Spatial pattern and driving factors of cropland ecosystem services in a major grain-producing region: A production-living-ecology perspective

Exploring the spatial patterns and driving factors of cropland ecosystem services and the production-living-ecology are essential to implementing spatial zoning management and optimization, especially in major grain-producing regions. In this study, we first developed an evaluation system for evaluating the production-living-ecology of cropland ecosystem services in the Jianghan Plain (JHP). We then revealed the spatial patterns of various cropland ecosystem services and integrated production-living-ecology index based on multi-source data. Additionally, we employed the regionalization with dynamically constrained agglomerative clustering and partitioning algorithm (REDCAP) to delineate agricultural function zones. Finally, we used redundancy analysis to reveal the driving factors of each functional zone. Results indicated that (1) high habitat quality, soil retention, and carbon storage services exhibited spatial similarity in 2020, with the spatial pattern of high in the west and low in the east, water conservation services showed an opposite distribution pattern, while culture and recreation services of high value were concentrated in the northern part, and high grain production was observed in the southern region. Overall, the production-living-ecology index displayed a north–south spatial distribution, with higher values in the north and lower values in the south. (2) based on the spatial zoning results of the production-living-ecology index, the six functional zones were identified, including zones of the production cropland, ecology cropland, ecology and living cropland, production and ecology cropland, production and living cropland and production-living-ecology cropland. (3) the production-living-ecology index and various ecosystem services were mainly influenced by population density, night light and evaporation in the JHP, and trade-offs were observed between the production function, and other functions as well as the production-living-ecology index in each functional zone of cropland ecosystems. The findings hold significant implications for the sustainable development of major grain-producing regions.