Detecting the effect of disturbance on habitat diversity and land cover change in a post-mining area using GIS

Human influence on the biosphere has transformed natural land cover (LC) into modified LC. Large-scale biome assessment is therefore essential in restoring the damaged ecosystem. The hypothesis was: GIS and RS could generate LC and landscape characterization statistics for assessing habitat diversity and land cover change (LCC). Our objectives were (a) to identify how patterns of habitat diversity and LCC can be predicted with geographic and remotely sensed data; (b) to identify the relationship among spatial and temporal fluctuations, fragmentation and diversity in the post-mining landscape. LC maps of August 1995 and 2000 were produced from LANDSAT TM images of the landscape, Schlabendorf Sud; to survey the changing landscape. Landscape characterization metrics were generated using Patch Analyst after calculating LCC statistics for each map year. Change detection extension identified changes among land cover types (LCT) into "negative change", "no change" and "positive change". Processes of reverse and linear succession were found in different areas. Some LCT either reduced or increased considerably. "Lake" size increased more than three times due to "wetland" and some "dry vegetation" turning into lake. Habitat richness increased three times. Habitats became fragmented, linear and simple in shape, even in sizes and higher in diversity. Greater habitat heterogeneity was observed in 2000 due to increased LCT. We realized disturbance and fragmentation have strong relationships that can affect diversity in post-mining landscape. Our approach provides a beneficial exchange between expensive ground vegetation sampling and low-priced image processing analysis. It is reliable for assessing LCC, habitat diversity/richness and heterogeneity. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.