Abstract

Rapid urbanization has been associated with substantial structural adjustments and ecological risks in peri-urban agroforestry landscapes. Taking Pidu District, Chengdu, China, as a representative peri-urban region, this study investigated the spatiotemporal evolution of agroforestry landscapes and their ecological risks from 2000 to 2020. Utilizing multi-period land-use data, we integrated landscape pattern indices, an ecological risk assessment model, etc. The results showed that the agroforestry landscape area decreased by 24.53%, from 275.39 km2 to 207.83 km2, a decline primarily tied to the expansion of construction land. Ecological risk increased continuously over the study period, with high-risk areas concentrated in the rapidly urbanizing southern region and low-risk areas mainly distributed in the northern agricultural zone. Meanwhile, landscape fragmentation intensified, as reflected by increasing patch subdivision and declining landscape integrity. Bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed a positive spatial association between fragmentation and ecological risk, indicating that structural degradation of agroforestry landscapes is an important factor of ecological risk escalation. Overall, rapid urbanization in Pidu District was accompanied by the coupled processes of agroforestry landscape shrinkage, fragmentation, and ecological risk growth. These findings provide scientific support for ecological risk zoning management and agroforestry landscape conservation in similar rapidly urbanizing regions.

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