Spatial distribution and evolution characteristics of settlement in Maolan nature reserve of karst area, Guizhou Province

To explore the characteristics of spatial distribution and evolution of settlement is of great significance to understand the man-environment dynamic in the Nature Reserve Area. In this paper, we studied the spatial distribution and dynamic evolution of settlements in the Maolan Reserve Area with data derived from the interpretation of high resolution imagery and topographic maps from the period of 1963 to 2015. The results showed that, (1) The settlement of the study area are mainly concentrated in 4 experimentation areas. Moreover, from 1963 to 2015, the size of settlement in the experimentation area had been increasing, and in 2005, the settlement agglomeration degree experienced a turning point from which it began to increase from the weakened process. (2) At the same time, the function of the settlement is changing with the increasing of settlement scale, and a new type of ecological tourism settlement is formed. (3) There is a significant positive correlation between the settlement area and the cultivated land area in the peak-cluster depression area of Maolan Reserve Area. The low density of settlements and the low ratio of settlement area to cultivated land area are the basic reasons for the existence of intact vegetation in the study area. The study results are useful to understand the dynamic relationship between human and the environment of Maolan Reserve Area, and provide a reference for the optimal regulation of man-land relationship in the contiguous peak-cluster depression area.