Spatio-temporal evolution of the social-ecological landscape resilience and management zoning in the loess hill and gully region of China

Discussions on the evolutionary process and mechanism of social-ecological landscape resilience play an important role in maintaining the sustainable provision of landscape services. However, studies on the evolutionary process and mechanism of social-ecological landscapes at the micro-scale have received relatively little attention. The purpose of this research is to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of social-ecological landscape resilience at the micro-level in Gaoqu Township in Mizhi County, China. A three-dimensional (ecosystem, social system, and production system) indicator was constructed to quantitatively evaluate the social-ecological landscape resilience. The results showed that (1) the spatio-temporal variation in the three subsystems’ resilience was extensive from 2012 to 2018. The ecosystem resilience was distributed in the northeast-southwest direction, which was consistent with the distribution of gullies. The social system resilience was spatially high in the northwest and low in the southeast. The production system resilience was low in the middle and high in the peripheral regions. The resilience values of the ecosystem, social system and production system increased by 0.127, 0.122 and 0.101, respectively. (2) The spatio-temporal differentiation of the social-ecological landscape resilience was also significant, and its resilience value increased by 11.44%, which showed a spatial pattern with a low center and high surroundings. (3) Finally, based on the status and trend of the social-ecological landscape resilience, 20 villages in the region can be divided into predominantly advancing areas, predominantly stable areas, predominantly attenuation areas, emerging advancing areas, and sensitive-vulnerable areas. This study can provide the spatial guidance for differentiated sustainable development in the Loess hill and gully region based on the local conditions of the social-ecological landscapes.