Spatial Grain Effects of Urban Green Space Cover Maps on Assessing Habitat Fragmentation and Connectivity

Yue Lin, Wenzhan An, Muye Gan, AmirReza Shahtahmassebi, Ziran Ye, Lingyan Huang, Congmou Zhu, Lu Huang, Jing Zhang and Ke Wang
Additional contact information
Yue Lin: Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Wenzhan An: Zhejiang Institute of Territorial Spatial Planning, Hangzhou 310000, China
Muye Gan: Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
AmirReza Shahtahmassebi: Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Ziran Ye: Institute of Digital Agriculture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
Lingyan Huang: School of Business, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China
Congmou Zhu: Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Lu Huang: The Rural Development Academy, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Jing Zhang: Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Ke Wang: Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: The scientific evaluation of landscape fragmentation and connectivity is important for habitat conservation. It is strongly influenced by the spatial resolution of source maps, particularly in urban environments. However, there is limited comprehensive investigation of the spatial grain effect on urban habitat and few in-depth analysis across different urban gradients. In this paper, we scrutinize the spatial grain effects of urban green space (UGS) cover maps (derived from remote sensing imagery and survey data) with respect to evaluating habitat fragmentation and connectivity, comparing among different urban gradient scenarios (downtown, urban periphery, and suburban area) in Hangzhou, a megacity in China. The fragmentation was detected from three indices, including Entropy, Contagion, and Hypsometry. Then morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) was applied for the landscape element identification. The possibility of connectivity (PC) and patch importance (dPC) were proposed for measuring the landscape connectivity based on Cores and Bridges from MSPA results. The results indicate that the farther the location is from downtown, the less sensitive the landscape element proportion to the spatial resolution. Among the three fragmentation indices, the overall hypsometry index has the lowest sensitivity to the spatial resolution, which implies this index’s broader application value. Considering connectivity, high spatial resolution maps are appropriate for analyzing highly heterogeneous urban areas, while medium spatial resolution maps are more applicable to urban periphery and suburban area with larger UGS patches and less fragmentation. This study suggests that the spatial resolution of UGS maps substantially influence habitat fragmentation and connectivity, which is critical for decision making in urban planning and management.

Keywords: fragmentation; connectivity; habitat conservation; spatial grain effect; urban green space; morphological spatial pattern analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/10/1065/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/10/1065/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:1065-:d:652680

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().