Analysis of landscape pattern based on the point pattern method

Landscape pattern is the principal component of landscape ecology. Remotely sensed data can provide a unique view on spatial and temporal landscape change patterns. Whether the point pattern method can be used to analyze urban landscape pattern change, there is less relative research about it. Based on the remote sensing images of TM, CBERS and SSMFDE, this study analyzed the landscape characteristics and spatial pattern of Xi’an City and proposed streamlining steps for a point pattern analysis. These analyses were facilitated by the ENVI, ARCGIS, and IDRISI software. The results showed that the study area had a composite landscape matrix consisted of woodland and farmland. During the study period, the level of landscape fragmentation decreased, accompanied by an increase and a reduction in the woodland and farmland landscape connectivity respectively. The different landscape types unanimously showed a prominent spatial pattern of aggregation. Specifically, the differences in the critical threshold values for the aggregate, random and discrete patterns were relatively significant between individual years and landscape types.