| Land is the essential material basis and natural resources of human survival. The changes of land use can affect the change of surface vegetation cover, and then affect the structure and function of the land ecosystem. Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) Research is a interdisciplinary research program in the International Geosphere Biosphere Program and Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change, which involved in the research of the natural sciences and Social Sciences. It is a frontier field of the current international global change study, and it is given priority attention of China on climate and environmental evolution.North Shanxi (including the Northwest Shanxi) area is located on the edge of the northeast loess plateau. It is one of the important parts of agricultural and pasturing interlaced zone of our country, the key area of Beijing and Tianjin sandstorm source and desertification control, and one of the 12 key areas of Chinese desertification monitoring and control. Its ecological environment is sensitive and vulnerable. In recent years, human activities such as vigorous exploitation of Natural resources, the adjustment of industrial structure, and the implementation of the returning farmland to forest policy have been changing the patterns of land use and landscape types. Therefore, conducting a research of landscape patterns and ecological effect of land use and coverage change during 2000-2013 can reveal and study the process of land use and cover change in a certain period, and provide a scientific basis for rational utilization of land resources, optimizing land use pattern, and land remediation.This paper chooses north of Shanxi Province (including the Northwest Shanxi) area as the study area. Based on the remote sensing image data in 2000,2008 and 2013 and other related information, this paper carries out an empirical research on landscape pattern, ecological environment effects of land use changes in last 14 years with the help of the theory of land use/ coverage change and landscape pattern study. Thus, some preliminary understanding has been achieved.(1) The land use types in this study area are mainly farmland, grassland, and woodland. During the last 14 years, the types of land use have changed greatly. The calculation results of Single dynamic degree of land use types show that:during the study period, there’s a decreasing trend of cultivated land, woodland were tending to increase, and residential and industrial land increased. Taking the year of 2008 as a boundary, grassland increased before 2008 and then decreased; water area decreased throughout the study period; unused land changed slightly as a whole.(2) The calculation results of dynamic degree of comprehensive land use in the study area show that during the study period, the dynamic degree of comprehensive land use is 0.45%. Among them, the dynamic degree during 2000-2008 is 0.53%, and it is 0.42% during 2008-2013. This reflects that after 2008, the speed and intensity of land use change was lower than that before. In study period, the comprehensive index change amount of land use degree is 0.48. With the measurement of the two indexes, it further illustrates that the speed of social and economic development and the speed and level of land exploitation and utilization after 2008 have decreased and slowed down when compared with the year before 2008. However, it is still in the development period of land use.(3) The analysis of landscape pattern change in patch type level shows the main landscape types in the study area are cultivated land, grassland, and forest. During the study period, the density increased in woodland, water area, residential and industrial land and unused patch. This shows that the porosity increases, the distribution is getting centralized, and the degree of fragmentation is reduced. The total number of plaques 6 categories of landscape types in the study area showed a decreasing trend. It indicates that heterogeneity degree of landscape has decreased. Compared with other landscapes, the grassland landscape type is more complex. The patch shape indexes of cultivated land, grassland, and forest - these three major landscape types, are all in decline. However it increases in water area and residential, industrial and mining land. It shows that with the strengthening of human activity, the complexity of water area landscape and residential, industrial and mining land landscape is increasing and the patch shapes are getting complex.(4) The analysis of landscape pattern index at landscape level shows the complexity and aggregation degree of landscape in study area have increased, and diversity and anti-jamming ability have also strengthened. Moreover, the natural landscapes are equally distributed. These indicate that artificial disturbance has increased, which is related to the ecological construction of ’return farmland to forests or grassland’, rapid development of city, sustainable economic growth and some other human activities in the study area during the study period.(5) The impact of study area land use and coverage change on the ecological environment effect is taking value of ecosystem service to reflect the ecological environmental effect in the study area. During 2000-2013, the total value of ecosystem service in study area is gradually increasing, which reflects the regional ecological environment is on the way to a good development. |
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