Spatial-Temporal Evolution of Land Use Change and Eco-Environmental Effects in the Chang-Zhu-Tan Core Area

Abstract

In the past 20 years, the integration process of the Chang-Zhu-Tan region has been accelerating, and land use has undergone significant changes. Land use change is a fundamental factor causing changes in the quality of the ecological environment. It is crucial to analyze land use change in the context of rapid urbanization and its impact on the ecological environment to promote sustainable and high-quality regional development. This study takes the Chang-Zhu-Tan core area, which has the highest development and construction intensity, as the study area. Based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, the land use information is extracted using Landsat remote sensing image data and the random forest method. The remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) is constructed to analyze the ecological and environmental effects of land use change based on the spatial and temporal changes of land use types and ecological and environmental quality in the Chang-Zhu-Tan core area from 2000 to 2020. The results show that the most critical land use change in the study area from 2000 to 2020 is mainly the sharp increase in construction land, accompanied by a continuous decrease in forest and cropland. During this period, the eco-environmental quality of the study area showed a declining trend, with significant differences in spatial distribution, generally showing a distribution pattern of suburban counties outperforming central urban areas. In addition, the distribution and changes in land use and ecological environment quality coincide spatially. Different land use types have different impacts on ecological environment quality, with the conversion of forest and cropland to construction land being the main reason for the deterioration of eco-environmental quality in the study area. This study provides a basis for the coordinated development of the ecological environment and social economy in the Chang-Zhu-Tan area.