ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Study on the oasis landscape fragmentation in northwestern China
by using remote sensing data and GIS: a case study of Jinta oasis
Guo Ming Æ Yu Wenbing Æ
Ma Mingguo Æ Li Xin
Received: 23 August 2006 / Accepted: 22 May 2007 / Published online: 14 June 2007
Ó
Springer-Verlag 2007
Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the
oasis landscape fragmentation in northwestern China’s arid
regions. Landscape maps of Jinta oasis were compiled by
using GIS based on Landsat TM data of 1990 and 2000.
Landscape indexes for evaluating fragmentation are patch
area, patch density, corridor density and split index. Results
indicated many difference. First, between the years 1990
and 2000, the landscape fragmentation in Jinta oasis de-
creased slightly. Second, the area of the matrix decreased at
the class level. The landscape fragmentation of the matrix
(bare soil) increased as a result of increased influence of
human activities on matrix and was opposite to the irri-
gated farmland whose area is larger and more aggregated in
2000 than in 1990. Third, dense corridor system is one of
the most prominent characteristics of the arid regions. It is
one of the key factors resulting in the landscape fragmen-
tation; especially the fragmentation within the same patch
types. The corridor density of irrigated farmland, residen-
tial area and forestland were quite large in Jinta oasis both
in 1990 and 2000. The pattern of Jinta oasis is character-
ized by agricultural oasis embedded in Gobi and in the
desert, where the ecosystem was disturbed strongly by the
intense human activities.
Keywords Landscape fragmentation Á Remote sensing Á
GIS Á Arid region Á Human activities Á Ecosystem
Introduction
The term ‘‘fragmentation’’ is constantly discussed in sci-
entific literature (Collinge 1996; Fahrig 1997; Rochelle
1999). In this article, fragmentation is understood as ‘‘the
process that spatially segregates those entities that exist
together and it causes the landscape’s lack of contagion and
subsequent alternation of ecological processes’’. Frag-
mentation will occur when large continuous patches are
divided into smaller blocks, either by roads, agriculture,
urbanization or other human activities. Fragmentation po-
ses serious threats to ecosystems, such as loss of habitat,
reduced habitat patch size, and increased isolation among
habitat patches (Carsjens and Van Lier 2002; Cousins
2006; Turner 1996). Some researchers state that the dis-
ruption of landscape connectivity—the functional linkages
among habitat patches—might have substantial conse-
quences on the distribution and persistence of population,
and also for the maintenance of species diversity (Franklin
1993; Rouget et al. 2003; With and Crist 1995; Zebisch
et al. 2003; Echeverria et al. 2006). Landscape ecology
research has contributed to the understanding of the impact
of landscape fragmentation on biophysical factor (Nagen-
dra et al. 2004; Forman 1995). The research on landscape
fragmentation can also contribute greatly to our under-
standing of the landscape stability affected by human so-
cio-economic activities (Wickham et al. 2000); geographic
information system (GIS) and spatial pattern analysis
facilitate the spatio-temporal analysis of fragmentation in
this study. In recent decades, landscape fragmentation
studies have attracted the attention of many scientists (Cale
2003; Carsjens and Van Lier 2002; Cushman 2006;
Nagendra et al. 2004).
With the great development of agriculture, industry,
and transportation infrastructure in northwestern China,
G. Ming (&) Á M. Mingguo Á L. Xin
Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering
Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou 730000, China
e-mail: gming@lzb.ac.cn
Y. Wenbing
State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering,
CAREERI, CAS, Lanzhou, Guansu 730000, China
123
Environ Geol (2008) 54:629–636
DOI 10.1007/s00254-007-0830-7