USING AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND GIS FOR CONSERVATION PLANNING IN THE YANGMINGSHAN NATIONAL PARK, TAIWAN

摘要

The Yangmingshan National Park in northern Taiwan is located nearby metropolitan areas, and is therefore highly prone to human disturbances. To assist in the conservation planning, this study used land use map derived from aerial photographs, and used GIS to analyze the spatial distribution of land developments in terms of environmental and socioeconomic factors. A binary logit model was used to analyze the relationship between land development and environmental factors. The derived model was then used to identify areas prone to land development and areas suitable for preservation. The results showed that the distribution of land developments was mainly affected by slope and proximity to rivers and roads. The predicted land development probabilities show that some of the edges around the existing protected areas are prone to human disturbances. Based on the predicted development potentials, it is recommended that reshaping the protected areas by excluding areas with high development potential and expanding to areas with low development potential could improve the effectiveness of landscape protection.