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Urban land use impacts on national parks (case study: Isfahan province)
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Zahra Niknaddaf *   , Reza Peykanpour Fard |
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Abstract: (1128 Views) |
Introduction: Protected areas play a key role to safeguarding biodiversity and remaining their habitats. However, these areas are associated with challenges. Today, protected areas are enclosed in a matrix of multiple human land uses and are often small in size. So that, they are not able to support population of some large-bodied vertebrate groups and often cannot guarantee their long-term survival, and this unequal and instability expansion of urban lands surrounding some protected areas to be a serious threat for these areas. Therefore, continuing monitoring of urban lands surrounding protected areas can be the most effective way to planning to conserve these areas from threats such as downsizing and fragmentation is caused by human activities. The main of this study is calculate urban land changes around the national parks of the Isfahan (i.e. Ghamishloo, Kolah Ghazi, and Mooteh).
Materials & Methods: To this end, using Sentinel-1 and 2 images with indicators such as Slope, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maximum and modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) and masked mountainous areas, water sources and vegetation we detected urban lands in and around NPs of the Isfahan in 2015 and 2022 and their changes were evaluated with a 20 km buffer zone around NPs in the 8-year period by Google Earth Engine system.
Results: The results showed, urban lands are concentrated in the northwest and east, southeast, and the west of the Kolah Ghazi, Ghamishloo, and Mote National Park and Wildlife refuge, respectively. Generally, the human settlements of the target countries of Isfahan province were developed during the 8-year period.
Conclusion: Thus, NPs of Isfahan province especially Kolah Ghazi due to influenced by its development urban areas surrounding are known as priority protected areas. |
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| Keywords: Isfahan, Human settlements, Google Earth Engine, Remote sensing, Biodiversity |
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Full-Text [PDF 1134 kb]
(419 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/09/8 | Accepted: 2025/10/2 | Published: 2025/10/2
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