Land-Use Classifying and Identification of the Production-Living-Ecological Space of Island Villages—A Case Study of Islands in the Western Sea Area of Guangdong Province

Abstract

Accurately identifying the rural production-living-ecological space (PLES) of different islands can help reveal their distinct natural resources and land-use situations, which is significant for the sorted management, subarea utilization, and protection of islands. At present, studies on the PLES of island villages are deficient. For instance, the existing land-use classification system is incomplete; the PLES is poorly identified; and the dominant function of multiple land-use types based on different island geomorphology types is insufficiently investigated. Therefore, a case study was conducted on the island villages of the western sea area of Guangdong Province, based on remote sensing, spatial analysis, and land classification, with field research and the relevant data. In this study, before establishing the PLES system, the islands were classified, including six bedrock islands, 10 sedimentary islands, and one volcanic island. When the PLES system of the island villages was classified, the ecological and utilized areas of the intertidal zone and neritic region should be combined with the island–continent part, and the distinct industrial types should be emphasized, before forming 22 secondary types of PLES. Furthermore, it is found that each island generally has its own dominant space and land-use type. Ecological space (ES) dominates the bedrock islands, and production space (PS) is prominent for sedimentary islands and volcanic islands. Forestland, aquaculture pond, and dryland are the prominent land-use types for bedrock islands, sedimentary islands, and volcanic islands, respectively. The rural residential lands are the main component of living space (LS) in all islands, and the most urban residential lands are distributed on the bedrock islands. The main driving factors for the formation and distribution of island rural PLES are the altitudinal gradient and geomorphic characteristics. The research shows that the main problems of PLES are that the intertidal zones are threatened by aquaculture ponds at various levels, and the development of LS in these islands is generally backward.