Land Cover Change In The Xilingol Steppe Reserve Of China

In China, the Xilingol steppe Reserve (XSR) is a unique grassland protectionarea belonging to the world biosphere reserve network, it is also a large biospherereserves in china. The reserve locate in the central section of the Xinlingol stepperegion in Mongolia, it is a representative steppe area in the north china. The XSR is atypical managed grassland resource protected area provided with ecological andeconomical and culture function. Now, the reserve is confronted with the problem ofresolving the contradiction between development and conservation. How to managethe nature reserve well, and promote the win-win of conservation and economicdevelopment, has becomes the focus on the nature reserve management. The mainobjectives of study include several aspects as following. The temporal dynamics andspatial pattern of LUCC in the XSR and driving force is also analyzed in regionscales based on physical geographic factors and human active factors. The Study ongeographic restrict and human driving force in land cover course.1. The characteristics of land cover in region scales in XSR. From 1987 to 2004,the land use structure had an acute transformation in the study area. The study ontemporal and spatial dynamic condition of land cover on region scale in XSR. Therate of land cover change is 45%. The meadow steppe decrease 74.39 km~2, the highcover steppe decrease 78.52 km~2, the middle cover steppe decrease 65.09 km~2, thelow cover steppe decrease 210.56 km~2, fixed sand land decrease 123.90 km~2,semi-fixed sand land decrease 87.75 km~2. The extreme degrade grassland increase 303.53 km~2, the moving dunes increase 343.76 km~2, urban land increase 48.49 km~2.The relationship between physical factors, such as elevation, river system and slope,and land cover change process. As a result, the zonal diversity of land cover indrainage area was obtained. River system distributing is a markedness factor, thelinearity equation is y=-0.0078x+0.6716(R=-0.8508). Elevation is also amarkedness factor, the linearity equation is y=-0.0005x+1.0486 (R=-0.6620).And slop is no linearity relationship with land cover change. Land cover change inhigh gradient area is still at high rate.2. Spatial pattern of human actives in the XSR and its effects on land cover. Westudied the distribution of the residential spots and roads which reflecting humanactive intensity. First, We studied spatial distribution of residential spots and roadsdensity rank in study area. Second, analyze the relationship between physical factors,such as altitude, river system and slope, and human active intensity. At last, weconcluded human active characteristics in the study area changed from be controlledby physical geographic factors in 1980's to break these restrict condition in today.3. The study on land use and land cover driving force in the XBR. First, westudied the relationship between human active, such as residential spots density androads density, and land use change. The residential spots density is the driving forceof land use. And then, by calculating NDVI of the XBR in 1987 and 2004, weanalyzed region scale vegetation coverage, obtained that NDVI decreased at large.Analyzed the relationship between human active and NDVI, both residential spotsdensity and roads density are driving force for reducing vegetation coverage. The results showed that human active is the intense driving force of land cover.4. The study on land cover and human active change in buffer zones of corezones. There are 5 separating core zones in the XBR, these core zones protect themeadow steppe, typical steppe, mountainous steppe, spruce in sand land, poplar andbirch.By the way of studying land cover date and human active in each buffer zones,the result showed that land cover and human active are rising fast in the past 20 years,which would result in reducing the protect capability of core zones, and loss ofbiodiversity inside a protected area. Land cover change in 0～5km is 43%, 5～10 km is51%, 10～15 km is 54%. The average of NDVI decrease is 22.5, decrease numericalvalue in 0～5km is 23. The residential spots and roads increase fast, residential spotsdensity increase 40% and roads density increase 118% in 0～5km.