Analysis of multi-scale spatial distribution characteristics of cultivated land in Fujian Province

Impact of spatial scales on land use patterns and identification of its potential influencing factors is essential for full understanding of its complexity. The main purpose of this paper was to perform a multi-scale analysis of cultivated land pattern of Fujian province by means of statistical analysis through overall study and each agro-zone respectively. Twenty-five variables were selected as the candidate variables representing bio-geophysical, socio-economic and infrastructural conditions. The basic spatial organization in the analysis was a 1km×1km geographical grid. Through aggregations of these cells, a total of ten artificial aggregation levels were obtained. The independent models of the whole study area and each six agro-zones of cultivated land patterns were constructed at multiple scales respectively. The results showed that cultivated land models varied with aggregation level and also between agro-zones. Independent variables explained more of the variance for the explanation of cultivated land pattern at higher aggregation levels. Other variables of the cultivated land models excluding the highest ranking variable-slope, also vary between agro-zone I to VI. But the general rule is that cultivated land in all six agro-zones is strictly restricted by topographic factors which changes little along with time and their restricting effect increase with spatial scales.