Landscape Analysis of Runoff and Sedimentation Based on Land Use/Cover Change in Two Typical Watersheds on the Loess Plateau, China

Abstract

Understanding sedimentation and runoff variations caused by land use change have emerged as important research areas, due to the ecological functions of landscape patterns. The aims of this study were to determine the relationship between landscape metrics (LMs), runoff, and sedimentation and explore the crucial LMs in the watersheds on the Loess Plateau. From 1985 to 2010, grassland was the dominant landscape in the Tuweihe (TU) and Gushanchuan (GU) watersheds. Unused land and cropland experienced the greatest transformations. The landscape in the study area tended to become regular, connected, and aggregated, represented by increasing of the Shannon’s diversity index and the largest patch index, and decreasing landscape division over time. The landscape stability of the TU watershed was higher than that of the GU watershed. Annual runoff and sedimentation gradually decreased and a significant relationship was found between water and soil loss. Due to larger cropland area and lower landscape stability in the GU watershed, the sedimentation of the two watersheds were similar, even though the runoff in the TU watershed was greater. There were stronger effects of LMs on runoff than that on sedimentation yield. The Shannon’s evenness and the patch cohesion index was identified as the key factors of influencing water and soil loss, which had the greatest effects on runoff and sedimentation. Results indicated that regional water and soil loss is sensitive to landscape regulation, which could provide a scientific understanding for the prevention and treatment of soil erosion at landscape level.