Modeling patch characteristics of farmland loss for site assessment in urban fringe of Beijing, China

Farmland protection and delimitation in the urban fringe considers not only natural factors but also the spatial characters and site factors. Taking Daxing District, Beijing in China as a case study, this paper used landscape ecology and power-law methods to analyze and evaluate farmland loss during the period of 2004-2007 based on the interpretation results of SPOT5 remote sensing images in 2004 and 2007. At the patch level, we selected four landscape indices, namely patch size, shape index, the nearest neighbor distance between farmland and construction land (including residential land and other construction land), and cropping type, to evaluate the risk of farmland loss and establish a farmland site analysis indicator system. The results showed that patch size and shape index have a significant positive correlation with farmland loss, whereas the distance to construction land has a clear negative correlation with farmland loss. As regards cropping type, fallow farmland is much easier for non-agricultural use than cultivated farmland. The relative transition ratio among vegetable land, fallow farmland and cultivated farmland is 1︰5.6︰1. The patch size of lost farmland follows a power-law distribution, indicating that not only small parcels but also large parcels can be lost. Patch size less than 4 ha or more than 15 ha is in high loss risk, between 4 ha and 10 ha in medium loss risk, and larger than 10 ha and less than 15 ha in low risk. Farmland with a more regular shape has a higher likelihood of loss. Patch shape index less than 2.0 is in high loss risk, between 2.0 and 3.0 in medium loss risk, and larger than 3.0 in low risk. Construction land has a varying impact on farmland loss, the residential land effected distance is 1000 m, and that of the other construction land is 2000 m. This analysis showed the relationships between site factors and farmland loss, and the analysis framework can provide support and reference for farmland protection and delimitation of prime farmland in China.     

Landscape Dynamics and Driving Factors in Da＇an County of Jilin Province in Northeast China During 1956-2000

The landscape pattern of Da＇an County, Northeast China has undergone significant changes since the 1950s as a result of climatic change and human activities. The aim of this paper is to quantitatively study landscape pattern and its spatial dynamics of Da＇an County at the landscape level over the nearly 50-year span. Patch dynamics were examined according to land use and land cover change processes built from a series of images, as well as topographic maps, and temporal patterns built from landscape pattern metrics. The transition matrix of landscape patch types and changes of various landscape metrics were applied. The results showed that, from 1956 to 2000, the landscape within the study area had undertaken a complicated evolution in landscape structure and composition. The outstanding characteristic is that saline-alkali land increased and grassland decreased. As some smaller patches amalgamated, the heterogeneity of patch decreased. All those changes were the synthetic result of both climatic and anthropogenic influences, but the predominant factor was different in different parts. In the southern part of the study area, the landscape pattern changes resulted from the modification of climate obviously, while in the northern part, the landscape pattern changes were mainly caused by human activities, such as the conversion between farmland and saline-alkali land. This phenomenon showed that human activities played more important role in the north than in the south of Da＇an County.     

Impacts of land use change on landscape patterns in mountain human settlement: The case study of Hantai District(Shaanxi,China)

Mountain area is an important geographical unit of land,and its ecology is sensitive and fragile.Over the past few decades,human activities have caused dramatic changes in land use in mountainous areas,which caused changes in landscape patterns and impacts on the ecological environment.It is unknown how the mechanism of land use affects the landscape pattern at different scales.The Hantai District,a typical human settlement in the mountain area in Shaanxi,China,was chosen as the study area.Based on the remote sensing images,the mathematical models and landscape indexes were adopted to evaluate the impact of land use change from 1998 to 2017 on the landscape pattern at different scales,and its main driving forces were analyzed.The results showed that the urbanized land expanded largest from 15.39%to 24.30%,and cultivated land experienced the largest decline from 43.54%to 35.35%.Changes in land use have made the patch morphology of most land types developed from a natural random to a sawtooth shape,and its spatial pattern evolved from a ruleset to a fragmented expansion.This reflects the continuous strengthening of human intervention in the process of regional development.Under the jurisdiction of Hantai District,the biggest change in landscape pattern is in Hanzhong City and Qili Town.The improved economy and increasing population and urbanization rate were the main factors that cause these changes.This research could provide necessary information for understanding the evolution mechanism of land resources in mountainous human settlements for mountainous areas with significant geomorphic differentiation.     

Soil erosion and its causes in high-filling body: A case study of a valley area on the Loess Plateau,China

Large-scale land consolidation projects(LCPs) have been carried out on the Loess Plateau to increase the area of agriculture land. The newly created land is prone to soil erosion under the effects of water and gravity. Taking a typical high-filling body(HFB) formed by LCPs in Yan’an, China as the subject, this study comprehensively investigated the types and causes of soil erosion with multiple methods of field investigation, on-site monitoring and laboratory tests. Results showed that the HFB p...     

Classification and Gradation of Cultivated Land Quality in Bishan County of Chongqing, China

The conflicts among food security, economic development and ecological protection are the “sticking point” of undeveloped southwestern mountainous areas of China. The objectives of this study are to identify appropriate inte- grated indicators influencing the classification and gradation of cultivated land quality in the southwestern mountainous area of China based on semi-structure interview, and to promote the monitoring of cultivated land quality in this region. Taking Bishan County of Chongqing as a study case, the integrated indicators involve the productivity, protection, ac- ceptability, and stability of cultivated land. The integrated indicators accord with the characteristics of land resources and human preference in southwestern mountainous area of China. In different agricultural zones, we emphasize different indicators, such as emphasizing productivity, stabilization and acceptability in low hilly and plain agricultural integrative zone (LHP-AIZ), protection, productivity and stability in low mountain and hill agro-forestry ecological zone (LMH-AEZ), and acceptability in plain outskirts integrative agricultural zone (PO-IAZ), respectively. The pronounced difference of classification and gradation of cultivated land, regardless of inter-region or intra-region, is observed, with the reducible rank from PO-IAZ, LHP-AIZ to LMH-AEZ. Research results accord with the characteristics of assets management and intensive utilization of cultivated land resources in the southwestern mountainous area of China. Semi-structure interview adequately presents the principal agent of farmers in agricultural land use and rural land market. This method is very effective and feasible to obtain data of the quality of cultivated land in the southwestern mountainous area of China.     

Evaluation of land reclamation and implications of ecological restoration for agro-pastoral ecotone: case study of Horqin Left Back Banner in China

The agro-pastoral ecotone has been recognized as the main distribution area of reserved land resource for cultivation. Accordingly, clarifying this assumption, as well as concerting land reclamation and ecological restoration, is important to ensure food security and environmental improvement in the agro-pastoral ecotone. We selected Horqin Left Back Banner(HLBB) as the subject of our case study. The landscape ecological security pattern of this area was determined using the minimum cumulative resistance model. Over-cultivation, quantity of reserved land resource for cultivation, and changes in landscape indexes before and after land use adjustment were then analyzed. Over-cultivation is a serious problem in the agro-pastoral ecotone. Reserved land resource for cultivation is less than that considered previously, and the area of reserved land resource for cultivation in HLBB only accounts for 11.50% of total uncultivated land. With regard to changes in landscape indexes, the adjusted land use pattern is effective for anti-desertification. The compensation standard for abandoned cultivated land should be improved and the comprehensive results of ‘Grain for Green' should be evaluated to further implement ecological restoration in the agro-pastoral ecotone.     

Is There Any Correlation Between Landscape Characteristics and Total Nitrogen in Wetlands Receiving Agricultural Drainages?

In the case of increasing fragmentation of wetlands, the study of the relationship between wetland landscape characteristics and total nitrogen(TN) in water is of great significance to reveal the mechanism of wetland water purification. Taking the Naoli River(NR) wetlands in Northeast China as the research object, 10 uniformly distributed sampling sites in the study area were sampled in August 2015 to test the TN concentration and interpret the images of NR wetlands in the same period. Taking the sampling site as the control point, the whole wetlands were divided into 10 regions, and the landscape index of each region was extracted. In order to reveal whether the landscape characteristics are related to the TN concentration in the wetlands water body, the landscape index and the TN concentration in the control point water body were analyzed by correlation analysis, step-by-step elimination analysis and path analysis to reveal whether the landscape characteristics are related to the TN concentration under wetlands receiving agricultural drainages. The results showed that the correlation coefficients between four area indexes or eight shape indexes and TN concentration did not reach a significant correlation level(P > 0.05), indicating that TN removal was not only determined by a single landscape index. The path coefficient of edge density(ED) index is –0.41, indicating that wetland patch connectivity is the primary factor of TN removal, and there is no relationship between the larger patch area and the higher TN removal. The removal of TN in wetlands is restricted by the synergistic effect of landscape area and shape characteristics.     

Dynamics of wetland landscape pattern in Kaifeng City from 1987 to 2002

It is very significant for urban development and urban wetland protection and utilization to probe into the process and reasons of urban wetland landscape dynamics. Taking the information of remote sensing and detailed land survey data as the basic information sources, with the help of RS and GIS, according to the principles and methods of landscape ecology, this paper analyzed wetland landscape pattern dynamics and its reasons in Kaifeng City, Henan Province of China, from 1987 to 2002. The results show that the total wetland area in Kaifeng City firstly reduced by 20.1% from 1987 to 1990 and then increased from 1990 to 2002, with an average annual growth rate of 3.3%. At the same time, landscape fragment degree and landscape dominance degree increased, respectively from 0.64 to 0.72 and from 0.3754 to 0.5563, but mean patch area, maximum patch area, patch fractal dimension reduced. As far as single landscape element concerned, fi＇om 1987 to 2002, patch area, patch number, patch density, patch shape and patch location changed in varying degrees in all wetland types in Kaifeng City, among which rice field changed most and others relatively less. In the recent 20 years, rice fields, lake wetlands, puddles and ponds had a higher stability, but river and bottomland wetlands were mostly transformed to land use types. The change of wetland landscape pattern was the result of the combined action of the Huanghe （Yellow） River, urban expansion, wide cultivation of rice, and rapid development of fishery. Among them human activities were the main driving factors for wetland landscape changes.     

Effects of topography and land use on woody plant species composition and beta diversity in an arid Trans-Himalayan landscape,Nepal

Distribution patterns of plant species are believed to be impacted by small-scale habitat heterogeneity. However, there have been few comparative studies examining how woody vegetation composition and diversity varies with aspects of different orientations in the Trans-Himalayan region at a local scale. Here, we examined the effects of incoming solar radiation on variation in woody species composition and compared the diversity between the northeast- and southwest-facing slopes in a Trans-Himalayan valley of Nepal. We also examined the implicit interactions between slope orientation and land use in determining the compositional variations between the slopes. We selected two pairs of northeast- and southwest-facing slopes where the first pair has a similar land use and differs in exposure only（Pisang site） while the other pair has clear differences in land use in addition to slope exposure（Braka site）. In each site, we sampled 72 plots（36 on each slope） in which the presence and absence of woody species, environmental variables, and disturbance were recorded. Correspondence Analysis（CA） results suggested that the woody species composition significantly varied between northeast- and southwest-facing slopes at both sites, and was significantly correlated with measured environmental variables such as radiation index, altitude, and canopy openness. In the Braka site,mean alpha diversity was significantly higher on southwest-facing slopes. In contrast, beta diversity and gamma diversity were greater on northeast-facing slopes at both sites. Our results suggest that topographic variables（e.g., radiation index） affect species composition between the slopes, likely due to their influence on small scale abiotic environmental variables. However, the effects of land use, such as livestock browsing/grazing may interact with the effects of slope exposure, effectively reducing differences in species composition within slopes but enhancing the differences in beta diversity between contrasting slopes in the Br     

Changes in cultivated land patterns and driving forces in the Three Gorges Reservoir area,China, from 1992 to 2015

Changes of cultivated land patterns caused by major water conservation projects are rarely reported. We selected the Three Gorges Reservoir area in China to study the change in area and landscape pattern of the cultivated land in the head,central, and tail areas of the reservoir that took place between 1992 and 2015; we then studied the spatial distribution of the cultivated land in the three parts of the reservoir; finally, we studied the driving forces behind the changes in the cultivated land. The results derived are as follows.(1) During the construction of the Three Gorges Project(TGP, 1992–2015), the area of cultivated land around the reservoir decreased by30.23 million ha. This reduction occurred in phases:the most severe change in cultivated land occurred during the later stage of the project(2002–2010);only 0.62 million ha of cultivated land did not change between 1992 and 2015.(2) Spatial pattern analysis showed that the cultivated land in the three parts of the reservoir changed from a northern distribution to a southern distribution; thus, the area of cultivated land in the north decreased over the time period. The area of cultivated land in the head and tail areas decreased by varying degrees, while it increased in the central area over the 23 years, indicating that the change in cultivated land showed regional differences.(3) The TGP, the policy of reverting farmland to forest,and urbanization were the main driving factors for the change of cultivated land, but there were differences in their impacts at different stages.(4) According to the patch dynamics of the land cover change, the degree of change gradually intensified during the early and later stages of the project and then stabilized during the operational period. Our research provides scientific support for the protection of cultivated land resources and food security in the reservoir area and for the coordination of social and economic development, which is of great significance to sustainable development in the reservoir area.     

Micromorphology and quality attributes of the loess derived soils affected by land use change: A case study in Ghapan watershed, Northern Iran

In order to study the effects of different land vegetative covers on soil quality attributes, a loess hill slope was selected in eastern Golestan Province, Ghapan watershed, Iran. Four profiles in four land uses, including Quercus natural forest; Pinus artificial forest; Cupressus artificial forest and a cultivated land, were studied. Results showed that MWD was significantly different in the studied land uses, and it varied between 1.6 mm in Quercus natural forest and o.31 mm in cultivated land use. The lowest CEC, microbial respiration rate and organic carbon were 28.4 cmol·kg^1, 177 μgCO2·g^-1·day^-1 and 1.32 % found in cultivated land use, respectively. The organic matter was considerably higher content in the forest areas than that of cultivated land use. The studies on soil profile development revealed that the natural forest soils were highly developed. The soils of the Quercus natural forest were classified as Calcic Haploxeralfs with a well developed argillie horizon unlike the cultivated soils which showed the minimum development and classified as Typic Xerorthents. The soils of the artificial forests had both mollic epipedons and were classified as Typic Calcixerolls with moderate profile development. Micromorphological studies revealed that argillic horizons had speckled and partly crystallitic b-fabric in the natural forest indicating the high landscape stability. In contrast, the crystallitic b-fabric of other land uses shows the absence of enough leaching of carbonate and the subsequent migration of clay particles indicating the unstable conditions and high soil erosion. Intense erosion of the surface horizons of cultivated land use has resulted in the outcropping of the subsurface carbonate rich horizons preventing soil development.     

Mountain Land Use Planning of Metropolitan Suburbs： the Case of the Jinyun Mountain and Its Surrounding area, Chongqing, China

Open space of metropolitan suburbs in mountain region, has been increasingly becoming the coupling mosaic structure of industrial actions and landscape behaviors. However, the local governments, when making land use planning, often aim at economic development, and rarely refer to the coordination of compatibilities and conflicts between industrial actions and landscape behaviors in the mosaic structure. In this study land use in the Jinyun Mountain and its surrounding area, Chongqing is adjusted by gray multi-objective programming approach and local-level decision-making process to cope with conflicts between objectives for human welfare and objectives for landscape conservation. The results indicate that： 1） the compatibilities and conflicts among different behavior characters and different landscape types result in the compatibilities of landscape to human behavior; 2） a land use planning in the study area is produced based on the sustainable land use and social-eco development, which pays more attention to the resources and environment constraints and economic objectives, and follows the distribution law of rare resources; 3） in the study area, cultivated land of 1,207.27 ha can meet the demands for food and byproducts by the residents there, orchard land and forestland of 632.55 ha, 2,276.61 ha, respectively can provide enough spaee for the local people to improve their living structure and meet their demands for reereational activities, and urban residential land, rural residential land, mining land and transportation land of 1107.60 ha, 120.27 ha, 162.48 ha, 100.91 ha, respeetively can satisfy the resident＇s eeonomie development and infrastructures; 4） the equilibrium among industrial actions, landscape accessibility and ecological conservation can be obtained by analyzing the possible impaets of human activities on landscape eeologieal proeess in open spaee of metropolitan suburbs in mountain areas.     

Long-term dynamics of cultivated land resources and their driving forces of Guyuan City in upper reaches of Jinghe River

The land use patterns in Guyuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China, have changed greatly over the years, due to population growth and farming and stock raising development. This study, using 50-year statistical data of cultivated land and 14-year spatial data of land use pattern, analyzed the developmental stages, the character, and the spatial variance of farmland in the city, and discussed the driving forces of cultivated land changes based on empirical and conceptual statistical models. First, the change of cultivated land area went through different stages of rapid increase, fluctuating change, decrease and rapid decrease from 1949 to 2004, additionally, social and economic policies in different stages had an important impact on farmland variance. Second, from 1986 to 2000, the quantity of cultivated land increased, but its quality decreased. Third, social and economic factors are determinant factors in cultivated land transition. Five constructed paths explain cultivated land transition. Factors that have direct or indirect effects on farmland include the economy （Xeco）, the population （Xpop）, agricultural output （Xagr）, and scientific input （Xsci）. The sequence of impact was Xeco〉Xpop〉Xsci〉Xagr. Among all these impacts, Xeco was the major positive one, and Xpop was the major negative one. It is urgent to take measures or adopt a policy to stop the vicious cycle in eco-environment and agriculture production. Otherwise, negative patterns of farmland use will increase, and high-quality cultivated land will continue to decline.     

Integrated Indicators-based Gradation of Cultivated Land Quality in Mountainous Region of Southwestern China

1 Introduction The gradation of cultivated land is to assess the suitability of cultivated land for agricultural production in terms of natural and economic prop-erties of land (Feng et al. 2004). It can be used to evaluate sustainability of land use and …     

Spatial distribution of land cover and vegetation activity along topographic gradient in an arid river valley, SW China

Anthropogenic activities have become more and more important in characterizing the landscape, but their impacts are still restricted by natural environments. This paper discusses the interactions of anthropogenic activity, vegetation activity and topography through describing the spatial distribution of land cover and vegetation activity （represented by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI） along topographic gradient in a mountainous area of southwestern China. Our results indicate that the existing landscape pattern is controlled by anthropogenic activities as well as topographic factors. Intensive anthropogenic activities mainly occur in areas with relatively low elevation, gentle and concave slopes, as these areas are easy and convenient to attain for human. Because of the destruction by human, some land cover types （mainly grassland and shrub） are only found in relatively harsher environments. This study also finds that topographic wetness index （W） used in other places only reflects runoff generation capacity, but not indicate the real spatial pattern of soil water content in this area. The relationships between NDVI and W, and NDVI and length slope factor （LSF） show that runoff and erosion have complex effects on vegetation activity. Greater values of W and LSF will lead to stronger capacity to produce runoff and transport sediment, and thereby increase soil water content and soil deposition, whereas beyond a certain threshold runoff and erosion are so strong that they would destruct vegetation growth. This study provides information needed to successfully restore native vegetation, improve land management, and promote sustainable development in mountainous areas, especially for developing regions.     

Road impacts on spatial patterns of land use and landscape fragmentation in three parallel rivers region, Yunnan Province, China

The structure and function of network is a central issue in landscape ecology.Road networks with hierarchical structure are crucial for understanding landscape dynamics.In this study,we compared the distribution of national road,provincial road,county road and rural road in the Three Parallel Rivers Region(TPRR)in Yunnan Province of China,and estimated the effect of roads(and other factors)on the spatial patterns of land use and land cover with logistic regression.In addition,we analyzed the land use and land cover change(LUCC)and landscape fragmentation in 1989–2005 along a buffer zone of the primary traffic corridor,national road G214.The results showed that,county and rural roads had much higher percentage of length extending into more natural habitats at higher elevation and steeper slope,compared with the higher level roads in this region.While the distributions of natural land cover types were dominated by environmental factors,human land use types i.e.,building land and farmland types were significantly related with roads,linking more closely with lower level roads.The LUCC dynamics(1989–2005)of the G214 buffer zone showed a general trend of land transformation from conifer forests and valley arid shrubs to building land and farmland,and from ice and snow to alpine shrubs and forests.With the length of G214 unchanged during the time,the overall landscape pattern changed little in the buffer zone,but habitat fragmentation and area decrease had occurred for the natural vegetation types,in contrast to patch mergence and expansion of human land use types,and landscape fragmentation was intensified above 2500 m a.s.l.but declined below the elevation.The results indicated the dynamics of landscape composition and patch type level distribution in spite of the stability of the overall landscape pattern,and implied the potential role of roads,especially the low level roads on landscape changes.     

Spatio-temporal Pattern and Spatial Heterogeneity of Ecotones Based oh Land Use Types of Southeastern Da Hinggan Mountains in China

Ecotones have received great attention due to its critical function in energy flux, species harbor, global carbon sequestration, and land-atmosphere interaction. This study investigated land use pattern and spatial heterogeneity of the ecotones among agricultural land, forest land, and grassland of the southeastern Da Hinggan Mountains in the northeastern China. The change of these delineated ecotones under different slopes and aridity conditions was analyzed by two landscape indices, edge density(ED) and core area percentage of landscape(CPL), to explore the inter-linkage between spatial structure of ecotones and socioeconomic development and land management. Specifically, the ecotones such as agriculture-forest(AF) ecotone, forest-grassland(FG) ecotone, and agriculture-forestgrassland(AFG) ecotone moved from the arid southeast to the humid northwest. The flat area with small slope is more edge-fragmented than the steep area since the ED decreases as the slope increases. The AF ecotone mostly found in the humid region is moving to more humid areas while the agriculture-grassland(AG) ecotone mostly found in the dry region is moving towards the drier region.     

Changes of urban wetland landscape pattern and impacts of urbanization on wetland in Wuhan City

In this study, remote sensing data of Wuhan City,, Hubei Province, China in 1996-2001 were selected to extract wetland landscape information. Several landscape indices were used to evaluate the changes of landscape pattern within the five years, including patch number, patch density, patch fractal dimension, landscape diversity, dominance, evenness, and fragmentation indexes. Then, transformation probabilities of wetland landscapes into non-wetland landscapes were calculated based on Markov Model, and on these grounds the relationship between changes of wetland landscape pattern and urban construction was analyzed. The results showed that fragmentation degree of all wetland types increased, lake area declined, and dominance of natural wetland decreased. The reasons for these results were mainly because of urban construction. According to the features of abundant wetland in Wuhan City, we suggested that protection of wetland landscape should cooperate with urban construction, which means wetland should become important part of urban landscape.     

Decline of traditional landscape in a protected area of the southwestern Alps: The fate of enclosed pasture patches in the land mosaic shift

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Traditional landscape elements such as pasture patches enclosed in a forest matrix are progressively disappearing throughout the European Alps. We assessed the land mosaic shift of a protected area located in the western Italian Alps. In particular, the dynamics of pasture patches were studied at both landscape and stand level. Land-cover mapping through object-oriented analysis of historical aerial photographs was used to assess land-cover changes between 1954 and 2000. Spatial statistics were used to quantify landscape patterns, and field samplings within pasture patches were used to explore tree regeneration structure and composition. Our results showed a significant increase in the number of pasture patches caused by their fragmentation following forest expansion. The total surface area of pasture patches decreased by 43% and their core area decreased by 94%. The encroachment of trees on less accessible areas of the pasture patches caused a reduction of patch shape at landscape scale. The gap filling process started 40-50 years ago and began with an early invasion of light demanding species like sycamore maple （Acer pseudoplatanus L.） and common ash （Fraxinus excelsior L.）, followed by European beech （Fagus sylvatica L.） and secondarily silver fir （Abies alba Mill.）. Traditional land-use and population decline in the Pesio Valley led to a reduction in ecotone areas. A transition to a more homogeneous landscape is expected in the next decades. Given the cultural and productive nature of these mountain meadow-pasture communities, extensive livestock grazing systems could be used to manage their future conservation.     

Urban Construction Land Suitability Evaluation Based on Improved Multi-criteria Evaluation Based on GIS （MCE-GIS）： Case of New Hefei City,China

Urban construction land suitability evaluation （UCLSE） is a complex system engineering and the basis for rational use of the limited urban land resources in China. It has an important practical value on urban construction land use planning and management from the angle of methodology. As a widely used technique, traditional multi-criteria evaluation based on GIS （MCE-GIS）, is not suitable for UCLSE. This study develops an improved MCE-GIS method which could be more suitable for UCLSE based on urban complex ecological system theory and the summary of the shortcomings of traditional MCE-GIS. The improvements include three aspects： a composite evaluation index system rather than natural indexes alone, an index weight calculated by using fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process （AHP） method rather than the common AHP method, and the integrated overlay rule, which includes selecting the minimum value, weighted linear combination （WLC） and simple summation. The main advantage of this improved technique is that it can make UCLSE more comprehensive, more operational and more reasonable. It can provide a scientific basis for decision making in the planning and management of urban construction land use. The improved MCE-GIS system has been adopted in the New Hefei City, Anhui Province, China. Based on the results of UCLSE in New Hefei, three functional areas including construction-appropriate areas, construction-restricted areas and construction-forbidden areas could be worked out, in which 36.90% of the total study area could be developed as urban construction land and the remaining 63.10% should be protected as reserves land or as ecological land. Furthermore, the results can orovide scientific decision suooort for spatial planning and eco-environment nrotection in New Hefei.