Spatial and Temporal Change of Landscape Pattern in the Hilly-Gully Region of Loess Plateau

Taking Yongshou county in typical Hilly-gully region of Loess Plateau as the study area, based on the land-use maps of the study area in 1995 and 2005, a transfer matrix of the landscape types was established under the supporting of GIS technology; at the same time, the dynamic analyses of the landscape changes in the study area were done from temporal and spatial perspectives which was associated with the barycenter model and the landscape metrics. The study indicated that: (1) the landscape matrices from 1995 to 2005 were cultivated land, forest land and unused land and the garden land, building land, water area and grass land were inlaid as patches in the matrices. The severest decrease was happened in cultivated land, which was changed to forest land and garden land, as well as decreases in grass land, water area, unused land and the building land. Correspondingly, the increases were happened in forest land and garden land, which were changed from cultivated land and unused land. The forest land has the largest increasing number and the annual change rate. (2) The landscape heterogeneity was changed obviously from 1995 to 2005. The evenness index was in an increasing trend while the dominance index was in a decreasing trend. (3) The study on barycenter transfer model indicates that from 1995 to 2005, the barycenter transfer direction of garden land, forest land and building land was east-north, with the furthest barycenter transfer distance of garden land, and the barycenter transfer direction of cultivated land and unused land was east-south, only the barycenter transfer direction of water area was west-north.