Mountain area is an important geographical unit of land,and its ecology is sensitive and fragile.Over the past few decades,human activities have caused dramatic changes in land use in mountainous areas,which caused ch...Mountain area is an important geographical unit of land,and its ecology is sensitive and fragile.Over the past few decades,human activities have caused dramatic changes in land use in mountainous areas,which caused changes in landscape patterns and impacts on the ecological environment.It is unknown how the mechanism of land use affects the landscape pattern at different scales.The Hantai District,a typical human settlement in the mountain area in Shaanxi,China,was chosen as the study area.Based on the remote sensing images,the mathematical models and landscape indexes were adopted to evaluate the impact of land use change from 1998 to 2017 on the landscape pattern at different scales,and its main driving forces were analyzed.The results showed that the urbanized land expanded largest from 15.39%to 24.30%,and cultivated land experienced the largest decline from 43.54%to 35.35%.Changes in land use have made the patch morphology of most land types developed from a natural random to a sawtooth shape,and its spatial pattern evolved from a ruleset to a fragmented expansion.This reflects the continuous strengthening of human intervention in the process of regional development.Under the jurisdiction of Hantai District,the biggest change in landscape pattern is in Hanzhong City and Qili Town.The improved economy and increasing population and urbanization rate were the main factors that cause these changes.This research could provide necessary information for understanding the evolution mechanism of land resources in mountainous human settlements for mountainous areas with significant geomorphic differentiation.展开更多
Background Ecological land evolution is pivotal in shaping regional landscapes and ecosystem functions.However,existing metrics are limited in quantifying patch-scale dynamics of connectivity and fragmentation during ...Background Ecological land evolution is pivotal in shaping regional landscapes and ecosystem functions.However,existing metrics are limited in quantifying patch-scale dynamics of connectivity and fragmentation during the processes of ecological land degradation and restoration.This study introduces the Ecological Land Evolution Index(ELEI),a novel framework integrating spatial proximity and connectivity to evaluate spatiotemporal complexities of ecological land changes at the patch level.By incorporating adjacency rules and continuous value systems,ELEI offers a granular analysis of connectivity-fragmentation tradeoffs,addressing limitations in traditional landscape metrics.Results Using four temporal land use datasets(1990–2020)from the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River(UAMRYR)in China,we applied ELEI to characterize ecological land restoration(ELR)and degradation(ELD).Sensitivity analysis confirmed ELEI’s robustness,identifying connected patch area and spatial proximity as primary drivers.Monte Carlo simulations validated formula stability,highlighting symmetrical responses to connectivity changes but residual uncertainties in extreme scenarios(|ELEI|>60).Additionally,the results demonstrate significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity in ecological land evolution.Degradation of ecological land initially intensified from 2000 to 2010,but then decelerated from 2010 to 2020,while the restoration process first weakened and subsequently strengthened.Notably,the area of degraded ecological land steadily expanded throughout the study period,reaching 17,684.20 km^(2) between 1990 and 2020,while the restored area totaled 12,025.56 km^(2).Fragmentation dominated degradation processes,while connection patterns drove restoration.Urban centers like Wuhan and Changsha experienced severe fragmentation aligned with rapid urbanization,whereas cities such as Yichang,Hengyang,and Jiujiang achieved significant restoration via infilling and connection.Conclusions ELEI provides a nuanced understanding of ecological land dynamics in rapidly urbanizing regions by identifying restoration successes and ongoing degradation hotspots.Additionally,the integration of ELEI variants(arithmetic mean ELEI(MELEI)and area-weighted mean ELEI(AWMELEI))highlights their value in tracking long-term connectivity trends and degradation processes.This framework offers actionable insights for balancing urban development and conservation,underscoring its value in regional planning and sustainable landscape management.展开更多
基金funded by Natural Science Foundation of China(51378067)the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi(806215594019)。
文摘Mountain area is an important geographical unit of land,and its ecology is sensitive and fragile.Over the past few decades,human activities have caused dramatic changes in land use in mountainous areas,which caused changes in landscape patterns and impacts on the ecological environment.It is unknown how the mechanism of land use affects the landscape pattern at different scales.The Hantai District,a typical human settlement in the mountain area in Shaanxi,China,was chosen as the study area.Based on the remote sensing images,the mathematical models and landscape indexes were adopted to evaluate the impact of land use change from 1998 to 2017 on the landscape pattern at different scales,and its main driving forces were analyzed.The results showed that the urbanized land expanded largest from 15.39%to 24.30%,and cultivated land experienced the largest decline from 43.54%to 35.35%.Changes in land use have made the patch morphology of most land types developed from a natural random to a sawtooth shape,and its spatial pattern evolved from a ruleset to a fragmented expansion.This reflects the continuous strengthening of human intervention in the process of regional development.Under the jurisdiction of Hantai District,the biggest change in landscape pattern is in Hanzhong City and Qili Town.The improved economy and increasing population and urbanization rate were the main factors that cause these changes.This research could provide necessary information for understanding the evolution mechanism of land resources in mountainous human settlements for mountainous areas with significant geomorphic differentiation.
基金financially supported by the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No:42230107)the Strategic Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Special Project of Hubei Province(2024DJA012)
文摘Background Ecological land evolution is pivotal in shaping regional landscapes and ecosystem functions.However,existing metrics are limited in quantifying patch-scale dynamics of connectivity and fragmentation during the processes of ecological land degradation and restoration.This study introduces the Ecological Land Evolution Index(ELEI),a novel framework integrating spatial proximity and connectivity to evaluate spatiotemporal complexities of ecological land changes at the patch level.By incorporating adjacency rules and continuous value systems,ELEI offers a granular analysis of connectivity-fragmentation tradeoffs,addressing limitations in traditional landscape metrics.Results Using four temporal land use datasets(1990–2020)from the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River(UAMRYR)in China,we applied ELEI to characterize ecological land restoration(ELR)and degradation(ELD).Sensitivity analysis confirmed ELEI’s robustness,identifying connected patch area and spatial proximity as primary drivers.Monte Carlo simulations validated formula stability,highlighting symmetrical responses to connectivity changes but residual uncertainties in extreme scenarios(|ELEI|>60).Additionally,the results demonstrate significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity in ecological land evolution.Degradation of ecological land initially intensified from 2000 to 2010,but then decelerated from 2010 to 2020,while the restoration process first weakened and subsequently strengthened.Notably,the area of degraded ecological land steadily expanded throughout the study period,reaching 17,684.20 km^(2) between 1990 and 2020,while the restored area totaled 12,025.56 km^(2).Fragmentation dominated degradation processes,while connection patterns drove restoration.Urban centers like Wuhan and Changsha experienced severe fragmentation aligned with rapid urbanization,whereas cities such as Yichang,Hengyang,and Jiujiang achieved significant restoration via infilling and connection.Conclusions ELEI provides a nuanced understanding of ecological land dynamics in rapidly urbanizing regions by identifying restoration successes and ongoing degradation hotspots.Additionally,the integration of ELEI variants(arithmetic mean ELEI(MELEI)and area-weighted mean ELEI(AWMELEI))highlights their value in tracking long-term connectivity trends and degradation processes.This framework offers actionable insights for balancing urban development and conservation,underscoring its value in regional planning and sustainable landscape management.
