Effects of rapid urbanization on ecological functional vulnerability of the land system in Wuhan, China: A flow and stock perspective

Abstract

Exploring how rapid urbanization affects ecological functional vulnerability is a key issue in regional ecological risk assessment. This paper proposes a complex network approach to explore the response of ecological functional vulnerability to different urbanization scenarios from the perspective of stock and flow for the case study area of the Wuhan City in China. The paper aims to (1) establish a theoretical framework to explain how the urbanization process degrades ecological functions of the land system from a flow and stock perspective, (2) evaluate stock and flow changes of ecosystem service value triggered by land use change, and (3) explore the impact of different urbanization scenarios and different management costs on ecological functional vulnerability by combining two indicators, i.e., ecosystem service value change and ecological load entropy. Our results for Wuhan reveal that (1) non-ecological flows or degraded ecological flows are responsible for the increase in ecological functional vulnerability, (2) the total ecosystem service stock of the land system had slightly increased during 1990–2015, contributing to an enhanced ecological flow, (3) the critical points for maintaining the proper functioning of the land system are 80% or higher for cropland and 40% or higher for lake. These findings can provide critical references for the sustainable management of urban land system in Wuhan and other major cities in China. This study also suggest that the combination of ecosystem service value change and ecological load entropy can be used to comprehensively assess ecological functional vulnerability.