Remote Sensing Analysis of Dynamics and Driving Factors of Cropland Resources in Black Soil Zone of Northeast China

Land use change is an important indicator for magnitude of impact of human activities on natural environment.Based on RS and GIS,the cropland change characteristics and spatial pattern in black soil zone of Northeast China from 1986 to 2000 were analyzed.Results showed that in black soil zone of Northeast China,cropland accounted for 78.14% of total land area.In this region,croplands have become the background landscape.In the period 1986-2000,cropland and built-up land increased.Meanwhile,forestland,grassland,unused land and water area decreased.In the study period,cropland reclamation converted from forestland and grassland was the main reason causing land use change.It must be attached importance to that,there has been an area of 84.81 km2 conversion from built-up land into cropland.Change in cropland of the study area was synthetically affected by natural factors(climate warming) and humanity factors(increasing population,more food demand and regional economic development,etc).