Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the correlations between land use/cover change and cultivated land ecological security in flatland and mountainous areas. Firstly, the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of land use/cover change are described in conjunction with ArcGIS10.5 software based on remote sensing images of 2005 and 2015. Then, by establishing a pressure-support framework as an assessment indicator system and developing an improved BP neural network model via a genetic algorithm with the help of MATLAB2016a, the spatiotemporal dynamic changes of cultivated land ecological security in Yuxi City from 2005 to 2015 are evaluated. The results showed that the transformation of farmland area accounted for a large proportion of increased constructive land and land use/cover spatial variations were significantly different among counties, which manifested the changes in farmland and the construction land in flatland areas but also facilitated a mutual transformation of forest and grass in mountainous areas. Moreover, ecological security status presented a clear difference among counties due to their different land use/cover changes. The ecological security state of the flatland expressed a higher ecological pressure and lower ecological support, so the security grade was IV. Otherwise, the ecological security was superior and the security grade was level II or I in the mountainous areas. Thus, protection strategies for ecological security should be differentiated in the flatland areas and mountainous areas due to their different ecological security status brought by land use/cover change.
Highlights
As essential components to balance the lives on Earth, cultivated land plays important roles in food production, ecological services, social stability, national security and landscape aesthetics values[1]
The aims of this paper are: (1) to apply a PS assessment index system to evaluate the cultivated land ecological security based on the Pressure-Support (PS) frame work; (2) to reveal the temporal-spatial characteristics of LUCC from 2005 to 2015 in the flatland areas and mountainous areas of Yuxi City; (3) to compute the ecological pressure index and ecological support index based on a BP neural network improved with a genetic algorithm; and (4) to analyze the temporal-spatial dynamic variations of cultivated land ecological security and their correlations with LUCC over the last 10 years in Yuxi City and every county
The land ecological security state is closely linked to LUCC, because land use and land cover changes largely alter terrestrial ecosystems and landscapes[42, 43], and bring further changes in climate, soil, vegetation and hydrology, which are the most important parts of the ecological environment
Summary
As essential components to balance the lives on Earth, cultivated land plays important roles in food production, ecological services, social stability, national security and landscape aesthetics values[1]. Despite their benefits, farmlands are very fragile ecosystems that are threatened by overexploitation and urban land expansion. Alterations of the cultivated land quality and quantity by human activities, including transforming the land use/cover, can potentially degrade ecological security (ES) and undermine the ecological carrying capacity in the future [8]. The ecological security and sustainable development of the cultivated land should be increasingly focused on and become a current and future research priority. Assessments and researches on the past changes and current status of cultivated land ecological security can provide more targeted references for utilization and management in the future
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