Abstract: Based on the 1987-2007 Landsat TM/ETM⁺ images of Jimei District in Xiamen City, and through the analysis of landscape indices on both patch- and landscape scales, this paper quantitatively studied the evolvement and spatiotemporal characteristics of the unique landscape pattern in the coastal peri-urban area. The evolvement of the landscape pattern in the area had the characters of rapid, instable, heterogeneous, and transitional. In 1987-2007, the land area for urban construction increased from 2.7 km² to 29.1 km², with an average annual growth rate of 13%, but still was not the predominant landscape. The rapid expansion of urban construction land was mainly through occupying farmland and absorbing rural settlements, which showed the character of “enclave” and resulted in a complex space form. In the same period, the land area for rural construction increased by 2.3 times, with an average annual growth rate of 6.2%, and the expansion of the rural construction land had the characters of out-of-order and dispersive. 42% of the farmland was depleted by the urban and rural sprawl, resulting in its fragmentation. Under the effects of urbanization, the overall landscape pattern of the peri-urban area tended to be fragmentized and heterogeneous, because of the rapid and complicated landscape change.

Key words: peri-urban area, landscape pattern, urbanization, Jimei District, strawberry, light quality, photosynthesis, production, quality.