The change of land cover and the evolution of landscape pattern in Hubei Province from 1990 to 2021

This paper is the result of geological survey engineering.

Objective To study the trends of land cover changes and landscape pattern changes in Hubei Province from 1990 to 2021, we scientifically reveal the influencing factors and mechanisms of land cover changes in Hubei Province, and provide data and theoretical support for cultivated land protection and land use planning in this region.

Methods This paper takes the land cover in Hubei Province over many years as the research object. Based on the collection of different natural factors (temperature, rainfall) and humanistic factors (population density, GDP), Adopt methods such as landscape pattern analysis to analyze the spatio−temporal variation characteristics and influencing factors of land cover in Hubei Province from 1990 to 2021.

Results (1) The cultivated land in Hubei Province showed an increasing trend from 1990 to 1999 and a decreasing trend from 1999 to 2021. The forest land showed a decreasing trend from 1990 to 2000 and an increasing trend from 2000 to 2021. Shrubs, grasslands, and wasteland generally showed a decreasing trend, while water bodies and impervious surfaces generally showed an increasing trend. (2) The area of cultivated land converted into forest land was 5923.93 km², accounting for 49.82% of the transferred area of cultivated land. The area of forest land converted into cultivated land was 7960.43 km², accounting for 95.98% of the transferred area of forest land. The area of impervious surfaces converted into water bodies was 137.49 km², accounting for 82.61% of the transferred area of impervious surfaces. Among the conversions of various land types, the area and proportion of forest land converted into cultivated land were both the highest. (3) The fragmentation index of wetlands in the land cover of Hubei Province was relatively high, while that of forest land was relatively low. In terms of the fractal dimension, wasteland had a relatively high value and showed an upward trend, while wetlands had a relatively low value. In terms of the landscape shape index, forest land had a relatively high value, while wasteland had a relatively low value. The dynamic degree of cultivated land was −0.072, that of forest land was −7.5×10⁻⁵, that of shrubs was −2.66, that of grasslands was −2.47, that of water bodies was 0.26, that of wasteland was −2.37, that of impervious surfaces was 6.69, and that of wetlands was −0.93. The rapid increase of impervious surfaces and their encroachment on other land types need to be paid attention to. (4) The cultivated land area is positively correlated with population density, and negatively correlated with rainfall, temperature and GDP. The area of forest land and impervious surface is negatively correlated with population density, and positively correlated with rainfall, temperature and GDP. GDP and population density have a greater impact on the area of land types than rainfall and temperature, and GDP has the greatest impact on the impervious surface area.

Conclusions The landscape pattern analysis method can reflect the characteristics of the changes in the land cover area of Hubei Province, and it has indicative significance for land management. The indicators such as rainfall, temperature, population density, and GDP are correlated with the changes in the land cover area of Hubei Province, and they can be used for the analysis of the causes of land cover changes in Hubei Province.