Publication Abstracts

Tao et al. 2020

Tao, B., Y. Yang, J. Yang, R. Smith, J. Fox, J. Liu, A.C. Ruane, and W. Ren, 2020: Recent shrinkage and fragmentation of bluegrass landscape in Kentucky. MDPI Remote Sens., 12, no. 11, 1815, doi:10.3390/rs12111815.

Land use and land cover changes cause the disappearance of pristine landscapes and result in substantial vegetation modifications, which alters ecosystems' capacity to provide multiple services. The Bluegrass Region is the area in north-central Kentucky and possesses some of the most fertile soils in the world, with unique natural and cultural significances. Over recent decades, land use and land cover changes have threatened the protection of the unique natural, scenic, and historic resources in this region. In this study, we applied a fragmentation model and a set of landscape metrics together with the satellite-derived USDA Cropland Data Layer to examine the shrinkage and fragmentation of grassland in the Bluegrass Region, Kentucky during 2008-2018. Our results showed that recent land use change across the Bluegrass Region was characterized by grassland decline, cropland expansion, forest increases, and suburban sprawl. The grassland area has decreased by 14.4%, with 5% of interior (or intact) grassland shrinkage, during the study period. Land conversions from grassland to other land cover types were widespread, with major grassland shrinkage occurred in the west and northeast of the Outer Bluegrass Region and relatively minor grassland conversion in the Inner Bluegrass Region. The number of patches increased from 108,338 to 126,874, and the effective mesh size, which represents the degree of landscape fragmentation in a system, decreased from 6629.84 to 1816.58 for the entire Bluegrass Region. This study offered the first attempt to quantify recent grassland shrinkage and fragmentation in the Bluegrass Region. We, therefore, call for more intensive monitoring and further conservation efforts to preserve the ecosystem services provided by the Bluegrass Region, which has both local and regional implications for climate mitigation, carbon sequestration, diversity conservation, and culture protection.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ta09100t,
  author={Tao, B. and Yang, Y. and Yang, J. and Smith, R. and Fox, J. and Liu, J. and Ruane, A. C. and Ren, W.},
  title={Recent shrinkage and fragmentation of bluegrass landscape in Kentucky},
  year={2020},
  journal={MDPI Remote Sensing},
  volume={12},
  number={11},
  pages={1815},
  doi={10.3390/rs12111815},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ta09100t
AU  - Tao, B.
AU  - Yang, Y.
AU  - Yang, J.
AU  - Smith, R.
AU  - Fox, J.
AU  - Liu, J.
AU  - Ruane, A. C.
AU  - Ren, W.
PY  - 2020
TI  - Recent shrinkage and fragmentation of bluegrass landscape in Kentucky
JA  - MDPI Remote Sens.
JO  - MDPI Remote Sensing
VL  - 12
IS  - 11
SP  - 1815
DO  - 10.3390/rs12111815
ER  -

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