Abstract: There is a need to clarify the relationship between macrobenthic diversity and land use under urban-rural gradient changes. This is crucial for river ecological restoration and protection, as well as regional land use planning. Taking the typical plain area in northern Jiangsu as a case, the relationship between macrobenthic community characteristics and land use structure under different urban-rural gradients was studied by using correlation analysis, principal component analysis and regression analysis. The results reveal that from north to south, as the level of urbanization increased, the area of paddy fields and ponds showed a decreasing trend, while the area of construction land and roads continued to increase. Besides, there was a decreasing trend in the diversity, species richness, abundance, and biomass of macrobenthos. In general, the morphology and structure features of ponds, paddy fields, roads and construction land had a significant impact on macrobenthic diversity. Additionally, the changes including increased regularity in river morphology, greater complexity in construction land morphology, and declined neighborhood landscape diversity in ponds led to the decrease in the diversity of macrobenthic animals. It is recommended to strictly control the scale of construction land, and build an orderly land use pattern. Furthermore, to adopt paddy field cultivation as much as possible in agricultural areas where conditions permit, and foster diverse wetland landscape in suburban, peri-urban and urban areas. The results can provide scientific basis for optimizing land use pattern and establishing integrated regional management systems in river network areas.

Key words: land use, macrobenthos, landscape pattern, urban-rural differences, plain river network