A review and prospect of research on the dike-pond system in the pearl river delta

Abstract

The dike- pond system is a way of low- lying land use and a circular ecological agriculture model created by the Chinese people. The dike-pond system of the Pearl River Delta has played an important role in history, but its area is shrinking and the ecological function is degrading. In order to promote the protection of traditional agriculture cultural heritage in the Pearl River Delta and facilitate the coordinated development of regional human-land relations, this study used the bibliometrics method to examine and summarize the research literature of the system in the Pearl River Delta region. The result shows that scholars have carried out studies by focusing on the productivity of the dike (field)-pond system, the pattern of regional water and land ecological agriculture cycles, and the relationship between social economic development and the protection of traditional agriculture cultural heritage, among others. However, the research on the mechanism of change of the dike-pond system in the Pearl River Delta is relatively weak, and the exploration of agriculture cultural heritage protection methods with regional characteristics is still rarely recorded. Consequently, it is suggested that further in-depth studies are needed for the evolution mechanism and reconstruction technologies of the dike- pond system and protection value and approaches of agriculture cultural heritage in the Pearl River Delta in the future. In this way, the theoretical and practical research of the dike- pond system will contribute to providing support for the coordinated relationship between the coupled agricultural production and ecological systems.