Influence of the variation in rural population on farmland preservation in the rapid urbanization area of China

In the past 40 years, cultivated land has faced continued anthropogenic interference, which become a significant issue for preservation during rapid urbanization. The purpose of this research was to reveal spatio-temporal evolutionary characteristics and correlation between rural population variation farmland change in China. Fifty county-level administrative units Zhejiang Province were selected as study area wherein evolution comparative analysis every 5 years from 2000 2015 conducted. This used pool method estimate impacts variation, average slope, elevation, residential disposable income, primary industry proportion, road density on utilization efficiency spatial perspective, is represented by landscape metrics including mean patch size, edge density, weighted shape index, fractal dimension. showed that index rise after then started decreasing 2010, indicating reduction human interference 2010. all decreased 62% them began increase regression results significantly negatively correlated with while slope proportion positively related index. implied loss agricultural labor force difficulty sloping farmlands adapting mechanized farming unconducive improvement, nonagricultural activities areas would preservation. Our suggests local governments should improve production fragmented or strengthen construction control housing facilities according their regional urbanization development situation.