Assessing Forest Landscape Stability through Automatic Identification of Landscape Pattern Evolution in Shanxi Province of China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors introduce t a method to evaluate landscape stability by analyzing the coordinated changes of multiple landscape indices to automatically extract the change processes occurring in the forest landscape. In addition, long-term evolution modes are defined according to the intermediate change process.

 

Major comments:

 

 No comma in the title.

Assessing Forest Landscape Stability through Automatic Identification of Landscape Pattern Evolution in Shanxi Province, China

 

-> Assessing Forest Landscape Stability through Automatic Identification of Landscape Pattern Evolution in Shanxi Province of China ??

 

 Regarding time series analysis, some important references are missing: Integrating object proposal with attention networks for video saliency detection. Inf. Sci., 2021;

 

What is the novelty in this article different from existing related articles?

 

If possible, the authors should publicize their code in a confidential platform only for the review purposes.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

 A well written manuscript. 

Author Response

Thanks very much for the reviewer’s recognition of our study.

Reviewer 3 Report

 This study proposed a method for assessing forest landscape stability by characterizing changes 17 in forest landscape patterns in Shanxi province, China. In general, the structure is reasonable and has certain application value. Some suggestions:

1、 The introduction lacks the current research progress. What are the current methods for assessing forest landscape stability? What are their advantages and disadvantages? Why did you choose this method?

2、 Line 141-142：Why choose the median value of the annual image to synthesize the annual images？On what basis?

3、 We generally refer to the implementation of ecological engineering as ecological restoration. In my view, definitions of the change processes based on CA and PD trends needs careful consideration. For example, If CA is no trend, PD is Negative, this study defined as restoration. Is it possible that this is the result of natural vegetation growth?

4、 Have you considered the lag of ecological restoration benefits after the implementation of ecological restoration projects?

5、 The study area is large, so it is necessary to select several typical areas for detailed analysis.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

The evolution of forest landscape patterns can reveal the landscape stability of forest dynamics undergoing complex ecological processes. Thus, this paper discusses the assessment of forest landscape stability through automatic identification of landscape pattern evolution in Shanxi Province, China, is meaningful and significant.

This paper is well organized and well written. The language is generally acceptable and understandable. The data used is believable and the conclusions are reliable. I suggest this paper be accepted for publishing after the following minor revisions.

1.P2, L62. “and their dynamic reflects” should be “and its dynamic reflects”.

2. P2, L62-L84. This paragraph is too long. I suggest it be divided into two paragraphs according to the main meanings of the paragraph.

3. It is subjective and therefor unbelievable to use “we” in a scientific paper. For example, “We constructed a landscape stability assessment method considering multiple 444 ecological processes”. I suggest the authors check throughout the paper and revise the corresponding sentences.

4. The introduction section is generally good and covers the main aspects of the topic. But it does not cite the most recent papers such as the following two:

Amrutha, K., Danumah, J.H., Nikhil, S. et al. Demarcation of Forest Fire Risk Zones in Silent Valley National Park and the Effectiveness of Forest Management Regime. J geovis spat anal 6, 8 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41651-022-00103-3

Raji, S.A., Odunuga, S. & Fasona, M. Spatially Explicit Scenario Analysis of Habitat Quality in a Tropical Semi-arid Zone: Case Study of the Sokoto–Rima Basin. J geovis spat anal 6, 11 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41651-022-00106-0

5. L153. “kappa coefficient” should be “Kappa Coefficient”?

6. L194. Do you need a reference here: “Following the suggestion of Hallac et al.”?

7. P9, L281. The texts in Figure3 are illegible.

8. Please move the italic texts in Figure 4(b), Figure 5(b) and Figure 6(b) so that they are at appropriate places.

9. The discussion section is generally good. But I suggest the authors divided the last paragraph into shorter ones and number their viewpoints one by one, so that the readers can understand the discuss more easily.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accept in present form