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. 2019 Mar 28;16(7):1124.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16071124.

Responses of Ecosystem Services to Urbanization-Induced Land Use Changes in Ecologically Sensitive Suburban Areas in Hangzhou, China

Shaofeng Yuan  1 , Congmou Zhu  2 , Lixia Yang  3 , Fenghua Xie  4
Affiliations

Responses of Ecosystem Services to Urbanization-Induced Land Use Changes in Ecologically Sensitive Suburban Areas in Hangzhou, China

Shaofeng Yuan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Ecologically sensitive suburban areas provide important ecosystem services and protect urban ecological security because of their multiple functions in natural and human systems. The research on the ecological environment effects of land use activities in ecologically sensitive suburban areas is important in guiding the healthy and sustainable development of cities. Taking the west suburbs of Hangzhou in China as a case study, we quantified land use changes from Landsat satellite imagery and calculated the value of ecosystem services using the well-established equivalent factor table for land use/cover change (LUCC) and ecosystem services value (ESV). The impacts of LUCC on the ecological environment were analyzed using the transfer matrix of land use and coefficient of elasticity. Results revealed the following. (1) The total ESV in the western suburban area of Hangzhou decreased from $109.95 million in 2000 to $87.09 million in 2016. Moreover, the ESV of gas regulation, climate regulation, soil formation and protection, as well as biodiversity conservation presented a large decrease of more than 25%, especially between 2010 and 2016. (2) The spatial distribution of ESV was high in the west and low in the east. The regions with a significant reduction in ESV were mainly distributed in the eastern town of Wuchang and in Jincheng Town located in the midwest valley. (3) Industrial agglomeration activities in the ecologically sensitive suburban area emerged as the primary factor influencing ESV for various land uses. The elasticity indicator for assessing the responses to ESV changes relative to LUCC showed that 1% of the land conversion in this area resulted in average changes in ESV of 4.1% after the establishment of the industrial agglomeration area. (4) The increase in construction land was associated with a significant decrease in forest area because of the policy of cultivated land requisition⁻compensation balance and development strategies for low-slope hilly lands. Consequently, the ESV in the ecologically sensitive suburban areas rapidly declined.

Keywords: Hangzhou; ecologically sensitive suburban area; ecosystem services value; land use; temporal–spatial change.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location and administrative division of the ecologically sensitive suburban areas in Hangzhou.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Land use pattern of ecologically sensitive area of Hangzhou in 2000–2016.
Figure 3
Figure 3
ESV in western suburban area of Hangzhou from 2000 to 2016.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Change rate of ESV in ecologically sensitive area of Hangzhou from 2000 to 2016.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Distribution of ESV in 2000; (b) Distribution of ESV in 2016; (c) ESV dynamic degree of ESV between 2000 and 2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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