Recessive Transition Mechanism of Arable Land Use Based on the Perspective of Coupling Coordination of Input–Output: A Case Study of 31 Provinces in China

Land Use Transitions under Rapid Urbanization: A Perspective from Developing China

Land use transition is a manifestation of land use and land cover change (LUCC) and is also a major research focus of the Global Land Project (GLP), as well as land system science (LSS) [...]

Habitat Quality Effect and Driving Mechanism of Land Use Transitions: A Case Study of Henan Water Source Area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project

Accelerating urbanization and industrialization have had substantial impacts on economic and social activities, changed the surface environment of the earth, and affected global climate change and biodiversity. If reasonable and effective management measures are not implemented in time, unchecked urbanization and industrialization will damage the structure and function of the ecosystem, endanger human and biological habitats, and ultimately lead to difficulties in achieving sustainable development. This study investigates the habitat quality effect of land use transition and analyzes the cause and mechanism of such changes from an economic–social–ecological complex system perspective in the Henan Water Source (HWS) area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (MRP). The study comprehensively examines the characteristics of land use transition from 2000 to 2020. The results indicate that the habitat quality of the HWS area of the MRP decreased slowly over the past 20 years, with a more obvious decrease in the past 10 years. Specifically, the proportion of high quality habitat areas is relatively large and stable, and the medium and low quality habitat areas increase significantly. Analyzing the change degree of the proportion of different levels of habitat quality area in each county, revealed that Dengzhou City had the most dramatic change, followed by the Xichuan and Neixiang counties; other counties did not undergo obvious change. The results of habitat quality factor detection by GeoDetector showed that land use transition plays a decisive role in the change of habitat quality. The types of land use with high habitat suitability compared to those with low habitat suitability will inevitably lead to a decrease in habitat quality. Additionally, elevation, slope, landform type, and annual precipitation are important factors affecting the habitat quality in the HWS area of the MRP, indicating that ecological factors determine the background conditions of habitat quality. The gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the proportion of agricultural output value, grain yield per unit area in economic factors, population density, and urbanization rate in social factors affect the spatial differentiation of habitat quality to a certain extent. Soil type, annual mean temperature, vegetation type, and NDVI index have weak effects on habitat quality, while road network density and slope aspect have no significant effect on habitat quality. The results of this study provide a basis for the improvement of habitat quality, ecosystem protection and restoration, land resource management, and related policies in the HWS area of the MRP. They also provide references for the research and practice of the habitat quality effects of land use transition in other regions.

Scale Transition and Structure–Function Synergy Differentiation of Rural Residential Land: A Dimensionality Reduction Transmission Process from Macro to Micro Scale

In order to enhance the scientific understanding of the transition law of rural residential areas and enrich the theory and method system of land use transition research, this article takes Shandong Province as an example and constructs a comprehensive research framework of rural residential land scale, structure, and function from the perspective of the combination of the macro and micro scales based on differences between the rural residential areas in the region and the village scale forms. Using model quantitative analysis and horizontal comparative analysis methods, this paper explores the process characteristics of rural residential land use scale transition and the corresponding stage differentiation law of spatial structure and system function. Research has shown that the stage characteristics of the scale transition of rural residential land use in Shandong Province in the past 10 years are significant. The five transition stages—from the primary stage, low stage, intermediate stage, advanced stage, to the stable stage—show obvious spatial agglomeration and spatial autocorrelation, which are mainly driven by the positive and negative interactions of economic development, the policy environment, natural conditions, and population. With the gradual upgrading of the land use scale transition in rural residential areas, the spatial pattern of rural residential areas has been continuously optimized, the land use structure has tended to be balanced and complicated, and the living-production-ecological function as a whole has been strengthened. The essence of this type of differentiation is the differential performance of rural residential areas adapting their own conditions to the external environment. The transition of the rural residential area from the macro to the micro scale is also the process of realizing rural reconstruction and rural revitalization. In the future, under the framework of the “element–structure–function” system of rural residential areas, the rural transition and development should be continuously promoted through the support, organization, guidance, and promotion mechanisms of internal and external factors.

Quantitative Recognition and Characteristic Analysis of Production-Living-Ecological Space Evolution for Five Resource-Based Cities: Zululand, Xuzhou, Lota, Surf Coast and Ruhr

The accurate identification of PLES changes and the discovery of their evolution characteristics is a key issue to improve the ability of the sustainable development for resource-based urban areas. However, the current methods are unsuitable for the long-term and large-scale PLES investigation. In this study, a modified method of PLES recognition is proposed based on the remote sensing image classification and land function evaluation technology. A multi-dimensional index system is constructed, which can provide a comprehensive evaluation for PLES evolution characteristics. For validation of the proposed methods, the remote sensing image, geographic information, and socio-economic data of five resource-based urbans (Zululand in South Africa, Xuzhou in China, Lota in Chile, Surf Coast in Australia, and Ruhr in Germany) from 1975 to 2020 are collected and tested. The results show that the data availability and calculation efficiency are significantly improved by the proposed method, and the recognition precision is better than 87% (Kappa coefficient). Furthermore, the PLES evolution characteristics show obvious differences at the different urban development stages. The expansions of production, living, and ecological space are fastest at the mining, the initial, and the middle ecological restoration stages, respectively. However, the expansion of living space is always increasing at any stage, and the disorder expansion of living space has led to the decrease of integration of production and ecological spaces. Therefore, the active polices should be formulated to guide the transformation of the living space expansion from jumping-type and spreading-type to filling-type, and the renovation of abandoned industrial and mining lands should be encouraged.

Cultivated Land Use Layout Adjustment Based on Crop Planting Suitability: A Case Study of Typical Counties in Northeast China

Cultivated land use layout adjustment (CLULA) based on crop planting suitability is the refinement and deepening of land use transformation, which is of great significance for optimizing the allocation of cultivated land resources and ensuring food security. At present, people rarely consider the land suitability of crops when using cultivated land, resulting in an imbalance between crop distribution and resource conditions such as water, heat, and soil, and adversely affects the ecological security and utilization efficiency of cultivated land. To alleviate China’s grain planting structural imbalance and efficiency loss, this paper based on the planting suitability of main food crops (rice, soybean, and maize) to adjust and optimize the cultivated land use layout (CLUL) in the typical counties of the main grain production area in Northeast China, using the agent-based model for optimal land allocation (AgentLA) and GIS technology. Findings from the study show that: (1) The planting suitability of rice, soybean, and maize in the region is obviously different. Among them, the suitability level of soybean and maize is high, and that of rice is low. The current CLUL of the food crops needs to be further optimized and adjusted. (2) By optimizing the layout of rice, soybean, and maize, the planting suitability level of the food crops and the concentration level of the CLUL spatial pattern have been improved. (3) The plan for CLULA is formulated: The study area is divided into rice stable production area, maize-soybean rotation area, maize dominant area, and soybean dominant area, and town or village is identified as the implementation unit of CLULA. The plan for CLULA will be conducive to the concentrated farming of food crops according to the suitable natural conditions and management level. The research realized the optimization of spatial structure and cultivated land use patterns of different food crops integrating farming with protecting land. The significance of the study is that it provides a scientific basis and guidance for adjusting the regional planting structure and solving the problem of food structural imbalance.