China is the richest country in the world in terms of bamboo forest resources, with moso bamboo as the dominated landscape distribution. Analysis of its spatial distribution, landscape change, and its drivers is crucial for forest ecosystem management and sustainable development. However, investigations on the effects of multiple geographical and environmental factors on changes in the landscape of moso bamboo forests are still limited. In this study, Chinese moso bamboo forests in 2010, 2015 and 2020 were selected as the study objects, and 19 provinces (data for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan are unavailable), where Chinese moso bamboo forests were actually distributed, were taken as the study areas. This paper aims to determine the spatial distribution and landscape level of moso bamboo forests in China, as well as to conduct a preliminary study on the natural and socioeconomic factors of landscape change within moso bamboo forests and their buffer zones through density analysis, landscape fragmentation analysis, and patch-generating land use simulation model. The analysis using ArcGIS kernel density analysis revealed significant variability in the spatial distribution of moso bamboo forests in China, expanding in both the north and southwest directions. China’s moso bamboo forests expanded fast between 2010 and 2020, with the landscape becoming more fragmented, landscape fragmentation increasing, aggregation diminishing, and overall landscape quality declining. Climate has the greatest influence on the shifting landscape distribution of moso bamboo forests, followed by locational factors and soil and terrain, and socioeconomic factors such as location, population density, and GDP also impact the shifting distribution and landscape of the moso bamboo forest.

Since the early 1980s, in southern China, evergreen broad-leaved forests have been replaced by Chinese fir plantations on a large scale. By analyzing the dynamic change characteristics of the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations in the case study, the paper explored the current status and development trend of the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations after 40 years of manual intervention and natural succession. The paper, based on the three-period survey data on forest resources in 2010, 2015, and 2020, analyzed the dynamic changes of the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations from 2010 to 2020 and, by using a transition matrix and landscape index, simulated and predicted the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations in Jiangle County in 2025 by constructing a CA–Markov model with Jiangle County, Fujian Province, China, as the study area. The results showed that the landscape of Chinese fir plantations is the main component of the forest landscape in southern China, accounting for 12%. The landscape quality of Chinese fir plantations degraded, mainly shown in the facts that the Chinese fir plantations were juvenile from 2010 to 2020, and that the young and middle-aged forests became the main part of the landscape of Chinese fir plantations, accounting for 54.8%. The landscape area of Chinese fir plantations showed an increasing trend, which mainly came from other coniferous forests, other woodlands, non-woodlands and non-wood forests, and the replaced Chinese fir plantations were mainly eroded by bamboo forests. The evergreen broad-leaved forests, a kind of zonal vegetation, have been effectively protected in the past 10 years. In the future, the total area of Chinese fir plantations will continue to expand, and a small part of them will continue to be eroded by bamboo forests. In order to improve the landscape quality of Chinese fir plantations, it is necessary to adjust the age group structure of Chinese fir plantations, expand the proportion of mature forests, and, meanwhile, continue to protect evergreen broad-leaved forests and curb the expansion of bamboo forests.