Landscape Pattern Analysis of Urban Forest in Jinan

Using high-resolution remote sensing images of Jinan from May 2006,we extracted forest landscape areas based on visual interpretation.Urban forest distribution was then mapped using ARCGIS software.The classification accuracy, as assessed with field surveys and a confusion matrix,was more than 95%.Digital classification of land cover types was based on the landscape classification system and spatial geometric configuration.Forest types were grouped into four categories based on community characteristics and level of human disturbance: natural forest,natural strip-shaped forest,planted forest and planted strip-shaped forest.Landscape diversity,landscape fragmentation and landscape fractal dimension were quantitatively calculated and qualitatively analyzed.Total forest cover in the central urban area of Jinan(patch area 0.5hm~2) is 129.47hm~2 and the total proportion of urban forest cover is 17.5%.Overall,the proportion of forest land cover is moderate,and is highly variable among different areas.Terrain differences affect spatial distribution and forest type.Natural forests are the dominant type of urban forest,but the ecological characteristics of urban forests vary among different areas.Landscape patches of urban forest are affected by human activities,and forest patch shape tends to be simple.Based on the landscape pattern analysis,this paper makes some suggestions about optimization of landscape pattern and establishment of urban forests in Jinan.Urban forest management should no longer focus on increasing total urban forest area,but should improve spatial distribution by combining small patches of less than 0.5hm~2 into larger patches,and optimizing the existing forest landscape pattern.Natural forest areas should be protected,and the impact of human activities limited.Landscape design should promote the function of the landscape as a corridor,based on current landscape characteristics.