A Study on Changes of Forest Landscape Patterns Based on GIS Tool

With the help of GIS tool of ARC/INFO based on the information from forest distribution maps, five indices were put forward to analyze the spatial patterns of forest landscapes in Linan form 1983 to 1994.These indices included mean matrix area, contour index, connectivity, fractal dimension, and clustering index.Analyzing results showed that the area proportion of natural forest landscapes such as those hard wood forests and pine forests decreased gradually, components of forest landscape got simpler and forest landscapes became fragmented.While the area proportion of artificial forest landscapes such as those bamboo groves and economic forest increased steadily, components of forest landscape bacame complicated and forest management tended to be highly regulated on alarger scale.