Land Use Pattern Changes and the Driving Forces in the Shiyang River Basin from 2000 to 2018

Abstract

Thorough understanding of the evolution processes and drivers behind the formation of and changes in land use and land cover (LULC) is essential for maintaining the balance between humans and fragile nature in arid regions. This quantitative driving analysis provides in-depth insight into the driving mechanisms behind the formation of and changes in LULC through a case study of the Shiyang River Basin in Northwest China. Based on land use, meteorological, topographic, and socioeconomic data from 2000 to 2018 (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2018), this study employed land use transfer matrices and the GeoDetector model to explore the evolution and driving forces behind the formation of and variations in the LULC patterns. The results demonstrated that anthropic factors mainly drove the spatial distributions of cropland and settlement. The spatial distributions of the forest, grassland, and bare land were determined by the mutual influence of natural and anthropic factors. The LULC patterns exhibited consequential variations throughout the study period. Through the occupation of the surrounding cropland and grassland, urbanization expanded rapidly. The ecological environment had been improved, but there were still considerable areas of degraded land, characterized by the grassland degradation downstream and the forest degradation upstream. Geographical differentiation was the primary driver for the transformation of bare land to grassland. The main driving forces behind urban expansion and forest loss were socioeconomic development and geographical differentiation. The degree of a certain LULC change varied among different levels of its driving factor. This research can provide scientific advice for administrators and policymakers to formulate scientific, rational, and targeted land use planning and policies in the future to achieve the sustainable development of endorheic river basins.

Research on the Impact of Climate Change and Human Activities on the NDVI of Arid Areas—A Case Study of the Shiyang River Basin

“…Besides, the rapid development of economy and population has to some extent caused vegetation degradation. The increase in the area of cultivated land and settlement result in degradation of grassland as well as desert vegetation, and also causing degradation of forests [76,77]. Similar characteristics exist in the SRB; due to vegetation degradation, the NDVI in the east and west upper reaches of the SRB and the artificial oasis areas in the central and lower regions decreased significantly (Figure 2c).…”

Assessing the value and sensitivity of ecosystem services based on land use in the middle and lower reaches of the Shiyang River

“…Particularly in the downstream Minqin area, the annual average precipitation falls below 150 mm. These middle and lower reaches of the Shiyang River are among the most densely populated inland river regions in China and have the highest degree of water and soil resource development and utilization of water and soil resources in China (Liu et al 2021, Jun et al 2022, Li et al 2022. Moreover, irrigated agricultural areas are characterized by intense human activities and often exhibit the most severe ecological and environmental challenges within a river basin.…”

Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics of 2022 Pakistan Severe Flood Event Based on Multi-Source Satellite Gravity Observations

“…The weight migration can reflect spatiotemporal trends and spatial aggregation characteristics of disaster event [53]. Therefore, we used the center of gravity to represent the trajectory of the flood.…”