Transformation of Rural Landscape Patterns in Southwest China's Mountain: A Case Study Based on the Three Gorges Reservoir Area

Abstract Since the 21st century, China's rural areas have experienced far-reaching social and economic transformation. Studying the evolution and transformation of rural land use landscape pattern under this background is of great significance to reveal the evolution of human-land relationship in China’s mountains and explore the rural revitalization path. Based on the study of land use change and transition, we put forward the theoretical framework of landscape pattern transition, and establish the rural landscape pattern transformation model of mountain area in southwest China by use of high resolution remote sensing images and field investigation. The results show that: (1) The focus of landscape pattern transformation in the case region is mainly embodied in the reduction of cultivated land, the expansion of orchard and the restoration of woodland. There are obvious differences in landscape pattern transition among different terrain areas in the case region. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the landscape types in the valleys of the study area were gradually diversified, there was a concentration of intensive land use types, and the landscape types in mountainous and hilly area were gradually simplified, and forest land was restored. (3) On the whole, the landscape pattern of the study area has changed from production-oriented landscape pattern to eco-economic landscape pattern and eco-regulatory landscape pattern. The results of case study show that the rural landscape pattern in the mountainous areas of Southwest China has undergone a transformation under the background of land use transformation, which has its own particularity, and verifies the theoretical hypothesis proposed in this paper, so it is necessary to conduct a systematic and in-depth study on this. The theories and methods of this paper are helpful to understand the process of landscape pattern transition in mountainous areas, and provide reference value for the rational use of land resources, ecological management and rural revitalization in similar mountainous areas.