The sustainable arable land use pattern under the tradeoff of agricultural production, economic development, and ecological protection—an analysis of Dongting Lake basin, China

Abstract

To find a solution regarding sustainable arable land use pattern in the important grain-producing area during the rapid urbanization process, this study combined agricultural production, locational condition, and ecological protection to determine optimal arable land use. Dongting Lake basin, one of the major grain producing areas in China, was chosen as the study area. The analysis of land use transition, the calculation of arable land barycenter, the landscape indices of arable land patches, and the comprehensive evaluation of arable land quality(productivity, economic location, and ecological condition) were adopted in this study. The results showed that (1) in 1990-2000, the arable land increased by 11.77%, and the transformation between arable land and other land use types actively occurred; in 2000-2010, the arable land decreased by 0.71%, and more ecological area (forestland, grassland, and water area) were disturbed and transferred into arable land; (2) urban expansion of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city cluster (the major economy center of this area) induced the northward movement of the arable land barycenter; (3) the landscape fragmentation and decentralization degree of arable land patches increased during 1990-2010; (4) potential high-quality arable land is located in the zonal area around Dongting Lake, which contains the Li County, Linli County, Jinshi County, Taoyuan County, Taojiang County, Ningxiang County, Xiangxiang County, Shaoshan County, Miluo County, and Zhuzhou County. The inferior low-quality arable land is located in the northwestern Wuling mountainous area, the southeastern hilly area, and the densely populated big cities and their surrounding area. In the optimized arable land use pattern, the high-quality land should be intensively used, and the low-quality arable land should be reduced used or prohibitively used. What is more, it is necessary to quit the arable land away from the surrounding area of cities appropriately, in order to allow more space for urban expansion. This study could provide guidance for sustainable arable land use by both satisfying the future agricultural production and the local economic development, which can be used for the other major grain-producing areas in this rapid developing country.

Multifunctional rural transition along China’s Yangtze River Transect: Spatial differentiation and economic relevance

“…Yet rural modes of occupancy in the west have limited relevance to China's rural areas, as the dissonance in the social system, economic development stage, land management mode, etc. Building on the review of relevant literature in western countries, we constructed a framework from the dimensions of "living-production-ecology" by considering the characteristics of China's rural areas (Yin et al, 2017), which can be encapsulated as three dimensions (Table 1).…”

Holistic identification and assessment of environmental risks of arable land use in two grain producing areas of China

“…In the Dongting Lake Region, high levels of environmental risk appeared in Yueyang and Changde. Both cities are characterized by ideal climate conditions and levels of soil productivity but are also the most ecologically vulnerable due to their proximity to Dongting Lake (Yin, Liu, and Jiang 2017), thus requiring more buffer space surrounding the lake and reducing arable land use intensity in these areas. In Shandong Province, while pollutant discharge levels were higher in Yantai, Weifang, Dezhou, Heze, and Linyi, the largest total environmental risk index appeared in Rizhao due to differences in arable land area.…”

Spatio-temporal distribution and transformation of cropland in geomorphologic regions of China during 1990–2015

“…The barycenter model is an important tool to study the temporal and spatial variation of spatial elements during the process of regional development, which is extensively applied in the fields of urban planning and LUCC (Yin et al, 2017). The changing cropland's spatial state determines its barycenter distribution .…”