Detection of forest Free - South Slope Features from Land Cover Classification in Mongolia

Land cover types of Hustai National Park (HNP) in Mongolia, a hotspot area with rare species, were classified and their temporal changes were evaluated using Landsat MSS TM/ETM data between 1994 and 2000. Maximum likelihood classification analysis showed an overall accuracy of 88.0% and 85.0% for the 1994 and 2000 images, respectively. Kappa coefficients associated with the classification were resulted to 0.85 for 1994 and 0.82 for 2000 image. Land cover types revealed significant temporal changes in the classification maps between 1994 and 2000. The area has increased considerably by $166.5km^2$ for mountain steppe. By contrast, agricultural areas and degraded areas affected by human being activity were decreased by $46.1km^2$ and $194.8km^2$ over the six year span, respectively. These areas were replaced by mountain steppe area. Specifically, forest area was noticeably fragmented, accompanied by the decrease of $\sim400$ ha. The forest area revealed a pattern with systematic gain and loss associated with the specific phenomenon called as forest free-south slope. We discussed the potential environmental conditions responsible for the systematic pattern and addressed other biological impacts by outbreaks of forest pests and ungulates.