Multi-scale analysis of the characteristics of the changing landscape of the typical mountainous region of Southwest China over the past 40 years

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Multi-scale analysis of the characteristics of the changing landscape of the typical mountainous region of Southwest China over the past 40 years https://t.co/9yW7dOCmpu @thePeerJ https://t.co/VU85tius3M
Ecology

Main article text

 

Introduction

Materials & Methods

Research area

Data and sources

Landscape classes

Landscape pattern analysis

Spatial correlation analysis

Results and Discussions

Temporal changes in landscape patterns at a macro level in Yunnan Province

Analysis of temporal changes in landscape patterns at the drainage basin level

Spatial and temporal evolution analysis of county-scale landscape indices

Discussion

Conclusions

  1. Over the past 40 years, the diversity and aggregation of the landscape in Yunnan Province have gradually increased, the degree of dominance, connectivity, and shape complexity having declined, while landscape structure has stabilized. Significant changes have occurred in indices such as diversity, dominance, and contagion from 2010 to 2015, the homogenization of the landscape having accelerated, while some indices have declined from 2015 to 2018.

  2. The majority of the landscape indices in the Nu Jiang and Irrawaddy River basins are significantly different from other basins, indicating that these two basins have retained a better natural environment with a stable landscape structure. Compared with other basins, the degree of development and utilization is relatively weak, and they have been less affected by human activity. The landscape indices for the Jinsha and Pearl River basins are at similar levels. Human activity and social and economic development have greatly influenced their landscape patterns, the degree of development and utilization higher than that of other basins. The landscape indices of the Red River and Lancang River basins are at a moderate level, the remaining natural environment and socio-economic development from human activity moderate for Yunnan Province.

  3. Through landscape pattern spatial autocorrelation distribution characteristics, three regions with clearly changed landscape pattern characteristics in Yunnan Province are the longitudinal belt of the Hengduan Mountains in Western Yunnan, the urban area in central Yunnan, and the subtropical area of southern Yunnan. These three regions correspond with “the three screens and two belts” in The Main Functional Planning Area of Yunnan Province.

Supplemental Information

Calculation results of landscape indices at county scale

PAC: county code.

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10923/supp-1

River basin scale landscape indices calculation results

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10923/supp-2

Additional Information and Declarations

Competing Interests

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Author Contributions

Fang Liu and Wanbin Wang conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, prepared figures and/or tables, and approved the final draft.

Jinliang Wang and Xingzi Zhang conceived and designed the experiments, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft.

Jing Ren analyzed the data, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft.

Yuexiong Liu performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, and approved the final draft.

Data Availability

The following information was supplied regarding data availability:

Raw measurements are available in Supplemental Files.

Funding

This work was supported by Multi-government International Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Key Project of National Key Research and Development Program of China for the “Environmental monitoring and assessment of land use/land cover change impact on ecological security using geospatial technologies” [grant number: 2018YFE0184300], the Key Research and development plans in the field of social development in Yunnan Province for the “Research and Application Demonstration of Ecological Protection and Restoration Technology in Yunnan Typical Ecological Region” [grant number 2019BC001], and the Key Program of Basic Research of Yunnan Province of China for the “Scientific Investigation on the Geographical Environment of the Tourism Health Industry in the Tropic of Cancer (Yunnan Section” [grant number 2019FA017]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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