Characterization of landscape pattern based on land economic niche change: A case study in Ganzhou,Gansu Province,China

Land use change has a profound impact on biodiversity and ecological processes, and is closely related to changes in landscape patterns. This paper introduces the theory and method of land economic niche into landscape ecology, which provides a new method for spatial characterization of urban and rural spatial landscape patterns. Based on this theory, this paper analyzes the landscape pattern of Ganzhou District by using Landsat images as data source in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. We calculated the land economic niche by applying the niche potential theory. Combined with the theory of landscape ecology, we explored the effects of the land economic niche change on the landscape pattern at a county scale. The results show that economic niche of construction land, watershed and farmland increased during 1995-2015, and grassland declined significantly. The economic niche of farmland, construction land, watershed and grassland show a negative correlation with the number of patches (NP), fragmentation index (FN) and the fractal dimension index (FD), and had a positive correlation with the aggregation index (AI). There was no significant correlation between the forest land economic niche and landscape metrics. The change of land economic niche has a driving effect on the landscape pattern of the county, which can represent the economic development direction of Ganzhou District. The land economic niche is closely related to the landscape type which can directly obtain an economic benefit.