Spatiotemporal Changes in The Urban Landscape Pattern and Driving Forces of LUCC Characteristics in The Urban Agglomeration on The Northern Slope of The Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Manuscript ID- Land-1923301
Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
Comments and Suggestions to authors
Thank you for submitting your manuscript to the journal of the Land. After carefully reading your paper. It is insufficient in terms of addressing new theoretical arguments and containing sufficient contributions to the new body of global knowledge from the international perspective. Therefore, I must be the major revision. Specific comments and suggestions are as follows:
1. Abstract should be more emphasized and should be concise.
2. Page 1, line 21: you used ‘ The result show 1, 2, 3 should be removed.
3. Page 2, line 46: “hot topic” this ward removed but you used “important research area”.
4. Introduction section Line 60 – 62 complete a sentence. But the good quality of paper the sentence making to short. Its impact on the reader.
5. However, the methodology section is built very well based on previous literature.
6. Please use the statistical software SPSS, STATA, SAS, and R to produce good-quality graphs.
7. Figure 9 is haze and results are not seen. Please improve the dpi of this figure.
8. The conclusion section is too long. please use your observation, and remove your repetition of results.
9. The highlights of the paper do not include any innovative results.
Author Response
Cover letter
Dear reviewer：
Manuscript ID: land-1923301
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper, and we have revised the manuscript in detail based on your suggestions. The following is a response to the comments.
Point 1: Abstract should be more emphasized and should be concise
Response 1: Thanks to your comments, we have rewritten the abstract section to make it more concise and clear. This is as follows：
The analysis of the landscape pattern and land use land cover evolution characteristics and driving force analysis during the expansion of urban agglomerations will not only help urban agglomerations to solve ecological and environmental problems, but also provide a reference basis for urban land use structure optimisation and urban landscape planning.The urban agglomeration of small and medium-sized cities with rapid urbanization, the urban agglomeration of the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, is used as the study area (UANSTM). Using multi-period (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018) land use data and statistical yearbook data, we calculate the landscape index and comprehensive land use degree index, Moran index and geographic probe methods. To study the expansion pattern and spatial distribution pattern of urban land, and to quantitatively explore the influence mechanism of natural and socio-economic factors on the degree of land use, so as to clarify the characteristics and driving forces of land use evolution. The results show that the area of urban land has continued to increase between 1995 and 2018, the dominance of each landscape index within each time period has changed with urban development, and intra-urban landscape heterogeneity is gradually increasing. In terms of the spatial and temporal distribution of the degree of land use, the urban expansion of the urban agglomeration is centred on the city of Urumqi, with a focus on spreading towards the cities of Changji and Shihezi, and the rest of the counties and cities are fast urban expansion zones. Under the influence of multiple source factors, the urban expansion of UANSTM depends on the distribution of oases, which is mainly influenced by the distribution of vegetation and the density of the river network, and can only rely on the ecological carrying capacity of oases to gather production and life. The results of the study can provide a basis for decision making on the future layout of the UANSTM ecological environment.
Point 2：Page 1, line 21: you used ‘ The result show 1, 2, 3 should be removed.
Response 2：We have removed the issues you mentioned from the abstract and developed the findings in three areas, namely the results of the landscape pattern analysis, the land use results and the driving force analysis.
Point 3：Page 2, line 46: “hot topic” this ward removed but you used “important research area”
Response 3：We have rewritten the "Introduction" section and have removed the original section. The issues you have mentioned have also been revised in the manuscript.
Point 4：Introduction section Line 60 – 62 complete a sentence. But the good quality of paper the sentence making to short. Its impact on the reader.
Response 4: Thanks to your comments, we have rewritten the "Introduction" section with English language editing services, as follows：
- Introduction
Cities are the most direct carriers of land use/cover change (LUCC) [1], and urbanization is an inevitable result of global economic development, and cities are regarded as the future for all human beings in the world [2]. Rapid urbanization is bound to bring about urban ecological problems such as ecosystem decline, biodiversity reduction, and urban heat island effect, which directly or indirectly affect the quality of urban habitat and sustainable urban development [3]. The emergence of these problems is closely related to land use type conversion and landscape pattern changes in the region [4]. In this process of rapid urbanization, the contradiction between the expansion of urban land and limited land resources, and between rapid urbanization and ecological environment is gradually emerging, especially in developing countries. Therefore, analyzing the urban expansion and landscape pattern changes and driving forces can not only help solve these urban problems, but also provide a scientific basis for the optimization and upgrading of urban land use structure.
Regarding the analysis of urban landscape pattern changes, scholars at home and abroad have conducted a large number of studies. Foreign research on landscape patterns began in the 1950s, focusing on the characteristics and driving mechanisms of spatial and temporal changes in landscape patterns [5], and the prediction of landscape patterns [6]; in terms of research methods, with the rapid development of remote sensing and Geo-Information system, the combination of the two methods has become an effective method to analyze changes in landscape patterns, mainly including dynamic monitoring and landscape index analysis, and has changed from qualitative research to quantitative research [7]. Domestic research on landscape pattern started relatively late, but the results are fruitful. The relevant research mainly focuses on the following aspects: first, the analysis and simulation research of landscape pattern evolution, using CA-Markov model and FLUS model to simulate the future land use condition, so as to make landscape pattern prediction [8-9]. The second is to combine landscape pattern and ecological risk, and to build an ecological network with the help of the least resistance model, to study the optimization of landscape pattern and ecological risk assessment in the region [10]. The third is to analyze the driving factors of the landscape pattern, using geographic detectors, grey correlation analysis and other methods to analyze the driving factors that affect the evolution of the landscape pattern in the region [11-12], however, due to the different geographic locations of the study areas, there are also huge differences in the chosen driver database [13]. Based on the above research results at home and abroad, we can see that the current research mainly focuses on regional units such as watersheds, forests, wetlands, and cities, while less analysis has been done on the landscape pattern evolution characteristics and driving forces of urban agglomerations in arid zones. Inspired by the above related studies, we cannot help but think about the landscape pattern evolution characteristics of oasis urban agglomerations in arid zones and what are their driving forces? What are the links between landscape pattern evolution and land use intensity in terms of spatial divergence patterns? Therefore, we selected the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in the arid region of northwestern Xinjiang, China, as the research object to analyze the evolution characteristics and driving forces of its landscape pattern.
In recent years, human activities have gradually increased the degree of disturbance to the ecological environment and the intensity of land use, thereby changing the regional landscape pattern and affecting the stable development of the ecological environment [14]. As China's economic and social development center gradually shifts to the west, small and medium-sized cities have gradually grown into the mainstay of promoting national economic growth and urbanization [15], and these small and medium-sized cities have gradually developed into urban agglomerations. However, due to the constraints of geographical location, development scale, transportation conditions, resources and environment, and economic development level, the urbanization process of small and medium-sized urban agglomerations may show different characteristics from that of large urban agglomerations [16]. Current studies have relatively focused on large and mature urban agglomerations such as the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration [17], the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration [18], and the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration [19], and lack sufficient attention to the rapidly urbanizing small and medium-sized urban agglomerations. Tianshan North Slope City Agglomeration, located in the northern Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, northwest China, is the most economically developed region in the northern Tianshan Mountains and is one of the most important nodal city clusters for the development of western China. In the critical period of comprehensive urbanization in Xinjiang, the study on the landscape pattern and land use intensity of urban agglomerations on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountain not only enhances the mechanism of the expansion pattern and mechanism of small and medium-sized urban agglomerations, but also has guiding significance for the territorial spatial planning of small and medium-sized urban agglomerations that are gradually developing in similar regions. Therefore, this paper takes the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains as the study area, uses multi-period land use data, applies landscape pattern analysis, spatial autocorrelation analysis, and geographic probe methods to study landscape morphology and pattern changes within the urban agglomeration, and quantitatively explores multiple factors on the dynamic changes of landscape fragmentation and its driving factors.
Point 5：However, the methodology section is built very well based on previous literature.
Response 5：We have checked and cross-referenced the 'research methods' section with the 'previous literature' and corrected any sloppy writing. The meaning of the selected landscape indices in this manuscript has also been added for ease of understanding.
Point 6：Please use the statistical software SPSS, STATA, SAS, and R to produce good-quality graphs.
Response 6：We have remastered all the figures in the manuscript using SPSS software and increased the dpi.
Point 7：Figure 9 is haze and results are not seen. Please improve the dpi of this figure.
Response 7：Figure 9 shows the web data report generated when we used arcgis for global autocorrelation. There was no way to increase its dpi, so we had to try to make it clearer when taking screenshots.
Point 8：The conclusion section is too long. please use your observation, and remove your repetition of results.
Response 8：Thanks to your comments, we have rewritten the conclusion section to remove duplicate results and present the results in a more concise manner. These are as follows.
- Conclusions
In summary, this study takes the urban agglomeration on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains as the study area, combines land use data from 1995-2018, calculates the landscape pattern index using Fragstats software, and explores the spatial characteristics of land use change patterns and landscape patterns in Urumqi through quantitative analysis of substitution and interconversion processes. The results show that the land types have changed significantly over the study period and that heterogeneity within the urban landscape is gradually increasing. Urban land and cropland are the most significant land use types that have changed in the UANSTM. This indicates that urbanisation is accelerating in this region and also ensures that the amount of cropland is available to meet the needs of the growing population. This result is feasible and reasonable.We calculated the land use intensity of UANSTM over a 23-year period and analysed the spatial correlation of the index, finding a high positive spatial correlation and significant spatial aggregation in the degree of land use. The results of the screening of the driving factors contributing to the extent of land use in conjunction with the geodetector model show that as a typical dryland oasis urban agglomeration, it can only rely on oases for its development and is somewhat restrictive. Therefore, the future development of the urban agglomeration should be based on a comprehensive analysis of the laws of urban expansion and development, high-quality development on the basis of ecological and environmental protection, maintaining ecological and environmental security, and building a solid ecological security barrier for the construction of the urban agglomeration on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains.
Point 9：The highlights of the paper do not include any innovative results.
Response 9：Thank you for your comments for us. In this study, we conducted data collection, processing and analysis, using traditional software such as FRAGSTAT, ArcGIS and Geoda, to analyse the landscape pattern and measure the extent of land use in the urban agglomeration on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. Current studies have mainly focused on regional units such as watersheds, forests, wetlands and cities, while less analysis has been done on the landscape pattern evolution characteristics and driving forces of urban agglomerations in arid zones. Inspired by the above related studies, we cannot help but think about what are the characteristics of landscape pattern evolution and its driving forces in the oasis urban agglomerations in arid zones? What are the links between landscape pattern evolution and land use intensity in terms of spatial differentiation patterns? Therefore, we chose the urban agglomerations on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains in the arid region of northwestern Xinjiang, China, as the object of our study to analyse the evolutionary characteristics and driving forces of their landscape patterns.
Secondly, current research has relatively focused on large mature urban agglomerations, such as the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration and the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration, and has lacked sufficient attention to rapidly urbanising small and medium-sized urban agglomerations. We therefore chose to use well-established methods and tools to measure the landscape pattern and land use evolution characteristics and drivers of the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. It may not be very innovative in terms of methodology, but we will later build on the results of this study to predict future landscape patterns, and calculate landscape ecological risks and construct ecological networks to inform the sustainable development of urban agglomerations.
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper. Your comments have been very helpful in improving our manuscript and we thank you again for your comments and suggestions. We have revised the manuscript based on your suggestions. We sincerely hope that this manuscript will eventually be accepted and published in Land.
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me at the address below.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
赵永宇， 邮箱： zhaoyongyu@stu.xjnu.cn
通讯作者：阿里木江·卡西姆
邮箱：alimkasim@xjnu.edu.cn
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
It is interesting to analyze the land use/cover changes on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. However, this paper provides nothing new knowledge to readers. Moreover, the pictures in the paper are really unclear, making it difficult to read. More importantly, the English of the paper is so bad that I can't read it smoothly.
Author Response
Cover letter
Dear reviewer：
Manuscript ID: land-1923301
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper, and we have revised the manuscript in detail based on your suggestions. The following is a response to the comments.
Point 1：It is interesting to analyze the land use/cover changes on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. However, this paper provides nothing new knowledge to readers. Moreover, the pictures in the paper are really unclear, making it difficult to read. More importantly, the English of the paper is so bad that I can't read it smoothly.
Response 1：The introduction to our original draft of this paper did not make the novelty and importance clear; in view of this, we have strengthened the introduction to highlight the novelty.
In this study, we conducted data collection, processing and analysis, using traditional software such as FRAGSTAT, ArcGIS and Geoda, to analyse the landscape pattern and measure the extent of land use in the urban agglomeration on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. Current studies have mainly focused on regional units such as watersheds, forests, wetlands and cities, while less analysis has been done on the landscape pattern evolution characteristics and driving forces of urban agglomerations in arid zones. Inspired by the above related studies, we cannot help but think about what are the characteristics of landscape pattern evolution and its driving forces in the oasis urban agglomerations in arid zones? What are the links between landscape pattern evolution and land use intensity in terms of spatial differentiation patterns? Therefore, we chose the urban agglomerations on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains in the arid region of northwestern Xinjiang, China, as the object of our study to analyse the evolutionary characteristics and driving forces of their landscape patterns.
Secondly, current research has relatively focused on large mature urban agglomerations, such as the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration and the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration, and has lacked sufficient attention to rapidly urbanising small and medium-sized urban agglomerations. We therefore chose to use well-established methods and tools to measure the landscape pattern and land use evolution characteristics and drivers of the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. It may not be very innovative in terms of methodology, but we will later build on the results of this study to predict future landscape patterns, and calculate landscape ecological risks and construct ecological networks to inform the sustainable development of urban agglomerations.
Our English editing service for the manuscript has revised the English of the manuscript. We have also thoroughly revised the manuscript and sincerely hope that you will reconsider our article. Here are the certificates edited in English:
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper. Your comments have been very helpful in improving our manuscript and we thank you again for your comments and suggestions. We have revised the manuscript based on your suggestions. We sincerely hope that this manuscript will eventually be accepted and published in Land.
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me at the address below.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Zhao Yongyu, E-mail: zhaoyongyu@stu.xjnu.cn
Corresponding author: Alimujiang·Kasimu
E-mail: alimkasim@xjnu.edu.cn
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Thank you for inviting me to evaluate the article titled “Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018”. In this study, the authors analyzed the landscape pattern and land use change of the Northern Slope of Tianshan Mountain in recent 23 years by using the classical spatial statistics method, and analyzed the driving forces, which has guiding significance for urban development and ecological protection in the region. However, there are still obvious deficiencies in this paper. I have noted some points for clarification which may be useful for authors and readers to increase the understanding.
(1) The literature review should be further improved to present the originality of this paper. What is the difference between this study and other studies? What is the improvement in this paper compared with other studies? Could you tell us the paper creativeness?
(2) I suggest that the research purpose in the conclusion of the introduction can be considered as (1)... (2)... (3)...，just to be organized.
(3) How to validate your result?
(4) Please further improve the quality of images, such as Fig. 7
(5) Literature review needs some more citations of new papers in this manuscript as follows:
√ Driving Forces behind Land Use and Land Cover Change: A Systematic and Bibliometric Review
√ Spatio-temporal land use/land cover dynamics and its driving forces in the Mekong Basin using Landsat imageries from 1988 to 2017
√ Comparative analysis of driving forces of land use/cover change in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Selenga River Basin
(6) I suggest adding a discussion section comparing the results of this study with those of similar studies and pointing out the limitations of this study.
(7)A large number of studies have realized the prediction of future land use, and it is suggested to add relevant content in this paper.
Overall, the analysis of the article is not deep enough. In my opinion, I suggest the author make a serious revision of the paper.
Author Response
Cover letter
Dear reviewer：
Manuscript ID: land-1923301
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper, and we have revised the manuscript in detail based on your suggestions. The following is a response to the comments.
Point 1: The literature review should be further improved to present the originality of this paper. What is the difference between this study and other studies? What is the improvement in this paper compared with other studies? Could you tell us the paper creativeness?
Response 1: Thanks to your comments, we have rewritten the "Introduction" section . In a rewritten introduction, we set out the differences and improvements between this study and others, and the significance of this study. The details are as follows：
- Introduction
Cities are the most direct carriers of land use/cover change (LUCC) [1], and urbanization is an inevitable result of global economic development, and cities are regarded as the future for all human beings in the world [2]. Rapid urbanization is bound to bring about urban ecological problems such as ecosystem decline, biodiversity reduction, and urban heat island effect, which directly or indirectly affect the quality of urban habitat and sustainable urban development [3]. The emergence of these problems is closely related to land use type conversion and landscape pattern changes in the region [4]. In this process of rapid urbanization, the contradiction between the expansion of urban land and limited land resources, and between rapid urbanization and ecological environment is gradually emerging, especially in developing countries. Therefore, analyzing the urban expansion and landscape pattern changes and driving forces can not only help solve these urban problems, but also provide a scientific basis for the optimization and upgrading of urban land use structure.
Regarding the analysis of urban landscape pattern changes, scholars at home and abroad have conducted a large number of studies. Foreign research on landscape patterns began in the 1950s, focusing on the characteristics and driving mechanisms of spatial and temporal changes in landscape patterns [5], and the prediction of landscape patterns [6]; in terms of research methods, with the rapid development of remote sensing and Geo-Information system, the combination of the two methods has become an effective method to analyze changes in landscape patterns, mainly including dynamic monitoring and landscape index analysis, and has changed from qualitative research to quantitative research [7]. Domestic research on landscape pattern started relatively late, but the results are fruitful. The relevant research mainly focuses on the following aspects: first, the analysis and simulation research of landscape pattern evolution, using CA-Markov model and FLUS model to simulate the future land use condition, so as to make landscape pattern prediction [8-9]. The second is to combine landscape pattern and ecological risk, and to build an ecological network with the help of the least resistance model, to study the optimization of landscape pattern and ecological risk assessment in the region [10]. The third is to analyze the driving factors of the landscape pattern, using geographic detectors, grey correlation analysis and other methods to analyze the driving factors that affect the evolution of the landscape pattern in the region [11-12], however, due to the different geographic locations of the study areas, there are also huge differences in the chosen driver database [13]. Based on the above research results at home and abroad, we can see that the current research mainly focuses on regional units such as watersheds, forests, wetlands, and cities, while less analysis has been done on the landscape pattern evolution characteristics and driving forces of urban agglomerations in arid zones. Inspired by the above related studies, we cannot help but think about the landscape pattern evolution characteristics of oasis urban agglomerations in arid zones and what are their driving forces? What are the links between landscape pattern evolution and land use intensity in terms of spatial divergence patterns? Therefore, we selected the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in the arid region of northwestern Xinjiang, China, as the research object to analyze the evolution characteristics and driving forces of its landscape pattern.
In recent years, human activities have gradually increased the degree of disturbance to the ecological environment and the intensity of land use, thereby changing the regional landscape pattern and affecting the stable development of the ecological environment [14]. As China's economic and social development center gradually shifts to the west, small and medium-sized cities have gradually grown into the mainstay of promoting national economic growth and urbanization [15], and these small and medium-sized cities have gradually developed into urban agglomerations. However, due to the constraints of geographical location, development scale, transportation conditions, resources and environment, and economic development level, the urbanization process of small and medium-sized urban agglomerations may show different characteristics from that of large urban agglomerations [16]. Current studies have relatively focused on large and mature urban agglomerations such as the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration [17], the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration [18], and the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration [19], and lack sufficient attention to the rapidly urbanizing small and medium-sized urban agglomerations. Tianshan North Slope City Agglomeration, located in the northern Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, northwest China, is the most economically developed region in the northern Tianshan Mountains and is one of the most important nodal city clusters for the development of western China. In the critical period of comprehensive urbanization in Xinjiang, the study on the landscape pattern and land use intensity of urban agglomerations on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountain not only enhances the mechanism of the expansion pattern and mechanism of small and medium-sized urban agglomerations, but also has guiding significance for the territorial spatial planning of small and medium-sized urban agglomerations that are gradually developing in similar regions. Therefore, this paper takes the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains as the study area, uses multi-period land use data, applies landscape pattern analysis, spatial autocorrelation analysis, and geographic probe methods to study landscape morphology and pattern changes within the urban agglomeration, and quantitatively explores multiple factors on the dynamic changes of landscape fragmentation and its driving factors.
Point 2：I suggest that the research purpose in the conclusion of the introduction can be considered as (1)... (2)... (3)...，just to be organized.
Response 2：Thanks to your comments, we have rewritten the abstract section to make it more concise and clear. This is as follows：
The analysis of the landscape pattern and land use land cover evolution characteristics and driving force analysis during the expansion of urban agglomerations will not only help urban agglomerations to solve ecological and environmental problems, but also provide a reference basis for urban land use structure optimisation and urban landscape planning.The urban agglomeration of small and medium-sized cities with rapid urbanization, the urban agglomeration of the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, is used as the study area (UANSTM). Using multi-period (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018) land use data and statistical yearbook data, we calculate the landscape index and comprehensive land use degree index, Moran index and geographic probe methods. To study the expansion pattern and spatial distribution pattern of urban land, and to quantitatively explore the influence mechanism of natural and socio-economic factors on the degree of land use, so as to clarify the characteristics and driving forces of land use evolution. The results show that the area of urban land has continued to increase between 1995 and 2018, the dominance of each landscape index within each time period has changed with urban development, and intra-urban landscape heterogeneity is gradually increasing. In terms of the spatial and temporal distribution of the degree of land use, the urban expansion of the urban agglomeration is centred on the city of Urumqi, with a focus on spreading towards the cities of Changji and Shihezi, and the rest of the counties and cities are fast urban expansion zones. Under the influence of multiple source factors, the urban expansion of UANSTM depends on the distribution of oases, which is mainly influenced by the distribution of vegetation and the density of the river network, and can only rely on the ecological carrying capacity of oases to gather production and life. The results of the study can provide a basis for decision making on the future layout of the UANSTM ecological environment.
Point 3：How to validate your result?
Response 3：Here's how we think about the results part. First of all, our original land use data is from the Resource and Environment Science and Data Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the China Multi-period Land Use Land Cover Remote Sensing Monitoring Dataset (CNLUCC) is obtained by manual visual interpretation using Landsat remote sensing image data from the United States as the main information source, and has been verified by repeated accuracy and field verification, so our source data is credible The data are therefore credible.
Secondly, we also write in the discussion section. Our findings are consistent with those of other scholars, and the conclusions reached are generally in agreement. Moreover, we have used very sophisticated methods in our analysis, and therefore we believe that our results are somewhat reliable.
Point 4：Please further improve the quality of images, such as Fig. 7
Response 4：We have remastered all the figures in the manuscript using SPSS software and increased the dpi. And the legend of each diagram has been enlarged for better reading.
Point 5：Literature review needs some more citations of new papers in this manuscript as follows:
Response 5：Thank you for your recommendation, we have read the literature you have recommended carefully and have gained a lot from it. We have also included references to these excellent texts in our manuscript.
Point 6：I suggest adding a discussion section comparing the results of this study with those of similar studies and pointing out the limitations of this study.
Response 6：We have rewritten the discussion section into three parts. Separately, we discuss how our results are similar or different to other scholars, have discussed the limitations of our study and the outlook for future work. The details are as follows：
- Discussion
5.1 Spatial Distribution of Landscape Patterns and LUCC Changing Trend
We used PD, ED, LPI and SHID to evaluate the level of landscape pattern at UANSTM. It was found that the dominance of these four indexes changed with the different stages of urban development. From the perspective of landscape pattern, the study area showed a trend of deepening landscape fragmentation with the development of urbanization, which to a certain extent supports the hypothesis that urban landscape heterogeneity, fragmentation and complexity are presented within the UANSTM [30], indicating the close relationship between urban expansion and landscape pattern. This is consistent with the results of other scholars in this study area [31-32]. With regard to land use/land cover, the present research results are consistent with those of other scholars [33] in that Urumqi, Changji and Shihezi are the centre of gravity of the urban expansion of the UANSTM, showing a leading role in urban development. The differences are in the data sources used and in the time frame of the data, but in general the direction of urban expansion is largely consistent.
But UANSTM is slightly different from other mega-city clusters in China, and its geographical location determines itself to have special characteristics. It has both shortcomings and strengths of its own, with different structures and functions within the urban agglomerations, and the radiating capacity of the core cities not fully generating advantages [34]. However, studies in some large cities (e.g. Shanghai, Beijing, etc.) have shown that rapid economic growth significantly changes the landscape pattern of cities [35-36], and our study not only demonstrates this, but also finds that the economic contribution has a phased effect.
5.2 Influencing factors of urban expansion
The urban expansion of the UANSTM is due to a number of factors. A review of the relevant literature reveals that, firstly, the topography of UANSTM restricts the direction of development, with the Tian Shan Mountain range to the south, which is undulating and unsuitable for human production and living, so the direction of urban expansion and development is mainly towards the northern plains. Secondly, in recent years, UANSTM development has mainly focused on regional integration policies radiating outwards from Urumqi, such as Urumqi-Chanji integration and military integration [37], promoting close integration and joint development between Urumqi and the northern and northeastern cities of Changji, Shihezi, Wujiaqu and Fukang. And in 2007 the expansion of the administrative area of Urumqi to the north-east facilitated the continued construction of the built-up area to the north. Finally, the findings of some scholars also indicate that the urban road system also has a certain traction effect on urban expansion [38-39]. For example, the S111 provincial road, Lian-Huo highway, Tu-Wu highway, Wu-Chang highway and G216 national highway have played a role in promoting the traction development of urban construction land in the northwest, northeast and southeast. UANSTM, as a typical oasis city agglomeration in an arid zone, is influenced by both natural and human factors. The ecosystem is very fragile, the relationship between man and land is extremely sensitive, and the development of the city depends on the distribution of the oasis, which is water-only, making it impossible for UANSTM to develop into a mega-city cluster, and it can only rely on the ecological carrying capacity of the oasis to gather and live.
5.3 Research Limitations and Future Work
Any geographical element has a scale effect [40], and landscape patterns and urban sprawl are no exception. This suggests that differences across time and space can result in different outcomes. In this study, 11 counties and cities north of the Tianshan Mountains were selected as the study area, while other studies on UANSTM have included the Turpan region, located in the eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains, in the study area [33,34]. Therefore, there is a difference in scope selection between this study and the results of other scholars, and the Turpan region will be considered for inclusion in the study area for future exploration. The second is that the study only examines the period 1995-2018 in terms of the time frame, and only analyses the past landscape pattern and urban expansion in the study area, without using specific models to project future land use conditions, which is one of our future research directions.
Point 7：A large number of studies have realized the prediction of future land use, and it is suggested to add relevant content in this paper.
Response 7：With regard to research on land use forecasting, we do not currently forecast the entire Tianshan North Slope urban agglomeration. Because the study area covers such a large area, it lends itself to predictive analysis by city and county. We have therefore completed a paper on landscape pattern forecasting in Urumqi, which has been published in the journal sustainbility. It is about predicting the ecological risk pattern of Urumqi in 2030 using a future land use simulation model, constructing a landscape ecological network and proposing ecological security protection strategies. In the future we will make projections for other counties and cities in the Tianshan North Slope Urban Agglomeration and write up related studies for publication.
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper. Your comments have been very helpful in improving our manuscript and we thank you again for your comments and suggestions. We have revised the manuscript based on your suggestions. We sincerely hope that this manuscript will eventually be accepted and published in Land.
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me at the address below.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
赵永宇， 邮箱： zhaoyongyu@stu.xjnu.cn
通讯作者：阿里木江·卡西姆
邮箱：alimkasim@xjnu.edu.cn
Reviewer 4 Report
The article’s purpose is to study the spatial distribution pattern of the urbanisation of the urban agglomeration (Xinjiang) on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains.
The strength of the article is its analytical part. It includes data collection, processing and analysis. These activities were based on advanced geostatistical calculations, for which GIS software (FRAGSTAT, ArcGIS) and spatial statistics are used. The methodological concept is as much as possible in line with the current global trend of research on urban areas and their surrounding zones.
The article’s biggest weakness is its discussion section (or lack thereof).
The authors do not refer to any results of other works to “discuss” with those obtained. They do not refer to the works of Chinese researchers and works from other world regions. This is a significant shortcoming.
The merits of the work are clarity of structure, accurate description of the methods used and their interpretation, and cartographic and graphic material. The methods used (i.e., Landscape metrics, Spatial autocorrelation, Moran’s index) and tools (software: FRAGSTAT, ArcGIS) are advanced and currently used in world science.
Minor comments:
Throughout the article, at a later stage, the authors need to adjust the citation style in the text (from names to numbering).
In the ‘Study Area’ section, it would be helpful to have a figure showing the study area against the national / Chinese borders. This would help the foreign (non-Chinese) reader quickly find the location of the study area.
The quality of all the figures is unacceptable. They are well done but were exported at too low a resolution (the effect is evident when the document is formatted to pdf). The minimum resolution for image files is 300 dpi or even more (400 or 600).
The notation: km2 – ‘2’ should be written in superscript ‘km2’ (throughout the text, standardise).
The content of the statement: “Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available within the article.” Consider changing it; the current content of the article and data prevents access to the “raw data” on which the results were obtained. It also makes it impossible to check the results obtained.
Author Response
Cover letter
Dear reviewer：
Manuscript ID: land-1923301
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper, and we have revised the manuscript in detail based on your suggestions. The following is a response to the comments.
Point 1：The article’s biggest weakness is its discussion section (or lack thereof). The authors do not refer to any results of other works to “discuss” with those obtained. They do not refer to the works of Chinese researchers and works from other world regions. This is a significant shortcoming.
Response 1：We have rewritten the discussion section into three parts. Separately, we discuss how our results are similar or different to other scholars, have discussed the limitations of our study and the outlook for future work. The details are as follows：
- Discussion
5.1 Spatial Distribution of Landscape Patterns and LUCC Changing Trend
We used PD, ED, LPI and SHID to evaluate the level of landscape pattern at UANSTM. It was found that the dominance of these four indexes changed with the different stages of urban development. From the perspective of landscape pattern, the study area showed a trend of deepening landscape fragmentation with the development of urbanization, which to a certain extent supports the hypothesis that urban landscape heterogeneity, fragmentation and complexity are presented within the UANSTM [30], indicating the close relationship between urban expansion and landscape pattern. This is consistent with the results of other scholars in this study area [31-32]. With regard to land use/land cover, the present research results are consistent with those of other scholars [33] in that Urumqi, Changji and Shihezi are the centre of gravity of the urban expansion of the UANSTM, showing a leading role in urban development. The differences are in the data sources used and in the time frame of the data, but in general the direction of urban expansion is largely consistent.
But UANSTM is slightly different from other mega-city clusters in China, and its geographical location determines itself to have special characteristics. It has both shortcomings and strengths of its own, with different structures and functions within the urban agglomerations, and the radiating capacity of the core cities not fully generating advantages [34]. However, studies in some large cities (e.g. Shanghai, Beijing, etc.) have shown that rapid economic growth significantly changes the landscape pattern of cities [35-36], and our study not only demonstrates this, but also finds that the economic contribution has a phased effect.
5.2 Influencing factors of urban expansion
The urban expansion of the UANSTM is due to a number of factors. A review of the relevant literature reveals that, firstly, the topography of UANSTM restricts the direction of development, with the Tian Shan Mountain range to the south, which is undulating and unsuitable for human production and living, so the direction of urban expansion and development is mainly towards the northern plains. Secondly, in recent years, UANSTM development has mainly focused on regional integration policies radiating outwards from Urumqi, such as Urumqi-Chanji integration and military integration [37], promoting close integration and joint development between Urumqi and the northern and northeastern cities of Changji, Shihezi, Wujiaqu and Fukang. And in 2007 the expansion of the administrative area of Urumqi to the north-east facilitated the continued construction of the built-up area to the north. Finally, the findings of some scholars also indicate that the urban road system also has a certain traction effect on urban expansion [38-39]. For example, the S111 provincial road, Lian-Huo highway, Tu-Wu highway, Wu-Chang highway and G216 national highway have played a role in promoting the traction development of urban construction land in the northwest, northeast and southeast. UANSTM, as a typical oasis city agglomeration in an arid zone, is influenced by both natural and human factors. The ecosystem is very fragile, the relationship between man and land is extremely sensitive, and the development of the city depends on the distribution of the oasis, which is water-only, making it impossible for UANSTM to develop into a mega-city cluster, and it can only rely on the ecological carrying capacity of the oasis to gather and live.
5.3 Research Limitations and Future Work
Any geographical element has a scale effect [40], and landscape patterns and urban sprawl are no exception. This suggests that differences across time and space can result in different outcomes. In this study, 11 counties and cities north of the Tianshan Mountains were selected as the study area, while other studies on UANSTM have included the Turpan region, located in the eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains, in the study area [33,34]. Therefore, there is a difference in scope selection between this study and the results of other scholars, and the Turpan region will be considered for inclusion in the study area for future exploration. The second is that the study only examines the period 1995-2018 in terms of the time frame, and only analyses the past landscape pattern and urban expansion in the study area, without using specific models to project future land use conditions, which is one of our future research directions.
第2点：在整篇文章中，在后期阶段，作者需要调整文本中的引用风格（从名称到编号）。
回应2：我们已将文中所有引文的格式改为数字格式，感谢您的建议。
第3点：在“研究区域”部分，有一个数字显示研究区域与国家/中国边界的关系会很有帮助。这将有助于外国（非中国）读者快速找到研究区域的位置。
回复3：感谢您的评论，我们根据您的意见添加了研究区域的概览图，指出了我们选择的研究区域的确切位置。这显示在下面的地图上：
第4点：所有数字的质量都是不可接受的。它们做得很好，但以太低的分辨率导出（当文档格式化为pdf时，效果很明显）。图像文件的最低分辨率为 300 dpi 甚至更高（400 或 600）。
回应4：我们重新创建了手稿中的所有图像，并将分辨率提高到1200 dpi。
第5点：符号：km2 – “2”应写成上标“km2”（在整个文本中，标准化）。
回应5：这是由于我们写作中的疏忽，我们已经更正了文本中的所有km 2。感谢您的更正。
第6点：声明的内容：“数据可用性声明：本研究中提供的数据在文章中可用。考虑改变它;文章和数据的当前内容阻止了对获得结果的“原始数据”的访问。这也使得无法检查获得的结果。
回应6：感谢您的意见，我们将考虑修改数据可用性声明。当然，我们愿意共享源数据，并将就如何在以后共享数据咨询我们的员工。
非常感谢您的关注和审稿人对我们论文的评论和意见。您的意见对改进我们的稿件非常有帮助，我们再次感谢您的意见和建议。我们根据您的建议修改了稿件。我们衷心希望这份手稿最终被接受并发表在《土地》上。
如果您有任何疑问，请随时通过以下地址与我联系。
谢谢你和最好的问候。
您真诚的，
赵永宇， 邮箱： zhaoyongyu@stu.xjnu.cn
通讯作者：阿里木江·卡西姆
邮箱：alimkasim@xjnu.edu.cn
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Manuscript ID- Land-1923301
Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
The manuscript was improved a lot, and it is better now. I have no comments about the new text. However, I also believe that the manuscript, especially the results and methodology topics, is too long. Your detailed methodology could increase the paper's chance to be useful for a great broad of researchers. Figure 1 dpi should be improved.
Author Response
Cover letter
Dear reviewer：
Manuscript ID: land-1923301
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
We would like to thank the Reviewer for giving us the opportunity to reply to your comments and move on with the review process. Also, we are grateful for the reviewers’ recognition of our work and the constructive comments that greatly helped improve our manuscript. On behalf of the co-authors and myself, I take the opportunity to resubmit our manuscript to the esteemed journal, Land. The main revisions in the paper and the point-to-point responses to the reviewer’s comments are appended below. Moreover, the language has been thoroughly improved linguistically and grammatically. The reviewer’s comments are in black font, and our responses are in blue. The details can also be seen in our revised manuscript. The modified parts of the manuscript are highlighted in red in the Word version.
Thanks again.
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1：The manuscript was improved a lot, and it is better now. I have no comments about the new text. However, I also believe that the manuscript, especially the results and methodology topics, is too long. Your detailed methodology could increase the paper's chance to be useful for a great broad of researchers. Figure 1 dpi should be improved.
Response 1：Thank you for your positive and constructive comments on the manuscript. According to your recommendations, we have carefully modified the manuscript. Also, English has been improved linguistically and grammatically. The main corrections and responses to the comments are as follows:
①We have narrowed down the length of the conclusion and briefly described the research results and significance of our manuscript. The details are as follows:
6 Conclusion
In summary, this study takes the UANSTM as the study area, combines land use data and calculates the landscape pattern index to explore the land use change pattern and spatial characteristics of the landscape pattern of the UANSTM. The results indicate a gradual increase in intra-urban landscape heterogeneity over the study period. Urban land and cropland were the most significant land use types that changed. It shows that urbanisation is accelerating in this region while safeguarding the amount of cropland to meet the needs of population growth. This result is feasible and reasonable. We also analysed the spatial correlation of land use intensity over the UANSTM23 period and found significant aggregation in space. In the analysis of the driving forces, it was found that UANSTM, as an oasis city cluster in the arid zone, can only rely on the oasis for its development, and that urban development is restrictive. Therefore, ecological protection should be used as the basis for future development to maintain the ecological security of the oasis and build a firm ecological security barrier for the construction of the urban cluster on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains.
②For the methods section, we have reduced the methods section as well, while ensuring that the methods are described in detail. We found that our further reduction of the methods section was likely to result in an unclear presentation of the methods, so we have kept the methods section as much as possible. In the methods section, we briefly describe the characteristics of each method and the purpose for which we are using it. The rewritten methods section is as follows：
- Research methods
3.1. Dynamic degree of land use
The dynamic degree of land use refers to the quantitative change in a certain land-use type in a certain period of time in the study area [21]. The formula is as follows:
|
(1) |
where K is the dynamic degree of land use; Ua and Ub are the areas of a certain land type at the beginning and end of the study, respectively; and T is length.
3.2. Landscape pattern analysis
The landscape index is a simple quantitative index which contains highly concentrated information about the landscape pattern and reflects the characteristics of its structure and spatial allocation [22]. We selected the patch density (PD), edge density (ED), and largest patch index (LPI) to represent the characteristics of the individual landscape units; the Shannon diversity index (SHDI) was used to characterize the overall landscape diversity (Table 2).
Table 2. The meaning of the selected landscape index.
|
Landscape metrics |
Unit |
Meaning |
|
Patch density |
pcs/km² |
The larger the value, the greater the number of patches |
|
Edge density |
Meter/km² |
The larger the value, the greater the edge length of the patches |
|
Largest patch index |
- |
The larger the value, the larger the proportion of the largest patches to the landscape area |
|
Shannon diversity index |
- |
The larger the value, the greater the patches’ heterogeneity |
3.3. Degree of comprehensive land use
The degree of comprehensive land use is the degree of human disturbance to the land ecosystem [23-24]. According to the comprehensive analysis method [25], the land use was divided into four levels according to the equilibrium state of the natural land complex, and it was given an index (Table 3). The change in the degree of land use reflects the development of the land use. The formula is as follows:
|
(2) |
where La and Lb are the comprehensive indexes of the land-use degree at times a and b, respectively; ΔLb-a is its variation; Ca and Cb are the area proportions of a certain land type at times a and b, respectively; Ai is the grading index; and n is the grading number of the degree of land use. If Δ Lb-a > 0, the land use is in a period of development; otherwise, it is in a period of adjustment or decline.
Table 3. Land-use types and classification.
|
Land-use type |
Unused land |
Forest land, grassland, and water bodies |
Cultivated land |
Urban land |
|
Grading index |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
3.4. Spatial autocorrelation analysis
Spatial autocorrelation analysis can be used to explain the aggregation characteristics of the landscape, and it can be divided into global spatial autocorrelation and local spatial autocorrelation [26]. Moran’s I is used to measure the degree of spatial autocorrelation. Anselin proposed bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis to explain the correlations between the spatial variables and other variables in adjacent areas [27]. The calculation formula is:
|
(3) |
where n is the total number of patches; Xi and Xj are the surface temperature grades of patches i and j, respectively; Wij is the spatial weight matrix; x is the average value of all of the patches; Wij is the weight of patches i and j; and S is the standard deviation.
Local autocorrelation analysis was used to analyze the spatial correlation between the variables in the local area. The Lisa distribution map based on the Z-test can directly show the aggregation and differentiation characteristics of the variables in the local area. The calculation formula is as follows:
|
(4) |
where I is the autocorrelation value of the local space.
3.5. Driving force analysis
Geographic Detector is a spatial analysis model with four levels: risk, factor, ecology, and interaction [28]. Among them, factor detection is mainly used to identify the independent variables that affect the dependent variables, while interactive detection is used to judge whether the effects of the different independent variables are enhanced or weakened when they act on the dependent variables at the same time [29] (Table 4).
Table 4. Results of the two-factor interaction types.
|
Judgment basis |
Interaction type |
|
q(X1∩X2)<Min(q(X1), q(X2)) |
Nonlinear weakening |
|
Min(q(X1), q(X2))<q(X1∩X2)<Max(q(X1), q(X2) |
Single-factor nonlinear weakening |
|
q(X1∩X2)>Max(q(X1), q(X2) |
Two-factor enhancement |
|
q(X1∩X2)=q(X1)+q(X2) |
Independent |
|
q(X1∩X2)>q(X1)+q(X2) |
Nonlinear enhancement |
③We have increased the dpi of Figure 1 to 1200. See line-266 for details
Figure 1 Overview map of the study area
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper. Your comments have been very helpful in improving our manuscript and we thank you again for your comments and suggestions. We have revised the manuscript based on your suggestions. We sincerely hope that this manuscript will eventually be accepted and published in Land.
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me at the address below.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Zhao Yongyu, E-mail: zhaoyongyu@stu.xjnu.cn
Corresponding author: Alimujiang·Kasimu
E-mail: alimkasim@xjnu.edu.cn
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript has been greatly improved, but there are still some problems, especially in the discussion section. The discussion is not an expansion of the results, the reliability and significance of the findings should be discussed.
Author Response
Coverletter
Dear Reviewer,
Manuscript ID: Land -1923301
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Spatial and temporal changes of urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in urban agglomeration on the Northern Slope of Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
We would like to thank the reviewers for giving us the opportunity to respond to your comments and continue the review process. In addition, we thank the reviewers for their recognition of our work and constructive comments, which have greatly helped improve our manuscript. On behalf of the co-authors and myself, I take this opportunity to resubmit our manuscript to the respected journal Land. Major revisions to the paper and peer-to-peer responses to reviewer comments are attached below. In addition, the language has been thoroughly improved in terms of language and grammar. Reviewers' comments are in black font, while our responses are in blue. Details can also be seen in our revised manuscript. Revisions to the manuscript are highlighted in red in the Word version.
Thanks again.
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1：The manuscript has been greatly improved, but there are still some problems, especially in the discussion section. The discussion is not an expansion of the results, the reliability and significance of the findings should be discussed.
Response 1: We have expanded the discussion section in line with the reviewers' comments. When we previously wrote the discussion, we were already comparing the results of the study with those obtained by other scholars. The direction of urban expansion and the characteristics of the changing landscape pattern were found to be largely consistent. On the other hand, the pattern of urban expansion involved in the study is consistent with the national and government policy planning. We have added the specific additions to '5.1 Spatial Distribution of Landscape Patterns and LUCC Changing Trend'. The details are as follows:
- Discussions
5.1 Spatial Distribution of Landscape Patterns and LUCC Changing Trend
We used PD, ED, LPI, and SHID to evaluate the landscape patterns in the UANSTM. It was found that the dominance of these four indexes changed with the different stages of urban development. From the perspective of landscape pattern, the study area showed a trend of deepening landscape fragmentation with the development of urbanization; to a certain extent, this finding supports the hypothesis that urban landscape heterogeneity, fragmentation, and complexity are presented within the UANSTM [30], and indicates a close relationship between urban expansion and landscape pattern. This is consistent with the results of other scholars in this study area [31-32]. With regard to land use/land cover, the present research results are consistent with those of other scholars [33]: Urumqi, Changji, and Shihezi were found to be the center of the urban expansion of the UANSTM, with leading roles in urban development. As the center of the urban agglomeration, Urumqi plays the role of "leader" of the UANSTM. Urumqi's urban expansion pattern is mainly a marginal outward growth pattern, which is conducive to the strengthening of its core city functions, fully utilising its role as an economic, financial, technological innovation and transport hub in Xinjiang. This is consistent with the urban development pattern of "one core, two axes and multiple ethnic groups" in the "Fourteenth Five Year Plan". The pattern of urban expansion involved in the study is consistent with the national and government policy planning.
There are differences in the data sources used and in the time frame for the data; however, in general, the direction of urban expansion is largely consistent. The UANSTM is slightly different from other mega-city clusters in China, and its geographical location lends it special characteristics. It has both shortcomings and strengths of its own, with different structures and functions within the urban agglomerations, and the radiating capacity of the core cities does not fully generate certain advantages [34]. However, studies in some large cities (e.g., Shanghai, Beijing, etc.) have shown that rapid economic growth significantly changes the landscape pattern of cities [35-36]; our study demonstrates this also, while finding that the economic contribution has a phased effect.
5.2 Influencing factors of urban expansion
The urban expansion of the UANSTM is due to a number of factors. A review of the relevant literature reveals that, firstly, the topography of the UANSTM restricts the direction of development—the Tian Shan Mountain Range lies to the south, and is undulating and unsuitable for human production and living; thus, the direction of urban expansion and development is mainly towards the northern plains. Secondly, in recent years, the development of UANSTM has mainly focused on regional integration policies, which have radiated outwards from Urumqi—such as the Urumqi–Chanji integration and military integration [37]—promoting close integration and joint development between Urumqi and the northern and northeastern cities of Changji, Shihezi, Wujiaqu, and Fukang. Additionally, in 2007, the expansion of the administrative area of Urumqi to the northeast facilitated the continued construction of the built-up area to the north. Finally, the findings of some scholars also indicate that the urban road system also has a certain traction effect on urban expansion [38-39]. For example, the S111 provincial road, the Lian-Huo highway, the Tu-Wu highway, the Wu-Chang highway, and the G216 national highway have played roles in promoting the traction development of urban construction land in the northwest, northeast, and southeast. UANSTM, as a typical oasis city agglomeration in an arid zone, is influenced by both natural and human factors. The ecosystem is very fragile, the relationship between man and land is extremely sensitive, and the development of the city depends on the distribution of the oasis, which comprises water only; this makes it impossible for UANSTM to develop into a mega-city cluster, and it can only rely on the ecological carrying capacity of the oasis to gather and live
5.3 Research Limitations and Future Work
Any geographical element has a scale effect [40], and landscape patterns and urban sprawl are no exception. This suggests that differences across time and space can result in different outcomes. In this study, 11 counties and cities north of the Tianshan Mountains were selected as the study area, while other studies on the UANSTM have included the Turpan region, located in the eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains, in the study area [33,34]. Therefore, there is a difference in scope selection between this study and the results of other scholars, and the Turpan region will be considered for inclusion in the study area for future exploration. The second is that the study only examines the period 1995-2018, and only analyses the past landscape pattern and urban expansion in the study area, without using specific models to project future land-use conditions, which is one of our future research directions.
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper. Your comments have been very helpful in improving our manuscript and we thank you again for your comments and suggestions. We have revised the manuscript based on your suggestions. We sincerely hope that this manuscript will eventually be accepted and published in Land.
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me at the address below.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Zhao Yongyu, E-mail: zhaoyongyu@stu.xjnu.cn
Corresponding author: Alimujiang·Kasimu
E-mail: alimkasim@xjnu.edu.cn
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
Thank you for the changes made to the article. I think they have helped to improve the manuscript
Author Response
Cover letter
Dear reviewer：
Manuscript ID: land-1923301
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Spatiotemporal changes in the urban landscape pattern and driving forces of LUCC characteristics in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains from 1995 to 2018
We would like to thank the Reviewer for giving us the opportunity to reply to your comments and move on with the review process. Also, we are grateful for the reviewers’ recognition of our work and the constructive comments that greatly helped improve our manuscript. On behalf of the co-authors and myself, I take the opportunity to resubmit our manuscript to the esteemed journal, Land.
The references cited in our manuscript are all in general agreement with the subject of our research. Probably because our chosen study area, the urban agglomeration on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, is a developing group of small and medium-sized cities, the literature on urban expansion and the evolution of landscape patterns in this urban agglomeration is not very rich. We therefore cite articles on the urban expansion of oases in arid zones as well as other studies of other urban agglomerations in China. It may seem that the literature cited does not fit well with the study area, but we have tried to adopt well-established methods from other literature and implement them into our study area. Thank you very much for your understanding.
Thank you very much for your attention and the reviewers' comments and opinions on our paper. Your comments have been very helpful in improving our manuscript and we thank you again for your comments and suggestions. We have revised the manuscript based on your suggestions. We sincerely hope that this manuscript will eventually be accepted and published in Land.
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me at the address below.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Zhao Yongyu, E-mail: zhaoyongyu@stu.xjnu.cn
Corresponding author: Alimujiang·Kasimu
E-mail: alimkasim@xjnu.edu.cn
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
