Identification of Land Use Function Bundles and Their Spatiotemporal Trade-Offs/Synergies: A Case Study in Jiangsu Coast, China

Sihua Huang,Lijie Pu,Lu Qie,Yuan Wang,Yu Jiang,Rongjuan Liu

doi:10.3390/land11020286

Abstract

Land use multifunctionality (LUMF) is a pragmatic means of resolving land use conflicts and realising regional sustainability and has critical importance in land system science. In this study, we constructed LUMF classifications from a sustainable perspective and quantified and analysed the deliveries of land use functions (LUFs) in the coastal area of Jiangsu Province, China. On this basis, the “bundle” concept was innovatively introduced into the LUMF research framework to analyse the spatiotemporal effects of trade-offs and synergies among multiple LUFs. The results showed that high-value LUF geographic units tended to cluster in human-dominated landscapes. During the study period (2000–2018), the average provision of regional multifunction increased slightly, while the subfunctions changed in different trends. Four LUF bundles (agricultural zone, mosaic cropland–rural housing zone, coastal natural and seminatural landscape zone, urban development zone) were identified, each having different dominant LUFs and landscape configurations. In each LUF bundle, the most common trade-offs were observed in the environmental and economic functions. The space incompatibilities caused by land development demand in different subregions created a trade-off and synergy among multiple functions. Moreover, LUF relations were not static over time, owing to the effects of urbanisation, coastal reclamation activities, and agriculture protection policies. Based on the above results, this research proposes land use optimisations for different multifunctional areas.

Highlights

Land change significantly impacts biodiversity, biogeochemistry processes, and climate change; such change often results from multiple human demands on the land [1,2]
We found that several aggregations composed of a set of land use functions (LUFs) experienced similar temporal changes; for example, the provision of food production (FP), provision of work (PW), and climate regulation (CR) continued to decline across the southern Jiangsu coast, and water regulation (WR) and soil conservation (SC) decreased significantly in the mixed areas of northern cropland and rural resettlements (Supplementary Materials Figure S2)
The “bundle” concept was introduced into the LUF research framework, and the spatiotemporal effects of LUF trade-offs and synergies were creatively explored in each identified LUF bundle

Summary

Introduction

Land change significantly impacts biodiversity, biogeochemistry processes, and climate change; such change often results from multiple human demands on the land [1,2]. Each land use has multifunctionality, which can provide a wide range of goods and services and result in both intended and unintended outcomes [4]. These characteristics of land use multifunctionality (LUMF) cannot be obtained from Earth observations. LUMF enables a more comprehensive assessment of land changes and aims to support efforts to identify solutions for land-use conflicts, manage the complexity of interactions between different land uses, and regulate the relationship between humans and the environment [5,6,7]. An accurate understanding of land use multifunctionality and the interactions between the functions are essential for steering land changes toward sustainability

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Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion