Spatial-temporal evolution and driving factors of cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination development in China

To explore the spatial-temporal evolution and driving factors of cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination development, this paper applying the data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2018 evaluated cultivated land production-living-ecological functions and revealed the spatial-temporal evolution of cultivated land multifunction with kernel density estimation and visualization mapping. Furthermore, this paper adopted coupling coordination degree model to analyze the cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination development. Finally, this paper explored driving factors and driving mechanism of cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination development by geographical detector. The results showed that: 1) from the perspective of temporal evolution, cultivated land production function level showed a fluctuation evolution trend of rising-falling-rising, the living function level showed an evolution trend of rising-falling, and the ecological function level increased slightly. All cultivated land functions had polarized characteristics. From the perspective of spatial pattern, the cultivated land production function level changed within [0.030, 0.608], showing a non-equilibrium spatial pattern of high in the east, low in the west. The living function level changed within [0.042, 0.672], showing a non-equilibrium spatial pattern of high in the north, low in the south. The ecological function level changed within [0.058, 0.897], showing a non-equilibrium spatial pattern of high in the west, low in the east. The areas with high level of production and living function were concentrated in the Northeast Plain, the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the Yangtze Region. The areas with low level of production function were located in the northwest and southwest regions, and the areas with low level of living function were located in the Beijing-Tianjin, Yunnan-Guizhou and southern regions in China. The area with high level of ecological function areas were located in the northeast and southwest regions, while the low-level areas were located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region and the central region of the Yangtze River. 2) The cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination level changed within [0.093, 0.554], and the overall level had steadily improved but was still low. The cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination levels of most provinces were still out of balance. The spatial pattern of cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination level showed an evolution trend of agglomeration and promotion. In detail, the cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination level of the northeast China, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta were relatively high, while that was low in the northwestern part of China. 3) The evolution of cultivated land multifunctional coupling coordination level was significantly affected by the business entities conditions, agricultural development level, industrial development level and urbanization level. In short, the driving force of the business entities conditions and urbanization level were more significant than that of the agricultural development level and industrial development level. Moreover, the interaction type of two driving factors was two-factor enhancement or nonlinear enhancement, which indicated that the driving force of various factors had obvious divergence and interaction of factors positively strengthened the single-factor driving force, indicated that the divergence and interaction of various driving factors positively strengthened the single-factor driving force. In conclusion, the research results provide the guiding effect for deepening the study on cultivated land multifunction and decision support for promoting the differential governance of cultivated land resources and mutual promotion of cultivated land functions. © 2023 Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering. All rights reserved.