape metrics were produced to quantify the structural changes resulting from this fragmentation. Analysis of landscape metrics showed a significant increase in the level of fragmentation of forest cover during and after the period of crisis. The overall structural dynamics of the landscape of the Mont Péko national Park during the periods studied reveals a fragmentation of the forest at the expense of the creation of cocoa plantations. There is therefore an urgent need to strengthen the supervisory capacity of managers in order to eradicate the scourge of cocoa cultivation in the Mont Péko national Park.

Assessment of urban green space fragmentation using landscape metrics (case study: district 2, Tehran city)

Land cover changes caused by human activities have severe environmental effects on natural ecosystems. The presence of green spaces in cities is necessary to maintain the environmental health of cities as well as the natural conditions of the urban ecological context. On the other hand, the presence of open and green patches is associated with their combination and distribution, and the measure of this relationship and connection is very important. In recent years, the destruction and changing the green and open spaces are one of the most important physical-spatial effects of urban development. Considering the negative effects of inappropriate usage of lands and land-use change, knowledge, and understanding of the process of changeability is necessary in assessing environmental impacts from development in order to sustainable planning and management. This study aimed to investigate the trend of landscape changes in district 2 of Tehran. Satellite images of TM and ETM+ and NP, AREA_MN, PARA-MN, CONTIG_MN, SPLIT, LPI, PLAND, MESH, SHAPE_MN and DIVISION metrics were used to prepare land cover maps and analysis of changes. In order to analyze the fragmentation, different landscape metrics at the class level were calculated using FRAGSTATS software. The analysis of landscape metrics indicates the extensive replacement of green lands by build lands. The results showed that increasing the number of patches and reducing the mean area is an important index of decomposition also, the process of decomposition and destruction of the landscape is incremental. The results show the necessity to pay attention to the land use and land cover in the region to suitable and sustainable utilization of natural resources.

A quantitative framework for analysing long term spatial clustering and vegetation fragmentation in an urban landscape using multi-temporal landsat data

Rapid urbanization threatens urban green spaces and vegetation, demonstrated by a decrease in connectivity and higher levels of fragmentation. Understanding historic spatial and temporal patterns of such fragmentation is important for habitat and biological conservation, ecosystem management and urban planning. Despite their potential value, Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) measures have not been sufficiently exploited in monitoring the spatial and temporal variability in clustering and fragmentation of vegetation patterns in urban areas. LISA statistics are an important structural measure that indicates the presence of outliers, zones of similarity (hot spots) and of dissimilarity (cold spots) at proximate locations, hence they could be used to explicitly capture spatial patterns that are clustered, dispersed or random. In this study, we applied landscape metrics, LISA indices to analyse the temporal variability in clustering and fragmentation patterns of vegetation patches in Harare metropolitan city, Zimbabwe using Landsat series data for 1994, 2001 and 2017. Analysis of landscape metrics showed an increase in the fragmentation of vegetation patches between 1994–2017 as shown by the decrease in mean patch size, an increase in number of patches, edge density and shape complexity of vegetation patches. The study further demonstrates the utility of LISA indices in identifying key hot spot and cold spots. Comparatively, the highly vegetated northern parts of the city were characterised by significantly high positive spatial autocorrelation (p < 0.05) of vegetation patches. Conversely, more dispersed vegetation patches were found in the highly and densely urbanized western, eastern and southern parts of the city. This suggest that with increasing vegetation fragmentation, small and isolated vegetation patches do not spatially cluster but are dispersed geographically. The findings of the study underline the potential of LISA measures as a valuable spatially explicit method for the assessment of spatial clustering and fragmentation of urban vegetation patterns.

Environmental vulnerability assessment of Choghakhor International Wetland during 1985 to 2018

AbstractAs of natural constraints, and the specific climate of Iran, as well as the increasing importance of international water resources in the socio‐economic development of societies, studies on surface water resources, especially wetlands, merit special attention. Accordingly, the TM, ETM+ and OLI satellite images of 1985, 2000 and 2018 were used in the present study to detect changes in the Choghakhor international wetland. Classifying the images with a supervised method, and using maximum likelihood algorithms, the distinct land use/land cover classes of waterbody, aquatic plants, pasture and forest, agricultural lands, bare land and human built lands were ranked. Selected landscape metrics information on the spatial pattern of the Choghakhor wetland was quantitatively determined, using Fragstats software, and the spatial composition and vulnerability of the wetland were evaluated. The vulnerability assessment of wetland contamination was investigated using the WRASTIC index based on the catchment area scale. Time processing of the data obtained from the maps indicated a 26.63% decrease in the pasture and forest area, and a 12.1% increase in the area of human built lands and agriculture lands during the period from 1985 to 2018. Further, in spite of the waterbody area expanding during 1985 to 2000, it subsequently shrunk in size from 2000 to 2018, with the area of aquatic plants lands increasing during the same period. Analysis of landscape metrics generally indicated the natural wetland cover has been changing during this period along with increasing anthropogenic impacts. Degradation, rotation and replacement of natural land cover such as pastures and forests with human built areas can be considered undesirable development effects on the Choghakhor wetland. The results of the WRASTIC index calculation indicated a major impact of Choghakhor wetland components from water pollution. The results of the present study place an emphasis on more sustainable land use and prevention of land destruction in the Choghakhor wetland basin.

Influencia de la actividad petrolera y la ganadería ovina en la cubierta del suelo en una región árida y semiárida de la Patagonia Argentina

La Geografía como ciencia ha provisto el mayor cuerpo teórico para el estudio de las configuraciones que se producen sobre el espacio geográfico. La generación de cartografía que representa las cubiertas de suelo es uno de los usos más importantes de la percepción remota. Se seleccionaron polígonos, con actividad petrolera y ganadera, en las siguientes unidades de paisaje: cañadones, pampas y valles. Los polígonos se utilizaron para evaluar cambios multi-temporales de las cubiertas de suelo y las comunidades vegetales en un período de 15 años. Se realizaron clasificaciones supervisadas y análisis de métricas de paisaje para examinar las posibles causas de estos cambios comparando: i) polígonos sin actividad petrolera ni ganadera (testigo), ii) con actividad petrolera y ganadera, iii) con actividad petrolera y sin actividad ganadera, y iv) sin actividad petrolera y con actividad ganadera. Los resultados obtenidos indicaron que la densidad de parches, el borde total, la densidad de borde y el índice de división de los fragmentos aumentaron en las tres unidades de paisaje, entre 2001 y 2016. El índice de contagio, en cambio, disminuyó. Se observó un incremento del suelo desnudo en las pampas y en los valles occidentales, con un retroceso de las comunidades vegetales dominantes. La densidad de parches en los sitios sin disturbios fue la menor, y en los sitios con ambos disturbios actuando simultáneamente fue máxima. En los sitios sin disturbio el tamaño efectivo de malla fue máximo, mientras que en los sitios con algún disturbio fue menor. Al analizar el efecto del disturbio sobre los elementos del paisaje se observó que su presencia genera la mayor densidad de parches y la mínima conectividad. Los resultados muestran que se produjo un proceso de fragmentación en las coberturas del suelo direccionados por la explotación petrolera y la ganadería ovina, que disminuyen el tamaño de los parches y, por lo tanto, la densidad de los mismos por unidad de superficie.

Analysis of cultivation of remaining forest fragments in the Moju River Basin, Legal Amazon, Pará

It is known that Brazilian Amazon has been the target of changes in land use and cover caused by oil palm crop. Among other economically attractive species, they cause several impacts on the environment. One way to characterize environmental changes that have an influence on biodiversity conservation is the analysis of landscape metrics. The objective of this work was to characterize and to analyze, through landscape metrics, the remaining forest fragments in a landscape with palm oil cultivation, in the Moju River Hydrographic Basin under the perspective of the conservation of local biodiversity, making a comparative between the years of 2005 and 2017. The landscape analyzed is very fragmented, characterized by the presence of a large number of small fragments, demonstrating the strong impact of human activity in the area. The environmental compromise of the Moju River basin’s landscape with respect to ecological integrity has become notorious, since over 50% of its dense vegetation area with up to 50 ha is composed of edge environment, a factor that significantly affects the quality of the existing ecosystems. Considering the context of the Moju River basin, strategic planning measures related to the control and management of the Moju River are necessary to contribute to the process of recovery and conservation of the remaining fragments.

Semi-Supervised Classification and Landscape Metrics for Mapping and Spatial Pattern Change Analysis of Tropical Forest Types in Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam

Research Highlights: In this study, we classified natural forest into four forest types using time-series multi-source remotely sensed data through a proposed semi-supervised model developed and validated for mapping forest types and assessing forest transition in Vietnam. Background and Objectives: Data on current forest state and changes detection are always essential for forest management and planning. There is, therefore, a need for improved tools to classify and evaluate forest dynamics more accurately and effectively. Our objective is to develop such tools using a semi-supervised model and landscape metrics to classify and map changes in natural forest types by using multi-source remotely sensed data. Materials and Methods: A combination of Landsat data with PALSAR and PALSAR-2 was used for forest classification through the proposed semi-supervised model. This model turned a kernel least square into a self-learning algorithm, trained by a small number of samples with given labels, and then used this classifier to assign labels to the unlabeled data. The overall accuracy, kappa, user’s accuracy, and producer’s accuracy were used to evaluate the classification accuracy by comparing the classified image with the results of ground truth interpretation. Based on the classified images, forest transition was evaluated using certain landscape metrics at the class and landscape levels. Results: The multi-source data approach achieved improved discrimination of forest types compared to only using single data (optical or radar data). Good classification accuracies were obtained, with kappas of 0.81, 0.76, and 0.74 for the years 2007, 2010, and 2016, respectively. The analysis of landscape metrics indicated that there were different behaviors in the four forest types, as well as provided much information about the trends in spatial pattern changes. Conclusions: This study highlights the utilization of a semi-supervised model in forest classification, and the analysis of forest transition using landscape metrics. However, future research should include a comparison of different models to estimate the improvement of the proposed model. Another important study that should be conducted is to test the proposed method on larger areas.

The Latent Relationship Between Soil Vulnerability to Degradation and Land Fragmentation: A Statistical Analysis of Landscape Metrics in Italy, 1960-2010.

Land degradation leads to almost unpredictable spatial outcomes and environmental dynamics demanding a more integrated monitoring approach. In this framework, we debate on (apparent and latent) connections between land fragmentation and soil degradation by identifying areas with increased levels of soil degradation that underlie distinctive spatial trends of land fragmentation. Moving from land-use maps to an empirical study of desertification, the framework proposed in this work may support environmental monitoring and inform land conservation policies. To assess land fragmentation, a quantitative approach grounded on a comprehensive analysis of landscape metrics available in FRAGSTATS package was illustrated and applied to Italy as a representative case of complex landscape dynamics in the Mediterranean basin. The Environmental Sensitive Area methodology was adopted to monitor the level of soil vulnerability to degradation. Three classes of land vulnerability-unaffected, fragile and critical-were identified and analysed using metrics to investigate possible links between soil degradation and land fragmentation. During the study period (1960-2010), Italy evolved towards a more fragmented landscape, characterised by increasingly smaller and contiguous patches, heterogeneous land-use structures and more irregular patches. We also introduced concepts focusing on syndromes of soil degradation characterised by a variety of attributes that correlate with land fragmentation. The present study makes an important contribution towards an operational system for identifying areas at risk of desertification. Analysis of land fragmentation as a proxy of soil degradation allows the characterisation of general landscape changes and identification of place-specific patterns associated with spatio-temporal dynamics leading to higher risk of desertification.

Landscape Diversity for Reduced Risk of Insect Damage: A Case Study of Spruce Bud Scale in Latvia

Spruce bud scale (Physokermes piceae (Schrnk.)) has gained attention due to recent outbreaks in the eastern Baltic Sea region—Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. In the spring of 2010, it spread rapidly across Latvia, affecting large areas of Norway spruce stands. Therefore, the aim of our study was to assess the effects of landscape heterogeneity on the damage caused by spruce bud scale in Norway spruce stands. In this study, we evaluated landscape metrics for middle-aged (40 to 70 years old) Norway spruce-dominated stands (&gt;70% of stand’s basal area) in four of the most affected forest massifs and two unaffected forest massifs. We used a binary logistic generalized linear mixed effects model (GLMMs) to assess the effect of environmental factors on the abundance of the spruce bud scale. Our results show that increased local diversity within 100 m of a forest patch apparently reduced the probability of spruce bud scale presence. We also found that the diversity within 1000 m of a patch was associated with an increased probability of spruce bud scale damage. A quantitative analysis of landscape metrics in our study indicated that greater landscape-scale diversity of stands may reduce insect damages.

A factor analysis of landscape metrics of particles deposited on leaf surface.

Particulate matter in the airborne environment is one of the top environmental concerns, as well as reasons of deaths and diverse diseases. Urban green infrastructure can improve the air quality by mitigating particulate matters from airborne environment and provide high spatial monitoring of particles by means of leaf particles as indicators. Three common species in Beijing (ailanthus, ash, and willow) were chosen to represent three different leaf characteristics. Then, we analyzed the correlation relationship of the particle metrics at landscape, class, and patch levels and implemented the principal components analysis and factor analysis. Firstly, at landscape level, metrics are mostly correlated with each other and the correlation relationship of metrics of ailanthus and willow were stronger than that of ash, which has coarse-texture leaves without hair. At class level, most of the metrics were correlated and the correlation relationship of metrics of ailanthus, whose leaves have microgrooves without hair, was weaker than that of ash and willow. At patch level, judging from proximity, the distance between particles from the same range was smaller for particles with complicated shape. Secondly, particles from four ranges were analyzed separately. The shape complexity of particles decreased and increased as the area increased respectively for PM1 (diameter ≤ 1μm) and large particles (diameter ≥ 10μm). Two principle components were identified for landscape and class levels respectively. These results will be useful for the in-depth understanding of the particles deposited on the leaf surface.

Dynamics Change of Vegetated Lands in A Highway Corridor during 37 Years (Case study of Jagorawi Toll Road, Jakarta-Bogor)

Recently, a highway development is required as a liaison between regions to support the economic development of the regions. Even the availability of highways give positive impacts, it also has negative impacts, especially related to the changes of vegetated lands. This study aims to determine the change of vegetation coverage in Jagorawi corridor Jakarta-Bogor during 37 years, and to analyze landscape patterns in the corridor based on distance factor from Jakarta to Bogor. In this study, we used a long-series of Landsat images taken by Landsat 2 MSS (1978), Landsat 5 TM (1988, 1995, and 2005) and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS (2015). Analysis of landscape metrics was conducted through patch analysis approach to determine the change of landscape patterns in the Jagorawi corridor Jakarta-Bogor. Several parameters of landscape metrics used are Number of Patches (NumP), Mean Patch Size (MPS), Mean Shape Index (MSI), and Edge Density (ED). These parameters can be used to provide information of structural elements of landscape, composition and spatial distribution in the corridor. The results indicated that vegetation coverage in the Jagorawi corridor Jakarta-Bogor decreased about 48% for 35 years. Moreover, NumP value increased and decreasing of MPS value as a means of higher fragmentation level occurs with patch size become smaller. Meanwhile, The increase in ED parameters indicates that vegetated land is damaged annually. MSI parameter shows a decrease in every year which means land degradation on vegetated land. This indicates that the declining value of MSI will have an impact on land degradation.