Urban Ecosystem Health Research Articles

Urbanization and plant diversity in urban fringes: Differential responses across life forms

Urban fringe areas, as critical transition zones between urban expansion and natural environments, provide essential ecosystem services that enhance the overall health and sustainability of urban environments. However, previous studies have focused on urban built–up areas while neglecting the unique conditions of urban fringe zones. This study investigated the spatial distribution patterns of plant diversity across different life forms in Jiangdong New District and their responses to urbanization levels. The results indicate that hot and cold spots of diversity for trees and shrubs show similarity, while diversity in herbaceous plants differs significantly. Nighttime light intensity, POI (Point–of–Interest) density, and road density are primary influencing factors, with nighttime light intensity and POI density having the greatest combined impact, and herbs showing the highest sensitivity to these factors. Further analysis reveals that in the northwestern forest, grassland, and farmland mosaic areas, urbanization levels are positively correlated with tree and shrub diversity but negatively correlated with herb diversity. In the southeastern nursery planting area, urbanization levels consistently relate to the diversity of these three plant types. These findings underscore the necessity of adopting diverse conservation and management strategies in urban fringe areas to address the ecological needs and functional contributions of different plant types. This provides new perspectives on urban planning and ecological conservation that can help improve the overall health and sustainability of urban ecosystems.

Determining the priority control sources of heavy metals in the roadside soils in a typical industrial city of North China

Heavy metals (HMs) in roadside soils (RS) are closely related to urban ecosystem and human health, but priority control sources and eco-health risks of HMs remain unclear. We explored pollution sources of HMs using positive matrix factorization (PMF), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and random forest (RF), and assessed their source-specific eco-health risks. The combination of PMF, SEM-EDS and RF indicated that pollution sources of HMs were coal combustion (27.99 %), construction materials (30.15 %), and traffic emissions (41.86 %). SEM-EDS revealed RS particles were identified by a combination of physical (spherical, porous rounded, crustal flake, crustal rounded and irregular particles) and elemental surface characteristics (O, C, Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, K, Zn, Cu, and Mn). RF highlighted road network density, residential density, and industrial density had significant importance influence on pollution sources. Approximately 72.35 % of soil samples were at a low ecological risk with traffic emissions being the major contributor. Non-carcinogenic risks had a minimal effect, but carcinogenic risks were at a cautionary level with coal combustion being the highest contributor. Overall, coal combustion and traffic emissions were regarded as priority control sources of HMs. These findings provided effective guidance for soil pollution prevention and risk control.

Soundscapes in Urban Green Spaces of a Megacity Across an Urban–Rural Gradient: A Case Study of Shanghai

Urban soundscapes are valuable indicators of urban biodiversity and ecosystem health. This study investigated the spatial and temporal characteristics of soundscapes in megacity green spaces and their relationship with the urban environment. An acoustic index was formulated and calculated using long-term data from Shanghai’s urban green spaces. The results show a significant increase in the acoustic index during spring and summer, peaking during these periods, while a decrease was observed from December to February, dominated by abiotic sounds. Diurnal variations indicate a rapid increase in the acoustic index at sunrise, reflecting heightened avian activity during the dawn chorus. Human interference in the urban center limited acoustic activity, whereas the outer suburbs, with their more natural environments, supported greater acoustic richness.

A biosecurity perspective on urban trees in public and private spaces and trees available from nurseries

Urban trees are of high importance for healthy urban ecosystems. However, some trees are invasive plants that may ‘escape’ from urban areas into natural environments. Furthermore, invasive forest pests often arrive and establish in urban environments before they spread to forest ecosystems. Therefore, knowledge of tree species composition in urban areas is important for the biosecurity of cities and surrounding forests. Despite this, urban tree inventories often lack information on trees on private properties. To assess the potential role of urban areas as a source of invasive trees as well as invasive pests of trees, we compared the species composition of urban trees in public and private spaces in several Swiss cities and in tree nurseries (henceforth: ‘nurseries’) in Switzerland. We analysed the various data sets we compiled regarding invasive tree species, and examined how many trees are potential hosts for invasive quarantine pests of trees. We found no statistically significant difference in tree species composition in public and private urban areas, but the proportion of non-native trees was higher in private than in public spaces. Tree species available in nurseries and those present in cities were not significantly different, with larger urban tree inventories having a greater overlap with the species available in nurseries. Five of eight tree species considered invasive whose sale was banned since September 2024 were still on sale ten months before the ban came into force. All eight tree species were present in urban tree inventories. Importantly, between 91 % and 97 % of all urban trees in public and private spaces were suitable hosts for at least one quarantine forest pest. Given the pivotal role that urban trees play for the health of urban and peri-urban ecosystems, knowledge of tree species composition is essential from a biosecurity perspective. Our findings suggest that the combination of public urban tree inventories and trees available from nurseries can provide an estimate of the composition of private urban trees and can be useful for invasive species monitoring.

Biomimetic Adaptive Building Façade Modeling for Sustainable Urban Freshwater Ecosystems: Integration of Nature's Water-Harvesting Strategy into Sun-Breakers.

Urban freshwater ecosystems have many critical functions, such as providing water to all living things and supporting biodiversity. Factors such as water pollution, increased water consumption, habitat loss, climate change, and drought threaten the health of urban freshwater ecosystems. Looking for solutions to these challenges, this article aims to recycle water and return it to its life cycle using a climate-sensitive water collection strategy. The model focuses on the biomimetic method as a basic strategy. In this regard, the concept of water-harvesting has been examined in detail by conducting a deep literature review, including architecture and engineering disciplines. With all these data obtained, a synthesis/integration study was carried out by developing a model proposal based on adaptive building façade elements to solve the water problems experienced in cities. The model proposal, which is directly related to the titles of "Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6)" and "Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11)", which are among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aims to provide different perspectives on the disciplines with its superficial and functional features. In this context, it is anticipated that the article will become an indispensable resource for other researchers working on the subject.

Enhancing bird habitat networks in metropolitan areas: Resilience assessment and improvement strategies – A case study from Shanghai

Constructing bird habitat networks (BHNs) is crucial for maintaining the health and service equilibrium of urban ecosystems, especially in large metropolitan areas where the pressure of urbanization is intense. However, most existing BHNs fail to account for the dynamic changes and unique requirements of local species, leading to homogenized construction outcomes and ecological corridor objectives. This study employs a comprehensive approach to identify bird habitat patches using multiple high-quality sources, then utilize circuit theory and complex network theory to construct and assess the resilience of BHN. Our key findings showed: (1)93 bird habitat sources were identified, predominantly situated in the continuous green spaces of southern and southeastern Shanghai, whereas habitat sources in the city center and other densely built-up areas are more dispersed, highlighting them as prime targets for future ecological restoration efforts. (2) The distribution of bird habitat corridors exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity, with primary corridors predominantly spanning the southwestern and eastern parts of the study area, while secondary corridors are more abundant in the western and northern parts, forming a denser network, whereas the central area shows fewer and more isolated corridors. (3) The decline in structural and functional resilience was notably more rapid under targeted attacks than under random attacks, underscoring the need to prioritize crucial bird habitat sources on the city's periphery, especially near highly urbanized areas, in urban planning and biodiversity conservation efforts to sustain ecological balance and biodiversity. These insights provide a crucial scientific basis for urban planners, emphasizing the integration of biodiversity conservation into urban development strategies by optimizing ecological sources and corridors to balance development with ecological preservation.

Ecological Network Construction in High-Density Water Network Areas Based on a Three-Dimensional Perspective: The Case of Foshan City

The acceleration of urbanization has resulted in varying degrees of impact on the stability and health of high-density urban ecosystems. Building urban ecological networks is crucial for safeguarding biodiversity and sustaining ecosystem vitality. In this study, the city of Foshan was selected as the study area, which is a prime representative of a high-density water network city. Additionally, a morphological spatial pattern analysis was employed to identify the ecological source. We built an ecological resistance surface using geographic, natural, and behavioral elements, adjusting it based on the density of the water network and the building height. Following this, the circuit theoretical model was utilized to create an ecological network by identifying ecological corridors. There were three key findings. First, the ecological network consisted of 30 ecological source sites and 53 ecological corridors, and 103 ecological “pinch points” and 193 ecological barrier points were identified. Second, the ecological sources were predominantly situated in the southwestern and northern parts of Foshan City. Meanwhile, the suburbs of Foshan City contained the primary ecological barrier points, mainly stemming from new construction sites, while the key ecological “pinch points” were concentrated at river junctions. The third outcome was the recommendations to (a) boost the connectivity of the ecological network in the suburbs, (b) improve the connection of the water network in urban areas, and (c) focus on enhancing landscape connectivity. The objective was to develop approaches for optimizing urban ecological networks, leading to better connectivity and improved ecological network quality.

Monitoring the urban ecosystem health by introducing a spatial model based on pressure-state-impact-response framework (study area: Sanandaj city)

Monitoring the urban ecosystem health by introducing a spatial model based on pressure-state-impact-response framework (study area: Sanandaj city)

Historical redlining is associated with disparities in wildlife biodiversity in four California cities

Legacy effects describe the persistent, long-term impacts on an ecosystem following the removal of an abiotic or biotic feature. Redlining, a policy that codified racial segregation and disinvestment in minoritized neighborhoods, has produced legacy effects with profound impacts on urban ecosystem structure and health. These legacies have detrimentally impacted public health outcomes, socioeconomic stability, and environmental health. However, the collateral impacts of redlining on wildlife communities are uncertain. Here, we investigated whether faunal biodiversity was associated with redlining. We used home-owner loan corporation (HOLC) maps [grades A (i.e., "best" and "greenlined"), B, C, and D (i.e., "hazardous" and "redlined")] across four cities in California and contributory science data (iNaturalist) to estimate alpha and beta diversity across six clades (mammals, birds, insects, arachnids, reptiles, and amphibians) as a function of HOLC grade. We found that in greenlined neighborhoods, unique species were detected with less sampling effort, with redlined neighborhoods needing over 8,000 observations to detect the same number of unique species. Historically redlined neighborhoods had lower native and nonnative species richness compared to greenlined neighborhoods across each city, with disparities remaining at the clade level. Further, community composition (i.e., beta diversity) consistently differed among HOLC grades for all cities, including large differences in species assemblage observed between green and redlined neighborhoods. Our work spotlights the lasting effects of social injustices on the community ecology of cities, emphasizing that urban conservation and management efforts must incorporate an antiracist, justice-informed lens to improve biodiversity in urban environments.

How does rapid urban construction land expansion affect the spatial inequalities of ecosystem health in China? Evidence from the country, economic regions and urban agglomerations

Identifying the adaptation mechanisms between urban construction land expansion (UCE) and ecosystem health (EHI) is a crucial aspect of sustainable management. However, there is still progress room for existing studies in distinguishing the impact mechanisms of UCE on the EHI of China's cities, different economic subregions and urban agglomerations. These gaps hinder the development of differentiated supportive frameworks for urban land management policies and ecosystem restoration initiatives across various scales in China. This study integrated multivariate satellite remote sensing data to monitor the heterogeneous evolution patterns of EHI and UCE in Chinese cities, economic subregions and urban agglomerations. A set of spatial measure models are utilized to distinguish the variability impact of UCE on China's EHI from a multi-dimensional perspective, including global and local, whole-area and sub-area, and direct and indirect influences. The results indicate that as UCE continues to grow, EHI steadily declined, reaching 0.512 with an average annual decrease of 1.507% from 2000 to 2020. A diminishing cluster pattern of EHI was observed, primarily concentrated in urban agglomerations such as BTH, GBA, and YRD. UCE exhibited a significant negative spatial dependence on EHI, and both global and local perspectives, UCE had a gradually weakening negative effect on the EHI of Chinese cities and economic subregions. However, the impacts of UCE on EHI in mature urban agglomerations (e.g., GBA, BTH, and YRD) were dominated by spatial spillovers, whereas growing urban agglomerations (e.g., MRYRU and CCU) were more affected by direct shocks from UCE. Our investigation informs site-specific ecologically sustainable management strategies in China based on cross-scale analyses, providing new perspectives into establishing cooperative mechanisms for cross-regional ecological management while emphasizing ecological risks management under the integration of urban agglomerations.

Aboveground Biomass Inversion Based on Object-Oriented Classification and Pearson–mRMR–Machine Learning Model

Cities play a crucial role in the carbon cycle. Measuring urban aboveground biomass (AGB) is essential for evaluating carbon sequestration. Satellite remote sensing enables large-scale AGB inversion. However, the apparent differences between forest and grassland biomass pose a significant challenge to the accurate estimation of urban AGB using satellite-based data. To address this limitation, this study proposed a novel AGB estimation method using the eastern part of the Zhahe mining area in Huaibei City as the study area, which integrates land cover classification, feature selection, and machine learning modelling to generate high quality biomass maps of different vegetation types in an urban area with complex feature distribution. Utilizing the GEE platform and Sentinel-2 image, we developed an object-oriented machine learning classification algorithm, combining SNIC and GLCM to extract vegetation information. Optimal feature variables for forest and crop-grass AGB inversion were selected using the Pearson–mRMR algorithm. Finally, we constructed nine machine learning models for AGB inversion and selected the model with the highest accuracy to generate the AGB map of the study area. The results of the study are as follows: (1) Compared with the pixel-based classification method, the object-oriented classification method can extract the boundaries of different vegetation types more accurately. (2) Forest AGB is strongly correlated with vegetation indices and physiological parameters, while agri-grass AGB is primarily associated with vegetation indices and vegetation physiological parameters. (3) For forest AGB modelling, the RF-R model outperforms other machine learning models with an R2 of 0.77. For agri-grass AGB modelling, the XGBoost-R model is more accurate, with an R2 of 0.86. (4) The mean forest AGB in the study area was 4.60 kg/m2, while the mean agri-grass AGB was 0.71 kg/m2. High AGB values were predominantly observed in forested areas, which were mainly distributed along roads, waterways, and mountain ranges. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of the health of local urban ecosystems and provides valuable insights for ecosystem protection and the sustainable use of natural resources.

Assessment of urban ecosystem health and its influencing factors: a case study of Zibo City, China

Urban ecosystem health is the foundation of sustainable urban development. It is important to know the health status of urban ecosystem and its influencing factors for formulating scientific urban development planning. Taking Zibo city as the study area, the indicators were selected from five aspects: ecosystem vigor, structure, resilience, service function and population health to establish an assessment index system of urban ecosystem health. The health level of urban ecosystem was assessed, and its changing trend was analyzed from 2006 to 2018 in Zibo. Furthermore, obstacle degree analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to quantitatively analyze the main obstacle factors and sensitivity factors affecting urban ecosystem health, so as to provide references for improving urban ecosystem health. The results showed that the health level of urban ecosystem in Zibo showed an upward trend from 2006 to 2018. The poor structure and ecological environment quality were the main obstacle factors to urban ecosystem health. The impact of changes in a single indicator on urban ecosystem health gradually decreased, but the sensitivity index of indicators had obvious differences. Urban ecosystem health was sensitive to changes in ecosystem structure and resilience. In the future, Zibo should strengthen ecological construction, optimize the industrial structure, and develop green economy to promote urban ecosystem healthy.

Analyzing Habitat Suitability of Bird Species in Urban Areas to Changes in Biotope Level: Case Study of Seoul

Background and objective: Rapid urbanization has led to habitat degradation and fragmentation in urban ecosystems, negatively impacting biodiversity. Various natural spaces and green areas, particularly urban biotopes, are essential to foster an environment for diverse species within urban areas. The increase in biotope grades is a crucial factor in enhancing biodiversity and expanding wildlife habitats in urban areas, thereby improving the overall health and sustainability of urban ecosystems. This study focuses on environmentally sensitive bird species, applying scenarios of biotope grade elevation to derive efficient methods for improving biotope grades. The goal is to support projects and policy decisions to increase urban biodiversity and sustain ecosystems within the city.Methods: The analysis model employed the MaxEnt species distribution model, and 11 environmental variables tailored to bird characteristics were considered. Additionally, four scenarios for upward adjustments in biotope grades were examined: (1) current biotope grades, (2) upgrading second-grade areas to first-grade, (3) upgrading third-grade areas to second-grade, and (4) upgrading second and third-grade areas to first-grade. The study aimed to derive the efficiency of potential habitats in response to biotope grade increases under each scenario.Results: The results of the biotope grade upward scenarios showed an increase in efficiency of 81% for Scenario(2), 38.6% for Scenario (3), and 54.6% for Scenario (4). This reveals the efficiency of potential habitat expansion for urban birds with improved biotope grades. The findings underscore the significant role of biotope grade enhancement in securing bird habitats within the city.Conclusion: Focusing on birds in Seoul, this study concluded that higher biotope ratings significantly increase potential habitats. Limitations of the study include the omission of specific bird species when considering environmental variables and the lack of reflection of habitat characteristics like meteorological factors. Future research aims to develop a more in-depth and accurate model for evaluating the efficiency of biotope rating change scenarios.

Creating a sustainable urban ecosystem: the Azheke village model

PurposeWith rapid urbanization, cities are facing various ecological and environmental problems. Living in harmony with nature is more important than ever. This paper aims to evaluate the ecosystem and ecological features of Azheke village, a key component of the Hani Rice Terraces World Cultural Heritage in China. The focus is on exploring effective ways to improve the relationship between humans and the natural environment through urban design in order to create a livable and sustainable city that can promote the development of sustainable smart urban ecology design.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted a systematic literature review to answer the following research questions: (1) How does Azheke design achieve harmony between humans and nature? (2) What are the effective approaches to improve the relationship between humans and nature within urban ecosystems? (3) How can urban design learn and integrate from Azheke’s ecological features to improve the relationship between humans and nature?FindingsAzheke sustains long-term human-nature harmony through traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and efficient natural resource use. By incorporating biophilic design and nature-based solutions from Azheke, along with biodiversity-friendly urban planning, we can boost urban ecosystem health and create unique Azheke-inspired urban designs.Research limitations/implicationsThis research primarily focuses on the human-nature relationship, exploring design strategies based on biodiversity without delving into the interactions between other components of urban ecosystems, such as social-cultural and economic components.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new perspective and strategies for developing sustainable and smart urban ecology design. These findings can provide theoretical references for urban planners, designers and decision-makers.

URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT IN MALAYSIA: A REVIEW OF LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

The presence of urban rivers poses significant challenges for local authorities in their efforts to create sustainable and habitable urbanriver environments. This situation has led to various repercussions for the health of urban river ecosystems. To mitigate these issues,it is imperative that development projects’ environmental impacts are effectively managed by the relevant authorities, ensuring thesustainability of urban development and urbanization. It is worth emphasizing that in environmentally sensitive areas, particularly when planning large projects, the consideration of environmental factors should be a top priority. As such, this discussion will focus on how local planning authorities in the country devise strategies to address the challenges associated with urban river development projects.

Seasonal Changes in the Soil Microbial Community Structure in Urban Forests.

Urban forests play a crucial role in the overall health and stability of urban ecosystems. Soil microorganisms are vital to the functioning of urban forest ecosystems as they facilitate material cycling and contribute to environmental stability. This study utilized high-throughput sequencing technology to examine the structural characteristics of bacterial and fungal communities in the bulk soil of six different forest stands: Phyllostachys pubescens (ZL), Metasequoia glyptostroboides (SSL), Cornus officinalis (SZY), mixed broad-leaved shrub forest (ZKG), mixed pine and cypress forest (SBL), and mixed broad-leaved tree forest (ZKQ). Soil samples were collected from each forest stand, including the corners, center, and edges of each plot, and a combined sample was created from the first five samples. The results revealed that among the bacterial communities, ZKG exhibited the highest alpha diversity in spring, while ZL demonstrated the highest alpha diversity in both summer and autumn. Proteobacteria was the most abundant bacterial phylum in all six forest stand soils. The dominant fungal phylum across the six forest stands was identified as Ascomycota. Notably, the microbial community diversity of SBL bulk soil exhibited significant seasonal changes. Although ZL exhibited lower bacterial community diversity in spring, its fungal community diversity was the highest. The bulk soil microbial diversity of ZL and SSL surpassed that of the other forest stands, suggesting their importance in maintaining the stability of the urban forest ecosystem in the Zhuyu Bay Scenic Area. Furthermore, the diversity of the bulk soil microbial communities was higher in all six stands during spring compared to summer and autumn. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the seasonal variations of bulk soil microbial communities in urban forests and identifies dominant tree species, offering guidance for tree species' selection and preservation in urban forest management.

Research on urban ecosystem health evaluation of Yunnan Province based on principal component analysis method

Urban ecosystem consists of environment, social culture and economy, and the health of urban ecosystem determines the quality of life of residents and is an important dependence of human life. Through the official statistics of Yunnan Province in the past five years, a number of subdivided indicators of urban data are selected and dimensionality is reduced using principal component analysis to obtain the urban ecosystem health evaluation system, which makes a comprehensive assessment of the health and development of the ecosystems in Yunnan Province and puts forward suggestions for it. The results show that the overall development of urban ecosystem health in Yunnan Province has been steadily improving over the past five years, with a balanced development in all aspects, and that the future management mode should emphasize the coordinated development of the economy and the ecological environment.

River Ecosystem Health Assessment in Rapid Urbanization Regions (Shenzhen, China) under the Guidance of Bioremediation Objectives

As a coastal city with rapid urbanization and high-intensity human activities, Shenzhen, China has carried out a series of comprehensive treatments for water pollution control and ecological restoration in recent years. However, the restoration effect is mainly reflected in the improvement of water quality and riparian landscape, and there is still a big gap in reaching the river’s ecological restoration goals. Therefore, it is necessary to make a full investigation and evaluation of river aquatic systems that focuses on the restoration of aquatic communities and ecosystem health. We surveyed forty-seven sampling sites in nine basins to investigate water quality and aquatic organisms (algae and macroinvertebrates) during the low-water period in 2019. Under the guidance of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), the urban river ecosystem health assessment system, with a total of twenty indicators from six criteria layers, was established. We addressed the bioremediation objectives in this system and aquatic organism indicators as high-weight characteristic indicators. The results showed that the degradation of the river ecosystem in Shenzhen is serious, which is mainly reflected in the simple structure of the aquatic biological community and the low biodiversity. Only one “healthy” sample site, accounting for 2% of the total sampling sites; six sites of “sub-health” level, accounting for 13%; twenty-four “poor” sample points, accounting for 51%; sixteen “extremely poor” sample points, accounting for 34%. From the perspective of spatial distribution, the river ecological status of Daya Bay Basin and Dapeng Bay Basin is good, which is at the level of “health” to “sub-health”; the Guanlan River Basin, Maozhou River Basin, Shenzhen River Basin, Shenzhen Bay Basin, Pingshan River Basin, and most of the Longgang River Basin are of “poor to extremely poor” grade; the Pearl Estuary basin is of “extremely poor” grade. This assessment system can be used as an effective tool to monitor the ecological health status, especially the enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystem function of rivers. Moreover, it could provide important decision-making guidance for river management affected by high-intensity human activities.

Exploring the Coupling Coordination Relationship of Urban Resilience System in Ecologically Fragile Areas: Case Study of the Loess Plateau in China

Urban ecosystem health threats and natural disasters have a prominent influence under the rapid urbanization process, and high urban resilience (UR) is the key to response to human-natural disasters. This study attempts to construct a comprehensive index system of UR based on the DPSIR (Driving—Pressure—State—Impact—Response) framework to explore the coupling coordination relationship and driving factors of UR in ecologically fragile areas, using panel data of 39 cities in the Loess Plateau from 2010 to 2019. The empirical results have shown that most cities present low and medium levels of urban resilience, indicating that the UR of the Loess Plateau is not ideal, that there is a significant spatial difference between the urban resilience and coupling coordination degree (CCD), and the spatial characteristics are represented by “central depression”. Additionally, there are significant discordant relationships among the five subsystems of UR, which means that the pressure subsystem has the highest score, while the driving force subsystem and state subsystem have the lowest score. Regarding the driving factors, institutional quality, scientific and technological expenditure, and industrial upgrading have a significant positive impact on UR, while gross industrial output, urban carbon emissions, and urban population density have a significant negative impact on UR. This study provides a new index system and information and decision-making reference for UR exploration, which is also conducive to the future urban sustainable development planning in ecologically sensitive areas.

How does urban landscape pattern affect ecosystem health? Insights from a spatiotemporal analysis of 212 major cities in China

Healthy ecosystems are the foundation of sustainable urbanization. While scientists have long understood the ecological benefits of healthy landscapes, there is still limited understanding of how urban landscape patterns affect ecosystem health. To fill this gap, we systematically investigated the spatiotemporal relationships between different urban landscape patterns and ecosystem health in 212 major cities in China from 2000 to 2020 using Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression. Results show that cities with poor ecosystem health are mainly concentrated in central-eastern China and show a long-term trend of degradation. There is spatial and temporal variability in how landscape patterns drive ecosystem health changes. The size, density, and perimeter of urban patches, along with the degree of interspersion between urban land covers with other land covers, are more important for ecosystem health than other spatial pattern measures, but these patterns also have greater temporal variation. Over the past two decades, the negative impacts of urban area growth have diminished in cities in lower-lying plains areas, but remain a major cause of local ecological degradation. The ecological health of mountain cities is more sensitive to changes in the shape and spatial arrangement of urban patches because of the intertwined distribution of natural ecosystems and urban land that often characterize these cities. This work not only confirms the advantages of spatiotemporal analytical thinking in the study of driving mechanisms of ecosystem health but also provides important guidelines for creating desirable landscape patterns for sustainable urban development.