The Spatio-Temporal Pattern and Transition Mode of Recessive Cultivated Land Use Morphology in the Huaibei Region of the Jiangsu Province

Examining land use transition is a new way of building on the comprehensive research on Land Use/Cover Change (LUCC). Research on transition law and characteristics is important for improving the theory of land use transition and the practice of land resource management, and for being able to provide a basis and reference for promoting socio-economic transformation. Based on the relevant statistical data concerning cultivated land use in the Huaibei area of the Jiangsu Province from 1995 to 2020, and by understanding the county as a unit to be measured, this paper constructed a multi-dimensional (economic–social–ecological) functional index system of recessive morphology, analyzed the spatio-temporal pattern of the transition of cultivated land use, identified transition point mutations, and established the transition mode by adopting multi-dimensional time series point mutation detection and the piecewise linear regression method. The findings suggest that the index of recessive cultivated land use morphology in the Huaibei region of the Jiangsu Province presents a trend of “slow decline to significant growth to stable growth”. Moreover, the index presented evolutionary characteristics such as “high in the middle and east while low in the west”, as well as “the relatively balanced distribution between counties”, thus indicating that the degree of transition deepened, it showed a homogeneous development trend, and the transition process presented obvious “ladder” stage characteristics; therefore, the authors suggest making scientific use of cultivated land resources, in accordance with local conditions, in order to make the land use transition of cultivated land efficient, green, and sustainable.