• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.11 no.4 s.29
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• pp.47-57
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• 2005

The goal of this research is to evaluate landscape-ecological characteristics of watersheds in the Nakdong River Basin by using Geogaphic Information System (GIS) and landscape indices for integation of spatio-temporal informations and multivariate statistical techniques for quantitative analysis of forest landscape. Fragmentation index and change matrix techniques using factor analysis and grid overlay method were used to efficiently analyze and manage huge amount of information for ecological-environmental assessment (land-cover and forest landscape patterns). According to the results based on the pattern analysis of land-cover changes using the change detection matrix between 1980s and 1990s, addition on 750km$^2$ became urbanized areas. The altered 442.04km$^2$ was agricultural areas which is relatively easy for shifting of land-use, and 205.1km$^2$ of forests became urbanized areas, and average elevation and slope of the whole altered areas were 75m and 4$^{\circ}$. On the other hand, 120km$^2$ of urban areas were changed into other areas (i.e., agricultural areas and green space), and fortunately, certain amount of naturalness had been recovered. But still those agricultural areas and fallow areas, which were previously urban areas, had high potential of re-development for urbanization due to their local conditions. According to the structural analysis of forest landscape using the landscape indices, the forest fragmentation of watersheds along the main stream of the Nakdong River was more severe than my other watersheds. Furthermore, the Nakdong-sangju and Nakdong-miryang watersheds had unstable forest structures as well as least amount of forest quantity. Thus, these areas need significant amount of forest through a new forest management policy considering local environmental conditions.