Spatial-temporal divergence of cultivated land use transformation in Hubei Province from the perspective of main functional zones

This study aims to clarify the spatiotemporal divergence of cultivated land use transformation in different functional areas for the sustainable management and utilization of land resources. The influencing factor was substituted to explain the transformation of cultivated land use. Taking all districts (counties) in Hubei Province as the research object, a systematic investigation was implemented to explore the spatiotemporal divergence of cultivated land use transformation in different main functional zones from 1995 to 2019. The data was collected from the socio-economic, natural geography, and agricultural production. The transformation of cultivated land use was determined from the perspectives of functional and spatial patterns. The research steps were as follows. Firstly, the functional and spatial values were calculated for the cultivated land use. Then the difference between the two periods was used to measure the degree of transformation of cultivated land use function and spatial transformation. The total degree of transformation was then measured on the cultivated land use. And then, kernel density estimation and spatial analysis were used to describe the spatiotemporal characteristics. The results indicated that: 1) There was a significant difference in the spatiotemporal divergence of functional transformation for the cultivated land use. A "V" shaped variation was observed as the first decreased and then increased over time. Different types of functional zones shared the negative transformation in the early and middle stages, while the positive transformation in the later stages. In terms of spatial distribution, there was a relatively severe degree of functional transformation in the mountainous areas of the western and a few areas in the Wuhan metropolitan area. While the rest areas were relatively gentle; The most severe level was found in the functional transformation of cultivated land use in the ecological function areas, followed by the Main Agricultural Production Areas, and finally the key development areas. 2) Spatial transformation of cultivated land use showed the trend of first increase, then decrease and then increase, like the "N" type over time; Different types of main functional areas shared the positive and negative interlacing transformation. The intensity of spatial transformation was obtained in the spatial distribution of cultivated land use. Among them, some districts (counties) in the Jianghan Plain and Wuhan metropolitan areas were stronger than those in the western and the rest regions. While the main agricultural production areas were stronger than the key development and the ecological function areas. 3) The total transformation of cultivated land exhibited an "M" shaped fluctuation over time; Different types of functional zones behaved the negative transformation in the early and middle stages, whereas, the positive transformation was in the later stages. There was a stronger intensity in the total transformation of cultivated land use in Jianghan Plain and some areas of the Wuhan metropolitan area, compared with the western. The findings can also provide the following suggestions. Different functional zones demonstrated significant heterogeneity, in terms of socio-economic conditions, and resource endowments of cultivated land. Therefore, differentiated decision-making should be adopted to guide the transformation of arable land utilization in the needs of sustainable social and economic development in Hubei Province, China.