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Assessment of wetland fragmentation in the Tarim River basin, western China

  • Original Article
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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The wetlands in the middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River are a rich area of biodiversity and natural resources in the inland arid region of China. However, this wetland area has decreased in size during the past several decades. Water quality and biodiversity has declined due to expanded agricultural activities since 1960s. Using remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) techniques, we investigated the dynamics, spatial patterns and fragmentation of the wetlands in the middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River from 1980 to 2000. We found that the total area of the wetlands was reduced by 45.8% and the density of the patches increased four times from 1980 to 1990. From 1990 to 2000, though the total area of the wetlands slightly increased the number of the patches increased three times and the density of the patches doubled. Based on the analyses of transition matrixes, diversity and fragmentation indexes, and spatial distribution alternation of the wetlands, we found the landscape diversity and fragmentation indices increased while wetland dominance index decreased dramatically. Among the wetland types, the areas of the river-channel, reservoir and pond wetlands increased while the areas of the lake and marsh wetlands decreased continuously.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-XB2–03 and KZCX2-YW-127) and by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 90502004, 30500081 and 40271011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Oasis Ecology and Desert Environment, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 830011, Urumqi, China

    Ruifeng Zhao, Yaning Chen, Huarong Zhou, Yibing Qian & Lihua Zhang

  2. Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100039, Beijing, China

    Ruifeng Zhao & Lihua Zhang

  3. College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Management, University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI, 96720, USA

    Yiqing Li

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  1. Ruifeng Zhao
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  2. Yaning Chen
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Correspondence to Yaning Chen.

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Zhao, R., Chen, Y., Zhou, H. et al. Assessment of wetland fragmentation in the Tarim River basin, western China. Environ Geol 57, 455–464 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1316-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1316-y

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