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Dynamic changes and transitions of agricultural landscape patterns in mountainous areas: A case study from the hinterland of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area

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Abstract

Analyzing the agricultural landscape patterns in mountainous areas is critical to clarify the dynamic changes and development direction of agricultural landscapes. This also plays a significant role in the rational planning and management of agricultural land. A theoretical framework for agricultural landscape pattern transitions in mountainous areas is proposed to fill the gap of current research with an empirical study in the Caotangxi Watershed, Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA), China. The transition characteristics of agricultural landscape patterns from 2000 to 2018 as represented by sloping farmland, abandoned land, and orchards are analyzed from a holistic-local perspective. The results indicate that the orchards expanded along river valleys, and abandoned land expanded at high elevations, which led to reduced sloping farmland. This phenomenon gives regional landscape differences at the holistic and local levels. Namely, it enhances the region’s holistic landscape diversity but causes fragmentation and aggregation of landscape patches in local areas. The agricultural landscape pattern transitions within the farming range in the study area are manifested primarily in four modes: sloping farmland-orchard conversion type (FOCT), comprehensive conversion type (CCT), partially abandoned type (PAT), and wholly abandoned type (WAT). Each transition mode reveals different development stages of the mountainous agricultural landscape patterns. In general, the agricultural landscape pattern transition is driven by socioeconomic factors in mountainous areas of the TGRA and is bidirectional. This attribute is expressed as the transition from the traditional grain-planting landscape with an even distribution to the eco-economic win-win orchard in valleys and transitions from sloping farmland to abandoned land in high-elevation areas. Overall, the results of this study reveal the uniqueness of agricultural landscape pattern evolutions in China’s mountainous areas in recent decades, which has enlightened the in-depth understandings of rural land use and agricultural ecosystems in mountainous areas of the TGRA, as well as improvements in rural developments and ecological environments.

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41661020; Chongqing Basic and Frontier Research Innovation Project, No.cstc2018jcyjAX0539, No.cstc2017jcyjB0317; Chongqing Normal University Graduate Student Research Innovation Project, No.YKC20049, No.YKC20030; Academician Expert Workstation Academician Guided Science and Technology Innovation Special Project, No.CXTDX201601017

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Tourism, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China

    Mengqin Huang, Yangbing Li, Caihong Ran & Mingzhen Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Surface Process and Environment Remote Sensing in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, Chongqing, 401331, China

    Yangbing Li

Authors
  1. Mengqin Huang
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  2. Yangbing Li
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  3. Caihong Ran
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  4. Mingzhen Li
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Correspondence to Yangbing Li.

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Author

Huang Mengqin (1996–), Master, specialized in land use and landscape process. E-mail: huang.mq@foxmail.com

Corresponding author

Li Yangbing (1968–), PhD and Professor, specialized in land use and ecological process. E-mail: li-yapin@sohu.com

This paper is initially published in Acta Geographica Sinica (Chinese edition), 2021, 76(11): 2749–2764.

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Huang, M., Li, Y., Ran, C. et al. Dynamic changes and transitions of agricultural landscape patterns in mountainous areas: A case study from the hinterland of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. J. Geogr. Sci. 32, 1039–1058 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-022-1984-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-022-1984-7

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