Trade‐Offs and Synergies in Cultivated Land Multifunctionality and Zoning Management in the Dongting Lake Region: A Multiscale Analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding the multiscale patterns and interactions of cultivated land multifunctionality is important for conservation, governance, and agricultural spatial optimization in the Dongting Lake region. Using 2020 data, we evaluated economic production (EPF), social security (SSF), landscape‐based recreation (LRF), and ecological maintenance (EMF) functions at the 1‐km, 3‐km, and township scales. The Simpson reciprocal index, Spearman correlation, geographically weighted regression (GWR), and self‐organizing feature map (SOFM) were integrated to assess functional patterns, local relationships, and coupled zoning. The results showed that: (1) EPF and SSF were highest across the plains surrounding Dongting Lake, whereas LRF was highest around urban nodes and landscape‐resource clusters. EMF was highest in the western hills and mountains and the densely connected waterways of western and southern Dongting Lake. With increasing scale, the proportion of high‐value EPF areas declined from 29.25% to 13.22%; SSF and LRF also decreased markedly, whereas EMF remained relatively stable. (2) Functional provision and structural balance were spatially mismatched: the lake plain had stronger provision but lower balance, whereas peripheral hills and uplands showed the opposite pattern. (3) EPF and SSF maintained strong synergies across scales, with Spearman coefficients of 0.88, 0.93, and 0.86. GWR identified EPF–SSF synergies in 97.2%, 95.8%, and 98.6% of units, respectively, while many EMF‐related local relationships became non‐significant at the township scale. (4) SOFM separately identified two functional structures and three relationship structures. Coupling the two clustering results produced six management zones, of which the low‐function, trade‐off‐dominated zone (Z1) and high‐function, synergy‐dominated zone (Z6) accounted for 17.04% and 20.01%, respectively. These findings support differentiated cultivated land management. These findings support zone‐specific management based jointly on functional levels, structural balance, and relationship types.