Abstract: Based on Landsat MSS/TM images in 1983, 1993, 2001, 2006 and 2010, spatiotemporal patterns of land use change in Xiamen were analyzed. An improved change trajectory analysis of stability mapping, land use change degree, landscape indexes and systematical clustering method were synthetically applied in this study. The results showed that woodland and unused land decreased significantly, buildup land increased continually, cultivated land first increased and then decreased, and water body almost unchanged from 1983 to 2010. During the study period, the trajectory of land use change involved seven process categories. Quantitatively, the main transfer directions of land use types were the conversion to cultivated land and buildup land. The conversion to cultivated land mainly occurred in the period between 1983 and 1993, accounting for 9.2% of the total area of Xiamen, among which the area converted from forest land accounted for 5.17% of the total area. Buildup land was mainly converted from erosive woodland, cultivated land and marine reclamation land; Extension mode had been a peripheral type to filling type growth, with urban form evolution from unstable form to stable form, and gradual extension from the inside island to suburbs and outer suburbs of the outside island. Due to the topographic conditions, the woodlands were well protected at high altitude, while in flat areas the conversion between woodland and cultivated land happened frequently, with the conversion proportion of 14.64% of total area. The urban spatial structure was determined by the clustered, relatively clustered and relatively dispersed types, and the total area of these three types was more than 80% of the whole city. Along with the urbanization, urban spatial structure was developed from relatively dispersed type to relatively clustered type. There were more than 1300 kinds of trajectory in dispersed type located on the river entrances to the sea in the outside island, accounting for 4.75% of the total area of the city, which indicated that land use in these areas was in a very unstable state. The results provide basic data support for the rational use of land resources, landfill control scale, and scientific arrangement of landfill in Xiamen.

Key words: ecosystem function, ecosystem services, biodiversity, generating mechanism, humaninvolved activity.