Landscape Pattern Vulnerability And Driving Force Research Of Landscape Change In The Lower Reaches Of Liaohe River Plain

Landscape pattern is formed by a natural or man-made, a series of sizes and shapes,different landscape mosaic arrangement space in the landscape. Landscape patterns embodyboth landscape heterogeneity and the accumulation of all kinds of ecological process indifferent scales. Landscape patterns determine the distribution of resources and theenvironment, which has a profound impact on anti-interference ability, recoverability, systemstability and biodiversity. This paper provides a case study of the lower reaches of the LiaoheRiver Plain, which is one of the areas of most intense human development in northeasternChina. It has an enormous population and a long history of land development. Following therecent rapid development of the regional economy, the landscape patterns have changeddramatically in the study area with accelerated soil erosion just one consequence of theintense development. Therefore, for reasonable development and landscape patternsoptimization management, the research of landscape patterns vulnerability becomes importantand urgent in the lower reaches of Liaohe River Plain. But for the moment,the expert do moreresearch on the evolution of landscape pattern than that of landscape pattern vulnerability athome and abroad. Given this, this paper tries to establish new landscape pattern index tofurther strengthen the research of landscape pattern. In this study, on the basis ofunderstanding the concept and connotation of landscape patterns vulnerability, our study firstattempts to construct landscape vulnerability index through landscape sensitivity index andlandscape adaptability index. And at last our study explores the influential factors of thevariation of the landscape vulnerability by using geo-statistical method combined withMoran’s I index. To further enhance the research of landscape pattern, in this study, an indexsystem of the driving mechanisms behind landscape evolution in the lower reaches of theLiaohe River Plain is built with consideration of two aspects: natural driving forces andanthropogenic driving forces. The former includes precipitation, temperature, elevation, andgradient. Anthropogenic driving forces are based on four aspects:1) the contemporary humancondition,2) economic progress,3) standard of living, and4) standards of science andtechnology. By extracting information on the spatial distribution of landscape pattern in thelower reaches of the Liaohe River Plain, using TM images from1986to2010, we analyze therelationships behind landscape pattern change over a period of nearly30years. We useArcGIS software as the assessment platform and use the GIS-Logistic coupling model to assess the mechanisms driving landscape pattern evolution. The results of our study showthat:(1) The landscape vulnerability degree gradually declined in the study tine, the area ratioand space structure in the classification areas changed significantly;(2) Moran’ s I shows positive spatial autocorrelation, and the correlation drops slightly;(3)The spatial autocorrelation analysis we have done reveals that the landscapevulnerability has a high degree spatial correlation, and both the local spatial autocorrelationand significance level obviously changed during the period of3years;(4) Through the analysis of theoretical model, the percentage of nugget graduallyincreased in1989,2001and2010, and then it indicates that the non-structural factors deeplyimpact on the evolution of the vulnerability, however, structural factors (the landform,hydrology, soil, vegetation type, etc.) in this area still play a decisive role;(5) The results indicate that cultivated land is the main landscape type within the studyarea, and that this area initially increases, but then decreases during the study period.However, ecologic functional land, such as woodland and grassland, initially decrease andthen increase, whereas areas of construction land continually increase;(6) The results of the regression model analysis show that the driving factors and theirinfluences on the evolution of landscape pattern have certain differences. Overall, the effectsof anthropogenic driving forces on the pattern of landscape change are more obvious thannatural factors on the small and medium scale. Population, economic development, level ofurbanization, and technology can play significant roles in the evolution of landscape patterns;...