Priority area identification of ecological restoration based on land use trajectory approach—Case study in a typical karst watershed

Abstract

In the planning and restoration of land ecological space, the ecological restoration priority area has attracted more and more attention, especially in the regions with great vulnerability. As a typical area of karst ecological region in Southwest China, Wujiang River Basin experienced human disturbance and land uses which had great impacts on the ecological environment. Based on the land use evolution from 1985 to 2019, the change of ecological-production-living land in Wujiang River Basin was analyzed by transfer matrix, intensity analysis and long-time series trajectory approaches. The results showed that from 1985 to 2019, the ecological land in Wujiang River Basin significantly decreased, the production land increased first then decreased, and living land increased significantly. The reduced ecological land was mainly transformed to cropland. After 1990, the change intensity of land use in Wujiang River Basin gradually increased. At the category level, the intensity of forest land change was the most stable, and while that of barren land, shrub land and grassland were active. At the transition level, the increased impervious land was mainly from cropland, and the reduced forest land was mainly transformed into cropland. Trajectory analysis from 1985 to 2019 showed that the stable land use type of Wujiang River accounted for 67.36% of the total area of the basin and forest land was the main stable land use type. Our research spatially identified the land use change from different aspects which could be a new approach for ecological restoration. Also, our study can provide decision-making basis for the sustainable use of land resources in the study area.