Abstract:
The spatial distribution of protected areas (PAs) varies greatly with the category, driven by multiple factors including natural and social factors. This paper focused on four categories of PAs including nature reserves, forest parks, wetland parks and scenic spots distributed in Guizhou Province. We studied the spatial differentiation characteristics and the driving factors of these four categories of PAs, based on the spatial analysis in ArcGIS and geographic detector model. The results showed that there was significant variation on the spatial distribution of quantity among the nature reserves and other three categories of PAs, while the spatial distribution of covering areas of four categories of PAs tended to similarly discrete distribution. The explanatory power of the driving factors varied considerably among four categories of PAs. The main driving factors were different for the quantity of PAs, but similar for the area of PAs. The explanatory power of any two interactive factors increased greatly, and the dimension of interaction showed the increasing trend of compound influence of multiple factors. The difference of functional orientation of different category of PAs was considered to be the main driving factor of the difference of their spatial pattern.