Distribution Of Landscape Elements Research Articles

Fractal characteristics and influencing factors of landscape space of Tibetan rural in Western Sichuan: a case study of three traditional villages

This study takes the landscape space of traditional Tibetan villages in western Sichuan as the research object, and three national-level traditional villages of different Tibetan clans in Gyatso, Amdo and Baima Tibet were selected as samples. Using the fractal theory, combined with counting-box dimension measurement and spatial analysis methods, it comparatively analyzes the fractal characteristics of their landscape space and their influencing factors. The study finds that the landscape space of these villages has certain fractal characteristics, which are characterized by self-similarity and irregularity. The fractal characteristics of different villages are influenced by various factors such as geographic location, natural conditions, religious beliefs, folk costumes, etc., showing differences and diversity. There is a certain correlation between the fractal dimension and the distribution of landscape elements and spatial patterns, which can be used to describe the complexity and diversity of landscape space pattern. The article believes that the fractal theory provides a new perspective and method for analyzing the landscape space of traditional Tibetan villages, which helps to reveal its intrinsic formation mechanism and cultural connotation and provides new insights for the protection of traditional village heritage and the maintenance of cultural traditions. Meanwhile, the study also points out the limitations and shortcomings of the fractal theory in the study of traditional villages and puts forward directions and suggestions for future research.

Planted Forest and Diverse Cultures in Ecological Village Planning: A Case Study in Tarama Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Traditional village landscapes that were planned with a combination of local traditional beliefs and the Feng Shui concepts of ‘ho:go’, featured in remaining patches of flourishing planted forest on Ryukyu Islands, were estimated to have been built about 300 years ago. This study sought to clarify the actual landscape composition and map the layout and distribution of landscape elements, with a focus on understanding the dimension of the widespread Feng Shui woods. The cultural landscape combines shapes of patches of greening, corridors of planted forest belts and intersecting roads, scattered areas of water and clustered human settlements. On the relatively flat islands, a forest belt about 15 m wide was planted to curve in front of the village and be connected with the preserved natural forest on the low hills behind the settlements to shape a green protective circle with a radius of about 400 m. The grounds of each house were surrounded by one row of trees. Thousands of big Fukugi trees were found surrounding the settlements and sacred sites. These forest belts are almost completely connected and shape green corridors providing habitat for flora and fauna. Inside the village, roads have been designed to meander, and thus function to mitigate damage from strong winds. In Okinawa, utaki (sacred places dedicated to a guardian deity of hamlets) and the remains of old springs also consist of important landscape units. Such a traditional aesthetic village landscape embodies the harmony of man and nature, or ‘people living in the forests’. A cultural landscape with ecological context needs to be reevaluated as a rural planning style in island topography, and promoted as a tourist attraction in order to better conserve it.

Using field data to inform and evaluate a new model of catchment hydrologic connectivity

[1] We present a new hydrologic model based on the frequency distribution of hillslope landscape elements along the stream network as a basis for simulating landscape-scale hydrologic connectivity and catchment runoff. Hydrologic connectivity describes shallow water table continuity between upland and stream elements of the catchment and is important for the movement of water and solutes to streams. This concept has gained traction in physical hydrology but has received less attention in rainfall-runoff modeling. Our model is based on the empirical studies of Jencso et al. (2009, 2010), who found a strong correlation between the duration of shallow groundwater connectivity across hillslope, riparian, and stream zones and upslope accumulated area. We explored the relationship between catchment form and function by testing the extent to which streamflow generation could be predicted by a model based on the topographic form (distribution of landscape elements) of the catchment. We applied the model to the Stringer Creek catchment of the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, located in Montana, USA. Detailed field observations collected by Jencso et al. (2009) were used to inform the underpinnings of the model and to corroborate internal consistency of the model simulations. The model demonstrated good agreement between the observed and predicted streamflow and connectivity duration curves. The ability of this model to simulate internal dynamics without conditioning the parameters on these data suggests that it has the potential to be more confidently extrapolated to other shallow, topographically driven catchments than hydrologic models that fail to consistently reproduce internal variables.

Bibosoop: A Unique Korean Biotope for Cavity Nesting Birds

In Korea, a bibosoop is a type of village grove fostered to complement a weak part of the village from a Feng-Shui perspective. We examined the characteristics of bird communities in remaining bibosoops in two regions, Gyeonggi-do Province and Jeollanam-do Province. We surveyed patch preferences of birds at two landscapes in Gyeonggi-do Province. One contains a bibosoop with other rural landscape elements, and the other does not have a bibosoop. The two landscapes of Gyeonggi-do Province were similar to each other in the distribution of landscape elements. We observed that species richness was significantly higher at the site with a bibosoop, and that tits, Mandarian ducks, starlings, Eurasian scops owls, and woodpeckers utilized the bibosoop as a nesting site. Birds preferred the landscape with the bibosoop, and the internal movement of birds was significantly higher at the landscape with the bibosoop than at the other. The results suggest that bibosoops serve as a unique biotope that provides nest sites for cavity nesters, especially near nest-insufficient forests, and enhance the internal movements of birds among patches in the landscape.

Distribution of Landscape Elements Along Environmental Gradients in Over-Cut Forests

The method of trend surface analysis was used to analyze the distribution of landscape elements along environmental gradients in Jingouling forest farm, northeast China’s Jilin Province. Results showed that topographic characteristics and disturbance pattern have much more impacts on the distribution of landscape elements than do horizontal geographical position in the study area. The elevation, slope aspect, and slope degree were found to be dominant features controlling landscape pattern. At different altitudinal ranges, the effects of slope aspect and slope degree on the distribution of landscape elements vary markedly in orientation and intensity. These differences were analyzed and discussed, and some basic rules of spatial distribution of landscape elements were proposed.

Effects of wind turbines and other physical elements on field utilization by pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus): A landscape perspective

The effects of wind turbines and other physical landscape elements on field utilization by wintering pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) were studied in a Danish farmland landscape. Within the study area geese were feeding on pastures, which together with cereals were the main crop types. Apart from wind turbines a variety of potentially disturbing landscape elements was present, e.g., high-power lines, windbreaks, roads and settlements. Patterns of field use were assessed by measuring goose dropping densities along transects perpendicular to wind farms (with turbines in clusters and in lines) and other landscape elements. Local effects were expressed in terms of `avoidance distance', i.e., the distance from a given landscape element to the point at which 50% of maximal dropping density was reached. The spatial distribution of landscape elements within an eight km radius from the goose roost was determined from aerial photographs. The area occupied by various elements, together with the adjacent zones which were not available to geese due to their associated avoidance distances, were quantified using Geographic Information System (GIS). The avoidance distance of wind farms with turbines in lines and in clusters were ca 100 m and ca 200 m, respectively. Geese did not enter the area between turbines within the cluster. At the landscape level, the combined effect of physical elements other than wind turbines caused an effective loss of 68% of the total field area (40 km2). Wind turbines caused an additional loss of 4% of the field area. However, of the remaining area available to geese (13 km2), wind turbines caused a loss of 13% of the total area. The habitat loss per turbine was higher for the wind farm with turbines arranged in a large cluster than for wind farms with turbines in small clusters or lines. This difference was mainly due to the fact that wind farms in small clusters or with a linear layout were generally placed close to roads or other elements with existing associated avoidance zones, whereas the large cluster was placed in the open farmland area. The avoidance zones associated with physical elements in the landscape do not take into account possible synergistic effects and, hence, actual field areas affected are likely to be minimum estimates. Implications of these findings for planning of wind farms in areas of conservation interest to geese are discussed.