Ecological function transitions of land use in the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone from the perspective of production-living-ecological space

The ecological function of land use is the basis for developing an ecological civilization and realizing sustainable development. This paper may help guide the coordination of economic development and ecological development in China's coastal border areas. Based on theoretical analysis, this paper studies the spatiotemporal evolution of the functional spaces and the ecological function transitions of land use in the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (BGEZ) by analyzing patterns, processes, and factors by applying eco-environmental quality index, grid subdivision, kriging interpolation, barycenter model, and Geodetector. This paper constructs a theoretical framework of ecological function transitions of land use based on the research idea of "system-pattern-process-factor", and carries out empirical research. Some conclusions can be drawn as follows: (1) The ecological space in the BGEZ has continuously decreased, converting mainly into agricultural production space and industrial-mining production space. The production space has expanded slowly. The area of living space in the BGEZ has increased rapidly. (2) The ecological function of land use in the BGEZ has continued to weaken, especially in the southern part of the BGEZ. The "high - sub-high" quality zones of ecological function are retreating to the north. (3) There were more deterioration transition areas than optimization transition areas of ecological function in the BGEZ. The former were mostly located in the central and southern urbanized areas of the BGEZ, whereas the latter were mostly located in the edge zones of district and county units. (4) As for the driving factors of the deterioration transitions of land use ecological function in the BGEZ, the significant trend of "de-ecologization" of the land cover/land use structure was the dominant driving factor; the interactions among the "natural-socioeconomic-managerial" systems were the main recessive factor. The natural system played a fundamental role, and the driving force of natural factors was the strongest. The industrialization, urbanization, and GDP increment in the socioeconomic system and the policy positioning of development intensity in the managerial system played a significant role. The interactions among natural factors, road construction, and industrial non-agricultural transformation had a "fuze" effect on stimulating driving forces.