Ecosystem service value effects of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area land use transformation under the perspective of "production-living-ecological" space.

Abstract

In the context of rapid socio-economic development, eliciting "production-living-ecological" space (PLES) changes with corresponding ecosystem service benefits is critical for national land optimization and regional sustainability. Based on land use data obtained via remote sensing of 1980, 2000, 2018, and from a PLES perspective, we applied geo-information Tupu to depict land use transformations in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) from 1980 to 2018. The ecological/environmental effects of land use transformation were also explored based on the contribution value of ecosystem service. The results showed that both industrial production space and living space had increased from 1980 to 2018, while agricultural production space and ecological space displayed a decreasing trend. From the perspective of Tupu transformation, land use transformation pattern was relatively stable from 1980 to 2000, with the untransformed Tupu unit being dominant. However, with the complex land use transformation from 2000 to 2018, mutual transformation of agricultural production space and forest and grassland ecological space became dominant. Urbanization and industrialization were the main factors contributing to the decreased agricultural production space and ecological space. The ecosystem service value of TGRA initially decreased, then increased temporally, with greater change in the east than in the west. In the study period, ecological protection and restoration projects had positive effects on ecosystem service values, while rapid socio-economic development negatively impacted agricultural production space and ecological space. Combined with second ploughing, socio-economic development negatively impacted ecosystem ser-vice values.