As a result of population growth and economic development

t he intensity of landuse has been in- creased greatly

which has had and continues to have a negative impact on environment

especially in the mou ntainous areas with fragile ecological environment.Unreasonable landuse in the mountainous areas has a negative impact on ecological environment and sustainable economic development.Taking Yongding dist rict of Zhangjiajie City Hu’nan Province for an example

this paper reveals land use changes and their effects on ecological environment in the mountainous area of Western Hu 'nan Province.Results indicate that

with the growt h of urban area

the construction area

containing residing area

mining area

and transportation area have been increasing continually

while the area and qualit y of cultivated land have been decreasing gradual- ly.A large amount of natural forest has been cut down

which weakens the ecological functions.Land use changes have enormously influenced the ecological environment

such as intensive soil erosion

worsening of t he water quality

and biodiversity loss.