Land use change and its driving factors in the ecological function area: A case study in the Hedong Region of the Gansu Province, China

Abstract

Land use and cover change (LUCC) is important for the provision of ecosystem services. An increasing number of recent studies link LUCC processes to ecosystem services and human well-being at different scales recently. However, the dynamic of land use and its drivers receive insufficient attention within ecological function areas, particularly in quantifying the dynamic roles of climate change and human activities on land use based on a long time series. This study utilizes geospatial analysis and geographical detectors to examine the temporal dynamics of land use patterns and their underlying drivers in the Hedong Region of the Gansu Province from 1990 to 2020. Results indicated that grassland, cropland, and forestland collectively accounted for approximately 99% of the total land area. Cropland initially increased and then decreased after 2000, while grassland decreased with fluctuations. In contrast, forestland and construction land were continuously expanded, with net growth areas of 6235.2 and 455.9 km², respectively. From 1990 to 2020, cropland was converted to grassland, and both of them were converted to forestland as a whole. The expansion of construction land primarily originated from cropland. From 2000 to 2005, land use experienced intensified temporal dynamics and a shift of relatively active zones from the central to the southeastern region. Grain yield, economic factors, and precipitation were the major factors accounting for most land use changes. Climatic impacts on land use changes were stronger before 1995, succeeded by the impact of animal husbandry during 1995–2000, followed by the impacts of grain production and gross domestic product (GDP) after 2000. Moreover, agricultural and pastoral activities, coupled with climate change, exhibited stronger enhancement effects after 2000 through their interaction with population and economic factors. These patterns closely correlated with ecological restoration projects in China since 1999. This study implies the importance of synergy between human activity and climate change for optimizing land use via ecological patterns in the ecological function area.