Evolvement of Landscape Pattern of the Coastal Wetland in Zhuhai during 1988-2008

With the Landsat TM images of Zhuhai in 1988,1998 and 2008,the dynamic changes of the coastal wetland landscape pattern were studied by using the model of land use transition matrix and landscape pattern index by means of RS and GIS technology.The results show that:(1)The shallow waters and paddy field were the two main wetland landscape types in the studied area;(2)The total area of coastal wetland landscapes reduced obviously from 177580.66hm2 to 162891.82hm2 in the past twenty years.The dynamic changes of the wetland landscapes were very significant,in which the decrease of paddy fields and shallow waters was the most evident;(3)There were frequent transitions between different types of wetland,and between wetland and non-wetland landscape types,mainly the transition between paddy fields and other farmlands,that from wetland to construction land,and that from shallow waters to aquiculture areas and rivers;(4)The fragmentation degree and heterogeneity of coastal wetland landscapes in the studied area were gradually increased and the landscape shape tended to be more complex from 1988 to 2008 with the increase of human activity affection.Meanwhile,the coastal wetland landscapes showed the characteristics of scattered distribution,