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Land Transformation Processes in NE China: Tracking Trade-Offs in Ecosystem Services Across Several Decades with Landsat-TM/ETM+ time Series

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Land Use and Land Cover Mapping in Europe

Part of the book series: Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing ((RDIP,volume 18))

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Abstract

Understanding the impact of land transformation processes on ecosystem services (ESS) is an essential prerequisite for drafting and implementing sustainable land management concepts. This study presents an analysis of land transformation processes in Horqin Sandy Lands, one of the dry areas in Inner Mongolia (China). It aims at demonstrating the impacts of governmental management policies on land use change and its impact on the long-term availability of important ecosystem services. Spectral mixture analysis is applied to a calibrated time series of Landsat-TM/ETM+ images which covers a period of 20 years (1987–2007); the mixture model comprises three spectral end-members (Green Vegetation, Mobile Sand, Water) which are conceived as surrogates for important ecosystem services. Changing land surface conditions are identified through linear trend analysis of end-member proportions and by mapping the spatial extension of specific surface types at subsequent dates within the observation period. For translating the derived change rates into readjustments of selected ESS-indicators a simple linear model is proposed. Fuelled by long-term satellite observations, the synoptic representation of changing ecosystem services forms the basis for addressing synergies and trade-offs between ecological and societal well-being. The case of Horqin Sandy Lands, where new land use concepts are implemented by promoting selected ecosystem services at the cost of others, provides a striking example for these mechanisms.

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Acknowledgements

This study would not have been possible without the invaluable support Dr. Du Zitao (Institute for Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing) provided during several field visits to Horqin Sandy Lands. The discussions with Prof. Ulf Helldén (University of Lund) and Dr. Achim Röder (University of Trier) were essential in sharpening the authors’ perception of land transformation processes and for developing conceptual views discussed in this study. The support of Wolfgang Mehl (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy) in implementing a semi-automatic processing chain for high-precision geocoding is gratefully acknowledged. Part of this research was financially supported by the European Commission through funding the project “DeSurvey” (Integrated Project contract No. 003950). This support is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Remote Sensing & Geoinformatics, Faculty of Regional and Environmental Sciences, Trier University, 54286, Trier, Germany

    Joachim Hill & Marion Stellmes

  2. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing, Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, 9718, 20 Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic China

    Changyao Wang

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  1. Joachim Hill
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  2. Marion Stellmes
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  3. Changyao Wang
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Correspondence to Joachim Hill .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Information Technologies Institute, Center for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Ioannis Manakos

  2. Department of Geography, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Matthias Braun

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Hill, J., Stellmes, M., Wang, C. (2014). Land Transformation Processes in NE China: Tracking Trade-Offs in Ecosystem Services Across Several Decades with Landsat-TM/ETM+ time Series. In: Manakos, I., Braun, M. (eds) Land Use and Land Cover Mapping in Europe. Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7969-3_23

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