Improving Land Use Planning through the Evaluation of Ecosystem Services: One Case Study of Quyang County

Competition for land is increasing as demand for multiple land uses and ecosystem services rises. Land regulation of the principles of landscape ecology is necessary to develop more sustainable approaches to land use planning. The research evaluated the present land patterns and determined best practices for its regulation of Dongwang Township in Quyang County, located in the Taihang Mountain area of Hebei Province, China. The research used the landscape ecology theory to construct an index system for landscape pattern analysis based on the GIS and Fragstats 3.3 software. In this study, we examined the specific reasons that landscape ecology is superior to traditional methods in land consolidation planning and design, which is conducive to the comprehensive development of land ecological benefits. Landscape ecological planning can effectively reduce landscape fragmentation and improve intensive management. The result found that the descending order of the Shannon index was current landscape, landscape ecological planning, and traditional planning. Landscape ecological planning could protect the natural diversity than traditional planning. Landscape ecological planning enables the creation of long corridors, with higher densities and connectivity and lower average corridor widths than traditional planning. Besides, it can improve ecological service function values in the study area to varying degrees, thus discouraging residents from limiting themselves to grain production. This research has great potential to improve the visibility of ecosystem services in local land use planning and, thus, to improve the ecological functioning of future landscapes.

Analysis of Landscape Ecological Planning Based on the High-Order Multiwavelet Neural Network Algorithm

Landscape architecture has both natural and social properties, which is the embodiment of people protecting the natural environment. Since the industrial revolution, the modern industry has developed rapidly. It has increased the living standard of people and consumed a lot of natural resources such as forest and energy. The ecological environment has been greatly damaged, and the landscape of gardens has been affected. Therefore, it is of great significance to find a method to evaluate the landscape ecology and plan the landscape ecology. This paper proposes a new high-order wavelet neural network algorithm combining wavelet analysis and artificial neural network. A model of ecological evaluation of landscape based on high-order wavelet neural network algorithm is proposed to evaluate the landscape ecology and provide reference data for the ecological planning of the landscape. The results show that the training times of the wavelet neural network to achieve the target accuracy are 3600 times less than those of the BP neural network. The MSE and MAE of the WNN are 0.0639 and 0.1501, respectively. The average error of the model to the comprehensive evaluation index of the landscape ecology is 0.005. The accuracy of the model to evaluate the sustainability of landscape land resources is 98.67%. The above results show that the model based on the wavelet neural network can effectively and accurately complete the evaluation of landscape ecology and then provide a decision-making basis for landscape ecological planning, which is of high practicability.

Ecosystem Services: The Landscape-Ecological Base and Examples

The major problems of our environment have become mainstream themes in everyday life of the society, with corresponding moral, political, and financial consequences. The concept of ecosystem services (ESS) surely belongs to such mainstream popular topics regarded also by EU environmental strategies. Moreover, the right assessment and utilisation of ESS are without any doubt one of the precondition of sustainable development. In general, we can say that this concept has important influence on the spheres of economics and politics; these formulate demands towards the science, and consecutively, the science efforts to answer these demands. The paper is aimed at two goals: the first one is to zoom in on the landscape-ecological concept of ESS by the geosystem approach, for the correct understanding of the basic terms, such as as ecosystem, geosystem, landscape, utility values, and services. The second goal is to present examples of several types of ESS evaluation in different study areas using the integrated landscape-ecological (geosystem) approach. The methods used are based on the geosystem approach to the landscape; the process is based on the methods of landscape ecological planning. The results are the assessment of 4 types of ecosystem services on study areas.

Analysis of the Conflicts of Natural Use as a Basis For Landscape-Ecological Planning of Forest Ecosystems

Relevance. The development of measures to prevent possible negative environmental, economic and social problems in forest ecosystems should be based on objective information, which may be provided by the process of landscape-environmental planning. Purpose. Analysis of the conflicts of nature use from anthropogenic activity in forest ecosystems to develop measures optimization of environmental management in the process of landscape-ecological planning. Methods. The assessment of conflicts of nature use in forest ecosystems was carried at the test site of the tract "Zarudska Dacha" of Lyubovytsi forestry of the Malinsky district of Zhytomyr region according to the author's method of landscape-ecological planning. Results. Based on the results of the inventory and evaluation phase of landscape-ecological planning, we have obtained information about the landscape differentiation of the test area, internal and external sources of environmental conflicts, their boundaries, and intensity. The study of the structure of forestry has shown that the sources of conflict are predominantly forest areas and settlements landscapes. The assessment of intensity of the conflicts has shown that medium-intensity conflicts prevail in the territory. Based on the information of matrices of the conflict measures to optimize the use of nature in forest ecosystems have been developed. Conclusions. For optimization of nature use in forest ecosystems, it is recommended: restoration of plantations, control of rational use of forest resources, reduction of the volumes of use of the chemical means on the adjacent fields, organized garbage collection, controlled recreation, etc.

Designing of Water Protection Zones in the Cities of Ukraine: Problems and Ways to Solve Them by Landscape Ecologycal Planning

Purpose. Development of methodical approaches to the development of water protection zones in cities based on the principles of landscape-ecological planning. Methods. GIS modeling using remote sensing data. ArcGIS 10.0 operational features (in particular, vectorization, buffering, algebra mapping tools) were used as a software for spatial analysis of data. Results. The analysis of modern Ukrainian water protection legislation has allowed to identify a number of problems in the design and development of water protection areas in the rivers within a city. For their solution, initial provisions of the organization of water protection zones in cities, derived from the principles of landscape-ecological planning, have been formulated: 1) unified rules and unequivocal demands for project development; 2) an integrated approach for solutions development; 3) subordination of goals of city-planning to the goals of environmental protection; 4) strategic goals and progressive implementation of the water protection policy. The basic algorithm of landscape-ecological planning of "urban" water protection zones has been substantiated. It consists of the following 4 stages: inventory, estimation, analysis and generalization, development of the concept for development of the water protective zone. A "hybrid" approach to the design of water protection zones is proposed, which allows to adjust the normatively defined territorial configuration in accordance with the value of the water protection potential of the landscape. Approbation of the methodology is carried out for the Udy River within the Kharkiv city borders, as a result of which a set of cartographic models was created, including the design of the boundaries of the territory of the water protection zone and the zoning of its territory in accordance with the integral goals. For a specific territory of the water protection zone, a list of recommended envi ronmental measures has been developed. Conclusions. Application of the landscape and ecological planning principles during development of water protection zones within cities implies the need for changes in existing approaches to their development. As a result of the approbation of the proposed methodology we have developed the GIS project which can be used as the basic model of the territorial configuration of the water protection zone of the Udy River within Kharkiv in the course of its developemt.