Abstract: Spatial hotspot detection,dynamic analysis of forest ecosystem types,trend surface analysis and geographical weighted regression analysis were applied to analyze the change of forest ecosystem diversity from 2005 to 2009 in Hunan Province.Study results show that:1)the counties with a large number of disappeared forest ecosystem types (cold spots)were mainly distributed in the northwest of the study area,while the counties with a large number of emerging ecosystem types (hotspots)were concentrated in the eastern part of the province; 2)the disappeared forest ecosystem types in Hunan Province from 2005 to 2009 were deciduous broadleaved forest,shrub,grassland,bare land,while the emerging types were mixed broadleaved and needle-leaved forest and mosaic grassland and forest; 3)the spatial pattern of the number of disappeared forest ecosystem types showed a sloping trend from north to south,while the pattern for emerging types showed a sloping trend from west to east; 4)the change number of ecosystem types was negatively correlated with the average altitude and poverty rate,positively correlated with population density.

Key words: forest ecosystem diversity, dynamic analysis, Hunan Province