TY - JOUR
T1 - Multiscale analysis of the urbanization pattern of the Phoenix metropolitan landscape of USA
T2 - Time, space and thematic resolution
AU - Buyantuyev, Alexander
AU - Wu, Jianguo
AU - Gries, Corinna
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the earlier version of the manuscript. Our research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB-0423704 , Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAPLTER) and under Grant No. BCS-0508002 (Biocomplexity/CNH). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendation expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
PY - 2010/3/15
Y1 - 2010/3/15
N2 - Investigating the ecological consequences of urbanization require knowledge of land-cover dynamics. Quantification of land-use/land-cover change in Phoenix, Arizona during the period of 1985-2005 using landscape metrics computed from Landsat-derived maps revealed temporal patterns of landscape composition and configuration. With accelerated urbanization the landscape as a whole became more fragmented ecologically and more complex compositionally and geometrically. However, the majority of individual patches became more compact in shape. Urban land covers, especially xeric residential, increased substantially and the desert decreased by 20%. Spatial and thematic resolution of data was shown to have large effects on the analysis of land-cover pattern. Our results, while agreeing in general with previously reported scaling relations with respect to changing spatial grain and extent, showed that scaling relations are also robust and consistent across thematic resolutions and time periods. Some metrics behaved unpredictably and some exhibited scale-free behavior. Compositional metrics, such as patch density, diversity, evenness, and largest patch index, were well correlated with vegetative cover, its spatial variation, and population density. Many of these correlations exhibited hump-shaped patterns with respect to increasing grain size, indicating a characteristic scale at approximately 500-1000 m. By simultaneously manipulating spatial and thematic resolutions, the importance of the Modifiable Area Unit Problem in relating landscape patterns to vegetation and socio-economic variables was also demonstrated. Additionally, highly variable desert vegetation due to precipitation variability poses a challenge for accurately quantifying urbanization pattern in arid environments. Choosing appropriate spatial, temporal and thematic resolutions is essential in meeting this challenge.
AB - Investigating the ecological consequences of urbanization require knowledge of land-cover dynamics. Quantification of land-use/land-cover change in Phoenix, Arizona during the period of 1985-2005 using landscape metrics computed from Landsat-derived maps revealed temporal patterns of landscape composition and configuration. With accelerated urbanization the landscape as a whole became more fragmented ecologically and more complex compositionally and geometrically. However, the majority of individual patches became more compact in shape. Urban land covers, especially xeric residential, increased substantially and the desert decreased by 20%. Spatial and thematic resolution of data was shown to have large effects on the analysis of land-cover pattern. Our results, while agreeing in general with previously reported scaling relations with respect to changing spatial grain and extent, showed that scaling relations are also robust and consistent across thematic resolutions and time periods. Some metrics behaved unpredictably and some exhibited scale-free behavior. Compositional metrics, such as patch density, diversity, evenness, and largest patch index, were well correlated with vegetative cover, its spatial variation, and population density. Many of these correlations exhibited hump-shaped patterns with respect to increasing grain size, indicating a characteristic scale at approximately 500-1000 m. By simultaneously manipulating spatial and thematic resolutions, the importance of the Modifiable Area Unit Problem in relating landscape patterns to vegetation and socio-economic variables was also demonstrated. Additionally, highly variable desert vegetation due to precipitation variability poses a challenge for accurately quantifying urbanization pattern in arid environments. Choosing appropriate spatial, temporal and thematic resolutions is essential in meeting this challenge.
KW - Landscape metrics
KW - Landscape pattern analysis
KW - Scale
KW - Urbanization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=74149090109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=74149090109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2009.10.005
DO - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2009.10.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:74149090109
SN - 0169-2046
VL - 94
SP - 206
EP - 217
JO - Landscape and Urban Planning
JF - Landscape and Urban Planning
IS - 3-4
ER -