Landscape Pattern Evolution Processes and the Driving Forces in the Wetlands of Lake Baiyangdian

The spatiotemporal features of land use changes and the evolution process of landscape pattern from 1980 to 2017 were investigated using historical satellite images from a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) for 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2017 in the wetlands of Lake Baiyangdian in the North China Plain (NCP). Landscape pattern indices were used to quantify landscape changes in wetlands, and a redundancy analysis (RDA) was conducted to analyze the driving forces and quantitatively explain the effects of human activities and natural changes on wetland fragmentation. The results showed that the total wetland area was 234.4 km2 in 1980 but it decreased by 8.1% at an average decrease rate of 0.5 km2 per year. The dominant transition between land use types was from natural wetlands to artificial wetlands, and wetland conversion to dry land and residential land. The RDA results suggested that agricultural activities and total population were the main driving factors affecting wetland landscape. Additionally, climate change provided a potentially favorable environment for agricultural development, due to the increased temperatures and decreased wind speeds. Additionally, governmental policy changes and dam construction also played the roles in land use changes.