Recent Spatio-temporal Changes of Landscape Structure, Heterogeneity and Diversity of Rural Landscape: Implements for Landscape Conservation and Restoration

Landscape change is the modification and replacement of landscape elements in accordance with human management and natural disturbance on land mosaics. During landscape change, changes in patterns such as heterogeneity, diversity and shape, and juxtaposition of spatial elements are also accompanied. For the sustainable landscape system, therefore, spatial characteristics of the landscape should be considered in implementation of landscape conservation and restoration planning. Short-term changes of land-use and landscape pattern during the 10 years of 1980s and 1990s were investigated in the agriculture-forestry dominated landscape system through the statistics and the analysis of landscape-vegetation map. Study area is Yangdong-myon, Yangpyung-gun (37°27′30N, 127°46′50E), Kyonggi-do, in central Korea. Landscape change of this region was significantly related to the recent industrialization according to socio-economic development. Analyses of landscape pattern show that the area of secondary forest sustained by human activity decreased and it was replaced with large exotic plantations during this period. Area of paddy field was also extended. Fractal dimension of the total landscape increased, but that of paddy field area decreased due to rearrangement for mechanized farming. Moreover, the area of landscape management regimes such as plantation and cultivation increased in land mosaics during this period.