The Creation and Analysis of Riparian Buffer Zones Based on RS and GIS - A case study on Beijing Guanting watershed

摘要

The riparian area is the site for many functional linkages between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Their effectiveness for non-point source pollution control has been widely appreciated. The main objectives of the work are to provide guidelines on design and management of buffer zone for the control of non-pollution to surface waters, with due regard to conservation interests. This paper first analyzed the attributes and processes occurring in riparian zone on control non-point source pollution, and suggested a range of recommendations for buffer widths, then a case study on the Guanting watershed in northwest Beijing, China, was conducted to produces land use/cover maps from the Landsat imagery employed digital image processing techniques. Subsequently an updated hydrology data layer was developed by integrated with the early Digital Line Graph data base with the TM-derived classification of surface water bodies. The investigation into the effect of buffer zones on the water quality was conducted. Fixed and variable optimal width and placement buffering of streams were implemented using a geographic information system (GIS) integrated with the RS classification data to identify 'critical' area for the establishment of riparian vegetation strips, and accordingly set up the ecological function subzones, as well as the protection measures were put forward.