Analysis of Landscape Structure on the Impervious Cover of the Gap-Stream Watershed using FRAGSTATS

An impervious cover in the watershed management has been used as effective indicators. It is a very useful barometer to measure the impacts of watershed development on aquatic systems. Hence, it is necessary to survey the impervious cover of a watershed and to develop an impervious cover model (ICM) for supporting best management practices. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the spatial patterns of the impervious cover, to calculate landscape indices using FRAGSTATS, and to develop an ICM in the Gap-stream watershed and its six sub-watersheds. The results showed that the impervious cover of the Gap-stream watershed increased from 4.9 % in 1975 to more than 11.2 % in 2000, the number of impervious cover fragments increased from 662 to 3,578, and the landscape shape index increased from 27.0796 to 91.1982. Fragmentation was severe within the Yudeungcheon downstream and the Gapcheon downstream of six sub-watersheds. This paper presented the results derived landscape indices to define landscape patterns and structure for the Gap-stream watershed. Our results indicate that altered land use might be influenced changes in landscape structure.