Forest Landscape Pattern Research Articles

Analysis of Landscape Patterns and the Trend of Forest Resources in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area

In this paper, first, based on landscape ecology theories, we respectively selected indexes from 4 aspects, area, edge, shape, and density, of the landscape type to describe the status of forest landscape patterns, and we established the stability index of landscape pattern (LSBI). Then, based on geo-statistical theories, we divided the forest in the reservoir area into 3990 grids of 4 km × 4 km using network technology and employing ordinary Kriging modelling to make trend surface analyses of the forest resources in the reservoir area. Finally, based on statistics principles, we used sampling theory to systematically extract 227 samples to obtain 7 periods of remote-sensing data from 1990a to 2012a. Then, we classified and extracted the forest in the sampling area using remote sensing, and we analysed each result with an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model (ARIMA) time-series model. The results indicated the following: 1) the landscape structure of the reservoir area was primarily needle-leaved forest, broad-leaved forest and bush forest, and the mixed stands and bamboo stands were secondary; 2) the difference of the forest landscape pattern stability in the reservoir area, in all directions, was not significant, but the southern region was slightly more stable; and 3) the stability of the forest landscape pattern in the reservoir area increased from 1990a to 2012a. It kept increasing until 2016a. This study provides a theoretical basis for the reasonable management and decisions about the forest resources in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. Meanwhile, it also explores methods for relevant research and has practical significance.

Spatiotemporal changes and fragmentation of forest land in Jiangxi Province, China

Habitat loss and fragmentation resulting mainly from increased human impacts related to land use represent considerable threats to biodiversity. When regional ecological security is threatened, governments attempt to regulate unreasonable behavior via policies and laws. China has a dominant forestry industry, and the country is attempting to implement the dual goals of economic development and ecological security; therefore, the Chinese government has formulated a series of policies and regulations to balance these goals. This study presents the main forest policies in China and implements a logistic regression model to analyze the changes in forest land in the study area (Jiangxi Province) and the primary influencing factors for these changes under the forest policies from 1990 to 2010. Subsequently, a forest fragmentation model (non-traditional forest landscape pattern index) was built to analyze the forest fragmentation patterns and interference modes. The results indicated that the total forest land area increased by more than 40,000ha during the study period; however, the logistic model showed that a large amount of high-quality forest land was replaced by poor-quality forest land because forest land areas that present rich soil organic matter (SOM) content are more easily converted to other land types, whereas areas with poor SOM are more easily converted to forest land. Between 1990 and 2010, forest fragmentation improved because the proportion of interior forests increased and the proportions of patch and perforated forests decreased. The paper concludes by proposing some policy recommendations for the conservation of biodiversity.

The Analysis of Tree Species Distribution Information Extraction and Landscape Pattern Based on Remote Sensing Images

The forest ecosystem is the largest land vegetation type, which plays the role of unreplacement with its unique value. And in the landscape scale, the research on forest landscape pattern has become the current hot spot, wherein the study of forest canopy structure is very important. They determines the process and the strength of forests energy flow, which influences the adjustments of ecosystem for climate and species diversity to some extent. The extraction of influencing factors of canopy structure and the analysis of the vegetation distribution pattern are especially important. To solve the problems, remote sensing technology, which is superior to other technical means because of its fine timeliness and large-scale monitoring, is applied to the study. Taking Lingkong Mountain as the study area, the paper uses the remote sensing image to analyze the forest distribution pattern and obtains the spatial characteristics of canopy structure distribution, and DEM data are as the basic data to extract the influencing factors of canopy structure. In this paper, pattern of trees distribution is further analyzed by using terrain parameters, spatial analysis tools and surface processes quantitative simulation. The Hydrological Analysis tool is used to build distributed hydrological model, and corresponding algorithm is applied to determine surface water flow path, rivers network and basin boundary. Results show that forest vegetation distribution of dominant tree species present plaque on the landscape scale and their distribution have spatial heterogeneity which is related to terrain factors closely. After the overlay analysis of aspect, slope and forest distribution pattern respectively, the most suitable area for stand growth and the better living condition are obtained.

Forest succession along a productivity gradient following fire exclusion

Numerous studies have documented significant change in conifer forests of the American West following the cessation of recurrent fire at the end of the 19th century. But the successional dynamics that characterize different forested settings in the absence of fire remain poorly understood. This study reconstructs structural and compositional change over 150years across a productivity gradient that includes both mixed conifer and ponderosa pine forests within a 688,000ha study area in the southern Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. Moister and more productive forest stands dominated by grand fir did not support more tree basal area and were not appreciably denser in 1860 than drier and less productive stands dominated by ponderosa pine. The greatest magnitude of change over the last 150yearshas occurred in the most productive mixed conifer stands. Drier ponderosa pine dominated stands with significant live old-growth structure have experienced relatively little change even after more than a century without fire. Reconstruction of historical forest density in productive mixed conifer forests suggests these sites were historically coupled to the broader dry forest landscape pattern via frequent fire disturbance and should be a priority for restoration if a return to historical conditions is a goal of management.

Forest dynamics in the U.S. indicate disproportionate attrition in western forests, rural areas and public lands.

Forests are experiencing significant changes; studying geographic patterns in forests is critical in understanding the impact of forest dynamics to biodiversity, soil erosion, water chemistry and climate. Few studies have examined forest geographic pattern changes other than fragmentation; however, other spatial processes of forest dynamics are of equal importance. Here, we study forest attrition, the complete removal of forest patches, that can result in complete habitat loss, severe decline of population sizes and species richness, and shifts of local and regional environmental conditions. We aim to develop a simple yet insightful proximity-based spatial indicator capturing forest attrition that is independent of spatial scale and boundaries with worldwide application potential. Using this proximity indicator, we evaluate forest attrition across ecoregions, land ownership and urbanization stratifications across continental United States of America. Nationally, the total forest cover loss was approximately 90,400 km2, roughly the size of the state of Maine, constituting a decline of 2.96%. Examining the spatial arrangement of this change the average FAD was 3674m in 1992 and increased by 514m or 14.0% in 2001. Simulations of forest cover loss indicate only a 10m FAD increase suggesting that the observed FAD increase was more than an order of magnitude higher than expected. Furthermore, forest attrition is considerably higher in the western United States, in rural areas and in public lands. Our mathematical model (R2 = 0.93) supports estimation of attrition for a given forest cover. The FAD metric quantifies forest attrition across spatial scales and geographic boundaries and assesses unambiguously changes over time. The metric is applicable to any landscape and offers a new complementary insight on forest landscape patterns from local to global scales, improving future exploration of drivers and repercussions of forest cover changes and supporting more informative management of forest carbon, changing climate and species biodiversity.

Forest edge length estimation – a case study using the Swedish National Forest Inventory (NFI)

ABSTRACTForest edges may affect the organisms in a forest fragment by changing biotic and abiotic conditions, and they have important effects on biodiversity. This characteristic of forest landscape is usually assessed using remotely sensed data. When doing so, forest edge length is estimated using either polygon delineation (manually or automatically) or sampling methods. This study attempts to estimate the total forest edge length (at regional level) using three estimation techniques: mapped plot, line intersects sampling, and buffer zone. Another aim is to compare the precision of the results using these techniques with field data from the Swedish National Forest Inventory (NFI). The Swedish NFI data allows reasonable precision (less than 10% SE) estimating total forest edge length. In most cases, line intersects sampling and mapped plot (at the subplot level) produce more precise estimates than buffer zone (at cluster level). All three techniques can be applied in monitoring programs aimed at measuring important biodiversity metrics from forest landscape patterns. It was also found that edge density was highest in the south of Sweden. Another future application worth investigating is the ability to determine how forest edge length metrics change over time.

社区水平森林景观格局动态特征与驱动因素

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 社区水平森林景观格局动态特征与驱动因素 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201511022215 作者: 作者单位: 重庆师范大学地理与旅游学院,重庆师范大学地理与旅游学院,重庆师范大学地理与旅游学院,西南大学 资源环境学院 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 科技部林业公益性行业科研专项项目（201204101-12）；国家"十二五"科技支撑计划项目（2015BAD07B04） Forest landscape pattern dynamic and its driving factors at the community level Author: Affiliation: College of Geographical Science,Chongqing Normal University,Chongqing,College of Geographical Science,Chongqing Normal University,Chongqing,College of Geographical Science,Chongqing Normal University,Chongqing,Resources and Environment Department,Southwest University Fund Project: 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:基于高分辨率SPOT-5影像、TM影像和农户调查数据，以及相关辅助数据，选取三峡库区典型森林大县石柱县三星乡石星村为样区，利用景观格局指数与Logistic回归分析法，对1994-2014年间的森林景观格局的动态特征及其影响因素进行分析，旨在丰富人们对社区水平森林景观格局动态的理解和认识，为森林景观恢复和可持续经营策略的制定提供科学依据。结果表明：①样区森林景观一直占据20年间景观基质的主导地位，空间分布上退化原始林主要集中分布在中东部低山、深丘区，次生林、退化林地和人工林呈镶嵌格局，分散于主要基质性景观中；②20年间样区森林景观整体呈先减少后增加的"U"型格局，表现为1994-2004年间的退化与2004-2014年间的恢复两个截然相反的过程，且这一过程主要发生在森林景观与水田、旱地、居民点、道路等接壤区；③2004-2014年间森林景观的演化趋势与1994-2004年间整体上呈反向趋势，空间格局上，这一阶段森林景观的恢复主要出现在1994-2004年间森林景观所发生退化的区域；④20年间样区森林景观在斑块水平上呈明显异质性分布，3个截面年份不同森林景观破碎化程度的总排序均为退化林地 > 人工林 > 次生林 > 退化原始林，且退化原始林、次生林和退化林地的破碎度变化趋势相同，均为先增后减；⑤20年间样区森林景观在景观水平上的破碎度呈现先增强后减弱趋势，且2014年的破碎化程度恢复至低于1994年的水平，进一步说明在退化后的森林景观恢复过程中，生态完整性的恢复速度远低于破碎速度；⑥社会经济因素对20年间样区森林景观变化的影响最突出，其中，最主要的影响因素是人口密度变化，先增后减的变化使生态压力随之增减，进而导致森林景观的退化与恢复。其次是农民人均纯收入变化，特别是2004-2014年农民人均纯收入的增加，促进能源结构的转型，减少了对森林景观的依赖和干扰。空间距离对森林景观的影响具有稳定的持续作用，居民对森林景观的干扰多经由距离因素而实现。自然因素控制大地貌格局，中短时期内对森林景观变化影响不大，次生林和退化林地因处于适宜开发的边缘地带，受自然环境影响较大。 Abstract:In order to gain a better understanding of the dynamic characteristics of forest landscapes and provide scientific bases for forest landscape restoration and its sustainable development at the community level, we analyzed dynamic characteristics and effect factors of forest landscapes from 1994 to 2014 using the methods of landscape indices and logistic regression analysis. The process was based on the use of high-resolution SPOT-5 images, TM images, household survey data, and some related auxiliary data. Shixing village, Shizhu County, located in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, was selected as the forest sampling site. The results revealed the following: Forest landscape has been the main landscape type in the sampling area for the past two decades. The degraded primary forest mainly distributed in hills and low hills in the central and east part of the study site, while the secondary forest, degraded forest land, and plantations, which were distributed in the matrix of the major landscape, showed a mosaic pattern. The forest dynamics characteristics in these two decades reflected that the forest area reduced first, and followed by an increase, thus constituting a U-shaped trend. The dynamic evolution of the landscape in the period from 1994 to 2004 showed an inverse process to the period from 2004 to 2014. This process occurred mainly in the contiguous areas between forest landscape and paddy fields, dryland, human settlements, and roads. In terms of the spatial pattern, the recovery area in the period of 2004-2014 was almost the same as the degraded area in the period of 1994-2004. At patch level, the forest landscape was significantly heterogeneously distributed in the study site and has been for the past 20 years. The total ranking of forest landscape fragmentation in three different years was degraded forest land > plantation > secondary forest > degraded primary forest. In addition, the degraded primary forest, secondary forest, and degraded forest land had the same fragmentation tendency of arising first and reducing later. At the landscape level, the forest landscape fragmentation tendency was the same as that at the patch level, and the degree of fragmentation in 2014 was lower than that in 1994, which indicated that the speed of ecological integrity recovery was slower than the speed of degradation. Socio-economic factors had a significant influence on forest dynamics from 1994 to 2014. First, the most important factor was the change of residential population density. The fluctuation of the population density directly affected ecological pressure and led to the degradation and recovery of the forest landscape. The second critical factor was the change in the net income of farmers, especially the increase from 2004 to 2014, which resulted in the transformation of the energy structure and the reduction of dependence and interference in the forest landscape. The spatial distance factor had a steady effect on forest landscape dynamics, as human disturbance factors affected forest landscape via accessibility based on spatial distance. Overall, natural factors control the entire landscape pattern of the forest, but only slightly affected forest landscape in the short term. Secondary forest and degraded forest land were influenced by the natural environment owing to their location in the developing suburban area. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Spatially variant lagged responses of forest extent and landscape patterns to socioeconomic drivers in the Li River Basin, China

Forest cover change is one of the most important land cover changes. Intensified economic development and population growth have led to extensive deforestation and afforestation, and greatly altered the forest landscape patterns. This paper analyzed how socioeconomic drivers influenced the forest extent and landscape patterns in a lagged manner within the Li River Basin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, during the period of 1991 to 2013. First, the temporal variations of forest extent and landscape patterns as quantified by six forest cover metrics were analyzed. The cross-correlation analysis was employed to examine the lagged responses of forest cover metrics to each socioeconomic driver across regions. Last, the fixed effects regression models were built to quantitatively assess the spatially variant relationships. The results demonstrated that the influence of socioeconomic drivers lagged, and the lagged influence varied across regions.

Community structure and niche characteristics of upland and lowland western boreal birds at multiple spatial scales

Direct and indirect effects of disturbance may cause the decline of specialist species and alter the condition of ecological communities. We characterized the community structure and niche characteristics (niche position, marginality, breadth) of upland and lowland boreal birds at scales relevant to both natural and human disturbance patterns in western boreal forests undergoing rapid and extensive multi-sector resource development. Our goal was to identify the degree of ecological specialization in order to inform activities directed at conserving a diversity of species (e.g. specialists and generalists) within the western boreal bird community. We used avian data (>5,220 point counts) and environmental variable data comprised of forest composition, stand, and landscape pattern metrics at local (7.1ha), landscape (1,963ha), and regional (11,310ha) scales to determine boreal bird distribution and community-level associations using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Outlying Mean Index (OMI) analysis. OMI analysis explained a high proportion of variance in the dataset (71.8%) and separated boreal birds along two axes associated with moisture–productivity and age–structural complexity gradients. Niche position was influenced by local scale variables (height, age, area of mature-old forest, area of wet soil types), but also landscape and regional scale variables (total area of hardwood and conifer, mean nearest neighbour distance of conifer, and total core area of productive upland conifer). Only 15 of 67 species (22%) had marginal (atypical) niches and narrow niche breadths exhibiting specialization in old hardwood and white spruce forests and burned, open, and lowland habitats. Most species occupied typical or common habitats within the study area and exhibited generalist strategies typical of species in heterogeneous and disturbed habitats that undergo frequent change. Our results suggest the need to design and implement multi-species plans to conserve a diversity of western boreal bird species (e.g. specialists and generalists) at the regional scale.

Changes of forest fire regime and landscape pattern under different harvesting modes in a boreal forest of Northeast China

Forest management such as timber harvesting shapes fire regimes and landscape patterns, and these patterns often differ significantly from those under natural disturbances. Our objective was to examine the effects of timber harvesting modes on fire regimes and landscape patterns in a boreal forest of Northeast China. We used a spatially explicit landscape model, LANDIS, to simulate the changes of forest landscape in the Huzhong forest region of the Great Khingan Mountains under no-cutting, clear-cutting, gradual-cutting and selective-cutting modes. Results showed that: (1) the fine fuel loadings generally decreased while the coarse fuel loadings increased with the increase of timber harvesting intensity; (2) the potential burn area significantly varied among different cutting modes, but the potential fire frequency had no obvious difference. Moreover, timber harvesting generally increased the potential fire risk; (3) clear-cutting mode significantly decreased the mean patch size and the aggregation of larch forests and increased the mean patch size and the aggregation of white birch forests. Therefore, clear-cutting mode should be abandoned, and selective-cutting mode be recommended for the sustainable forest management in the Great Khingan Mountains.

湖北宜昌松林景观格局与松材线虫流行的关系及驱动力

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 湖北宜昌松林景观格局对松材线虫流行及扩散的影响 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201406161248 作者: 作者单位: 北京林业大学林学院,北京林业大学林学院,中国林业科学院森林生态环境与保护研究所,北京林业大学林学院,湖北省林业科学研究院,湖北省宜昌市夷陵区森防站,湖北省宜昌市夷陵区森防站 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家林业公益性行业科研专项(201204501) The relationship between pine forest landscape patterns and pine wilt disease in Yichang, Hubei Province Author: Affiliation: College of Forest,Beijing Forest University,College of Forest,Beijing Forest University,Research Institute of Forest Ecological Environment and Protection,College of Forest,Beijing Forest University,Hubei Academy of Forestry,, Fund Project: 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:景观格局对能量流、物质流和物种流等生态学过程影响显著。为了探究区域生境差异对病虫害发生及扩散的影响,以湖北省宜昌市夷陵区松材线虫病为对象,结合区域森林资源二类清查矢量数据和松材线虫病普查资料,运用景观生态学的原理和方法,探究景观格局对松材线虫病发生的影响。研究结果表明:1)松林景观类型百分比、平均斑块面积、自然连接度和聚合度与松材线虫病的发病率成正相关;2)松林斑块的粒级结构分析表明,中、小斑块能抑制松材线虫病的发生,巨斑块、超大斑块对松材线虫的发生有利;3)从景观干扰上分析显示人类活动强度与松材线虫病发病率成正相关;4)在景观尺度水平上,景观的破碎度大、多样性指数高、蔓延度指数小、斑块形状简单、受人类活动影响大的乡镇松材线虫病发病率高。通过斑块类型尺度和景观尺度两个水平上的分析可知,在夷陵区乡镇尺度上,由小斑块松林组成且斑块聚集度低、景观破碎化程度低的景观格局对松材线虫病有一定的抑制作用。研究结论对当地松材线虫病的防治就有较好的参考价值。 Abstract:Landscape patterns have significant and complex effects on a variety of ecological processes, including the flow of matter and nutrients and the distribution and movement of species. To explore the impacts of regional habitat differences on the occurrence and spread of forest diseases and insect pests, we focused on the pine wood nematode in Yichang in the Yiling district of Hubei Province. Using forest inventory vector data collected by the Forestry Survey and Planning Institute of Hubei and census data of pine wilt disease in the Yiling district from 2007 to 2012, collected by the Station of Pest and Disease Control and Quarantine, we examined the effects of forest landscape patterns on pine wilt disease, as predicted by landscape ecology theory. Seven towns continuously infected with pine wilt disease from 2007 to 2012 were selected as the research area. The landscape of the Yiling district were classified into 10 types by ArcGis10 according to the intensity of human activities, the land use classification, and the dominant tree species group. To characterize the research area at the level of patches within a class, we calculated the landscape patch area, mean patch area, percentage of landscape patch area, patch cohesion index, aggregation index, geometric mean nearest neighbor distance, and the interspersion-juxtaposition index. And the pine forest landscape were classified into 5 grades by patches' area size(Apatch): the small patch(Apatch<10 hm2), the middle patch(10 ≤ Apatch < 50 hm2), the large patch(50 ≤ Apatch < 100 hm2), the super patch(100 ≤ Apatch < 200 hm2), the huge patch(Apatch ≥ 200 hm2). At the landscape level, we calculated the edge density, Shannon's diversity index, the contagion index, and the area-weighted mean patch fractal dimension. Landscape pattern indices were calculated using FRAGSTATS3.4. Morbidity was determined as the ratio of the annual average area infected with pine wilt disease compared with the total pine forest area of any one town. Correlation analysis between landscape pattern indices and morbidity was performed using SPSS18 software. The main results were as follows: 1) The percentage of pine forest landscape patch area, the average patch size, and the degree of natural connection and polymerization of patches were all positively correlated with pine wilt disease morbidity; 2) Analysis of the granularity of the pine forest landscape showed that the proportion of area composed of small- and middle-patch sizes was negatively correlated with pine wilt disease morbidity, while the proportion of huge-patch and super-patch sizes was positively correlated; 3) The intensity of human activity, which can interfere with the landscape, was also positively correlated with pine wilt disease morbidity; and 4) At the landscape level, as edge density and Shannon's diversity index increased, pine wilt disease morbidity increased. The contagion index, in contrast, was negatively correlated with pine wilt disease morbidity, as was the area-weighted mean patch fractal dimension. These results suggest that fragmentation of the entire landscape will facilitate the spread of pine wilt disease. Thus, using the analysis of landscape patterns at the patch and landscape level, we can infer that, in the Yiling district, a forest landscape composed of small pine forest patches with a low aggregation index and low degree of fragmentation of the entire landscape can somewhat prevent the spread of pine wilt disease. The findings of this study can be used as a guide to aid the prevention and control of pine wilt disease in the Yiling district. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Landscape restoration of a forest with a historically mixed-severity fire regime: What was the historical landscape pattern of forest and openings?

Forest management of dry forests in the western US that historically experienced mixed-severity fire regimes is increasingly focused on landscape-scale restoration. However, this restoration effort is constrained by historic range of variation (HRV) reference conditions that lack information concerning the spatial configuration of these forests at intermediate scales (approximately 0.01–100ha). I used reconstruction methods to map historical (1860) pattern of ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir forests along twenty 1km long transects on Colorado’s Front Range and compared pre-settlement opening and forest patch lengths to current forest configurations to inform restoration reference conditions. Historically, openings were prevalent on south-and east-facing aspects, at lower elevations, and on gentler slopes. Generally, mean forest cover rose from 57% prior to settlement to 83% currently, and the current condition of any one location is 3.7times more likely to be forested now than prior to settlement. In addition, the mean forest patch length increased from 35 to 118m long. However, the mean opening length has changed little, increasing from 26 to 27m long. Changes in the distribution of forest opening lengths suggest that there has been a loss of small openings (<50m long) producing the small increase in mean patch length; however, the abundance of larger openings (>50m) across the landscape has been relatively stable. In addition, there has been an increase in large forest patches (>50m) at the expense of small forest patches (<50m). Results from this study suggest that forest restoration treatments should focus on recreating small openings (<50m long) by breaking up large contiguous forest canopy patches within the context of local site conditions.

Analysis of Tropical Forest Landscape Fragmentation in Batang Toru Watershed, North Sumatra

Timber-based forest management is now shifting to as broader scope including ecosystem-based management. Timber-oriented forest management frequently affects the fragmentation of forest landscape. This paper defines the degree of forest landscape fragmentation in Batang Toru watershed, North Sumatra through indentification of correlation between forest landscape fragmentation and driving factors including biophysical and anthropogenic factors. Identification structure, pattern, and fragmentation of forest landscape were performed using Landsat imageries acquired in 1989, 2001, and 2013. Forest and land cover classes were analyzed using FRAGSTAT 3.3 to generate landscape metrics. Fragmentation of forest landscape was identified using landscape metrics, i.e., area, patch density, number of patch, contiguity and proximity index. The clumpiness index of landscape metrics describes the pattern of forest landscape, while the patch size proportions expressed structure of forest landscape. This study found that forest landscapes located in downstream of the watershed show more fragmented than area in the upper stream, while the sub-watershed of Batang Toru Hilir is more clumped than the others. This study concludes that (1) the forest landscape fragmentation tend to increase since 1989 to 2013; and (2) the degree of forest landscape fragmentation has close correlation with the distance to main road and river.

Analysis of Tropical Forest Landscape Fragmentation in Batang Toru Watershed, North Sumatra

Timber-based forest management is now shifting to as broader scope including ecosystem-based management. Timber-oriented forest management frequently affects the fragmentation of forest landscape. This paper defines the degree of forest landscape fragmentation in Batang Toru watershed, North Sumatra through indentification of correlation between forest landscape fragmentation and driving factors including biophysical and anthropogenic factors. Identification structure, pattern, and fragmentation of forest landscape were performed using Landsat imageries acquired in 1989, 2001, and 2013. Forest and land cover classes were analyzed using FRAGSTAT 3.3 to generate landscape metrics. Fragmentation of forest landscape was identified using landscape metrics, i.e., area, patch density, number of patch, contiguity and proximity index. The clumpiness index of landscape metrics describes the pattern of forest landscape, while the patch size proportions expressed structure of forest landscape. This study found that forest landscapes located in downstream of the watershed show more fragmented than area in the upper stream, while the sub-watershed of Batang Toru Hilir is more clumped than the others. This study concludes that (1) the forest landscape fragmentation tend to increase since 1989 to 2013; and (2) the degree of forest landscape fragmentation has close correlation with the distance to main road and river.

Study on the Spatial Connectivity and Distribution of the Landscape for Maoershan Region in Heilongjiang Province

The spatial distribution of the landscape types for Maoershan region was found by the analysis of landscape nearest neighbor index and landscape connectivity index with ARC/INFO. The results showed that there were great difference of landscape connectivity between woodland and non-woodland; the nearest neighbor index of plantation was lower than that of natural forest; and the landscape pattern of natural forest were nearly the random distribution.

Spatial pattern analysis for quantification of landscape structure of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, Central India

Landscape structure is often regarded as an important factor that governs the distribution and abundance of species. Therefore it is critical to understand the landscapes and their dynamics. Patterns of landscape elements strongly influence the ecological characteristics. This study was designed to document and map the current status of the tropical dry deciduous forest of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Central India, (using IRS P6 LISS IV data) and to describe its landscape structure at three levels of organization viz. landscape, class, and patch. The study area was classified into 10 land cover classes that include 6 vegetation classes. The landscape structure was analyzed using FRAGSTATS using 12 set of indices. The TATR landscapes have a total of 2,307 patches with a mean patch size of 25.67 ha and patch density of 1.7 patches per km2. Amongst all land cover classes, mixed bamboo forest is dominant—it occupied maximum area (77.99%)—while riparian forest is least represented (0.32%). Mixed forest has maximum number of patches among all vegetation classes. Results have shown that despite being dominant in the area, mixed bamboo forest has low patch density (0.25/100 ha). Dominance of mixed bamboo forest is attributed to large patch sizes and not to the number of patches. This study has focussed on the approach of integrating satellite forest classification and forest inventory data for studying forest landscape patterns.

Forest pattern dynamics and landscape connectivity changes in the Manwan Basin after dam construction in the Lancang River, China

Regional habitat quality and landscape connectivity can be greatly impaired by dam construction and subsequent land-use changes. This study examined landscape pattern and connectivity changes in the Manwan Basin from 1974 to 2006 to quantify the effects of dam construction. Landscape pattern indices and kernel density estimation (KDE) were used to analyze forest pattern dynamics, while the probability of connectivity (PC) index was applied to evaluate landscape connectivity changes. The results showed that forest area decreased by nearly 20 %, while the number of forest patches increased more than sixfold from 1974 to 2006 in the Manwan Basin. During the study period, forest fragmentation mainly occurred in the western and northern parts of the Manwan Basin. Due to the changes in the forest landscape pattern, landscape connectivity decreased by an average of 54.74 %. In addition, we detected changes to key stepping-stone patches by calculating the percentage importance of each resource patch. The results showed that 300.38 km2 of high-importance forest patches transformed to medium- and low-importance patches from 1974 to 2006.

庐山森林景观格局变化的长期动态模拟

Forest succession is a naturally occurring process of reorganization which occurs constantly in forest ecosystems; the term refers to the process of one plant community being replaced by another over time. The process of forest vegetation ecological succession is driven by underlying natural conditions and anthropogenic disturbance. We can infer dynamic changes of landscape patterns and corresponding ecological processes of forest succession using forest landscape dynamic analysis based on vegetation patterns. Research related to vegetational succession provides a foundation for the understanding of dynamic changes of forest landscape patterns. The changes of forest landscape pattern also influence nutrient cycling and energy flows in forest ecosystems while restricting a variety of ecological processes. As a result,the study on forest landscape patterns explains very important dynamic processes of forest succession.The natural laboratory of Mount Lushan provides a unique site for studying ecological succession as it relates to vegetation and restoration ecology. The study of forest succession is the foundation of recovery and restoration activities. This type of research depends on the study of ecological succession of vegetation which can provide a basis for understanding the dynamics of landscape change. Using the spatially explicit landscape simulation model( LANDIS),this paper analyzes forest vegetation on Mount Lushan,by stimulating the dynamics of the vegetation's ecological succession in the next 300 aunder undisturbed natural conditions,and determines the representative landscape pattern indices of each patch. This process includes measures of the proportion of the landscape covered by each type of patch area as well as determining the values for the aggregation,fractal dimension,diversity and evenness indices. This process allows the analysis of the spatial distribution pattern of dominant tree species,which helps reveal the factors regulating vegetation succession and helps predict the future trends in variation of the forest landscape. Finally,the theoretical basis for successfully realizing sustainable development of forest resources is discussed. The results indicate:( 1) Over the next 300 a,the extent of a stable populations of broad-leaved tree species will tend to increase; ecological succession in the entire Mount Lushan forest ecosystem is moving in the direction of the reformation of a complex zonal evergreen broad-leaved forest system.( 2) The aggregation index for broad-leaved tree species exhibits a pattern of slow growth in the next 150 a,and then stabilizes after 150 a. The aggregation index of fir remained steady for the entire 300 a while the degree of aggregation for moso bamboo declined steadily throughout the entire simulation until it stabilized during the end stage of the simulation.( 3) The fractal dimension of all dominant tree species is between 1 and 1. 1,illustrating that the edge of each patch is relatively inerratic and experiences small changes during natural forest vegetation succession.( 4) The diversity index of the research region initially tended to increase and later maintained a slow rate of decline. Also,the evenness index initially declined,then rose and went into a slow decline at the end of the simulation. The results of the simulation indicate that the Mount Lushan ecosystem is trending toward an optimal climax community based on the natural forces of ecological succession occurring in the forest community. During this natural ecological succession,various species predominate before the climate evergreen broad-leaved forest stage becomes dominant. In the next 300 years,the reforestation program implemented in the 1960s will not have an obvious influence on climax forest landscape patterns in Mount Lushan. Our research provides a scientific foundation for current and future forest landscape management practices on Mount Lushan. In the long run,we should continue to implement a strict policy of protecting hillside forest habitat to facilitate ongoing afforestation efforts.

呼中林区森林景观的历史变域模拟及评价

在大兴安岭地区呼中区,将物种的年龄和分布信息进行随机化处理后,应用空间直观景观模型LANDIS对森林景观进行长时间(2500a)模拟,取物种演替稳定时间段作为模拟历史变域的数据来源。分别在景观水平和年龄类型水平上利用景观指数空间分析、主成分分析和核密度估计方法分析景观格局历史变域的模拟结果,并在二维空间坐标内,将研究区1990年、2000年森林景观特征与之比较。结果表明,各树种面积比例在模拟900a后都达到稳定状态,可作为无干扰条件下森林景观特征的历史变域;由于长期采伐,研究区1990年景观的斑块面积和破碎化程度都偏离了该历史变域,其中,过熟林偏离最明显,其斑块面积远小于历史变域,破碎化程度非常严重;虽然1990年后的采伐管理方案比之前的更为合理,但2000年的森林景观仍旧继续偏离历史变域。;After randomizing the input information of age and distribution of forest species we simulated the long-term (2500 years) dynamic of forest landscape pattern of huzhong area in Great Xing'an Mountains using spatially explicit landscape model (LANDIS), Then we took the period when simulation results reached stable as the time range to estimate the historical range of variability (HRV). Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship between HRV and the forest landscape pattern of 1990 and 2000 using principal component analysis and kernel density estimation methods. The simulation results showed that the succession of almost all forest species arrived to their stable status at around 900th year of the simulation, and the period afterwards was utilized to estimate the HRV; as to the characteristics of forest, landscape pattern in 1990 fell out of the HRV in area of patches and the degree of landscape fragmentation, especially mature and over-mature forest deviated significantly from HRV in patch area and fragmentation; though forest harvest management was better planned after 1990, the forest landscape pattern in 2000 still deviated from the HRV.

The Coupling Network Ｍodeling of Forest Landscape Plaques Based on Patch Edge Effects

Defined the parameters of forest landscape according to the characteristic of forest landscape pattern combined with complex networks theory. By using landscape blocks as nodes, the affect between plaques as lines, a coupling network modeling of forest landscape plaques is established. Taking the west Tongting Lake in Hunan province as the study area, divided the landscape pattern into 13 types, established a plaques coupling network by using the patch edge effects between two different type of blocks as power of lines. It shows that the degree of node, the indexes of landscape classification has positive relationship with the power of node, the degree of node has positive relationship with the importance of node, the area of landscape has complicated competition with the landscape fragmentation when contributes to the concentration degree.