KMS Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, CAS
| A bibliometric review of chinese studies on the application of landscape connectivity | |
| Chen, Chun Di1; Jia, Zhen Yi1,2; Wu, Sheng Jun1; Tong, Xiao Xiao1; Zhou, Wen Zuo2; Chen, Ruo Yi3; Zhang, Chao Lin4 | |
| 2017 | |
| 摘要 | Landscape connectivity has been defined as the degree to which landscapes facilitate or impede the movement of species between habitat patches. It is a critical concern for the maintenance of integrity and continuity of landscape structure and ecological processes. With global environmental degradation, habitats loss and natural area fragmentation is inevitable. As such, studies on landscape connectivity are the focus of applied landscape ecology. A well-connected ecological network is believed to facilitate energy and matter fluxes, species dispersal, genetic exchange, and many other ecological processes, and contribute to the overall maintenance of ecosystem stability and integrity. This paper presents a review of the literature on the application of landscape connectivity based on 240 publications from 1999 to 2015, in which we evaluated Chinese state-of-the-art achievements and developments on this topic. The literature review and data analysis based on the CNKI and Web of Science databases, were organized into eight categories using bibliometrics: number of published papers per year, source journals, research institutions, study areas, research objectives, landscape types, landscape scales and study methods in connectivity studies. We found a exponential increase in the number of publications from 1999 to 2015, especially after 2008. The majority were published in the journals “Acta Ecologica Sinica,” “Chinese Journal of Ecology,” and “Urban and Landscape Planning.” Eighteen major research organizations from Beijing, Nanjing and other eastern areas of China, contributed 43.75% of the total papers. The main study areas were also concentrated in eastern region, then the far west, with the least in central region. Providing pragmatic solutions for landscape planning was the main research objective, and only 11.25% of papers targeted species conservation, usually regarding endangered or rare species that are well known to the public, such as the giant panda. Artificial landscapes, including urban or rural landscapes were the major target of research; whereas, 27.92% of papers were about natural landscapes. The spatial extent of the study area was less than 5000 km2 in 72.5% of the studies. The spatial resolution almost varied between 6 m and 90 m pixel values, with the median being 30 m. The predominant analytic approach was functional connectivity(63.75%), followed by structural connectivity(36.25%). We identified 14 methods measuring connectivity. The four most utilized methods were least-cost analysis, graph-based functional connectivity indices, network structural indices, and landscape pattern metrics. In addition, applying a combination of various methods has become a trend in the recent connectivity application studies. Expert opinions and previous research results were typically used to evaluate the resistance values of the landscape matrix and the distance thresholds. However, different experts in isolation may assign different values and therefore affect the reliability of evaluation. Few analyses in China obtained these important parameters by means of field data or empirical study for a specific organism. We discuss problems and prospects of applying landscape connectivity in China to promote future research and application. © 2017, Ecological Society of China. All rights reserved. |
| DOI | 10.5846/stxb201602290341 |
| 发表期刊 | Shengtai Xuebao/ Acta Ecologica Sinica
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| ISSN | 10000933 |
| 卷号 | 37期号:10页码:3243-3255 |
| 语种 | 中文 |
| EISSN | 18722032 |
