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Statistical regularity of road network features and ecosystem change in the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region (LRGR)

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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

As an intrinsic disturbance factor of landscape, roads are conspicuous artificial components. Regional landscape pattern and change are influenced by the existence and extension of road networks. Study of the relationship between road features and its disturbance level is important for regional ecosystem management. Based on the spatial variation analysis of road corridor and network features in the LRGR, we examined the effect of road network on landscape pattern change using GIS. Further, the regularity between regional ecological disturbance and network features was discussed. The results showe that road density was significantly relative to topography, village number and the ecosystem patch number, and the significance varied greatly with road types. With the increase of road density and network extension, α (network circuitry), β (edge-nodes ratio) and γ (network connectivity) indexes increased. Also, total ecosystem patch number, patch density, landscape evenness and fractal index increased while regional minimum patch area, average patch area and contagion index decreased. The result exhibit that low-grade road had greater effect on regional landscape fragmentation. We used human disturbance indexes (H d) of 1980 and 2000 to indicate the ecological disturbance level. The H d indexes have a positive and significant relationship with α, β and γ indexes, which suggests the ecological disturbance increased with the network expanding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Liu ShiLiang, Cui BaoShan, Wen MinXia, Wang Juan & Dong ShiKui

Authors
  1. Liu ShiLiang
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  2. Cui BaoShan
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  3. Wen MinXia
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  4. Wang Juan
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  5. Dong ShiKui
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cui BaoShan.

Additional information

Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2003CB415104) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40501067)

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Liu, S., Cui, B., Wen, M. et al. Statistical regularity of road network features and ecosystem change in the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region (LRGR). Chin. Sci. Bull. 52 (Suppl 2), 82–89 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-7020-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-7020-6

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