Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 9, 2025

Watershed Planning within a Quantitative Scenario Analysis Framework
Published on: July 24, 2016
Landscape Pattern and Plant Diversity in an Arid Inland River Basin: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach Based on
Hui Shi1, Tiange Shi2,3
1College of Tourism, Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, Urumqi 830012, China.
None:
Biodiversity in arid river basins is highly climate-sensitive, yet the multi-pathway relations among the environment, landscape structure, connectivity, and plant diversity remain unclear. Framed by a scale-place-space sustainability perspective, we evaluated, in the Hotan River Basin (NW China), how the environmental factors affect plant diversity directly and indirectly via the landscape configuration and functional connectivity. We integrated Landsat images (2000, 2012, and 2023), 57 vegetation plots, topographic and meteorological data; computed the landscape indices and Conefor connectivity metrics (PC, IIC); and fitted a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM). From 2000 to 2023, the bare land declined, converted mainly into shrubland and cropland; the construction land is projected to expand under SSP1-2.6/SSP2-4.5/SSP5-8.5 by 2035 and 2050. The landscape metrics showed a rising PD, DIVISION, and SHDI/SHEI, and a declining AI and CONTAG, indicating finer, more heterogeneous mosaics. Plant diversity peaked on low-moderate slopes and with ~32-36 mm annual precipitation. The PLS-SEM revealed significant direct effects on diversity from environmental factors (positive), landscape structure (negative), and connectivity (positive). The dominant chained mediation (environment → structure → connectivity → diversity) indicated that environmental constraints first reconfigure the spatial structure and then propagate to community responses via connectivity, highlighting connectivity's role in buffering climatic stress and stabilizing communities. The findings provide a quantitative framework to inform biodiversity conservation and sustainable landscape planning in arid basins.
More Related Videos
12:26Integrating Remote Sensing with Species Distribution Models; Mapping Tamarisk Invasions Using the Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling SAHM
Published on: October 11, 2016
04:35Development of an Individual-Tree Basal Area Increment Model using a Linear Mixed-Effects Approach
Published on: July 3, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Typical Model Studies
Design Example: Design of an Irrigation Channel
Modeling and Similitude
Responses to Drought and Flooding
Design Example: Analyzing Capacity Contours for Flood Risk Assessment