Landscape Pattern Indices and Topography for Chinese Ecosystems, 1990–2023

Multi-year mean values and change rates for four landscape pattern indices and two topographic variables quantify the spatial configuration of cropland, forest, and grassland across China over 34 years. This geospatial dataset links landscape fragmentation, shape, and aggregation to the study of aboveground carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems. It provides a basis for analyzing how the physical arrangement of ecosystems influences carbon sequestration.

Use Cases

• Modeling aboveground carbon storage based on landscape pattern indices like Number of Patches and Aggregation Index.
• Analyzing temporal trends in ecosystem fragmentation and shape complexity from 1990 to 2023.
• Assessing the relationship between topography (elevation, slope) and landscape configuration for different land covers.
• Spatially explicit research on the role of forest, grassland, and cropland spatial arrangement in carbon dynamics.

Strengths

• Covers a 34-year time range (1990–2023) for tracking long-term changes.
• Includes four specific landscape metrics (NP, MPA, SI, AI) and two topographic variables, providing multi-faceted spatial analysis.
• Data is openly licensed (CC-BY-4.0) for reuse and distribution.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row count are not provided, limiting understanding of data structure.
• The dataset size (464 MB) suggests raster (TIF) data, but specific spatial resolution and processing methodology are not detailed.

Provenance

Source

Yongwei Cao

Collection Method

Likely derived from remote sensing and spatial analysis of land cover data.

Time Range

1990–2023

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-03 24.

Geography

China