Response of ecological storage and conservation to land use transformation: A case study of a mining town in China

Optimization Strategy for Parks and Green Spaces in Shenyang City: Improving the Supply Quality and Accessibility

In this study, we evaluated the supply quality of parks and green spaces within the Third Ring Road area in Shenyang city by combining a landscape pattern index analysis with a principal component analysis. Moreover, a network analysis based on the ArcGIS platform was used to measure the accessibility of parks and green spaces. The research results showed that the overall supply quality of parks and green spaces (−9.55) must be improved. The supply quality levels of the four analyzed park types could be ranked as follows: garden parks (118.00) > community parks (73.67) > comprehensive parks (−16.64) > specific parks (−32.17). Among the analyzed recreation parks, the accessibility of daily recreation parks was poor, while the overall service efficiency of weekly recreation parks was better, except in a few regions. These research results can provide suggestions for future green space planning in Shenyang city. In addition, from the perspective of landscape patterns, studying the service quality of parks and green spaces can provide new ideas for further research on accessibility.

Surface mining caused multiple ecosystem service losses in China

China's surface mining greatly supported the rapid socio-economic development; however, there was a scarcity in the systematic understanding of national changes in surface mining changes and associated ecosystem services (ESs) losses, which inevitably affected human well-being and limited sustainable ecosystem management and policy optimization. In this study, we quantified the areal changes in surface mining based on the ChinaCover database and performed further analysis of ES loss from expanded surface mining using multidimensional geospatial data from 1990 to 2015, including MODIS products, meteorological records, and statistical datasets. Our observations reveal that China's surface mining was estimated to be 4746 km² in 2015 and that Inner Mongolia had the largest surface mining area (28%). Surface mining expanded remarkably from 1990 to 2015, with an increase by 2.7 times after 2000. In particular, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Qinghai had the greatest increases in surface mining area. Rapid expansion of surface mining led to obvious declines in natural habitat area, water retention, net primary productivity, and grain production, and these ES losses showed apparent spatiotemporal variations. China has taken many measures to reclaim the abandoned surface mining sites. Given the rapid expansion of surface mining and related ES loss, China should continue to perform ecological restoration for its sustainability.

Land use-based landscape planning and restoration in mine closure areas

Landscape planning and restoration in mine closure areas is not only an inevitable choice to sustain mining areas but also an important path to maximize landscape resources and to improve ecological function in mine closure areas. The analysis of the present mine development shows that many mines are unavoidably facing closures in China. This paper analyzes the periodic impact of mining activities on landscapes and then proposes planning concepts and principles. According to the landscape characteristics in mine closure areas, this paper classifies available landscape resources in mine closure areas into the landscape for restoration, for limited restoration and for protection, and then summarizes directions for their uses. This paper establishes the framework of spatial control planning and design of landscape elements from "macro control, medium allocation and micro optimization" for the purpose of managing and using this kind of special landscape resources. Finally, this paper applies the theories and methods to a case study in Wu'an from two aspects: the construction of a sustainable land-use pattern on a large scale and the optimized allocation of typical mine landscape resources on a small scale.