Assessment of Landscape Multifunctionality in Inner Mongolia, China

Landscape functions refer to the material or immaterial products that landscapes provide for humans, such as water purification and soil conservation. The study of multifunctional landscapes is becoming an important research direction in landscape ecology, which provides an effective approach to achieving sustainable landscape management. Taking Inner Mongolia as study area, this paper aimed to identify the spatial distribution of multifunctional landscape, and make clear the relationship between each ecological function. The results show that landscape functions have obvious spatial heterogeneous distributions. Carbon fixation and oxygen release, water conservation, biodiversity show a downward trend from east to west, while soil conservation mainly distributes in the east; conspicuous trade-offs or synergies exist between all pairs of landscape functions, which should be considered in landscape management.