Spatial Based Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover Change on the Different Landscape Patterns in the Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia

The primary aim of this study was to assess multi-year land use and land cover (LULC) changes utilizing GIS techniques within different landscape patterns of the Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia. The study area, i.e., the Kapota Island is one of the important regions where its terrestrial ecosystem consists of protected and developed zones. A spatial pattern analysis technique was implemented to classify and assess changes in LULC from 1990 to 2020 using Landsat 5, 7, and 8 images. As many as 275 to 414 samples were used in the maximum likelihood procedure, and their accuracy was assessed following field investigations to understand the landscape response to LULC changes. A number of landscape metrics were calculated to understand the landscape patterns in the study region. The results of the analysis show that vegetated areas have changed from 1,111.6 ha in 1990, then to 1,410.9 and 1,227.5 ha in 2010, and 2020, respectively, and this is related to the climate, as during the peak dry season, planting patterns change, leading to a reduction in green cover compared to the rainy season. The results also reveal that landscape metric indices vary considerably according to the variation of nature conditions, especially in the extreme climate events and human intervention. This becomes the implication of the condition where the landscape pattern is realistically fragmented, and complex, with lower connectivity and greater diversity. This approach has proven effective in interpreting human interventions in land utilization, as well as assessing the influence of extreme climate events on ecosystem sustainability in small islands. The higher the spatial resolution of spatial images, the better the interpretation of ecological landscape structure, function, and changes. This study gives an important insight into spatial regulation, especially in the designation of spatial pattern delineation as well as land utilization and ecosystem management at small islands with a dominant protected function.