Land Use Classification System Research Articles

Quantifying peatland land use and CO2 emissions in Irish raised bogs: mapping insights using Sentinel-2 data and Google Earth Engine

Ireland has > 50% of the EU’s ocean-raised bogs; however, degradation through land-use activities has transformed them from carbon (C) sinks to sources. Given their significant role in climate mitigation, it is essential to quantify the emissions resulting from land use degradation of these ecosystems. A seven-class land-use classification system for Irish peatlands (LUCIP) was developed and mapped using Sentinel-2 imagery, random forest machine learning and Google Earth Engine. The results revealed that agricultural grassland comprised 43% of the land use on raised bogs, followed by, forestry (21%), cutover (11%), cutaway (10%) remnant peatlands (13%), waterbodies and built-up ~ 1% each. The overall accuracy of the map was 89%. The map was used to estimate CO2 emissions for four classes constituting 85% of raised bogs: cutover, cutaway, grassland, and forestry using the IPCC wetlands supplement and literature-based emission factors, we estimated emissions at ~ 1.92 (± 1.58–2.27 Mt CO2-C-yr−1) and ~ 0.68 Mt CO2-C-yr−1 (± 0.44–0.91 Mt CO2-C-yr−1) respectively. This is the first study to spatially quantify land use and related emissions from raised bogs. The results have revealed widespread degradation of these globally rare habitats, making them net emitters of CO2. The map is vital for the conservation of these ecosystems through restoration efforts, and the methodology can also be applied to other regions with similar peatland land use issues.

Production–Living–Ecological Spatial Function Identification and Pattern Analysis Based on Multi-Source Geographic Data and Machine Learning

Land use cannot be simply understood as land cover. The same land may carry different functions, such as production, living, and ecological applications; the dominant function of land will affect and restrict other uses. Disorderly urbanization and industrialization have led to an intensification of conflicts among the production, living, and ecological functions of land, which is a major constraint on regional sustainable development. This paper took the perspective of land-use function and used multi-source data such as Sentinel remote-sensing imagery, VIIRS night-time light data, and POIs to classify land-use functions on a large scale in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration. The specific research process was as follows. Firstly, the BTH region was multi-scale-segmented based on Sentinel remote-sensing data. Then, the spectral, texture, shape, and socio-economic features of each small area after segmentation were extracted. Moreover, a PLES land-use classification system oriented towards land-use function was established, and a series of representative samples were selected. Subsequently, a random forest model was trained using these samples; then, the trained model was used for the large-scale analysis of land use in the entire BTH region. Finally, the spatial distribution patterns and temporal–spatial evolution characteristics of PLES in the BTH region from 2016 to 2021 were analyzed from the macro level to the micro level.

Land-Use Transformation and Landscape Ecological Risk Assessment in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region Based on the “Production–Living–Ecological Space” Perspective

Rapid urbanization and land-use change cause risk in regional ecological security. It is very significance to explore the evolutionary trend of land-use change and landscape ecological risk (LER) in an ecologically fragile area, especially in terms of maintaining sustainable development in a regional ecological environment. We selected the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR) as the study area based on land-use and land-cover data for 2000, 2010, and 2020. The land-use classification system used here was constructed using the perspective of the production–living–ecological space (PLES). The GIS spatial-analysis technique and FRAGSTATS 4 software were used. We used the method of the land-use transfer matrix, the landscape ecological risk assessment model, the ecological contribution rate of land-use transfer, and spatial autocorrelation analysis. We performed quantitative analysis of the spatio-temporal pattern of PLES and its LER in the TGRR over the past 20 years. The results show that: (1) The area of human living space (HLS) has expanded significantly—by 1469.37 km2 (+326.66%), while the area of agricultural production space (APS) has been compressed by both the urban/rural living space (URLS) and the forestland ecological space (FES), particularly during the last 10 years; (2) The overall LER results were medium, but LER is increasing; (3) The LER in the northern area of the Yangtze River is higher than in the south. The Wanzhou district and the downstream areas had a lower LER; and (4) The transformation from agricultural production space to forestland ecological space and urban/rural living space has had a higher contribution rate to the LER compared to other events. These results can be used as a reference for land planning, sustainable development, and ecological civilization construction in ecologically fragile areas.

Land-Use Classifying and Identification of the Production-Living-Ecological Space of Island Villages—A Case Study of Islands in the Western Sea Area of Guangdong Province

Accurately identifying the rural production-living-ecological space (PLES) of different islands can help reveal their distinct natural resources and land-use situations, which is significant for the sorted management, subarea utilization, and protection of islands. At present, studies on the PLES of island villages are deficient. For instance, the existing land-use classification system is incomplete; the PLES is poorly identified; and the dominant function of multiple land-use types based on different island geomorphology types is insufficiently investigated. Therefore, a case study was conducted on the island villages of the western sea area of Guangdong Province, based on remote sensing, spatial analysis, and land classification, with field research and the relevant data. In this study, before establishing the PLES system, the islands were classified, including six bedrock islands, 10 sedimentary islands, and one volcanic island. When the PLES system of the island villages was classified, the ecological and utilized areas of the intertidal zone and neritic region should be combined with the island–continent part, and the distinct industrial types should be emphasized, before forming 22 secondary types of PLES. Furthermore, it is found that each island generally has its own dominant space and land-use type. Ecological space (ES) dominates the bedrock islands, and production space (PS) is prominent for sedimentary islands and volcanic islands. Forestland, aquaculture pond, and dryland are the prominent land-use types for bedrock islands, sedimentary islands, and volcanic islands, respectively. The rural residential lands are the main component of living space (LS) in all islands, and the most urban residential lands are distributed on the bedrock islands. The main driving factors for the formation and distribution of island rural PLES are the altitudinal gradient and geomorphic characteristics. The research shows that the main problems of PLES are that the intertidal zones are threatened by aquaculture ponds at various levels, and the development of LS in these islands is generally backward.

Multidimensional Land-use Information for Local Planning and Land Resources Assessment in Indonesia: Classification Scheme for Information Extraction from High-Spatial Resolution Imagery

Suitable land-cover/land-use information is rarely available in most developing countries, particularly when newness, accuracy, relevance, and compatibility are used as evaluation criteria. In Indonesia, various institutions developed their own maps with considerable differences in classification schemes, data sources and scales, as well as in survey methods. Redundant land-cover/land-use surveys of the same area are frequently carried out to ensure the data contains relevant information. To overcome this problem, a multidimensional land-use classification system was developed. The system uses satellite imagery as main data source, with a multi-dimensional approach to link land-cover information to land-use-related categories. The land-cover/land-use layers represent image-based land-cover (spectral), spatial, temporal, ecological and socio-economic dimensions. The final land-cover/land-use database can be used to derive a map with specific content relevant to particular planning tasks. Methods for mapping each dimension are described in this paper, with examples using Quickbird satellite imagery covering a small part the Semarang area, Indonesia. The approaches and methods used in this study may be applied to other countries having characteristics similar to those of Indonesia

Responses of soil and plants to spatio-temporal changes in landscape under different land use in Imo watershed, southern Nigeria

ABSTRACT Soil and plant compositions have been affected by human activities in Imo watershed, southern Nigeria. The study examined the responses of soil and plants to changes in landscape under different land use. It was hypothesized that though forest had higher soil organic carbon (OC) and organic matter (OM), it was the most altered land use with substantial loss of biodiversity. Data were collected covering soil properties and plant compositions. Arable land (AL), forestland (FL), grassland (GL), shrubland hills (SL), urban built-up green (UL), Freshwater swamp-mangrove wetland (WL) and water bodies (WB) were classified as the main land use by using ArcGIS 10.1 and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) land-use classification system. One-way analysis of variance followed by post-hoc test was used to determine the mean differences in years and land use for various soil properties and plant parameters. Results revealed that soil nutrient concentrations decreased by at least 50% across land use. Leucaena leucocephala, Vernonia amygdalina, Panicum maximum, Lablab purpreus, Vernonia nigritiana and Elaeis guineensis were dominant with high cover. Species diversity showed significantly negative correlations with species evenness and R-factor (p < 0.05), but positive correlations with total nitrogen and OM and OC (p < 0.001). To restore and increase soil and plant biodiversity, human activities need to be regulated by introducing sustainable agriculture and logging.

A PRELIMINARY APPROACH TO THE PARTICIPATORY MICRO WATERSHED LAND-USE SURVEY METHOD ON THE BASIS OF AIRPHOTOS

This paper deals with the Participatory Micro Watershed Land-use Survey Method on the Basis of Airphotos in the Sino-Germany joint micro-watershed development project Sustainable Development of Mountainous Area in Jiangxi. It gives a preliminary description of the basic concept and the preparatory work of the base map for field survey and the whole mapping procedure for this project, which includes establishment of participatory land-use classification system, in-room pre-judgment and interpretation of airphotos, field mapping and selection of standard interpretation areas, holistic interpretation and field verification, digitization, editing and printing. The case study was conducted all the way at the Huangling micro-watershed in Luojiang town of Yudu County, Jiangxi Province. The advantages and disadvantages of the method are analyzed, with the hope of providing some reference for future similar work.

Effect of spatial scale on urban land-use pattern analysis in different classification systems: An empirical study in the CBD of Tokyo

Urban land-use pattern occurs not only at certain spatial scale but also at certain classification system. Study of spatial scale effect on urban land-use pattern analysis for construction of spatial model of urban land-use changes entails consideration of urban land-use classification system selected. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect characteristics of spatial scale on the result of urban land-use pattern analysis for two different classification systems in terms of spatial autocorrelation and fuzzy mathematics by an empirical study in the CBD (Central Business District) of Tokyo so as to provide some useful information for construction of multi-scale or hierarchical spatial model of urban dynamics. The results show that while spatial autocorrelation of all the categories of urban land-use at different classification systems in this study is scale-dependent, characteristics of the spatial scale effect on pattern of urban land-use categories are different for different classification systems. However, the general change trends of spatial autocorrelation of urban land-use for different classification systems show similar across a range of scale. Reducing number of urban land-use categories for one classification system may diminish the loss of information of land-use area across the range of scale and the effect of spatial scale on urban land-use pattern analysis in the certain extent.

Detection of coastal saline land uses with multi-temporal landsat images in Shangyu City, china.

Many coastal regions in China are confronted with pressing problems of scarce land resources and heavy population. Over the past 30 years, considerable parts of coastal tidelands have been enclosed and reclaimed for agricultural land uses. To assess, plan, and implement large-scale reclamation programs, up-to-date and reliable information concerning the nature, areal extent, and physical and chemical characteristics of coastal saline lands is essential. This paper reports a remote sensing approach to detecting coastal saline land uses in Shangyu City, China, by using multi-temporal Landsat images. First, with the aid of resolution-sharpened Landsat-7 ETM+ images and their enhanced linear features, a visual interpretation is applied to extract individual dikes. Based on time series images and local government records, a spatial zoning procedure is then used to define six sub-zones with different historical years of reclamation. It shows that a total of 15,668 ha of coastal saline lands were enclosed and reclaimed from 1969 to 1996. Second, a modified land-use classification system for the study area is prescribed, and both unsupervised and supervised classifiers are performed for land-use classifications of grouped sub-zones. Information obtained from the spatial zoning, Tasseled Cap transformation and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, is also utilized to facilitate the supervised classification process. Finally, a detailed land-use map is produced, with an overall classification accuracy of 77.8%. Results show that dominant agricultural land uses of sub-zones are changed with historical reclamation years, from saline lands with wildgrass (very recently reclaimed) to aqua-farm ponds, to cotton fields, and to paddy fields and orchards (very early reclaimed). This transform process is primarily affected by soil salinities, and according to a soil survey an electrical conductivity of saturation extract decreased from 7.3 ds/m in the saline land reclaimed in 1996 to below 2 ds/m in the land reclaimed before 1969. The study concludes that multi-temporal remotely sensed images are important and effective data sources for monitoring the rapid changes of coastal land uses.

A conservation program for western Tasmania: Issues and prospects

A conservation program for Western Tasmania is out lined, involving a regional resource inventory, structure planning processes, a land-use classification system and public participation in decision -making. The program could be initiated by the local community on a "self-help" basis, but if the program is to have any sustained impact, then formal institutional arrangements will be required, involving State finance and assistance. In executing the conservation program, attempts should be made to incorporate aesthetic values and resource management principles into research and administrative processes.