PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2018, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (12): 1693-1704.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2018.12.011

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Impact of land use change on habitat in the Qihe River Basin of Taihang Mountains

Han REN(), Jingjing ZHANG, Wenbo ZHU, Liyuan WANG, Lijuan ZHANG, Lianqi ZHU*()   

  1. College of Environment and Planning, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, China
  • Received:2017-12-06 Revised:2018-09-25 Online:2018-12-28 Published:2018-12-28
  • Contact: Lianqi ZHU E-mail:hren_edu@163.com;lqzhu@henu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Key Basic Research Program of China, No.2015CB452702

Abstract:

Mountain areas are ecologically fragile and play an important role in providing ecosystem services and in regional sustainable development. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the impact of land use change on habitat quality in these areas for balancing regional ecological protection and development. Taking the Qihe River Basin in the southern part of Taihang Mountains as the research area and based on land-use and ecological threat data, this study used the habitat quality module of the InVEST model to analyze the change of habitat quality index of the Qihe River Basin in four periods 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 from the aspects of land-use change and topographic relief. The aim of the study was to reveal the influence of land-use change on habitat quality and to explore the spatial distribution pattern of habitat quality, in order to provide a scientific basis for ecological protection and land-use planning in the river basin. The results show that: (1) During 2000-2015, in the Qihe River Basin cultivated land and forest land decreased gradually, and the area of grassland and construction land increased. (2) The overall habitat quality of the river basin was good, and the average value of habitat quality was over 0.7. Habitat quality had been significantly improved by 2015. (3) Change of habitat quality in the Qihe River Basin was greatly influenced by the changes of land-use types. The habitats of cultivated land, grassland, and construction land had degraded to varying degrees due to human disturbances; and the habitats of woodlands began to degrade slowly because of deforestation and land reclamation. However, due to the high vegetation coverage and strong ability to resist disturbances, and the gradual restoration of woodlands, the habitat quality is still high. (4) Moderate habitat quality is dominant in flat and slightly fluctuating areas, while the high and very high grades of habitat quality are dominant in topographically rugged areas.

Key words: land use change, InVEST model, habitat quality, Qihe River Basin