Landscape Pattern Evolution Research Articles

Impact of the evolution of Plateau Lake landscape pattern on ecosystem service value in the Pearl River basin: a case study of Yilong Lake Basin in Yunnan Province, China

Impact of the evolution of Plateau Lake landscape pattern on ecosystem service value in the Pearl River basin: a case study of Yilong Lake Basin in Yunnan Province, China

Analysis of Landscape Change and Its Driving Mechanism in Chagan Lake National Nature Reserve

Lake ecosystems play an important role in regional ecological security and the sustainable development of the economy and society. In order to study the evolution of landscape patterns and the main driving forces in the Chagan Lake Nature Reserve in recent years, we used landscape type data from 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2019 to study the characteristics of the regional landscape’s structural changes. At the same time, the spatial heterogeneity of the driving factors of landscape change was analyzed using the spatial analysis method, and the driving mechanism of landscape change was quantitatively analyzed. The results showed that: (1) from 2005 to 2019, the area of cultivated land, marshland, and water bodies increased, while the area of grassland and the area of bare land decreased. (2) The dominant patch types in the study area formed good connectivity, and the degree of landscape fragmentation increased. (3) In the past 15 years, there has been spatial heterogeneity in the regression coefficients of different driving factors of landscape change: the area with a greater influence of the elevation factor was in the south; the regression coefficient of precipitation showed the spatial distribution characteristics of highs in the west and lows in the east; the gross domestic product had a greater impact on the east and the south; the spatial variation of grain yield was mainly reflected in the southeast and northwest regions; the fishery yield gradually changed from high in the southeast and low in the northwest to the distribution characteristic of decreasing from the east to the southwest; the lake fluorine content showed a distribution pattern that gradually changed from high in the southeast and low in the northwest to high in the middle and low in the north and south; the distribution pattern of the distance to oil production changed from north to southeast to south to north; the distance to the road changed from high in the east and low in the west to the opposite spatial distribution pattern. (4) The interaction of precipitation and lake fluoride content with other factors showed a strong driving effect, which had a significant impact on the landscape change of Chagan Lake Nature Reserve. Since the study area is located in a typical fluorine-rich geochemical environment, human activities, such as the expansion of irrigation areas around Chagan Lake and groundwater exploitation, have accelerated the dissolution of fluorine-containing minerals, promoted the enrichment process of fluorine in Chagan Lake, and enhanced the explanatory power of lake fluorine content in terms of landscape changes. At the same time, the increase in precipitation during the study period is beneficial to the growth of vegetation and the storage of water in lakes, which promotes changes in landscape types such as grasslands and areas of water.

Research on the spatiotemporal evolution of land use landscape pattern in a county area based on CA-Markov model

• Discussed the impact of road factor on the land use simulation prediction at the agricultural county scale to optimize the CA-Markov model. • Analyzed the characteristics and laws of the temporal and spatial evolution of the land use landscape pattern in Mianzhu City from 2008 to 2026. • Proposed the optimization strategies of land use structure under the concept of low-carbon development. The study of the landscape pattern of land use has important practical significance for land use planning and constructing ecological cities. CA, a dynamic modeling approach, has been widely used to simulate future land use change. This study simulated and predicted the land use landscape pattern of Mianzhu City using the CA-Markov model. The spatiotemporal changes and evolution characteristics of the land use landscape pattern from 2008 to 2026 were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Using land use data covering 2008, 2014, and 2020, the road factor parameter range was revised to 50 m, and the CA-Markov model was optimized. In terms of the composition of land types, forest and farmland account for more than 75% of the total area; construction and water areas increase significantly over time. The number of patches (NP) and patch density (PD), which reflect the degree of fragmentation, of landscapes from 2008 to 2020 were higher than 17,500 and 14, respectively. With higher fragmentation, lower agglomeration, and higher landscape diversity and uniformity, various indexes are predicted to have high values in 2026, indicating a significant decrease in fragmentation. In summary, strategies such as planning system, landscape pattern optimization, model modification, and land use patterns under the concept of low-carbon development are proposed. The findings will provide reference for promoting the construction of ecological cities.

Ecological Restoration and Carbon Sequestration Regulation of Mining Areas-A Case Study of Huangshi City.

As an important carbon sink indicator, the vegetation net primary productivity (NPP) is key and helpful for understanding regional carbon sequestration and storage of mining areas. Systematic analysis of NPP of the ecological reconstruction process in mining areas can effectively contribute to local governments and related departments for making ecological decisions under the “double carbon goals” (“peak of carbon release” and “carbon neutrality”) and help to promote regional sustainable development. In this study, we used the CASA model to systematically assess the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of NPP of Huangshi City from 1990 to 2018. Meanwhile, various scenarios were set up to study the effects of climate factors, landscape pattern evolution, and ecological restoration on regional carbon storage. Our results documented that (1) NPP of the study area an increasing trend from 1990–2018 shows and exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity; (2) the significant increase of NPP was mainly in the restored mining areas, indicating that the ecological restoration of mining areas can effectively improve the regional carbon sequestration capacity; (3) from 1990 to 2018, climate change released 0.136 TgC, while landscape pattern change contributed to carbon storage with 0.266 TgC; and (4) the restoration and reconstruction of vegetation in the mining areas is an important way to achieve carbon neutrality of Huangshi City in the future, and the changes of NPP varied among different ecological restoration modes.

TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL EVOLUTION CHARACTERISTICS OF LAND USE AND LANDSCAPE PATTERN IN KEY WETLAND AREAS OF THE WEST LIAO RIVER BASIN, NORTHEAST CHINA

The impact of the wetland ecosystem on arid and semi-arid areas is much higher than that in humid areas. It plays a more significant role in regulating climate, conserving water sources, purifying water bodies, and protecting biodiversity. The West Liao River Basin is located in a moderately temperate, semi-arid, and continental monsoon climatesensitive area, with a fragile ecological environment. Climate warming and drought have gradually caused dry-flow of some river sections in the basin, reduction in the water area, shrinking of wetlands, degradation of vegetation ecological function, and decline of biodiversity. Ultimately, the effect of ecological barriers is significantly weakened. The research of the temporal and spatial evolution of landscape patterns and their relationship with human activities in arid and semi-arid regions is of great significance for the protection and restoration of wetland resources. Based on Landsat remote sensing images in 1985 and 2015, the temporal and spatial evolution of landscape patterns in four key wetland areas in the West Liao River Basin was studied by 3S technology and landscape ecology indexes. Results show that during the 30a years, the wetland resources area in the West Liao River Basin is drastically reduced. Wetland resources of the four study areas, the Dalinor, the Saihanwula, the Hongshan Reservoir, and the West Liao River Estuary, were decreased by 13.80%, 31.06%, 61.10%, and 66.03%, respectively. The reduced wetland resources in the Dalinor and the Saihanwula were mainly converted into grassland, while those of the Hongshan Reservoir and the West Liao River Estuary were mostly converted into farmland. The diversity and evenness indexes of landscape in the Hongshan Reservoir and the West Liao River Estuary are gradually decreasing. The diversity and evenness indexes of the Dalinor and the Saihanwula are not significantly changed but are slightly disturbed by human activities. Changes in the landscape pattern index highlight the decrease in the water area, the increase in the area of dry and paddy fields, and the improvement of sandy land. All these further reflect that insufficient water resources supplementation and increasing human disturbance have a profound impact on the landscape pattern, which has also become the main driving force for the evolution of the landscape pattern in the West Liao River Basin.

Evolution of landscape pattern and the association with ecosystem services in the Ili-Balkhash Basin.

The Ili-Balkhash Basin in Central Asia is an arid endorheic basin shared by China and Kazakhstan. Population growth, socio-economic development, ecological conservation measures, and climate change have spurred land use and land cover changes and ecosystem services variations. This study used the long-term dataset from 1992 to 2018 to detect the landscape pattern evolution and its association with ecosystem services. The landscape pattern was quantified using landscape metrics, and the GeoDetector model quantified the driving factors of landscape pattern evolution. The ecosystem service value was assessed using the benefit transfer method. The time series trend was identified by the linear regression analysis combined with the Mann-Kendall algorithm, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to confirm the correlation. The temporal dynamics of the landscape pattern indicated the significant conversion of bare land to grassland. Cropland and urban land expanded significantly at the expense of forestland, grassland, and bare land. Various landscape elements tended to be more uniformly distributed across the basin with more regular shape and higher aggregation. The ecosystem service value increased significantly, and its correlation with the landscape pattern varied according to land use and land cover (LULC) types. The weakened shape complexity, the strengthened aggregation degree, and the more uniform distribution of different LULC types helped elevate total ecosystem service value. The results advanced the understanding of landscape pattern evolution and provided the scientific reference for land management regarding ecosystem services. Given the watershed ecosystem's integrity, transboundary cooperation between China and Kazakhstan was suggested to reinforce watershed sustainability through integrated watershed land resource planning and the joint adaptive strategies to climate change.

Cross-scale spatiotemporal characteristics of landscape ecological conditions index in coastal zone of Jiangsu Province, China during 1990-2020.

Coastal zone ecosystems in Jiangsu have produced different degrees of spatial response and degradation characteristics under complex external disturbances, especially significant spatiotemporal evolution of landscape pattern in recent decades. It is urgent to carry out comprehensive assessment on landscape ecology covering landscape composition, configuration, and function at multiple scales. We analyzed the spatial and temporal variations of landscape ecological condition index (LECI) in large-scale coastal zone of Jiangsu Province from 1990 to 2020, assessed landscape ecological conditions of 14 county-level districts, and selected evaluation units with side lengths of 100, 200,…, 1000 m to understand the spatial scale effects of LECI. The results showed that the indicators of landscape composition, configuration and function could sensitively reflect the changes of LECI, which could comprehensively evaluate landscape ecological condition of Jiangsu coastal zone during the study period, with 300 m evaluation unit being the best spatial scale. The LECI value in the study area fluctuated. Landscape ecological condition was the best in 1990 and the worst in 2020. Landscape composition and configuration had a greater impacts on the changes of landscape ecological condition. The fluctuation of LECI in different counties and cities was closely related to intense human activities. Human activities, such as industrial development and urban expansion, had damaged landscape ecological status. The establishment of nature reserves had restored landscape ecological status to a certain extent. LECI could effectively indicate the changes of landscape ecological status of large-scale coastal zone, and provide multi-perspective suggestions for space utilization and protection.

State-and-Evolution Detection Models: A Framework for Continuously Monitoring Landscape Pattern Change

Detecting the evolution of large-area landscape patterns using long-term remote-sensing images is helpful in supporting research on the relationship between landscape patterns and ecological processes, as well as the development of ecological process simulations and spatiotemporal interaction models. However, detection methods have generally been developed as separate applications, each with a separate type of landscape pattern change; remote-sensing images are acquired at epochal timesteps. Consequently, in practical applications, many omission changes for some types of pattern changes and inaccurate evolution time are presented in the detected map. In this article, state-and-evolution detection models (SEDMs) are promoted to obtain complete information about the evolution of landscape patterns based on yearly land cover data. In the proposed framework, we first define the major categories of landscape pattern changes to comprehensively reveal the characteristics of landscape pattern changes associated with real change cases. Next, a morphological rule-based pattern recognition approach is proposed for quantitative discrimination among these categories. This approach is then applied in annual land cover data to continuously detect landscape pattern evolution processes and evolution time. Finally, the detected evolution time in different evolution processes is applied to measure the timestep between two disparate types. The performances of the SEDMs are presented by Landsat-derived land cover evolution in Shanxi, China. The detected results are indirectly verified by the land cover conversion matrix and connect index, indicating strong robustness and generalization ability of the SEDMs.

基于原型思维的城市边缘区景观格局演变研究——以北京市大兴区为例

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于原型思维的城市边缘区景观格局演变研究——以北京市大兴区为例 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202103170716 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 北京林业大学建设世界一流学科和特色发展引导专项（2019XKJS0317）；北京市共建项目专项（D171100000217002） Evolution of landscape pattern in urban fringe based on prototype thinking: A case study of Daxing District of Beijing Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: Supported by: Beijing Forestry University (2019XKJS0317) and Beijing Municipal Co-construction Project (D171100000217002) 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:城市边缘区是城市扩张过程中空间结构变化最大、土地利用转变最快的区域。以北京市大兴区为例，从原型思维出发，以2000、2010、2020年遥感影像解译数据、自然和社会经济等数据为基础，充分考虑地物地情及政策背景等因素，借助ArcGIS 10.5、Fragstats 4.2、SPSS等工具，对不同规划尺度和历时性维度下的景观格局指数进行分析、对比和验证，通过总体分析，场地切片和原型筛选三个步骤，筛选出大兴区6个空间原型组成框架，审视不同发展导向下的空间原型发展变化，探讨近20年间大兴区城市景观格局演变规律。旨在提出一种原型理论指导下的研究思路，尝试为城市转型、用地结构优化、区域规划等工作提供新的视角和一定的借鉴意义。 Abstract:In the process of urban expansion, urban fringe is the area with the biggest change in spatial structure and the fastest change in land use. This paper takes Daxing District of Beijing as an example, starting from the prototype thinking, based on natural, social, economic data and remote sensing image interpretation in 2000, 2010 and 2020, fully considering the factors of land conditions and policy background. With the help of ArcGIS 10.5,FRAGSTATS 4.2 and SPSS, we analyze, compare and verify the landscape pattern index under different planning scales and diachronic dimensions. Through steps of overall analysis, site slicing and prototype screening, six spatial prototypes of Daxing District were screened out to examine the development and changes of spatial prototypes under different development orientations, thus to explore the evolution law of urban landscape pattern in Daxing District in last 20 years. This paper aims to put forward a research idea under the guidance of prototype theory, and try to provide a new perspective and certain reference for urban transformation, land use structure optimization and regional planning. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Hybrid Spatiotemporal Graph Convolutional Network for Detecting Landscape Pattern Evolution From Long-Term Remote Sensing Images

The remote sensing time-series change detection algorithm based on the pixel or single landscape patch ignores the change analysis of spatial structure information. Inspired by graph convolutional network (GCN) modeling, a set of landscapes (nodes) and their relationships (edges) are proposed. In this study, a parallel strategy in spatial GCN and progressive strategy in temporal GCN, called the hybrid GCN model network as a holistic framework, was proposed to accurately capture both spatial and temporal variations in landscape patterns based on yearly Landsat time series. A super-patch (i.e., fixed patch class surrounded by a one-hop neighbor patch) was selected as the input of the GCN network. First, a spatial GCN model with three parallel graph convolutional layers was adopted to classify landscape pattern types. Three dominant categories of landscape patterns over the past three decades have been identified. Second, four landscape metrics in super-patches were proposed for the quantitative characterization of changes in landscape patterns. Finally, a temporal GCN model with two progressive graph convolutional layers was used to detect six types of patch changes, which were applied to continuously detect the landscape pattern evolution processes. Regardless of the spatial GCN and temporal GCN, they provided satisfactory performance using the training and validation sets with overall accuracy > 92% and Kappa coefficient > 0.90, and loss values converging to 0.049 and 0.128, respectively, based on NLLLoss function until 500 epochs. It is believed that the hybrid GCN model has great potential for mining possible implicit spatiotemporal relationships and future evolution of landscape patterns.

Analysis of the spatial differentiation and scale effects of the three-dimensional architectural landscape in Xi'an, China.

Three-dimensional landscape patterns are an effective means to study the relationship between landscape pattern evolution and eco-environmental effects. This paper selects six districts in Xi’an as the study area to examine the spatial distribution characteristics of the three-dimensional architectural landscape in the city’s main urban area using three-dimensional information on the buildings in 2020 with the support of GIS. In this study, two new architectural landscape indices—landscape height variable coefficient and building rugosity index—were employed in landscape pattern analysis, whilst a system of rigorous and comprehensive three-dimensional architectural landscape metrics was established using principal component analysis. A mathematical model of weighted change of landscape metrics based on the objective weighting method was applied to carry out scale analysis of the landscape patterns. Spatial statistical analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis were conducted to comprehensively study the differentiation of three-dimensional architectural landscape spatial patterns. The results show that the characteristic scale of the three-dimensional landscape pattern in Xi’an’s main urban area is around 8 km. Moreover, the three-dimensional landscape of the buildings in this area is spatially positively correlated, exhibiting a high degree of spatial autocorrelation whilst only showing small spatial differences. The layout of the architectural landscape pattern is disorderly and chaotic within the second ring, whilst the clustering of patch types occurs near the third ring. Moreover, the building density in the Beilin, Lianhu, and Xincheng districts is large, the building height types are rich, and the roughness of the underlying surface is high, such that these are key areas to be improved through urban renewal. The height, volume, density, morphological heterogeneity, and vertical roughness of the architectural landscape vary amongst functional areas within the study area. This paper is the first to apply the study of spatial heterogeneity of three-dimensional landscape patterns to Xi’an. It does so in order to provide a quantitative basis for urban landscape ecological design for urban renewal and the rational planning of built-up areas, which will promote the sustainable development of the city’s urban environment.

Responses of soil erosion to changes in landscape pattern and its evolution in watershed in the loess hilly region under characteristic management and development

Understanding the relationship between soil erosion and the changes in landscape patterns is important for guiding the management and development of watersheds. The Nangou watershed in Ansai County, Shaanxi on the Loess Plateau, is an area with the implement of "Grain for Green", ecological agriculture, ecological tourism and the demonstration of science and technology for landscape management. We quantified the spatial and temporal variations of landscape pattern and soil erosion from 1981 to 2018 using the GIS and the universal soil loss equation (USLE). The relationship between the soil erosion modulus and nine landscape pattern indices in three categories was analyzed using the principal component analysis at both plot and landscape levels. The results showed that, among the five landscape types, the spatial and temporal changes of cultivated land and woodland dominated the evolution of landscape patterns, which affected the concentration and distribution degree of the whole watershed. Soil erosion in the Nangou watershed decreased annually, with erosion area, erosion modulus and soil erosion intensity decreasing by 29.7%, 61.2%, and 73.4% from 1981 to 2018, respectively. The variation of cultivated land and forest land areas determined the changes of soil erosion modulus of the whole watershed. The change trend of landscape pattern index was consistent with that of soil erosion. "Grain for Green" Project was the major dri-ving force for the changes in the landscape pattern and for the reduction of soil erosion. The characteristic development and management could weaken soil erosion intensity in parts of the study area. The rational configuration of landscape types could effectively control soil erosion in a watershed. The combination of rational configuration and characteristic management could help achieve the goals for sustainable and high quality development of the watershed.

Influences of landscape pattern evolution on regional crop water requirements in regions of large-scale agricultural operations

Globally, landscape pattern affects geography, ecology and environmental processes in land surfaces. As the crucial factor in the hydrological cycle, crop water requirements (ETc) maintain sustainable agricultural development and the stability of ecological functions, especially for ecologically fragile regions. The potential relationship between ecological landscape pattern and ETc remains unclear. We investigated landscape pattern evolution and the spatiotemporal variation in ETc of representative crops in the North China Plain (NCP) to quantify their relationships. Urbanization and intensive land use have resulted in increased landscape structure complexity and aggregation, and diminished spatial connectedness in the NCP. Patch amount, boundary complexity and maximum patch area showed uptrends over the last 28 years. Landscape pattern in the NCP revealed prominently spatiotemporal heterogeneity in area, shape, structure, spatial distribution and diversity, owing to the spatiotemporal differentiation in land use and the uncertainty of human activities and environmental variables. The annual ETc volumes of winter wheat–summer maize rotation, rice and cotton varied in the range of 815.5265 × 108 to 1032.232 × 108 m3, 79.111 × 108 to 91.6346 × 108 m3 and 30.0284 × 108 to 172.862 × 108 m3, respectively. The influences of landscape pattern on ETc varied with spatial scale. At landscape level, patch amount, structure complexity and aggregation were negatively correlated with ETc, while spatial connectivity and adjacency were positively correlated with that. At crop level, the influences of landscape pattern on ETc varied with crop types, owing to their differing appropriate growing environments. The results can provide theoretical guidance for sustainable ecological landscape planning that aims to save agricultural water and to permit reasonable allocation of water resources in regions of large-scale agricultural development.

Assessment and Estimation of the Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Landscape Patterns and Their Impact on Habitat Quality in Nanchang, China

Assessing and predicting the evolution of habitat quality based on land use change under the process of urbanization is important for establishing a comprehensive ecological planning system and addressing the major challenges of global sustainable development. Here, two different prediction models were used to simulate the land use changes in 2025 based on the land use distribution data of Nanchang city in three periods and integrated into the habitat quality assessment model to specifically evaluate the trends and characteristics of future habitat quality changes, explore the impact of landscape pattern evolution on habitat, and analyze the differences and advantages of the two prediction models. The results show that the overall habitat quality in Nanchang declined significantly during the period 1995–2015. Habitat degradation near cities and in various watersheds is relatively significant. During the period 2015–2025, the landscape pattern and habitat quality of Nanchang will continue to maintain the trend of changes observed between 1995 and 2015, i.e., increasing construction land and decreasing habitat quality, with high pressure on ecological restoration. This study also identified that CA-Markov simulates the quantity of land use better, while FLUS simulates the spatial pattern of land use better. Overall, this study provides a reference for exploring the complex dynamic evolution mechanism of habitats.

Extracting Frequent Sequential Patterns of Forest Landscape Dynamics in Fenhe River Basin, Northern China, from Landsat Time Series to Evaluate Landscape Stability

The forest landscape pattern evolution can reveal the intensity and mode of action of human–land relationships at different times and in different spaces, providing scientific support for regional ecological security, human settlement health, and sustainable development. In this study, we proposed a novel method for analyzing the dynamics of landscape patterns. First, patch density (PD), largest patch index (LPI), landscape shape index (LSI), and contiguity index (CI) were used to identify the types of forest spatial patterns. The frequent sequential pattern mining method was used to detect the frequent subsequences from the time series of landscape pattern types from 1991 to 2020 and further evaluate the forest landscape stability of the Fenhe River Basin in China. The results show that different frequent sequence patterns have conspicuous spatial and temporal differences, which describe the evolution processes and stability changes during a certain period of forest evolution and play an important role in the analysis of forest dynamics. The proportion of the disturbed regions to the total forest area exhibited a downward trend. The long-term evolution pattern indicates that there are many evolution processes and trends in the forest at the same time, showing an aggregation distribution law. Compared with 2016, the forest landscape has become complete in 2020, and the overall stability of the Fenhe River Basin has improved. This study can provide scientific support to land managers and policy implementers and offer a new perspective for studying forest landscape pattern changes and evaluating landscape stability.

Evolution and Prediction of Landscape Patterns in the Qinghai Lake Basin

The Qinghai Lake Basin (QLB), located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, has a fragile ecological environment and is sensitive to global climate change. With the progress of societal and economic development, the tourism industry in the QLB has also developed rapidly, which is bound to result in great changes in landscape patterns. In this study, we first analyzed the change characteristics of landscape patterns in the QLB from 1990 to 2018, and we then used the Markov model and the future land use simulation (FLUS) model, combined with natural, social, and ecological factors, to predict the changes in the number and spatial distribution of landscape patterns in the period between 2026 and 2034. The results of the study show that desert areas have been greatly reduced and transformed into grasslands. The grassland area expanded from 49.22% in 1990 to 59.45% in 2018, corresponding to an increase of 10.23%. The direct cause of this result is the combined effects of natural and man-made factors, with the latter playing a leading role. As such, government decision-making is crucial. Lastly, we simulated the landscape patterns in the period from 2018 to 2034. The results show that in the next 16 years, the proportion of various landscapes will change little, and the spatial distribution will be stable. This research provides a reference for the formulation of ecological environment management and protection policies in the QLB.

Landscape Pattern Evolution Processes and the Driving Forces in the Wetlands of Lake Baiyangdian

The spatiotemporal features of land use changes and the evolution process of landscape pattern from 1980 to 2017 were investigated using historical satellite images from a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) for 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2017 in the wetlands of Lake Baiyangdian in the North China Plain (NCP). Landscape pattern indices were used to quantify landscape changes in wetlands, and a redundancy analysis (RDA) was conducted to analyze the driving forces and quantitatively explain the effects of human activities and natural changes on wetland fragmentation. The results showed that the total wetland area was 234.4 km2 in 1980 but it decreased by 8.1% at an average decrease rate of 0.5 km2 per year. The dominant transition between land use types was from natural wetlands to artificial wetlands, and wetland conversion to dry land and residential land. The RDA results suggested that agricultural activities and total population were the main driving factors affecting wetland landscape. Additionally, climate change provided a potentially favorable environment for agricultural development, due to the increased temperatures and decreased wind speeds. Additionally, governmental policy changes and dam construction also played the roles in land use changes.

Analysis of Landscape Pattern Evolution and Its Driving Forces in Wetland Park

Analysis of Landscape Pattern Evolution and Its Driving Forces in Wetland Park

Climatic Forcing of Plio‐Pleistocene Formation of the Modern Limpopo River, South Africa

AbstractUnderstanding the evolution of river systems in southern Africa is fundamental to constrain the evolution of landscape and sediment dispersal patterns. It is widely considered that the upper Zambezi River was connected with the Limpopo River during the Cretaceous, forming what was then the largest river in Africa. Crustal flexure during the Paleogene severed the upper Zambezi drainage from the Limpopo, setting the framework of the modern Zambezi and Limpopo River systems. We present first evidence—based on heavy‐mineral assemblages from cores drilled offshore of the Limpopo River mouth and samples collected in different reaches of the modern Limpopo River, integrated with magnetic susceptibility, detrital‐zircon geochronology, and geomorphological analysis—suggesting that the current Limpopo River formed recently in the Plio‐Quaternary. Plio‐Quaternary climate change is envisaged to have controlled the recent dynamics of river drainage and consequent distribution of sediment loads, as observed in many other transcontinental rivers worldwide.

Landscape Pattern Evolution and Its Response to Human Disturbance in a Newly Metropolitan Area: A Case Study in Jin-Yi Metropolitan Area

The impact of human interference on the ecological environment has attracted a significant amount of attention. In this study, hemeroby index (HI) was constructed to quantify the degree of human disturbance, and the relationship between HI and landscape pattern index was explored in a newly metropolitan area. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of landscape pattern and human disturbance in the process of urbanization of county-level cities in China, and to explore the relationship between the landscape pattern index and human disturbance under different disturbance intensity. The conclusions showed that: (1) the degree of human interference in the new area is on the rise, with a slow increase from 1980 to 2010, but since 2010, human interference has increased significantly. The diffusion of human disturbance intensity has obvious spatial directivity, spreading from east to west. (2) The impact of human activities on landscape pattern is shown as increasing fragmentation and increasing number of landscape types. With the enhancement of human activities, the heterogeneity and fragmentation of landscape types in the region reach their highest points. With the continuous increase of human activities, on a certain scale, the landscape types will gradually tend to be the same, and the same type of landscape patches will become one piece and tend to be integrated. This phenomenon is particularly obvious at the patch type level. (3) There is an inflection point value between human disturbance and landscape pattern index in landscape or patch type. On both sides of the inflection point value, the landscape pattern parameters and human disturbance have obvious opposite trends. (4) In the low interference range (1 ≤ HI < 4), with the increase of human interference, more heterogeneous structures (shown in the increase of SHDI) are brought to the landscape, there is more landscape fragmentation (shown in the decrease of LPI, CONTRACT, and AI), and the patch shape and landscape structure tend to be complex (shown in the increase of LSI, SQP, ED, and other indexes); in the high interference range (4 ≤ HI ≤ 7), due to human intervention, the increase of LPI, contract, and AI indicates that intense human activities turn the landscape into a broken and scattered structure and tend to be consistent and homogeneous. LSI, SQP, and ED were negatively correlated with HI at this stage, indicating that with the enhancement of human activities, the complexity of landscape shape decreased.