Characterizing the spatiotemporal pattern of land use and cover change in Oujiang River Basin, China

Land use and cover change (LUCC) produced enormous environmental impacts throughout the world. In this study, we quantified the spatiotemporal pattern of LUCC in the Oujiang River Basin, Eastern China, using remotely sensed data, landscape metrics and spatial analysis techniques. Results showed that residential growth and cropland reduction were the major forms of LUCC during 1992-2007. Despite of small coverage, the bare lands continuously increased in the riparian areas, which could produce significant impacts on the aquatic ecosystems. Results from the landscape metrics showed that pattern of residential growth could be characterized by the coalescence-diffusion process, and the croplands were increasingly fragmented. The hotspots of cropland reduction presented an aggregated pattern in adjacent to the residential areas. The hotspots of deforestation mostly occurred in the riparian areas and around the existed croplands in 1992-2000, while they were prone to exist in the fringe of the cities and towns in 2000-2007. Associated with urbanization and riparian destruction, environmental risks could largely increase in the basin. Our study has useful implications for regional management of the environments.