Abstract: The macro-pattern of a typical meta-plant-community in the area of Thousand Island Lake, Chun’an country, Hangzhou, was studied using the methods of remote sensing and GIS. The values of NDVI of islands with different sizes, and the landscape pattern of island patches with different grades of NDVI were studied. The results revealed the significant positive correlation between the sizes of islands and their NDVI values. The landscape pattern of patches with various NDVI grades within the different types of islands influenced on its overall level of NDVI values to some extent. The entire landscape suffered from high degree of fragmentation. The results showed that the larger the island area is, the smaller the density of patches with various NDVI grades is, the smaller the degree of fragmentation is, the stronger the cohesion of patches with same NDVI grade is, the more diverse the landscape types is, and the evener the distribution of patches of each type in the landscape is. Such vegetation pattern is conducive to the migration and colonization of individuals or propagules of species, as well as the functional linkage between local plant communities with different NDVI grades, and the maintenance of stability of community structures, resulting the relatively high overall level of NDVI. The results of the landscape indexes of the patches with various NDVI grades reflected the macro-pattern of the meta-plant-communities in the area of Thousand Island Lake, and deepened our understanding of the landscape pattern of the area, which preliminarily tested the adaptability and feasibility of the methods of remote sensing and GIS in studying the macro-pattern of meta-plant-communities in general.

Key words: NDVI, landscape pattern, remote sensing image, GIS, Thousand Island Lake, meta-community, NDVI, landscape pattern, remote sensing image, GIS, Thousand Island Lake