Spatial Differentiation and Drivers of Functional Transition of Cultivated Ecosystems in China

Impairment of cultivated ecosystem functions (CEFs) is a form of land degradation. However, the mechanisms driving the functional transition of cultivated ecosystems (FTCE) and the interaction between regional differential behavior and FTCE remain unclear. To address this gap, we aimed to develop a theoretical framework and comprehensive analytical method, which combines single-factor simulation and multi-factor regression, based on the theory of agricultural-induced production substitution from the perspective of cultivated land use (CLU). The framework takes into account socioeconomic and regional elements, representing an advancement over extant studies that focus on natural ecological factors. The findings show that the high value of CEFs in China moves from the southwest and northeast to the central and Yangtze River Delta regions from 1990 to 2021. The FTCE occurs at both national and provincial scales with a U-shaped trend from rapid consumption to recovery growth. Further, there are two typical FTCE paths in China at different socioeconomic levels. At the regional scale, the FTCE in the east is mainly due to the decline in nitrogen fertilizer use intensity (NFUI), and in the central and western regions mainly due to the decline in biological disaster intensity (BDI). The mechanism driving FTCE is identified as the alternative choices made by farmers for agricultural production under different CLU goals, which are jointly influenced by cultivated land fragmentation (CLF), cultivated land scale management (CLM), and biological disaster adaptive capacity (BDC). Finally, recommendations to encourage the differentiated FTCE model in all regions of China are made with the aim of mitigating land degradation problems.