Impacts of landscape change on net primary productivity by integrating remote sensing data and ecosystem model in a rapidly urbanizing region in China

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Land use and land cover patterns have been substantially changed under the intense global urbanization process. With the growing concern on the effects of land use/land cover change (LUCC) on the terrestrial carbon cycle, particularly net primary productivity (NPP), understanding the changing trends of LUCC and NPP and their correlation is essential for sustainable landscape planning. Using the integrated geographic information system, remote sensing, Carnegie–Ames–Stanford approach model, and statistical methods, the spatial-temporal variations in landscape and NPP in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region from 2005 to 2015 were analyzed. The results showed that the built-up areas increased by 36.7% from 2005 to 2015, 80.5% of which were in lowland areas and 19.5% in relatively high elevation areas. The urban area all showed a tendency to be aggregated and complete in the entire region. The NPP of urban area was the lowest and was 31% lower than the highest value of forest land. Instead of the most urbanized city center, the peripheral area outside the metropolitan city center was facing the most intense NPP loss of 17.13 g C∙m−2∙year−1 in average. In addition to the climatic factors, the LUCC accounted for 70% of the total NPP change in urban area, while approximately 20% in forest and grassland, showing that human constructions undoubtedly affect the land productivity. Through a spatial clustering analysis, the 206 counties in the BTH region could be classified into five categories based on their temporal urbanization degree and their ecological functions. Planning specific development models for different types of areas can give consideration to both urban development and ecological protection in the urbanization process. Our study highlights the necessity of evaluating various impacts of LUCC on NPP in an integrated region of complex ecosystem composition, which contributes to the future localized landscape planning in the global urbanization process.