Agricultural land use transition under multidimensional topographical gradients and its impact on ecosystem service interactions

● Differential transition trends in agricultural land use patterns across topographic gradients are explored in Hangzhou, China. ● Ecosystem service interactions differ across topographic gradients. ● Influences of agricultural land use transition on ecosystem service interactions vary by time and topographic gradients. ● Differentiated agricultural spatial development measures across multidimensional topographical gradients are proposed. Changes in agricultural land use affect ecosystem services and their interactions. However, the differential influences of agricultural land use transitions under different topographical gradients on ecosystem service interactions remain poorly understood, which limits the integrated management of agricultural systems. The objectives of this study were to analyze the transitional trends of major agricultural land types across distinct topographical gradients and to probe the differential impacts of these transitions on ecosystem service interactions. Using Hangzhou of China as the study area, the analysis focused on four major agricultural land use types (arable land, orchard, tea garden, and abandoned land). The GTWR model was applied to investigate spatiotemporal non-stationarity in the impacts of their transitions on the ecosystem service trade-offs and synergies. The results showed that during 2010–2020, the agricultural land use pattern in plain areas became more diversified and fragmented, while it shifted towards greater homogeneity and contiguity in hilly and mountainous areas. Between 2010–2015 and 2015–2020, the dominant output type of agricultural land use transition was arable land. The dominant input type in plain areas shifted from arable land to orchard, whereas in hilly and mountainous areas, it was orchard and tea garden. The higher synergy between habitat quality and other ecosystem services primarily occurred in plain areas. Over time, the higher synergy between carbon sequestration and soil retention predominantly shifted from mountainous areas to plain areas. A variety of abandoned types across different topographical gradients fostered synergies by reducing the supply capacity of various ecosystem services. Trade-offs between ecosystem services in hilly and mountainous areas could be alleviated by converting arable land into orchard and tea garden. These findings highlight the importance of adopting differentiated, dynamic, and systematic measures for agricultural spatial development in implementing ecosystem management across different topographical gradients.