Abstract
Clarifying the spatial interaction relationship between urbanization and multiple ecosystem services (ESs) is a prerequisite for reducing the impact of urbanization on the ecological environment and coordinating urbanization and ecological environmental protection. Urbanization is especially significant for ecologically fragile areas, where ecosystems are particularly sensitive to changes in urban patterns. This study considered the Lan–Xi (LX) urban agglomeration in three natural transitional regions using socio-economic, ecological environment, and other data, through a variety of methods, to supersede administrative boundaries and to explore the relationship between urbanization and ESs on a grid scale. The results revealed a significant negative spatial correlation between the levels of urbanization and comprehensive ESs, indicating that rapid urbanization has led to a decline in regional ESs. However, with the rapid urbanization trend from 2010 to 2018, the ESs in the LX region showed an upward trend because the implementation of ecological protection and restoration projects greatly offset the decline in ESs caused by urban expansion. We found a positive correlation between nutrient purification and the levels of urbanization among various ESs and four principal types of spatial–temporal interactions between ESs and urbanization levels. Among them, the high–high cluster areas occupied the smallest proportion, and the low–low cluster areas occupied the largest proportion.
Highlights
Urbanization is one of the most important global social and economic phenomena and involves the transformation of population structure, economic structure, geographical space, and lifestyle between rural and urban areas [1]
André Mascarenhas [32] explored the impact of population and urbanization development in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area on land occupation and ecosystem services, and the results show that each pattern can have both positive and negative effects on the supply of ecosystem services
The Lan–Xi (LX) urban agglomeration in the transitional zone of the natural region was used as an example to (1) quantitatively assess the level of development of key ecosystem services and urbanization development of the Lan–Xi urban agglomeration in 2010 and 2018 and spatially clarify the changing process of urbanization and ecosystem services; (2) reveal the spatial–temporal interaction relationship between urbanization and ESs in the LX urban agglomeration based on the grid scale, to explore the characteristics of urbanization and ecological environment evolution in the rapid urbanization areas in the upper reaches of the Yellow River; and (3) discuss suggestions for coordinating urban development and ecological protection in the future
Summary
Urbanization is one of the most important global social and economic phenomena and involves the transformation of population structure, economic structure, geographical space, and lifestyle between rural and urban areas [1]. The Lan–Xi (LX) urban agglomeration in the transitional zone of the natural region was used as an example to (1) quantitatively assess the level of development of key ecosystem services and urbanization development of the Lan–Xi urban agglomeration in 2010 and 2018 and spatially clarify the changing process of urbanization and ecosystem services; (2) reveal the spatial–temporal interaction relationship between urbanization and ESs in the LX urban agglomeration based on the grid scale, to explore the characteristics of urbanization and ecological environment evolution in the rapid urbanization areas in the upper reaches of the Yellow River; and (3) discuss suggestions for coordinating urban development and ecological protection in the future
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