Cellular automata-based model for developing land use ecological security patterns in semi-arid areas: a case study of Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China

The semi-arid areas in Northern China are home to a large population and have great ecological vulnerability. Contemporary land use pressures cause these areas to suffer from a severe land use conflict between human activities and environmental conservation. Ignoring the livelihood of humans and the development of semi-arid areas is not possible. However, the rapid increase in human activity recently exposes both the human race and local environment to potential adverse effects. To balance this contradiction, this research puts forth a framework to optimize the land use patterns in these areas in the context of ecological security and land use suitability. Considering the expansion of particular land use forms to meet the land use demand of social development, a revised cellular automata model is employed to shape the path of land expansion. Meanwhile, additional adjustment rules are set to adjust the unreasonable land use units to a suitable form. The city of Ordos is chosen as a case to put this framework into practice, and several landscape pattern indexes are used to evaluate the results. The results reveal that this framework could maintain the environment in a stable state while simultaneously meeting the land use demand of social development.