Evolution of Habitat Quality and Its Topographic Gradient Effect in Northwest Hubei Province from 2000 to 2020 Based on the InVEST Model

Dynamic simulation of land use change and habitat quality assessment under climate change scenarios in Nanchang, China

Investigating habitat quality under different climate scenarios holds significant importance for sustainable land resource management and ecological conservation. In this study, considering Nanchang as a case study, a coupled patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) and system dynamics (SD) model was employed in the simulation and prediction of land usage under shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) and representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios. To assess the habitat quality in Nanchang from 2000 to 2020 and in 2030 under three diverse climate scenarios, we used the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model to analyze spatial and temporal changes. The findings indicate that the regions of forest land, cultivated land, and grassland in Nanchang City will dramatically decrease by 2030, the construction land will rapidly expand, and the fluctuations in the unutilized land and water area will be minimal. Additionally, the habitat quality declined from 2000 to 2020, and its spatial distributions changed. Zones having a high overall habitat quality were distributed in the mountains, hills, and lake areas, whereas those with relatively low quality were found in cultivated and urban areas. Under three climate scenarios, in 2030, the habitat quality index for Nanchang City will show a decreasing trend, mainly owing to areas with an index of 0.3-0.5 transitioning to <0.3. Considering each scenario, the degree of habitat degradation increased in the order SSP585>SSP245>SSP119. The findings of this study will inform high-quality development and biodiversity conservation in Nanchang City.

Spatio-temporal evolution and driving forces of habitat quality in Guizhou Province

This study aimed to analyze spatio-temporal changes in habitat quality in Guizhou Province during the 1990-2018 period and identify factors influencing habitat quality. Land-use data for the period were used to evaluate spatio-temporal variations in habitat quality using the InVEST model, and factors influencing habitat quality were analyzed using GeoDetector. According to the results, cultivated land and forestland decreased by 0.48% and 0.88%, respectively, during the study period. Grassland, water, and construction land areas increased, with construction land increasing the most (0.92%) followed by water area (0.37%). The main land-use changes included conversion of cultivated land to forestland, grassland, and construction land. The average habitat quality index for Guizhou Province changed from 0.633 to 0.627 over the 1990-2018 period, showing an overall downward trend. The distribution pattern of habitat quality was spatially "high in the north, south, and, east, and low in the west". High habitat quality areas were mainly located in the western part of Guizhou Province, whereas low habitat quality areas were located in the central region. Land-use was the major factor influencing the spatio-temporal variations in habitat quality, and the interactive effect between any two factors was stronger than that of a single factor. Natural factors and human factors co-dominated the temporal-spatial changes in habitat quality.

Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Coupling Relationship between Habitat Quality and Urbanization in the Lower Yellow River

Natural habitats are damaged by human interference to varying degrees during the urbanization process, which can impede a region's high-quality development. In this study, we examined the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of habitat quality and urbanization in the Lower Yellow River from 2000 to 2020 using the integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs (InVEST) model and the comprehensive indicator method. We also evaluated the coupling relationship between the habitat quality and urbanization using the coupling coordination degree model. The findings indicate the following aspects: (1) Between 2000 and 2020, the Lower Yellow River's habitat quality was typically mediocre, with a steady declining trend. The majority of cities displayed a trend toward declining habitat quality. (2) Both the urbanization subsystem and the urbanization level in 34 cities have demonstrated a consistent growth tendency. The urbanization level is most affected by economic urbanization among the subsystems. (3) The coupling coordination degree have revealed an ongoing trend of growth. In most cities, the relationship between habitat quality and urbanization has been evolving toward coordination. The results of this study have some reference value for ameliorating the habitat quality of the Lower Yellow River and solving the coupling coordination relationship between habitat quality and urbanization.

Impact of Land Use Change on the Habitat Quality Evolution in Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

Habitat quality (HQ) is an important indicator to characterize the level of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and can reflect the quality of the human living environment. Changes in land use can disturb regional HQ. Current research mostly focuses on assessing the good or bad quality of regional habitats, and less on the spatial response relationship between land use change and HQ, and even fewer studies on finely distinguishing the impact of land use types on HQ. Therefore, taking Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) of China as the study area, this paper first analyzes the land use change of study area by using the land use transfer matrix, land use rate model and landscape pattern index, and then combines the InVEST model with the multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model to build a refined assessment framework to quantitatively assess the spatial and temporal evolution patterns of HQ, and then analyse in detail the spatial response relationship of each land use type change on the impact of HQ. The results showed that from 2000 to 2020, the land use in the TGRA shows a changing state of "urban expansion, cultivated land shrinkage, forest land growth, and grassland degradation". With the change in land use, the habitat quality index (HQI) in the study area showed an " increase first and then decline" change characteristics, and the HQ degradation was more obvious in the areas with intense human activities. The impact of land use change over the past 20 years on HQ in the TGRA has significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity, with changes in paddy and dryland having mainly negative impacts on HQ, and changes in sparse land, shrubland, and medium-cover grassland having mainly positive impacts on HQ. This paper mainly provides a research framework for refined assessment, and the results can provide scientific support for land planning and ecological protection in the TGRA, and the research methods and ideas can provide references for similar research.

Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Land Use and the Response of Habitat Quality in Wusu, China

Understanding land use change and its impact on habitat quality (HQ) is conducive to land use management and ecological protection. We used the InVEST model and the GeoDetector model to explore the land use and HQ of Wusu from 1980 to 2020. We found that the spatial distribution of land use in Wusu had the most dramatic change from 2000 to 2010, and accordingly, the habitat quality deteriorated seriously from 2000 to 2010. Via correlation analysis, the response of HQ to land use change is obvious, among which the negative effect of forest land to construction land is the largest, and the positive effect of construction land to water is the largest. However, the overall HQ had the largest negative response to the change of grassland to arable land, and the largest positive response to the change of unused land to grassland. Of the driving factors that cause land use change and thus affect HQ, the human factors are the strongest, and the negative impact on HQ is more irreversible. This study can provide a scientific basis for land use management and ecological protection in Wusu, and can help to further promote the exploration of human activities and ecological responses in arid and semi-arid areas.

Parameter assignment for InVEST habitat quality module based on principal component analysis and grey coefficient analysis

The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model is a concise approach to evaluate the status of habitat quality for supporting ecosystem management and decision making. Assigning parameters accurately in the InVEST model is the premise for effectively simulating habitat quality. The purpose of this study is to propose an available method for assigning the important parameters in the Habitat Quality module of InVEST. Herein, the methods of principal component analysis (PCA) and grey relational analysis (GRA) were utilized to assign the weights of threat factors and the sensitivity of each habitat type to each threat factor, respectively. Through a case study of the habitat quality of Fuzhou City, we find that using PCA and GRA methods to assign parameters is feasible. Generally, the habitat quality of Fuzhou City in 2015 and 2018 was above the fair suitable level, and the proportion of fair suitable and good suitable habitats was about 83%. The areas with higher habitat quality were mainly concentrated in forest, wetland and grassland ecosystems. The spots with lower habitat quality were scattered all over the main urban areas of districts and counties, and their periphery. GDP per capita and population density were the main factors that affect the habitat quality of Fuzhou City. Narrowing the economic imbalance gap is an important way to reduce population shift and relieve the pressure of the urban environment in economically developed areas. This study is expected to provide an effective method for assigning parameters in the InVEST Habitat Quality Module and support regional ecosystem conservation.

Construction and Optimization Strategy of an Ecological Network in Mountainous Areas: A Case Study in Southwestern Hubei Province, China

High-intensity urban development and economic exploitation have led to the fragmentation and isolation of regional habitat patches, and biodiversity is under serious threat. Scientific identification and effective optimization of ecological networks are essential for maintaining and restoring regional ecosystem connectivity and guiding sustainable socio-economic development. Taking the mountainous areas of southwest Hubei Province (MASHP) in central China as an example, this study first developed a new integrated approach to identify ecological sources based on a quantitative assessment of ecosystem services and the morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) method; it then used the Linkage Mapper tool to extract ecological corridors, applied the principle of hydrological analysis to identify ecological nodes, evaluated each ecological element to quantify its importance, and finally constructed the ecological network and further proposed some optimization countermeasures. The results show that the ecological network in the MASHP is dominated by ecological resources composed of forestland. Connectivity in the central region is significantly better than in other regions, including 49 ecological sources with an area of 3837.92 km2, 125 ecological corridors with a total length of 2014.61 km, and 46 ecological nodes. According to the spatial distribution of crucial ecological landscape elements, a complete and systematic ecological framework of “two verticals, three belts, three groups, and multiple nodes” was proposed. The internal optimization of the ecological network in mountainous areas should focus on improving ecological flow, and strategies such as enhancing the internal connectivity of ecosystems, unblocking ecological corridors, and dividing ecological functional zones can be adopted. Based on the above analyses, this study also made recommendations for ecological protection and development and construction planning in mountainous areas. This study can provide realistic paths and scientific guidelines for ecological security and high-quality development in the MASHP, and it can also have implications for the construction of ecological networks and comprehensive ecological management in other mountainous areas.

Quantifying and Analyzing the Responses of Habitat Quality to Land Use Change in Guangdong Province, China over the Past 40 Years

Guangdong Province is an important ecological barrier and the primary pillar of economic development in China. Driven by high-speed urbanization and industrialization, unreasonable land use change in Guangdong Province has exacerbated habitat degradation and loss, seriously affecting habitat quality. Thus, taking Guangdong Province as the study area, this paper quantifies the response of habitat quality on land use change using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and constructs a contribution index (CI). The following conclusions can be drawn from the results: (1) The habitat quality exhibits a spatial distribution pattern of low quality in plain areas and high quality in hilly and mountainous areas. (2) The annual average habitat quality gradually decreases from 1980 to 2020, with a total decrease of 0.0351 and a reduction rate of 4.83%; (3) The impact of land use change on habitat quality is mainly negative, and the habitat quality mainly decreases by the conversion of forest land to orchards, paddy field to urban land, and forest land to dry land, with CI values of −24.09, −11.67, and −8.04, respectively. Preventing the destruction of natural forests, increasing the diversity of plantation orchards, and rationalizing and mitigating the growth rate of construction land are key to maintaining and improving the habitat quality.

Study of Spatiotemporal Changes and Driving Factors of Habitat Quality: A Case Study of the Agro-Pastoral Ecotone in Northern Shaanxi, China

Habitat quality is a key indicator for assessing the biodiversity-maintenance functions of ecosystem services. The issue of habitat quality changes in semi-arid and arid areas has been becoming serious, but there are few deep investigations of habitat quality in these regions, such as studies of the temporal and spatial changes of habitat quality and its driving forces. This study focuses on the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern Shaanxi with vulnerable biodiversity. By using the Fragstats software, the InVEST model, and the Geo-detector model, we analyzed land-use data collected from 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, and we explored the landscape pattern index, the spatial and temporal variation of habitat quality, and the influence of its drivers. GDP, population density, precipitation, temperature, land use, NDVI, elevation, and slope were detected by Geo-detector. The research results show that: (1) Arable land and grassland were the dominant land types from 1990 to 2020, and there was significant mutual circulation between arable land and grassland. Forest area increased by 24%. Many other land-use types were transformed into construction land, and construction land increased by 727% compared with the base period. (2) Landscape heterogeneity increased in the study region, shown by the fractured structure of the overall landscape and by the aggravated human disturbance of the landscape. (3) Average habitat quality underwent a trend of oscillation. Regarding spatial distribution, habitat quality was higher in the east than in the west. (4) The influencing factors of habitat quality monitored by Geo-detectors show that the driving force of land use on habitat quality was the strongest, followed by precipitation and vegetation coverage. Elevation, slope, GDP, and population density had the least influence on habitat quality. The bi-factor interaction enhanced habitat quality to different levels. This study is critical to the conservation of biodiversity and to ecological civilization construction in arid and semi-arid regions.

Quantifying the Ecosystem Services of Soda Saline-Alkali Grasslands in Western Jilin Province, NE China

This study aimed to quantitatively describe the ecosystem services of soda saline-alkali grasslands based on literature research, the InVEST model, a transition matrix, and Spearman's correlation analysis. The chosen methodology could provide insight into the relationships between different services to provide empirical evidence for decision-making concerning the protection and restoration of saline-alkali grasslands. The research provided several insights into the ecological situation in western Jilin Province. First, the area of saline-alkali grassland in western Jilin Province had noticeably decreased from 1990 to 2018. Moreover, the threat of grassland degradation in western Jilin Province has increased year by year, and has become the main problem facing the ecological environment of this region. Second, the results demonstrated how the amount of grassland area, and coverage, are intricately linked to the provided ecosystem services, and maintaining the stability of ecosystem services is the basis for future efforts to increase grassland area and coverage. A trade-off relationship exists between water supply services and other ecosystem services, which indirectly confirms a climatic cause for grassland salinization in western Jilin Province. The analyses identified various types of grassland ecosystem service hotspots, but the share of hotspots representing all four assessed ecosystem services was small; this indicates that the grassland ecosystem of western Jilin Province is of generally poor quality. In conclusion, increasing grassland salinization has reduced vegetation coverage, which leads to the degradation of the grassland ecosystem and, in turn, affects the relationships between various ecosystem services.

Temporal and spatial changes of biodiversity in Caverns of Heaven and Places of Blessing, Zhejiang Province, China from 1990 to 2020

Caverns of Heaven and Places of Blessing (CHPB) are the earliest Ecological Reserve in China, but in recent years, due to the accelerated process of urbanization and weak protection, the Chinese traditional ecological reserve represented by CHPB has been damaged to a certain extent. How to accurately measure the dynamic changes of ecological value in existing ecological protection and construct is an initial topic of CHPB protection. To understand the temporal and spatial changes characteristics of biodiversity in CHPB, this paper selects three-time nodes in 1990, 2005, and 2020, and takes CHPB in Zhejiang Province as an example, comprehensive three influencing factors: habitat quality, landscape pattern, and nighttime-light. To provide a relevant theoretical basis for the protection of CHPB, this paper quantitatively analyzes the changes of ecological environment and biodiversity in recent 30 years. The results showed that from 1990 to 2020, the biodiversity of CHPB in Zhejiang Province showed a positive change, the decline in Caverns of Heaven overall area slowed down, and the core area rebounded. The spatial distribution change of biodiversity is highly consistent with the land-use changes. The low value regions of biodiversity are mainly concentrated in the regions with intensive human activities, and the area decreases with the expansion of construction land. The core areas are primary areas with high biodiversity and overlap with nature reserves, natural parks, Scenic and Historic Interest Area, and other protected areas. In a word, CHPB still plays a vital role in ecological and environmental protection. In the future development, we should still pay attention to its biodiversity protection, and give full play to its role in ecological and environmental protection, and realize the contemporary application of CHPB’s traditional ecological knowledge.

Strategies to Mitigate the Deteriorating Habitat Quality in Dong Trieu District, Vietnam

Dong Trieu district is a vital connection for territorial ecological security and human welfare between Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam) and Quang Ninh province. Therefore, habitat quality (HQ) is of extraordinary importance to the area’s sustainable development. The ArcGIS platform, Dyna-CLUE, and InVEST models were utilized in this study to assess the spatial and temporal transformations of land use and the changes of HQ in 2030 under various scenarios, with intentions to find strategies that may mitigate the HQ’s deteriorating trend in the district. Simulated results indicated that, assuming the development is maintained as usual, the average HQ of the District at 2030 could diminish by 0.044 from that of 2019 (a four-times decrease compared to the previous decade). Cases comprised of four basic scenarios, including development as usual, built-up expansion slowdown, forest protection emphasized, and agricultural land conversion, were used to identify potential strategies to mitigate the deteriorating trend. Simulated results revealed that keeping the built-up expansion rate lower than 100 ha y−1, the deforestation rate lower than 20 ha y−1, and preferring orchards over agricultural land conversion is required to limit the drop in HQ to within 0.01 in the next decade. Other than the existing population growth control policy, new guidelines such as (1) changing urban expansion type from outward to upward to control the built-up expansion rate, (2) substituting forest-harming industries to forest-preservation industries to reduce deforestation rate, (3) encouraging orchards preferred over agricultural land conversion to increase incomes while maintaining higher habitat quality, (4) practicing better farming technologies to improve crop production and to alleviate potential food security issues due to considerable reduction in cropland, and (5) promoting Green Infrastructure and the Belt and Road Initiative to increase urban green cover and raise residents’ income should be considered in designing the new mitigation strategies.