Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Baicheng District, China during the Period 1954-2020 and Their Driving Forces

Temporal and spatial variations in land use/land cover (LULC) and their driving factors are direct reflections of regional natural and anthropogenic impacts. To explore the pathways for green upgrading development in ecologically fragile areas, this study focused on Baicheng, located in the northern agropastoral transition zone, China. Based on the topographic map of 1954 and Landsat remote sensing images taken from 1976 to 2020, the spatial distribution of LULC data for the study area in 1954, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2010, and 2020 was obtained. The temporal and spatial characteristics of LULC changes and their driving factors under the combined influence of human activities and climate were analyzed using dynamic degree, flowchart, spatial analysis, and principal component analysis. The results indicate that (1) the dominant LULC type in Baicheng is cropland. By 2020, dry land accounted for over 41% of the total area, while the area of saline-alkaline land increased the most, and grassland decreased most drastically. (2) The dynamic degree of different LULC types ranked from highest to lowest as follows: paddy field > unused land and other types > woodland > saline-alkaline land. (3) LULC Changes in Baicheng were mainly influenced by human activities and economic development, especially regional gross domestic product and the sown area of crops. These research findings can provide a scientific basis for formulating sustainable development and protection strategies to ensure regional green upgrading development.