Land use change and driving forces in Shengjin Lake wetland in Anhui province, China

Abstract

The Shengjin Lake wetland is a national wetland with rare wintering waterfowl as its main protection object, which is also a significant wetland in the world. It is of great significance to study the land use change and its driving forces for the protection of rare waterfowl and the restoration of ecological environment. The study of land use changes and driving forces in Shengjin Lake wetland can provide reference for land use pattern optimization, the protection of rare waterfowl, and the restoration of ecological environment of Shengjin Lake wetland. Taking Shengjin Lake wetland as an example, based on nine remote sensing images of Shengjin Lake wetland from 1986 to 2019, the land use change process of Shengjin Lake wetland was analyzed by using geographic information technology. Meanwhile, driving factors of land use change were analyzed using mathematical statistics method. The following results were obtained: The areas of grassland, paddy fields, tidal land, and other land types increased from 1986 to 2019, whereas areas of woodland, dry land, water, and reed beach dropped. Land use composite index fluctuated slightly but was at a moderate level overall, indicating land use was in the period of development. The main driving forces of land use change in the study area included terrain topography, climate, population change, social-economic development, and policy factors. Each land use type had its own dominant driving factor. And changes of any type of land use were attributed to multiple driving factors instead of a single one. To summarize, the natural factor provides the intrinsic motivation for land use change, but population is the fundamental factor.