Impacts of multi-scenario land use change on ecosystem services and ecological security pattern: A case study of the Yellow River Delta

The Yellow River Delta(YRD), a critical economic zone along China's eastern coast, also functions as a vital ecological reserve in the lower Yellow River. Amidst rapid industrialization and urbanization, the region has witnessed significant land use/cover changes(LUCC), impacting ecosystem services(ES) and ecological security patterns(ESP). Investigating LUCC's effects on ES and ESP in the YRD is crucial for ecological security and sustainable development. This study utilized the PLUS model to simulate 2030 land use scenarios, including natural development(NDS), economic development(EDS), and ecological protection scenarios(EPS). Subsequently, the InVEST model and circuit theory were applied to assess ES and ESP under varying LUCC scenarios from 2010 to 2030. Findings indicate:(1) Notable LUCC from 2010 to 2030, marked by decreasing cropland and increasing construction land and water bodies.(2) From 2010 to 2020, improvements were observed in carbon storage,water yield, soil retention, and habitat quality, whereas 2020–2030 saw increases in water yield and soil retention but declines in habitat quality and carbon storage. Among the scenarios, EPS showed superior performance in all four ES.(3) Between 2010 and 2030, ecological sources, corridors, and pinchpoints expanded, displaying significant spatial heterogeneity. The EPS scenario yielded the most substantial increases in ecological sources,corridors, and pinchpoints, totaling 582.89 km^(2), 645.03 km^(2),and 64.43 km^(2), respectively. This study highlights the importance of EPS, offering insightful scientific guidance for the YRD's sustainable development.

Optimization of water-urban-agricultural-ecological land use pattern:A case study of Guanzhong Basin in the southern Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province,China

Extensive land use will cause many environmental problems.It is an urgent task to improve land use efficiency and optimize land use patterns.In recent years,due to the flow decrease,the Guanzhong Basin in Shaanxi Province is confronted with the problem of insufficient water resources reserve.Based on the Coupled Ground-Water and Surface-Water Flow Model(GSFLOW),this paper evaluates the response of water resources in the basin to changes in land use patterns,optimizes the land use pattern,improves the ecological and economic benefits,and the efficiency of various spatial development,providing a reference for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.The research shows that the land use pattern in the Guanzhong Basin should be further optimized.Under the condition of considering ecological and economic development,the percentage change of the optimum area of farmland,forest,grassland,water area,and urban area compared with the current land use area ratio is+2.3,+2.4,-6.1,+0.2,and+1.6,respectively.The economic and ecological value of land increases by14.1%and 3.1%,respectively,and the number of water resources can increase by 2.5%.

Optimization of Rural Settlement Distributions Based On the Ecological Security Pattern: A Case Study of Da’an City in Jilin Province of China

Following the trends of Chinese rural transformation development, and the sustainable development goals for resources and environment, reasonable arranging the potential development space and the ecological space, so as to optimize the distributions of rural settlement would be the key challenge for rural areas in ecologically fragile regions. From the perspective of maintaining regional ecological security, this paper takes Da’an City, a typical ecological fragile region in Jilin Province, as the case area, constructing the comprehensive ecological security pattern(ESP) on basis of landscape ecology, and applying the landscape pattern indexes to quantitative analysis the spatial distribution characteristics of rural settlements. Then, different optimization directions and management strategies are put forward for rural settlements in each secure zone under the comprehensive ESP. The experimental results showed that 1) the area of the low security zone, the general security zone, the moderate security zone and the extreme security zone was 1570.18 km^2, 1463.36 km^2, 1215.80 km^2 and 629.77 km^2, representing 32.18%, 29.99%, 24.92% and 12.91% of the total area of the target area, respectively. 2) The rural settlements in Da’an City were characterized by a high degree of fragmentation with a large number of small-scale patches. 3) The area of rural settlements in the ecological relocation zone, the in situ remediation zone, the limited development zone and the key development zone was 22.80 km^2, 42.31 km^2, 36.28 km^2 and 19.40 km^2, accounting for 18.88%, 35.03%, 30.04% and 16.06% of the total area of rural settlements, respectively. Then, different measures were proposed for settlements in different optimization zones in order to scientifically plan important ecological space, production space and living space in rural areas. This paper aims to provide fundamental support for rural settlements based on redistribution from the perspective of landscape ecology and provide insights for rural planning and rural habitat environmental improvement.

Digital Ecological Design of River Landscapes in Urbanization

By comparing landscape patterns of suburban and urban rivers in the same flow path, and analyzing patch indexes of urban river landscapes, corresponding sustainable eco-design strategies were proposed, ecodesign theory system and eco-restoration design techniques were coupled, so as to explore new digital eco-design means of urban river landscapes by targeting at regional ecological consistency.

Analysis of Rural Ecological Pattern Based on FRAGSTATS: A Case Study of Puxing Village in Pidu District

According to the plant information of Puxing Village, a typical village in Chengdu Plain, the GIS map was drawn to analyze the landscape ecology pattern by FRAGSTATS software. The results show that in the past 10 years, although urbanization had a great impact on the rural ecological pattern, it was still in a stable ecological environment. The comparison of the landscape index shows that the replacement of the vegetation community pattern leads to the conversion of the source population from the original farmland to laurel, and the increase of whole vegetation community under artificial intervention is the most important factor for the change of the vegetation community richness. At the same time, the pattern analysis at the horizontal level also reveals the obvious effect of the fast road as an artificial product for the enhancement of nearby vegetation community richness.

Study on New Urbanization and Urban Ecological Security Assessment

Taking the relationship between new urbanization and urban ecological security protection as research object, based on pressure -status - response model, taking Gaochun （Gucheng Lake basin） and Zhangjiakou （Guanting Reservoir basin） as the examples, basin ecological security in its new urbanization process was evaluated. Based on the principle of comprehensiveness, representativeness and data availability, evaluation indexes were selected, and index system was established. Mathematical function of evaluation indexes was established, and security index of each evaluation indicator in index layer was determined. Using weighted average method, ecological security indexes in the two areas were obtained. On the basis of comparison and analysis, it is proposed that we must deal with urban ecological security problem in new urbanization process, thereby truly achieving ultimate value orientation of new urbanization construction oriented by people.

Spatial Pattern and Influencing Factors of Regional Ecological Civilisation Construction in China

Ecological civilisation construction is a strategy for regional sustainable development based on a regional system of human-land relations. The comprehensive measurement and regional differentiation in construction levels are the key issues of ecological civilisation construction. This study aims to build 35 index systems that coalesce on four aspects: ecological economic adjustment and operation, ecological and social development and progress, ecological resources and environmental security, and ecological institutional and cultural awareness. We measured and evaluated the level of ecological civilisation construction of 329 cities(prefecture-level cities, autonomous prefectures and leagues) in 2018 using a comprehensive evaluation system and a spatial autocorrelation method to assess spatial differences in the level of ecological civilisation construction across China. This approach takes ‘the humanities-economic geography’ comprehensive perspective and uses a GWR(geographically weighted regression) model to analyse 10 influencing factors. Results show that: 1) the level of ecological construction can be divided into five types: higher, high, medium, low, and lower levels, according to the evaluation score. The five types are spindle-shaped in quantity and there is a significant imbalance in their spatial distribution, mainly trending from the southeast coast to the northwest. The land is decreasing, and the southern region is higher in level than the northern region. 2) The results of the spatial autocorrelation method show obvious spatial differences in ecological civilisation construction across China and that the level of ecological civilisation construction is positively autocorrelated. From east to west, the hot zone gradually transitions to a cold zone. A high-high type is mainly distributed in eastern coastal cities of China, and the number of high-low and low-high types are small. The low-low type is mainly distributed in the northwestern and northeastern regions. 3) The effect of influencing factors is heterogeneous in their spatial distribution, and the abundance of ecological resources is the most influential factor. According to the main influencing factors, each region should adhere to the principle of differentiation according to local conditions when choosing its ecological civilisation construction path and establishing an assessment mechanism. This study provides a scientific basis for enriching the regional level measurement of ecological civilisation construction, clarifying the current level of ecological civilisation construction in China, and implementing the regional differentiation path of ecological civilisation construction.

Regional coupling coordination degree between new urbanization and water ecological civilization in China,2009-2018

New urbanization is closely related to the construction of aquatic ecological civilization,and it promotes and restricts each other.Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018,this paper constructs the evaluation index system of new urbanization and water ecological civilization,determines the weight by using entropy method,and comprehensively analyzes and judges the development status and coupling coordination of new urbanization and water ecological civilization by constructing the coupling coordination model of new urbanization and water ecological civilization.The results show that the coupling coordination degree of new urbanization and water ecological civilization in most provinces and cities is in the state of barely coordination and primary coordination,and is at the level of medium coupling coordination;the overall trend is increasing,and the gap between provinces is gradually narrowing with the advance of time;In terms of regional distribution,the eastern region is higher than the central and western regions.Beijing,Shanghai,Tianjin and other places in the eastern region have realized the high-level coupling of new urbanization and water ecological civilization,while Henan,Anhui,Hunan and other places in the central region still have a large space for improvement.

Construction of Xi'an ecological old-age care community in the new urbanization

The new urbanization is an important carrier of ecological civilization construction, and ecological old-age care is the concrete manifestation of the perfect combination of the two, the proper meaning of the new urbanization connotation and an inevitable trend of its development. Based on the analysis of the connotation and relationship between the new urbanization and ecological old-age care, together with the current situation and existing problems of the current nursing institutions and ecological old-age care in Xi'an area, this paper discusses the major issues that should be noticed when constructing the ecological old-age care community in Xi'an and three main construction modes.

Study on Ecological Risk of Land Use in Urbanization Watershed Based on RS and GIS:A Case Study of Songhua River Watershed in Harbin Section

By using RS and GIS technology,the ecological risk index ( ERI) was constructed based on the analysis of land use change and structural characteristics in urbanization watershed of Songhua River in Harbin section. Afterwards,the spatial distribution and change characteristics maps of ERI obtained by using block Kriging were analyzed to reveal the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics,change rules and formation mechanisms of ecological risk based on land use under the background of urbanization,and to minimize land use risk during urbanization process. The results showed that during the past 18 years,moderate ecological risk level was major,while proportion of high ecological risk was the lowest,and the area of higher and lower ecological risk region changed most greatly; high and higher ecological risk were focused on urban region and the transition zone from urban to suburban region,while low and lower ecological risk mainly distributed in forestland with higher vegetation coverage,water bodies,grassland,shrub land and so on. Meanwhile,the transition zone from high to low ecological risk was very obvious. In addition,ecological risk became slightly worse in some region due to the transformation from cropland to residential and urban land,while it became slightly better in other regions because of the transformation from cropland to forestland; the center of gravity in lower ecological risk region shifted most greatly,while the shift was the smallest in high ecological risk region,namely 12. 31 and 0. 57 km respectively.

Analysis of the Ecological Migration Pattern in Ethnic Minority Areas——A Case Study of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

By taking Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as an example,this paper analyzes the ecological migration pattern in ethnic minority areas.The basic patterns of development for poverty relief in Ningxia are in-situ migration and new area development pattern.The new area development pattern includes three types,namely small town development pattern around urban radiation districts,urban labor migration pattern,and large-scale ecological migration pattern.Finally,successful experience of ecological migration in Ningxia is summarized.First,scientific industrial planning shall be made on the basis of proper selection of ecological migration location in immigrant settlement regions.Second,scientific and comprehensive ecological migration policies should be formulated.

The Urbanization Pattern of China in the 21st Century

The 21st century is referred to as a"century for cities" or "era for cities" and China hasalso speeded up its process of urbanization. It is veryimportant to choose a scientific urbanization patternto exert the function of cities and realize our dreamfor China to become a powerful modernized country.It’s concluded from history since 1800 that the patternof the world urbanization has transformed from"extensive" to "intensive". However, it is still anextensive pattern in China, and there are manyproblems behind the splendid achievements, reflectedon the urbanization process of our country since1949. Today, sustainable development and theknowledge economy are the themes of the cities; itis inevitable to change our urbanization pattern.Based on the dialectic relationship of quality andquantity, the article points out that urbanizationshould not only focus on quantity but also on qualityin China. High quality and multiform urbanizationpattern is an inevitable choice of China, and thedevelopment of the region can also be exalted by theradiation of the cities. But what’s the real meaningof the new pattern? What’s its difference from thewestern countries’? The article discusses its contentaccording to the reality of China.

Ecological Planning and Design of Waterfront in Xianghe County from the Perspective of Landscape Security Pattern

Waterfront is a precious resource in urban ecological construction,and also a key section for ecological protection,so ecological planning of urban waterfront has far-reaching influence on the whole region.This study explored ecological planning and design of waterfront from the perspective of landscape security pattern,analyzed current waterfront in Xianghe County and construction of landscape security pattern for waterfront,provided a basis for the ecological planning and design of landscape.

Changes in ecological stoichiometry and nutrient resorption in Castanopsis hystrix plantations along an urbanization gradient in the lower subtropics

The stoichiometry of carbon,nitrogen and phosphorous in plants can reflect the interactions between plants and their environment.The interplay between plant nutrients,climatic factors,and soil properties and the underlying regulatory mechanisms are pillars of ecology but remain underexplored.In this study of plant C-N-P stoichiometry and nutrient resorption in Castanopsis hystrix groves in three cities(Guangzhou,Zhongshan,and Lechang)that represent an urban-rural gradient in Guangdong Province,South China,we explored potential relationships among NO_(2) concentrations,diameter at breast height(DBH),and resident human population.Mean annual temperature,mean annual precipitation,insolation duration per year,and the human resident population differed significantly among the three cities.Soil C-N-P was always highest in suburban Lechang,and the concentration of NO_(2) was highest in urban Guanghzou(55.33±0.67μg m^(-3))and positively correlated with the resident population and leaf N:P.Our findings suggest that C-N-P stoichiometry of C.hystrix was better explained by NO_(2)than by soil C-N-P stoichiometry and that nutrient resorption was better explained by leaf nutrients and DBH than by NO_(2) and soil stoichiometry.Our study supports the hypothesis that rapid urbanization influences NO_(2) concentrations and microclimate,which may jointly change the stoichiometry of plant nutrients in the forest ecosystems.

Spatial pattern and drivers of urbanization in China's mid-level developing urban agglomeration:A case study of Chang-Zhu-Tan

Urban agglomeration has become the main form of regional spatial organization in China.While most of the existing studies of urban agglomeration in China have focused on the eastern coastal areas,urban agglomeration with mid-level development in the rest of the country has been overlooke1.To better understand the urbanization process of the mid-level developing urban agglomeration,this study investigated the clustering pattern and the drivers of both urban population and firm dynamics during 2005-2015 in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan(Chang-Zhu-Tan)urban agglomeration of China using the methods ofkernel density estimation and geographic detection.Our results show that centralization was obvious,although decentralization also occurred in Chang-Zhu-Tan,and that the spatial agglomeration was promoted by several factors,such as administrative resources,location advantage,labor cost,and consumption capacity.Some problems hindering the development of this region were also discovered:administrative resources played a critical role in urbanization because small towns and villages did not receive enough attention,and the effect of local policy was not as beneficial as expected.These findings partly explain the relatively slow development of mid-level developing urban agglomerations and have important implications for promoting healthier urbanization.

Spatial-temporal pattern and formation mechanism of county urbanization on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Urbanization is a comprehensive and complex socioeconomic phenomenon that plays an influential role in promoting global socioeconomic development.The Loess Plateau region is an important part of the China’s ecological security pattern,and occupies an important position in the implementation of China’s new-type urbanization strategy and the realization of the urban dream.The characteristics of the staged changes and regional differentiation of urbanization in the area from 1990 to 2018 were studied with focus on regions and subregions by selecting 341 county-level administrative units on the Chinese Loess Plateau as the research area,and employing partition analysis and geographic detector methods.This revealed the formation mechanism of the spatial differentiation pattern of urbanization on the Loess Plateau.We found that the urbanization of the Loess Plateau,previously in a slow growth phase,entered the accelerated development phase,presenting a macro pattern of high rates of urbanization in central and eastern areas and low rates in western areas.The formation of the regional differentiation patterns of urbanization on the Loess Plateau were the combined results of natural geographical and socioeconomic factors.Among these factors,the interaction of any two factors had a stronger impact on regional urbanization patterns than a single factor,which was specifically manifested as nonlinear or bi-factor enhancement effects.The findings of this paper may provide a theoretical reference and scientific basis for the scientific promotion of healthy urbanization on the Chinese Loess Plateau and the ecologically fragile areas of developing countries around the world.

Inter-provincial pattern of the coupled and coordinated relationship between touristization and urbanization

The coordinated development between touristization and urbanization is the key to optimizing regional industrial structure and building a long-term dynamic mechanism for urbanization. Based on constructing the measurement index system of touristization and urbanization level, the evaluation model on the coupled and coordinated degree is used in this paper to measure the inter-provincial pattern of the coupled and coordinated relationship between touristization and urbanization in 31 provinces and autonomous regions in China. The results show that the coupled and coordinated relationship between touristization and urbanization is significantly different in different regions, which presents a gradient decline pattern of the highest in the east, the lower in the middle and the lowest in the west. In the future, measures should be taken to promote the coordinated development between touristization and urbanization in accordance with the regional differences and actual development needs.

Seasonal co-occurrence patterns of bacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton and the ecological response in urban aquatic ecosystem

Microorganisms play a key role in aquatic ecosystems.Recent studies show that keystone taxa in microbial community could change the community structure and function.However,most previous studies focus on abundant taxa but neglected low abundant ones.To clarify the seasonal variation of bacterial and microalgal communities and understand their synergistic adaptation to diff erent environmental factors,we studied the bacterial and eukaryotic phytoplankton communities in Fenhe River that runs through Taiyuan City,central China,and their seasonal co-occurrence patterns using 16S and 18S rDNA sequencing.Results indicate that positive interaction of eukaryotic phytoplankton network was more active than negative one except winter,indicating that the cooperation(symbiotic phenomenon in which phytoplankton are interdependent and mutually benefi cial)among them could improve the adaption of microbial community to the local environmental changes and maintain the stability of microbial network.The main genera that identifi ed as keystone taxa in bacterial network were Salinivibrio and Sphingopyxis of Proteobacteria and they could respond to the variation of nitrite and make use of it,while those that identifi ed as keystone taxa in eukaryotic phytoplankton network were Pseudoschroederia and Nannochloris,and they were more susceptible to nitrate and phosphate.Mychonastes and Cryptomonas were closely related to water temperature.However,the loss of the co-occurrence by environmental factor changes aff ected the stability of network structure.This study provided a reference for analyzing relationship between bacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton and revealing potential importance of keystone taxa in similar ecological domains in carbon,nitrogen,and phosphorus dynamics.

Study on the Synchronous Propulsion of New Urbanization and Ecological Civilization Construction

The construction of ecological civilization is the inevitable choice for implementing of the new urbanization strategy and is the objective requirement of promoting the new urbanization. It provides the power support for the new urbanization,and economic development has entered a new era in China. In order to better promote the new urbanization and the construction of ecological civilization,there is a need to optimize the use of land resources,provide space guarantee for new urbanization and the construction of ecological civilization; vigorously develop the financial sector to provide financial support for the new urbanization and the construction of ecological civilization; perfect information infrastructure to provide information support for the new urbanization and the construction of ecological civilization; stick to people-oriented principle and strive to build livable city of ecological civilization; establish ecological compensation mechanism to promote the coordinated development of regional new ecological town; make a blue map for cooperative promotion of new urbanization and ecological civilization construction through the establishment of a scientific and rational plan.

Evaluation of Coordinated Development of Urbanization and Ecological Environment in the Efficient Ecological Economic Zone of the Yellow River Delta

Based on the statistical data of urbanization development level and ecological environment in the Yellow River Delta during 2009-2014,a comprehensive index system for the coordinated development of urbanization and ecological environment was established to evaluate the coordinated development level. The results showed that the coordinated development level of urbanization and ecological environment in the Yellow River Delta was generally high during 2009-2014. The development level of urbanization was higher than that of ecological environment on the whole,that is,the development of ecological environment lagged behind. The development of urbanization in the region was relatively slow during 2009-2011 but rapid during 2012-2014. The development level of ecological environment was relatively stable and always increased.