Multi-Remote Sensing Data Analysis for Identifying the Impact of Human Activities on Water-Related Ecosystem Services in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Abstract

The ecosystem service (ES) is the basis for human lives, and is also one of the criteria for evaluating environmental conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how human activities would affect the ESs under the rapid urbanization and social-economic development phenomena. This study selected four vital important water-related ESs, including the water yield, soil retention, water purification, and net primary productivity (NPP), to detect how the structure and function of ecosystems had changed in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 1999–2018, by applying multi-remote sensing methods. The results show that: though the YREB has experienced rapid urbanization during the study period, the integrated ecosystem services value (ESV) did not present a significant change trend, and the average integrated (ESV) is 5.06 × 1012 yuan. The 20-year average water yield, soil retention, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and NPP of the YREB are 1.378 × 1012 m3; 6.35 × 1010 t, 2.92 × 105 t, 6.89 × 104 t, 1.55 × 1015 gC, respectively. Most provinces and cities present a weak negative correlation between human activities and the integrated ESV, while human activities show more than 50% attribution weights on ESV change, especially in three urban agglomeration areas. Moreover, the NPP has been found not to be mainly affected by human activities, which may stress the irreplaceable effects of climate change and other environmental protection actions. These findings emphasize that it is crucial to regulate human activities to guarantee ecosystem health and ESs in the future.