Assessment of forest fragmentation in the conservation priority Dudhwa landscape,India using FRAGSTATS computed class level metrics

The Dudhwa landscape, a priority conservation area representing Terai ecosystem (woodland-grassland-wetland complex) has witnessed a sea change in past 150 years or so on account of long history of forest management, changes in land use, and rapid economic development. We assessed fragmentation in two constituent protected areas (Dudhwa National Park-DNP and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary-KAT) of the landscape due to forest management activities (clear cutting, development of rail and road network, and plantations) and compared the magnitude among them using select metrics at the forest class level. We applied FRAGSTATS spatial pattern analysis software (ver.3.3) on different forest classes deciphered by land use/ cover maps generated using IRS P6 LISS IV digital data. Study amply revealed that the forests in DNP are less fragmented and of better habitat quality than forests of KAT. The set of seven metrics (patch density, mean patch size, edge density, mean shape index, mean core area, mean nearest neighbour, and interspersion and juxtaposition index) at the class level quantified in the present study are simple and proved useful for quantifying complex spatial processes and can be used as an effective means of monitoring in Dudhwa landscape.     

顾及尺度效应和景观格局的土地利用数据综合指标研究

从尺度效应和土地利用案观格局影响两个层面研究土地利用数据综合的宏观和微观综合指标,设计土地利用数据综合的指标体系和指标定量化描述模型.在全国各个土地利用分区采集不同尺度的具有典型代表性的土地利用数据样本集,通过空间统计分析等方法,得到土地利用数据综合中的宏观控制性指标和微观图形综合指标的尺度变化规律及其与土地利用格局的关系.以一个县为试验区,验证其合理性.

Abstract：

Indices for land use data generalization are critical for generating multiscale land use maps and databases. Previous research suffers from two major setbacks. Firstly, determination of threshold values for multi-scale land use data generalization in a large area, such as a nation, remains subjective. A second problem is general ignorance of landscape pattern. This paper studies the index system of land use data generalization from both scale and landscape pattern perspective. We discuss the macro and micro indices of land use data generalization with consideration of spatial scales and landscape pattern. To quantitatively relate the indices and scale and landscape pattern metrics, land use data samples have been collected at multiple spatial scales in various land use regions across China. Based on statistic analysis, we then generate both macro and micro control rules for land use data generalization at various spatial scales and land use patterns. Finally, we prove the proposed method and achieved results to be effective and reasonable with sample data at county level.     

Introducing landscape accuracy metric for spatial performance evaluation of land use/land cover change models

Performance evaluation is a critical step for land use/land cover (LULC) change modelling. It can be conducted through pixel quantity and its geographical location according to majority of current approaches. It is hence important to know to what extent spatial patterns of a given landscape are properly replicated in simulated LULC maps. Therefore, a new validation metric, named as landscape accuracy metric (LAM), is introduced by inspiration from landscape ecology. Unlike pixel quantity validation metrics, model performance is measured by LAM through quantifying spatial patterns including structure, composition and configuration attributes. The functionality of LAM was studied to assess the performance of the built-up change simulation under historical, ecological and stochastic scenarios, applying Cellular Automata Markov model. LAM is a flexible measure such that modellers can apply this metric through adding or eliminating various metrics of their interest in a selective manner and under different environmental circumstances.     

Characterizing urban area dynamics in historic city of Kurukshetra,India, using remote sensing and spatial metric tools

Abstract

Developing countries like India are an urbanization hotspot with many upcoming towns and cities. Growth in small and medium sized towns and cities have been unnoticed and growing without appropriate urban planning. Utilizing the available medium resolution satellite data and geospatial platforms, the growth dynamics of Kurukshetra city was analysed over a period of 24 years. The study employed a combination of change detection technique and spatial metrics (six each of class and landscape levels) analysis to delineate the growth track of the city and its environs. A significant increase in urban built up (dense 237%; open 1038%) is seen majorly at the cost of open area (70%) and tree clad (58%). Phases of city’s aggregation and diffusion are observed using class and landscape level spatial metrics. Understanding and monitoring of land use changes in and around city limits using integrated spatial tools provide better decision making capability.     

Remote sensing of seasonal variability of fractional vegetation cover and its object-based spatial pattern analysis over mountain areas

Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an important indicator of mountain ecosystem status. A study on the seasonal changes of FVC can be beneficial for regional eco-environmental security, which contributes to the assessment of mountain ecosystem recovery and supports mountain forest planning and landscape reconstruction around megacities, for example, Beijing, China. Remote sensing has been demonstrated to be one of the most powerful and feasible tools for the investigation of mountain vegetation. However, topographic and atmospheric effects can produce enormous errors in the quantitative retrieval of FVC data from satellite images of mountainous areas. Moreover, the most commonly used analysis approach for assessing FVC seasonal fluctuations is based on per-pixel analysis regardless of the spatial context, which results in pixel-based FVC values that are feasible for landscape and ecosystem applications. To solve these problems, we proposed a new method that incorporates the use of a revised physically based (RPB) model to correct both atmospheric and terrain-caused illumination effects on Landsat images, an improved vegetation index (VI)-based technique for estimating the FVC, and an adaptive mean shift approach for object-based FVC segmentation. An array of metrics for segmented FVC analyses, including a variety of area metrics, patch metrics, shape metrics and diversity metrics, was generated. On the basis of the individual segmented FVC values and landscape metrics from multiple images of different dates, remote sensing of the seasonal variability of FVC was conducted over the mountainous area of Beijing, China. The experimental results indicate that (a) the mean value of the RPB–NDVI in all seasons was increased by approximately 10% compared with that of the atmospheric correction-NDVI; (b) a strong consistency was demonstrated between ground-based FVC observations and FVC estimated through remote sensing technology (R² = 0.8527, RMSE = 0.0851); and (c) seasonal changes in the landscape characteristics existed, and the landscape diversity reached its maximum in May and June in the study area.     

An analysis of changes in the urban landscape composition and configuration in the Sancaktepe District of Istanbul Metropolitan City,Turkey using landscape metrics and satellite data

Changes in landscape composition and configuration patterns of Sancaktepe Municipal District in the Asian side of Istanbul Metropolitan City of Turkey were analysed using landscape metrics. Class-level and landscape-level metrics were calculated from the land cover/land use data using Patch Analyst, an extension in the Arc View GIS. The land cover/land use data were derived from classified satellite images of Landsat Thematic Mapper of 2002 and 2009 for Sancaktepe District. There was evidence of increase in agglomeration process of built-up patches as indicated by the increases in mean patch size, decrease in total edge and number of patches between 2002 and 2009. The urban expansion pattern experienced overall was not fragmented but concentrated due to infilling around existing patches. Changes in Area-Weighted Mean Shape Index and Area-Weighted Patch Fractal Dimension Index indicated that the physical shapes within built-up, forest and bareland areas were relatively complex and irregular. A conclusion is made in this study that spatial metrics are useful tools to describe the urban landscape composition and configuration in its various aspects and certain decisions whether to approve a specific development in urban planning could, for example, be based on some measures of urban growth form or pattern in terms of uniformity and irregularity, attributable to the dynamic processes of agglomeration and fragmentation of land cover/land use patches caused by urban expansion.     

基于CLUE-S模型的深圳海岸带土地利用变化模拟

以深圳海岸带为研究区,基于1996、2005、2011年遥感影像得到研究区土地利用历史数据,选取自然、社会统计数据作为驱动因素,利用CLUE-S模型分别从不同时间尺度和空间尺度对研究区2005、2011年的土地利用分布予以模拟,并对模拟结果分别从类别和景观水平予以精度评价。从类别水平角度,选择ROC曲线对各地类的Logistic回归拟合精度进行评价;从景观水平角度,选取Kappa指数对模拟效果予以评估,以验证所选驱动因子的合理性。结果表明:在研究区范围内,CLUE-S模型的类别精度随着空间分辨率的改变而有所差异,100 m分辨率为本研究模拟的最佳尺度,各地类的ROC值均高于0.7;随着模拟时间的缩短模拟精度有所增加;东海岸由于受到人类影响较小,模拟效果整体相对较好。总体而言,CLUE-S模型适用于研究区土地利用模拟,所选驱动力因子能够对研究区土地利用变化予以较好的解释。     

Characterizing bi-temporal patterns of land surface temperature using landscape metrics based on sub-pixel classifications from Landsat TM/ETM+

Landscape patterns in a region have different sizes, shapes and spatial arrangements, which contribute to the spatial heterogeneity of the landscape and are linked to the distinct behavior of thermal environments. There is a lack of research generating landscape metrics from discretized percent impervious surface area data (ISA), which can be used as an indicator of urban spatial structure and level of development, and quantitatively characterizing the spatial patterns of landscapes and land surface temperatures (LST). In this study, linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA) is used to derive sub-pixel ISA. Continuous fractional cover thresholds are used to discretize percent ISA into different categories related to urban land cover patterns. Landscape metrics are calculated based on different ISA categories and used to quantify urban landscape patterns and LST configurations. The characteristics of LST and percent ISA are quantified by landscape metrics such as indices of patch density, aggregation, connectedness, shape and shape complexity. The urban thermal intensity is also analyzed based on percent ISA. The results indicate that landscape metrics are sensitive to the variation of pixel values of fractional ISA, and the integration of LST, LSMA. Landscape metrics provide a quantitative method for describing the spatial distribution and seasonal variation in urban thermal patterns in response to associated urban land cover patterns.     

Selecting landscape metrics as indicators of spatial heterogeneity—A comparison among Greek landscapes

This paper investigates the spatial heterogeneity of three landscapes along an altitudinal gradient and different human land use. The main aim was the identification of appropriate landscape indicators using different extents. ASTER image was used to create a land cover map consisting of three landscapes which differed in altitude and land use. A number of landscape metrics quantifying patch complexity, configuration, diversity and connectivity were derived from the thematic map at the landscape level. There were significant differences among the three landscapes regarding these four aspects of landscape heterogeneity. The analysis revealed a specific pattern of land use where lowlands are being increasingly utilized by humans (percentage of agricultural land = 65.84%) characterized by physical connectedness (high values of Patch Cohesion Index) and relatively simple geometries (low values of fractal dimension index). The landscape pattern of uplands was found to be highly diverse based upon the Shannon Diversity index. After selecting the scale (600 ha) where metrics values stabilized, it was shown that metrics were more correlated at the small scale of 60 ha. From the original 24 metrics, 14 individual metrics with high Spearman correlation coefficient and Variance Inflation Factor criterion were eliminated, leaving 10 representative metrics for subsequent analysis. Data reduction analysis showed that Patch Density, Area-Weighted Mean Fractal Dimension Index and Patch Cohesion Index are suitable to describe landscape patterns irrespective of the scale. A systematic screening of these metrics could enhance a deeper understanding of the results obtained by them and contribute to a sustainable landscape management of Mediterranean landscapes.     

中点位移中性景观模型对不同主题景观的模拟分析

在景观图幅大小、景观类型数和景观各类型所占比例等与4类真实景观相同的基础上,采用中点位移(mid-point displacement,MPD)中性景观模型,通过设置等间隔变化的空间自相关参数生成10个梯度的中性模拟景观,应用景观指数分析了模拟景观对不同主题真实景观的模拟情况。结果表明,MPD中性景观模型在斑块数、分维数、聚集度等指数方面能够很好地模拟4个主题的真实景观;而在边界密度、散布与并列等指数方面,对4个主题景观的模拟效果不佳。MPD中性景观模型只能在某些方面较好地模拟真实景观,并不能对真实景观进行全面模拟。虽然主题不同,但MPD中性景观模型并未有效区分模拟效果好坏,只是指数重合参数范围不同。在指数表现方面,本研究中某些结果与前人研究结果有偏差,说明不同中性景观在景观格局不同方面的表现存在差异,在模型选取时需慎重。     

Assessing the effects of land use spatial structure on urban heat islands using HJ-1B remote sensing imagery in Wuhan,China

Urban heat islands (UHIs) have attracted attention around the world because they profoundly affect biological diversity and human life. Assessing the effects of the spatial structure of land use on UHIs is essential to better understanding and improving the ecological consequences of urbanization. This paper presents the radius fractal dimension to quantify the spatial variation of different land use types around the hot centers. By integrating remote sensing images from the newly launched HJ-1B satellite system, vegetation indexes, landscape metrics and fractal dimension, the effects of land use patterns on the urban thermal environment in Wuhan were comprehensively explored. The vegetation indexes and landscape metrics of the HJ-1B and other remote sensing satellites were compared and analyzed to validate the performance of the HJ-1B. The results have showed that land surface temperature (LST) is negatively related to only positive normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) but to Fv across the entire range of values, which indicates that fractional vegetation (Fv) is an appropriate predictor of LST more than NDVI in forest areas. Furthermore, the mean LST is highly correlated with four class-based metrics and three landscape-based metrics, which suggests that the landscape composition and the spatial configuration both influence UHIs. All of them demonstrate that the HJ-1B satellite has a comparable capacity for UHI studies as other commonly used remote sensing satellites. The results of the fractal analysis show that the density of built-up areas sharply decreases from the hot centers to the edges of these areas, while the densities of water, forest and cropland increase. These relationships reveal that water, like forest and cropland, has a significant effect in mitigating UHIs in Wuhan due to its large spatial extent and homogeneous spatial distribution. These findings not only confirm the applicability and effectiveness of the HJ-1B satellite system for studying UHIs but also reveal the impacts of the spatial structure of land use on UHIs, which is helpful for improving the planning and management of the urban environment.     

The Relationship of Urban Expansion,Landscape Patterns and Ecological Processes in Denizli,Turkey

Perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage and attrition in ecosystems take place due to urbanization. In this study, where and when temporal and spatial heterogeneity occurs is tried to be explained by taking human intervention in landscape pattern and processes in and around the city of Denizli into account and how this heterogeneity affects habitat conditions within the scope of landscape ecology. Landscape pattern metrics were estimated in order to reveal the change in habitats and present the properties of the landscape. 30 pattern indicators on class and pattern levels, which are important to show human–environment interaction, were analyzed in order to indicate the features of the landscape such as area, side, shape and dispersion. To this end, LANDSAT TM/7–ETM/8-OLI satellite images of 1987 and 2013 were classified for laying the foundations of the analysis. Analyses showed that between 1987 and 2013, complicated shape features, increase in edge habitats, de-growth in core areas and eventually fragmentation in landscape have been dominant. Heterogenic structure in landscape has increased. This points not to the self-functioning of the landscape, but to the domination of human intervention over the landscape. Particularly, due to urban growth and sprawl, fragmentation, isolation and habitat loss in croplands have increased. This study sets forth the usefulness of remote sensing, GIS and landscape metrics in understanding how urban dynamics and ecosystems change in developing urban politics.     

长沙市景观破碎化时空分异特征研究

基于2000年长沙市1:10万土地利用图,利用ERDAS软件对1989年、2006年的遥感图像进行解译;在地理信息系统软件ArcGIS和景观格局分析软件Fragstats支持下,以城镇建设空间重心为中心,分别选取东西、南北景观样带(40 km×8 km)和8个不同半径的同心圆缓冲区,用斑块密度、边界密度、平均斑块分维数...     

Assessing the influence of return density on estimation of lidar-based aboveground biomass in tropical peat swamp forests of Kalimantan,Indonesia

The airborne lidar system (ALS) provides a means to efficiently monitor the status of remote tropical forests and continues to be the subject of intense evaluation. However, the cost of ALS acquisition can vary significantly depending on the acquisition parameters, particularly the return density (i.e., spatial resolution) of the lidar point cloud. This study assessed the effect of lidar return density on the accuracy of lidar metrics and regression models for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) and basal area (BA) in tropical peat swamp forests (PSF) in Kalimantan, Indonesia. A large dataset of ALS covering an area of 123,000 ha was used in this study. This study found that cumulative return proportion (CRP) variables represent a better accumulation of AGB over tree heights than height-related variables. The CRP variables in power models explained 80.9% and 90.9% of the BA and AGB variations, respectively. Further, it was found that low-density (and low-cost) lidar should be considered as a feasible option for assessing AGB and BA in vast areas of flat, lowland PSF. The performance of the models generated using reduced return densities as low as 1/9 returns per m² also yielded strong agreement with the original high-density data. The use model-based statistical inferences enabled relatively precise estimates of the mean AGB at the landscape scale to be obtained with a fairly low-density of 1/4 returns per m², with less than 10% standard error (SE). Further, even when very low-density lidar data was used (i.e., 1/49 returns per m²) the bias of the mean AGB estimates were still less than 10% with a SE of approximately 15%. This study also investigated the influence of different DTM resolutions for normalizing the elevation during the generation of forest-related lidar metrics using various return densities point cloud. We found that the high-resolution digital terrain model (DTM) had little effect on the accuracy of lidar metrics calculation in PSF. The accuracy of low-density lidar metrics in PSF was more influenced by the density of aboveground returns, rather than the last return. This is due to the flat topography of the study area. The results of this study will be valuable for future economical and feasible assessments of forest metrics over large areas of tropical peat swamp ecosystems.     

Spatial Metrics to Analyse the Impact of Regional Factors on Pattern of Urbanisation in Gurgaon,India

In recent years, there has been lot of emphasis on the study of urban land use/ land cover changes to discover the growth pattern due to rapid urbanisation. This study presents spatial metrics and gradient analysis approach for quantifying and capturing changes in urban landscape using LISS III imagery of 1999, 2001 and 2004 of Gurgaon, India. A combination of spatial metrics i.e. percentage of landscape, mean patch size, number of patches, landscape shape index and largest patch index, available in Fragstats ver. 3.3, have been used to quantify the patterns of urban growth in different directions in terms of size, shape and complexity of development. The local built-up areas were quantified by the “moving window” technique. A gradient analysis has been carried out through sampling from a reference point to 8 km in 16 directions with a window size of 500 mts. Results of this study demonstrate the potential of spatial metrics and gradient modelling to quantify the impact of regional factors on the growth pattern of Gurgaon city.     

A quantitative framework for analysing long term spatial clustering and vegetation fragmentation in an urban landscape using multi-temporal landsat data

Rapid urbanization threatens urban green spaces and vegetation, demonstrated by a decrease in connectivity and higher levels of fragmentation. Understanding historic spatial and temporal patterns of such fragmentation is important for habitat and biological conservation, ecosystem management and urban planning. Despite their potential value, Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) measures have not been sufficiently exploited in monitoring the spatial and temporal variability in clustering and fragmentation of vegetation patterns in urban areas. LISA statistics are an important structural measure that indicates the presence of outliers, zones of similarity (hot spots) and of dissimilarity (cold spots) at proximate locations, hence they could be used to explicitly capture spatial patterns that are clustered, dispersed or random. In this study, we applied landscape metrics, LISA indices to analyse the temporal variability in clustering and fragmentation patterns of vegetation patches in Harare metropolitan city, Zimbabwe using Landsat series data for 1994, 2001 and 2017. Analysis of landscape metrics showed an increase in the fragmentation of vegetation patches between 1994–2017 as shown by the decrease in mean patch size, an increase in number of patches, edge density and shape complexity of vegetation patches. The study further demonstrates the utility of LISA indices in identifying key hot spot and cold spots. Comparatively, the highly vegetated northern parts of the city were characterised by significantly high positive spatial autocorrelation (p < 0.05) of vegetation patches. Conversely, more dispersed vegetation patches were found in the highly and densely urbanized western, eastern and southern parts of the city. This suggest that with increasing vegetation fragmentation, small and isolated vegetation patches do not spatially cluster but are dispersed geographically. The findings of the study underline the potential of LISA measures as a valuable spatially explicit method for the assessment of spatial clustering and fragmentation of urban vegetation patterns.     

土地利用视角空气污染空间分异的地理分析

针对土地利用/覆盖（land-use and land-cover,LULC）方式是否影响城市空气污染空间分异特征形成的问题,利用遥感技术和景观生态学方法分别获取长株潭城市群核心城区LULC及其景观格局,绘制空气污染物浓度与气象影响因子空间分异图,引入地理探测器定量分析土地因子在融合气象要素前后对NO₂、PM₁₀、O₃、PM_2.5浓度空间分布差异的贡献强度。结果表明,建设用地面积比例越高,林地越低,NO₂、PM_2.5浓度越高,O₃越低。非建设用地区域,污染物浓度随着土地景观格局破碎度、多样性指数值增大而升高,建设用地区域反之。LULC和土地景观格局的复合因子贡献力（P0.03~0.28）高于两者任意单独因子贡献力（P:0.01~0.11）,融合气象要素后,LULC对空气污染物空间分异特征形成的因子贡献力（P:0.18~0.53）显著增强。     

Landscape transform and spatial metrics for mapping spatiotemporal land cover dynamics using Earth Observation data-sets

Analysis of Earth observation (EO) data, often combined with geographical information systems (GIS), allows monitoring of land cover dynamics over different ecosystems, including protected or conservation sites. The aim of this study is to use contemporary technologies such as EO and GIS in synergy with fragmentation analysis, to quantify the changes in the landscape of the Rajaji National Park (RNP) during the period of 19 years (1990–2009). Several statistics such as principal component analysis (PCA) and spatial metrics are used to understand the results. PCA analysis has produced two principal components (PC) and explained 84.1% of the total variance, first component (PC1) accounted for the 57.8% of the total variance while the second component (PC2) has accounted for the 26.3% of the total variance calculated from the core area metrics, distance metrics and shape metrics. Our results suggested that notable changes happened in the RNP landscape, evidencing the requirement of taking appropriate measures to conserve this natural ecosystem.     

Area Delineation and Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of Urban Heat Island in Lanzhou City,China Using Remote Sensing Imagery

One of the key impacts of rapid urbanization on the environment is the effect of urban heat island (UHI). By using the Landsat TM/ETM+ thermal infrared remote sensing data of 1993, 2001 and 2011 to retrieve the land surface temperature (LST) of Lanzhou City, and by adopting object-oriented fractal net evolution approach (FNEA) to make image segmentation of the LST, the UHI elements were extracted. The G* index spatial aggregation analysis was made to calculate the urban heat island ratio index (URI), and the landscape metrics were used to quantify the changes of the spatial pattern of the UHI from the aspects of quantity, shape and structure. The impervious surface distribution and vegetation coverage were extracted by a constrained linear spectral mixture model to explore the relationships of the impervious surface distribution and vegetation coverage with the UHI. The information of urban built-up area was extracted by using UBI (NDBI-NDVI) index, and the effects of urban expansion on city thermal environment were quantitatively analyzed, with the URI and the LST grade maps built. In recent 20 years, the UHI effect in Lanzhou City was strengthened, with the URI increased by 1.4 times. The urban expansion had a spatiotemporal consistency with the UHI expansion. The patch number and density of the UHI landscape were increased, the patch shape and the whole landscape tended to be complex, the landscape became more fragmented, and the landscape connectivity was decreased. The heat island strength had a negative linear correlation with the urban vegetation coverage, and a positive logarithmic correlation with the urban impervious surface coverage.     

基于植被分布特征的森林景观建模方法

在虚拟地理环境中如何快速地生成具有特定空间格局的森林景观是一个具有挑战的问题。现有的研究主要以模拟或随机的方式确定树木的位置,但难以反映每个树种的分布特征。本文提出了一种基于图的中性景观模型,根据指定的景观指数生成特定组成结构和空间配置的森林景观。模型将格网随机划分为若干不规则的区域,并将其转化为对应的区域邻接图,通过源节点的受限生长生成特定大小和形状的图斑。相比其他中性景观模型,该模型在可控性和灵活性上具有优势,能对每种类型的景观特征分别进行表达。最后根据模型生成的森林景观确定树木的位置与种类。本方法不仅能为植被场景的可视化提供合理的植被分布,而且能反映森林景观的空间分布特征,为虚拟森林环境中的林业规划决策以及植被分布规律认知提供一定的支持。