Eco-Economic Coordination Analysis of the Yellow River Basin in China: Insights from Major Function-Oriented Zoning

Estimation of Terrestrial Net Primary Productivity in the Yellow River Basin of China Using Light Use Efficiency Model

The net primary productivity (NPP) of vegetation is an essential factor of ecosystem functions, including the biological geochemical carbon cycle, which is often impacted by climate change and human activities. It plays a significant role in comprehending the nature of carbon balance in an ecosystem and demonstrates the global and regional carbon cycle dynamics. The present study used an upgraded CASA model to calculate the NPP in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China. The model’s simulation ability was improved by changing the model parameters. Further, the CASA model was validated by comparing with MODIS-NPP and in situ observed NPP, wherein the accuracy of the CASA model estimation was found satisfactory to estimate NPP changes in the study area. The simulated results of the improved CASA model showed that the mean annual NPP value of vegetation in the YRB was 283.4 gC m–2 a–1 from 2001 to 2020, with a declining trend in spatial distribution from south to north. In contrast, the NPP appeared as an increasing trend in the YRB temporally from 212 gC m–2 a–1 in 2001 to 342 gC m–2 a–1 in 2020, with a mean annual growth rate of 4.6 gC m–2 a–1. The total NPP in the YRB increased by 40,088.3 GgC between 2001 and 2020, from 226.06 TgC to 266.15 TgC. This rise can be attributed to the increase in forests. The average grassland area has reduced by 4651 km2 during the last two decades, significantly impacting the total NPP of grasslands. Although the increase in NPP in wetlands was minimal, accounting for 815.53 GgC, the highest change percentage of 79.78%, could be observed among the six vegetation types due to the anthropogenic influences and climate change. The conditions favorable for vegetation growth and a sustained environment were enhanced by the increased precipitation and temperature and the reinforced ecological protection by the government.

Land use transformation and eco-environmental effects based on production-living-ecological spatial synergy: evidence from Shaanxi Province, China

The research on land use transformation has attracted more and more attention, and there are few research results on the eco-environmental effects of regional land use change from the perspective of land use function transformation. From the perspective of production-living-ecological land use function classification, this paper obtained land use change data of Shaanxi Province in 2000, 2010, and 2020, calculated the land use transfer matrix, ecological environment quality index, and ecological contribution rate of land use transformation, and quantitatively analyzed the temporal and spatial evolution of production-living-ecological spaces and the eco-environmental effects of land use structure transformation in Shaanxi Province. The results showed that the land use change in Shaanxi Province is mainly manifested in the continuous increase of ecological and living land area and the continuous decrease of production land area from 2000 to 2020. In the transformation of land use structure in Shaanxi Province, the biggest change in area is the mutual transformation between productive cultivated land and ecological grassland land. The occupation of ecological grassland land by other land types is an important factor leading to the decline of ecological environment quality. Overall, the ecological environment of Shaanxi Province has shown a trend of improvement in the past two decades. Quantitative research on the transformation characteristics of land use structure and its ecological environment effects in the past two decades is conducive to providing data support for the promotion of ecological civilization construction in Shaanxi Province.

Interaction Relationship between Urbanization and Land Use Multifunctionality: Evidence from Han River Basin, China

Coordinating the interaction between urbanization and land use multifunctionality (LUMF) is of great significance in regional sustainable development. This article explores the interaction relationship between urbanization and LUMF in the Han River Basin (HRB) of China from 2000 to 2018. We used the combination weighting method, coupling coordination degree model, and geographic detector method to examine the coupling relationship and internal mechanism between urbanization and LUMF. The results showed that (1) there exists a significant correlation between urbanization and LUMF, the coupling coordination degree of each county displayed an upward trend throughout the research period, and the whole region has a radiation effect of central cities; (2) from the perspective of the internal mechanism of urbanization demand and the LUMF supply, we found that social urbanization demand is the primary demand for LUMF, while the town living function is the main supply of LUMF for urbanization, which means social urbanization has more influence than economic and population urbanization on LUMF, and the town living function has greater decisive power than agricultural production function and ecological function on urbanization; and (3) the supply and demand-influencing factors between urbanization and LUMF in each sub-region are different, and the upstream is more susceptible to determinants than the midstream and downstream because of the worse natural resource endowment. In conclusion, the critical finding provides not only guidance to understand the relationship between urbanization and LUMF but also suggests that the government should adapt to local conditions when formulating regional development planning.