Landscape Pattern Evolution and Its Response to Human Disturbance in a Newly Metropolitan Area: A Case Study in Jin-Yi Metropolitan Area

Tao Wu, Peipei Zha, Mengjie Yu, Guojun Jiang, Jianzhen Zhang, Qinglong You and Xuefeng Xie
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Tao Wu: College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Peipei Zha: College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Mengjie Yu: College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Guojun Jiang: College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Jianzhen Zhang: College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Qinglong You: Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
Xuefeng Xie: College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: The impact of human interference on the ecological environment has attracted a significant amount of attention. In this study, hemeroby index (HI) was constructed to quantify the degree of human disturbance, and the relationship between HI and landscape pattern index was explored in a newly metropolitan area. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of landscape pattern and human disturbance in the process of urbanization of county-level cities in China, and to explore the relationship between the landscape pattern index and human disturbance under different disturbance intensity. The conclusions showed that: (1) the degree of human interference in the new area is on the rise, with a slow increase from 1980 to 2010, but since 2010, human interference has increased significantly. The diffusion of human disturbance intensity has obvious spatial directivity, spreading from east to west. (2) The impact of human activities on landscape pattern is shown as increasing fragmentation and increasing number of landscape types. With the enhancement of human activities, the heterogeneity and fragmentation of landscape types in the region reach their highest points. With the continuous increase of human activities, on a certain scale, the landscape types will gradually tend to be the same, and the same type of landscape patches will become one piece and tend to be integrated. This phenomenon is particularly obvious at the patch type level. (3) There is an inflection point value between human disturbance and landscape pattern index in landscape or patch type. On both sides of the inflection point value, the landscape pattern parameters and human disturbance have obvious opposite trends. (4) In the low interference range (1 ≤ HI < 4), with the increase of human interference, more heterogeneous structures (shown in the increase of SHDI) are brought to the landscape, there is more landscape fragmentation (shown in the decrease of LPI, CONTRACT, and AI), and the patch shape and landscape structure tend to be complex (shown in the increase of LSI, SQP, ED, and other indexes); in the high interference range (4 ≤ HI ≤ 7), due to human intervention, the increase of LPI, contract, and AI indicates that intense human activities turn the landscape into a broken and scattered structure and tend to be consistent and homogeneous. LSI, SQP, and ED were negatively correlated with HI at this stage, indicating that with the enhancement of human activities, the complexity of landscape shape decreased.

Keywords: human disturbance; landscape pattern index; Jin-yi metropolitan area (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)

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