Change of the Wetland Landscape Pattern in the Middle Reaches of the Huaihe River from 1950s to 2000

The model of transformation probability matrix is used to analyze the change of wetland landscapes in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River basin based on the first classification of land use types. The results show that the land use cover in the region changed significantly from 1950s to 1980,but less from 1980 to 2000. Transformation between all kinds of landscapes greatly differed in transfer-out,transfer-in, and in transfer quantities. The main changes of the wetland landscape pattern in the middle reaches of the basin were: a great deal of wetland transformed into paddy fields and non-wetland,and some natural wetland transformed into artificial. Meanwhile,bare rock land appeared in the region, that implied the ecological environment deteriorated in some parts of the region. The main reason was that both population and cultivated land increased rapidly from 1949 to 1980. A lot of lakes and river bench land were reclaimed into paddy fields, that also made wetland area reduce. After 1980, agriculture land use had only a little change, and so did the pattern of wetland landscapes.