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Arid Land Geography ›› 2020, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (4): 1014-1022.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2020.04.16

• Earth Information Sciences • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatiotemporal response of habitat quality to urban expansion in Hohhot City

FENG Yan-wei, ZHEN Jiang-hong, MA Chen-yang   

  1. College of Geography Science,Inner Mongolia Normal University,Hohhot 010022,Inner Mongolia,China
  • Received:2019-09-07 Revised:2020-04-05 Online:2020-07-25 Published:2020-11-18

Abstract: This paper evaluated the evolution of urban expansion and habitat quality in the Hohhot City,Inner Mongolia,China from 1990 to 2017 using gradient analysis and an InVEST model. A bivariate spatial auto-correlation was employed to ascertain the impact of urban expansion on habitat quality. The results showed that urban expansion during the period was characterized by low-density expansion in core areas and multi-point diffusion in periphery areas. The urban areas became less compact and stable,exhibiting uneven development. Secondly,the average habitat value decreased from 0.49 to 0.44,and the quality dropped to a worse level. Low-grade habitats primarily diffused to the south and southeast in a circular layer,which is consistent with the direction of construction expansion. Thirdly,there was a negative spatial correlation between the change in urban expansion and habitat quality. This is because urban expansion in the core-periphery areas remains the most intense changing zones where habitat quality degradation happen. In addition,there is a rising trend in the density of patches and an increasing use of patches during construction,which have aggravated the fragmented urban landscape.

Key words: new urbanization, habitat quality, urban expansion, InVEST model, Hohhot City