Differential impact of constructed land expansion on ecosystem health: A case study in the coastal region of the East China Sea

Abstract

The expansion of constructed land is one of the important factors leading to the degradation of ecosystems, and it seriously threatens the sustainable development of regional social economies. However, existing studies classify constructed land into one category, and there is a relative lack of research on the impact of different types of constructed land expansion patterns on ecosystem health (EH). In this study, the evaluation of ecosystem resilience was revised based on the spatial neighbourhood effect and human interference. Then the revised vigour-organization-resilience-services (VORS) framework was applied to assess the spatiotemporal patterns of EH in the coastal region of the East China Sea. Constructed land was divided into urban constructed land, rural residential areas, and other constructed lands. And geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model was used to link the ecosystem health index (EHI) to the expansion of various types of constructed land. The following conclusions were obtained: From 1990 to 2015, the area of constructed land increased by 2.24 times. Urban constructed land displayed a high-density and concentrated expansion pattern. Rural residential areas exhibited a low-density and dispersed expansion pattern. The EH of the study area deteriorated after 1990 and improved after 2000. A healthy ecosystem tends to be healthier, and a poor ecosystem tends to deteriorate. EH showed a high degree of spatial heterogeneity. Shanghai and Jiaxing regions were almost in the very unhealthy range, and this low-value region tended to expand, while the area with an EHI above ordinary accounted for over 90% on the south of Ningbo. The expansion pattern of urban constructed land impacted the regional EH slightly, but the impact was serious in the local EH. However, although the expansion pattern of rural residential areas had a slight impact on the local EH, it had a serious impact on the regional EH. The impact of the expansion of rural residential areas on EH should be given priority consideration in future control policies.