Impact Analysis of Lakefront Land Use Changes on Lake Area in Wuhan, China

Wuhan, the central city in the middle reach of the Yangtze River of China, is famous for its lake resources. However, the city’s lake area decreased by 37.4% from 1991 to 2005. This study aims to analyze the relationships between lake area reduction and lakefront land use changes in Wuhan. In this paper, the connections between the spatial changes of lake areal extent and land use changes in the lakefront were established with mathematical models such as Moran’s I and spatial analysis models such as transition matrix. Regarding the impacts of lakefront land use changes on lake area in the urban and suburban districts of Wuhan City, it can be concluded that: (1) the loss rate of lake area would be increased if the proportions of lakefront land use changes transformed into developed or agricultural land from other land use categories became higher; (2) the higher spatial autocorrelation of lakefront land use classifications (Moran’s I > 0.25) could be an indicator for the loss rate of lake area in urban district of the city; and (3) the vector sum of lakefront land use changes was related to the displacement of lake center.