Ecological responses of land use/cover changes in metropolitan area of Chongqing: 1997-2006

Abstract

Land use/ cover changes directly or indirectly affected the function and structure of landscape ecological system; furthermore it influences the landscape processing in the surface of the earth. Metropolitan area of Chongqing was chosen as a study area. Based on the land use/ cover data in 1997 and 2006, the authors calculated the land use/ cover transform matrix, landscape pattern index and analyzed the features of land use/ cover and its ecological responses in the study area. The main landscape types are farmland and forest in the study area. The changes of landscape pattern showed an increasing landscape fragmentation process, increasing landscape diversity and irregularity of patch shape. The land use/ cover changes had caused distinct landscape ecological responses, such as environmental quality deterioration, edge effects intensification. So it is important to intensify the spatial relationships among landscape elements and to maintain the continuity of landscape ecological process and pattern with the urban expansion. © 2012 Springer-Verlag GmbH.