Land use change and water production function in the Karst Gabin Basin: A regional study from southwest China (1980-2015)

Rocky desertification has long been identified as an adverse geo-environmental hazard to both humans and the environment. With increasing rocky desertification, karst ecosystem is one of the most severely-threatened ecosystems in the world due to its thin soil layer. As a typical karst landform, the Karst Gabin Basin in the southwest China is characterized by the presence of large arable land, frequent agricultural activities, and prominent soil and water loss. In this study, land use and land-cover change between 1980 and 2015 was investigated based on multi-temporal remote sensing images. InVEST model was used to calculate regional water production. The results showed that there was a decrease in the acreage of cultivated land and water body, but a slight increase in that of residential land. Meanwhile, there was an significant increase in forest land and grassland. During the study period, restored area was greater than degraded area. Water production area was divided into three ecological zones based on water yield capacity. Our finding showed that conservation strategy had a significant influence on land use change in this area, which also served as a basis for rational planning in the karst Gabin basin.