Assessing Landscape Ecological Risk Induced by Land-Use/Cover Change in a County in China: A GIS- and Landscape-Metric-Based Approach

Jianxiao Liu, Meilian Wang and Linchuan Yang
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Jianxiao Liu: Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Meilian Wang: Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Linchuan Yang: School of Architecture and Design, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: Landscape ecological risk assessment (LERA) evaluates different types of potential environmental impacts and their cumulative effects, thereby providing policy insights for sustainable regional land-use and ecosystem management. In a departure from existing literature that heavily relies on low-resolution land-use data for LERA at provincial or municipal scales, this study applies high-resolution land-use data to a relatively small research area (county). In addition, this study modifies the evaluation units of LERA from equal-sized grids to watersheds and refines the ecological vulnerability weight on the basis of finer-resolution data. The main findings are summarized as follows: (1) In 2011–2013, nearly 866 ha of land use in Xiapu County changed; moreover, the construction land, which was mainly concentrated in Songgang Street and Xinan Town, increased the most (340 ha). (2) Landscape ecological risk (LER) was roughly maintained, and areas of high ecological risk were mainly concentrated along the coast. (3) The spatial distribution of LER maintained a relatively aggregated pattern, with no trend toward more aggregated or more dispersed change. This study further discusses the relationship between local LER and land-use change and how to balance global and local LER in planning practices.

Keywords: landscape analysis and planning; landscape ecology; geospatial analysis; spatial planning; land-use management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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