Assessment and monitoring of land use degradation around the urban river valley using landscape ecology approach (Case study: Gheshlagh river valley)

Assessment of the resilience threshold based on the characteristics of landscape causes an appropriate management for vulnerability and identifying resilience areas. This study assessed the resilience threshold with the landscape ecology approach by using quantitative methods in the Gheshlagh river valley.

The study area was classified into five homogeneous zones based on the characteristics of the composition and distribution of the landscape structure, and the vulnerability and resilience of the zones were determined. The vulnerability was calculated based on the status of the signs and their changes, and the resilience of the zones was determined based on 5 resilience criteria including ability of resilience, speed of resilience, maximum resilience, amount of resilience, and possibility of resilience. The method of recording the quantitative characteristics of the landscape was completed using moving windows in the fragstat environment during the two periods of 2000 and 2018.

The results of the vulnerability assessment of the zones showed that the vulnerability of the zones were 33%, 25%, 23% and 20% for A, D, C and B, respectively. The results of the resilience of zones showed that the zones A and D are not resilience against the changes, and also the amount of resilience B is more than all zones, the speed of resilience C is also more than the other zones.

The characteristics of the composition and distribution of the landscape structure have significant effects on the environment and the resilience threshold with the landscape ecology approach is a suitable tool for assessing and monitoring of urban land use.