Abstract:

As an internationally well known and ecological zone, Zhalong Wetland has undergone tremendous landscape changes based on hydrological pattern in recent decades. We defined a set of wetland classification system to describe the landscape changes by using Landsat TM images during 1979-2013, and analyzed the changes of landscape transition magnitude by landscape transition coefficient on a 5-year time scale. Four types of landscape dynamics were identified at Zhalong Wetland: stable landscape with regular and little magnitude, unstable landscape with irregular and normal magnitude; stable landscape with degraded and regular magnitude; unstable landscape with irregular and huge magnitude. The results show that: wetland landscape tended to be wet before 1989 with smaller magnitude, and tended to dry after 1989. In terms of dynamics, the area of A landscape （973.60 km²） is mainly distributed in the core area and farmland; the area of D landscape （311.92 km²） is mainly in the sites of human disturbance, such as on both sides of large ditches and dams.

Key words: landscape dynamics, landscape transition magnitude, Zhalong Wetland