Spatiotemporal Evolution and Driving Mechanisms of Land Use in Regions with Frequent Human–Land Interactions: A Case Study in the Dongting Lake Area

Irrational land use has triggered many serious ecological problems worldwide, especially in regions where human–land conflicts are prominent. However, the driving mechanisms at different spatiotemporal scales vary and have not been addressed in detail. This study explored the variations of land use and landscape patterns from 1990 to 2020 in the Dongting Lake Ecological Economic Zone (DLEEZ) by land-use transfer matrix, landscape pattern indices methods, etc. We also combined the geographical detector and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) methods to analyze the spatiotemporal changes in driving forces of land-use changes. The results indicated that forest land, cropland, and wetland were the predominant land-use types, accounting for nearly 90% of the total. Cropland decreased by a total of 1787.55 km2 during the 30-year period, and land-use changes mainly involved the conversion of cropland to other land-use types. The overall fragmentation of the regional landscape increased, with the fragmentation of forest land and cropland increasing. Land-use changes were mainly influenced by human activities like socio-economic and policy factors. Notably, the development of agriculture and aquaculture poses a threat to the maintenance of the area of wetland in the DLEEZ. This study provides a reliable scientific basis for mitigating land-use conflicts and rationally planning land use to formulate a sustainable development strategy for land resources in the DLEEZ.