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Dynamic evolution of landscape pattern and ecological health assessment of Tianshan Natural Heritage Site in Xinjiang

LUO Lei1,2,3,LIU Chuansheng2,3,HU Jiangling1,WANG Xin-yuan2,3,LU Llei2,3,ZHAO Yan-chuang2,3,LI Li2,3,JI Xin-yang2,3,YAN Hui1,WANG Yue1   

  1. 1 College of Geography Science and Tourism,Xinjiang Normal University,Urumqi 830054,Xinjiang,China;
    2 Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100094,China;
    3 UNESCO International Center for Natural and Cultural Space Technology,Beijing 100094,China 
  • Online:2019-01-25 Published:2019-01-16

Abstract: Kalajan-Kurderen area is one of the main parts of Tianshan natural heritage in Xinjiang. Its outstanding universal value (OUV), by which it is selected as the world heritage, is heavily affected by the status of ecological health. The landscape pattern is helpful for revealing the dynamic trend of ecological health, however, there are little cases studying the status of ecological health of natural heritage sites in term of landscape patterns. Taking Kalajan-Kurderen area as the study object. We firstly extracted landscape information from multiple-source remotely sensed data during the time period from 1977 to 2017, then we analyzed the dynamic changes of landscape characteristics by metrics obtained at both class and landscape scales. Our results showed that areas of coniferous forest, high-cover grassland and bare land were increased respectively by 39.94 km2, 129.18 km2 and 133.83 km2; and the areas of snow, tundra, coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, medium-low cover grassland and water body were decreased respectively by 70.30 km2, 39.61 km2, 83.29 km2, 93.37 km2, 13.26 km2 and 3.12 km2. At the class scale, coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests were severely disturbed by humans, and the grasslands with low and moderate cover were fragmented; at the landscape scale, there were no obvious trends for the aggregation, connectivity and fractal of landscape, and the landscape diversity maintained a stable level after a significant increase; Landscape heterogeneity showed no apparent changes. Overall, the landscape ecological condition was healthy, and the OUV of the heritage maintained stable. However, the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests needed emphatical protection. Based on the above results, the following basic conclusions have been drawn: In the past 40 years, the ice/snow, water, tundra, low-cover grassland have shifted to bare land. The spatial pattern of coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests is seriously affected by human activities. After severe damage, the internal structure of the landscape changes drastically during natural restoration. In terms of landscape structure complexity: ice/snow, coniferous forests, coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests, and water bodies showed a decreasing trend, while other landscapes were increased. The establishment of nature reserves and natural heritage sites has led to regularity and dimensionality of landscapes. Human protection measures can alleviate landscape deterioration to a certain extent. The degree of fragmentation of landscapes is closely related to changes of areas of landscapes; the degree of aggregation and natural connectivity are relatively stable in all landscapes except that coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests are affected by spontaneous succession. The Interspersion Juxtaposition Index indicates that the study area has the most typical and complete vertical natural zone in temperate arid regions of the world.

Key words: world natural heritage, Landscape pattern index, Landscape pattern evolution, Landscape ecological health

CLC Number: 

  • 世界自然遗产地|景观格局指数|景观格局演化|景观生态健康