Optimizing landscape patterns to maximize ecological-production benefits of water–food relationship: Evidence from the West Liaohe River basin, China

Abstract

Watershed governance based on landscape pattern is a key research topic of watershed sustainable development, and the ecosystem services related to water resource management (WMESs) have become an important focus. The current research mainly focuses on the impact of land use type or landscape pattern on WMESs, while few studies focus on the relationship between WMESs and food production (FP), and the understanding of the impact of landscape pattern configuration on the water–food relationship is relatively limited. In this study, the West Liaohe River basin in China was selected as the research area. Based on the assessment of three WMESs (water yield, WY; soil loss by water, SW; and water purification, WP) and FP using models, we analyzed the influence mechanism of landscape pattern evolution on water–food relationship from 2000 to 2020. Then, the optimal allocation scheme of regional landscape patterns was discussed based on future land use scenario simulations. The results showed that the influence of landscape pattern evolution on the water–food relationship at the patch type level was higher than that at the landscape level, and the spatial configuration of landscape patterns can improve the water–food relationship. Promoting the intensive management of cropland and strengthening the construction of forest and grassland can improve the overall capacity of the WMESs and FP supply in the watershed. The study suggests that the natural development scenario, economic development scenario (EDS), and ecological protection scenario (EPS) should be implemented in counties A, B, and C, respectively. This indicates that counties with higher FP capacity are suitable for the EDS, while counties with lower FP capacity are suitable for the EPS, which will help maximize the benefits of FP and WMESs protection. The results of this study can provide a direct decision-making basis for the maximization of ecological-production benefits of the water–food relationship in watersheds and provide a scientific reference for land use policy regulation and ecological security protection of the watershed areas.