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Analysis of land cover and landscape change patterns in Ebinur Lake Wetland National Nature Reserve, China from 1972 to 2013

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Abstract

For effective monitoring and protection, researchers need to analyze the trends and causes of landscape pattern change in wetlands. The present study used Geographic Information System and remote sensing technology to analyze temporal and spatial dynamics of landscape pattern and related driving forces in the Ebinur Lake Wetland National Nature Reserve (ELWNNR) in China. We used Landsat images from 1972, 1998, 2007 and 2013, and classified the landscape into six types of land cover: water body, wetland, vegetation, salinized land, desert, and other objects (i.e., Gobi and Mountain). Landscape transition matrices and change pattern analysis were used understand wetland dynamics. Our results showed that land cover had changed dramatically during 1972–2013. The spatial extent of much of the wetland areas in the ELWNNR had reduced gradually from 1972 to 2007, and wetland loss occurred more rapidly after 2007. From 1972 to 2013, 415.8 km2 of wetland area had been lost and only 250.1 km2 wetland area had expanded, which represents a 22% decrease in wetland area in the ELWNNR. At the same time, the landscape pattern experienced diverse changes in the Nature Reserve. The high-density human population of the region has an intensive effect on the region. Wetlands in the nature reserve have also changed with recent rapid development in the region. This study may provide scientific information for developing effective and sustainable conservation plans for the ELWNNR.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks the National Meteorological Information Center data provided meteorological data. The research was carried out with the financial support provided by the Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China (2016D01C029); National Natural Science Foundation of China (41361045), Xinjiang Local Outstanding Young Talent Cultivation Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1503302),the National International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Projects (2010DFA92720-12), the State Key Program of National Natural Science of China (41130531), the Young Technology-Innovation Training Program Foundation for Talents from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (2013731002), the Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology in Xinjiang University (XJDX0201-2012-01) and the PhD Graduates in the Scientific Research Foundation (BS110125). We would like to extend our thanks to Dr. Abduwasit Ghulam at Saint Louis University, USA for his help on improving the paper for grammar and writing style. The authors wish to thank the referees for providing helpful suggestions to improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Resources and Environment Department, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, People’s Republic of China

    Haiyang Yu, Fei Zhang, Juan Wang, Yan Ren & Yue Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology, Ministry of Education, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, People’s Republic of China

    Haiyang Yu, Fei Zhang, Juan Wang, Yan Ren & Yue Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Xinjiang Wisdom City and Environment Modeling, Urumqi, 830046, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Zhang

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA

    Hsiang-te Kung & Colton Spencer Bane

  5. Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Colorado Mesa University Grand Junction, Grand Junction, CO, 81501, USA

    Verner Carl Johnson

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  1. Haiyang Yu
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Correspondence to Fei Zhang.

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Yu, H., Zhang, F., Kung, Ht. et al. Analysis of land cover and landscape change patterns in Ebinur Lake Wetland National Nature Reserve, China from 1972 to 2013. Wetlands Ecol Manage 25, 619–637 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-017-9541-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-017-9541-3

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