## 3 Results and Findings
Additionally, a little construction work was implemented in the southwest of the village and around the Yungang Museum (at the east of the core zone). No construction work happened in the core zone, and only little vegetation turned into barren land. We visited the Yungang Grottoes on 25 March 2021 to record the recent situation at those changed places. The on-site photos of newly built solar panels and demolished buildings in the Wuguantun village are shown in Figure 4, which accord with the extraction result. The Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian has a rather small core zone, and no change happened in this area (Figure 5). Some minor changes in the buffer zone were due to newly built buildings and some reconstruction work (Figure 7b). Vegetation in the park was converted into a few paths and barren lands for a better accessibility. The farmland barely changed except for different seasonal crops. Chongyang River goes across the protected area of the Chengcun Ancient City Ruins (Figure 6). The greatest change was from vegetation to farmland (Figure 7c), indicating an increasing demand of the utilization of land. This type of change happened in one of the core zones, causing a high interference level. The changes in the river and along the riverbank were also great, and these changes were largely contributed by human activities. A shuice was built across the river, causing a decrease in tidal flats at lower reaches. Many construction works along the river were carried out during these five years. A road was repaired and widened on one side of the river (from barren land to built-up land); another road was built passing through the farmland on the other side of the river (from farmland to built-up land). Figure 4: Land-cover changes in Yungang Grottoes (**a**). Zoomed images show the increase in solar panels in the southwest part of the buffer zone in Zone A (**b**); many low flat-roofed buildings were demolished, and a few buildings were built in the northern part of the buffer zone in Zone B (**c**). On-site photos show solar panels in Zone A (**d**), and most buildings have been demolished in Zone B (**e**). Figure 5: Land-cover changes in Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian (**a**). The zoomed images show that there is a little construction work in Zone A (**b**); vegetation was converted into a few paths and barren land in the park in Zone B (**c**). Figure 6: Land-cover changes in Chengçun Ancient City Ruins (**a**). The zoomed images show that a sluice was built across the river and that the road was widened and repaired on one side of the river in Zone A (**b**); vegetation was converted to farmland, and a new road was built on the other side of the river in Zone B (**c**). The cultural landscape of each study site is distinctive. The Yungang Grottoes are embraced between mountains and only a few villages in the surrounding. There are no large farmland patches in this area, so impacts from human activity are expected to be little. The Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian is located near a border between the city and a suburban area. Densely distributed buildings are in the south, and a large patch of farmland are in the north; thus, urban construction and agricultural activities may both cause interferences to the pagoda. The Chengcun Ancient City Ruins are in an intermountain basin near the Chengcun village. Farmland and thick vegetation are on both banks of the river. Natural (e.g., forest and water) and man-made (e.g., construction and farming) factors may both affect the ancient ruins. Interestingly, the Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian has the best preservation status. Although located in a relatively vulnerable environment that is easy to be affected by human activities, the core zone of the pagoda is strictly protected, and the buffer zone remains at a low interference level. The Yungang Grottoes and the Chengcun Ancient City Ruins both show a rather high interference level, but their land-cover change trends indicate very different results.