Abstract
Measuring the Fragmentation of China's Landscape Using Effective Mesh Size
Track: Modeling
Author
Landscape fragmentation from roads and highways in China represents a direct and growing threat to natural and human systems. According to China's 11th Five-Year Plan, the rapid expansion of urban areas and road networks should be carried out in a sustainable way. We used effective mesh size (Meff), an ecologically relevant metric that quantifies landscape fragmentation, to analyze road-related fragmentation for the entire country of China. Meff is presented for 3 levels of road networks (national, provincial, and county) in an analysis conducted for provinces (N=33) and counties (N=2382). Meff outputs indicate that in the most densely populated areas, existing paved roads fragment provinces down to 30 km2 and counties to 1 km2. We also present landscape fragmentation and variance by Meff for the biodiversity hotspots and 48 ecoregions of the country. Fragmentation overlays with these natural resource layers permit an assessment of the ecological condition for the entire country.
Ryan Boynton
Information Center for the Environment, UC Davis
Dept of Environmental Science and Policy
1 Shields Ave
Davis, California 95616
United States
Phone: 530-754-5933
E-mail: rmboynton@ucdavis.edu
Taian Li
Lanzhou University
No.222, Tianshui South Road
Lanzhou City, Gansu Province 730030
China
Phone: 86-931-891-2848
E-mail: royal322003@gmail.com
James Thorne
Information Center for the Environment, UC Davis
1 Shields Ave
Davis, California 95616
United States
Phone: 530-752-4389
E-mail: jhthorne@ucdavis.edu
Fengmin Li
Lanzhou University
No.222, Tianshui South Road
Lanzhou City, Gansu Province 730030
China
Phone: 86-931-891-2848
E-mail: fmli@lzu.edu.cn
Alison Berry
Road Ecology Center, UC Davis
1 Shields Ave
Davis, California 95616
United States
Phone: 530-752-7683
E-mail: amberry@ucdavis.edu
Evan Girvetz
College of Forest Resources, University of Washington
Box 352100
Seattle, Washington 98195-2100
United States
Phone: 206-543-5772
E-mail: girvetz@u.washington.edu
Jochen Jaeger
Concordia University, Dept of Geography, Planning and Environment
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd West
Suite H1255
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8
Canada
Phone: 514-848-2424
E-mail: jjaeger@alcor.concordia.ca
Fraser Shilling
Road Ecology Center, UC Davis
1 Shields Ave
Davis, California 95616
United States
Phone: 530-752-7859
E-mail: fmshilling@ucdavis.edu
Heidi Schott
Road Ecology Center
Dept Env'tal Sci and Policy
One Shields Ave
Davis, California 95616
United States
Phone: 530-752-3608
E-mail: heidischott@yahoo.com