Changes in the spatiotemporal pattern of urbanization in Erdos of Inner Mongolia and related driving forces

Urbanization is the most drastic form of land use change, which affects the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services far beyond the limits of cities. Based on the land use data in three time periods and by the method of landscape pattern analysis, this paper analyzed the change characteristics of the spatiotemporal pattern of urbanization in the four Banners of East Erdos at different spatial scales. Urbanization had profound effects on the local ecology, society, and economics. The landscape as a whole became more fragmented and complex, and different patch types exhibited distinctive spatial characteristics and were affected to different degrees at class-level. Desert and urban land varied greater, and cropland was most affected by urbanization. Resources factors, increase of urban population, and development of economy were the main socio-economic driving factors to the changes in the local landscape spatiotemporal pattern of urbanization.