Search Results (1,188)

With the increasing attention to China’s ecological environment protection and the prominence of lake water environment problems, the impact of soil erosion on lake ecosystems has become an important research topic for regional sustainable development. Based on the CiteSpace bibliometric method, this study systematically analyzed 225 research articles on the impact of soil erosion on the water environment of lakes in China in the core collection of Web of Science from 1998 to 2025, aiming to reveal the research hotspots, evolution trends and regional differences in this field. The results show that China occupies a dominant position in this field (209 papers), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the core research institution (93 papers). The research hotspots show obvious policy-driven characteristics, which are divided into slow start periods (1998–2007), accelerated growth periods (2008–2015), explosive growth periods (2016–2020) and stable development periods (2021–2025). A keyword cluster analysis identified nine main research directions, including sedimentation effect (#0 cluster), soil loss (#2 cluster) and nitrogen and phosphorus migration (#11 cluster) in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. The study found that the synergistic effects of climate change and human activities (such as land use change) are becoming a new research paradigm, and the Yangtze River Basin, the Loess Plateau and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau constitute the three core research areas (accounting for 72.3% of the total literature). Future research should focus on a multi-scale coupling mechanism, a climate resilience assessment and an ecological engineering effectiveness verification to support the precise implementation of lake protection policies in China. This study provides a scientific basis for the comprehensive management of the soil erosion–lake water environment system, and also contributes a Chinese perspective to the sustainable development goals (SDG6 and SDG15) of similar regions in the world. Full article

Against the backdrop of intensified governance of territorial spatial planning, investigating carbon emissions from the perspective of territorial spatial planning for transport-land use integration holds significant academic and practical value. Taking Cangnan County as the case study, this research first dissects the reciprocal feedback mechanism between regional transport and land use at the territorial spatial planning level, while exploring transport-influencing factors. Subsequently, it constructs an integrated reciprocal feedback system for regional transport and land use by integrating accessibility drivers, cost matrices, and neighborhood weights through land use simulation–prediction models and the four-stage transport model. Finally, based on critical land use factors, diverse development scenarios under this integrated system are formulated; carbon emissions from transport and land use under each scenario are quantified; and their interrelationships are analyzed across multiple dimensions to explore the nexus of carbon emissions in transport–land use integration. Results indicate the following: (1) Integrated feedback enhances model accuracy (Kappa: 0.795→0.893; overall accuracy: 0.893→0.915), facilitating more precise land use simulation. (2) The county’s core construction area demonstrates the highest carbon emissions across all scenarios, meriting prioritized attention. (3) As deduced from the analysis of territorial spatial land use patterns, the significantly higher transport carbon emissions under the ecological protection priority scenario, compared to other scenarios, originate from over-concentrated construction land and imbalanced planning of carbon source land. These findings offer insights for regional planning; policy recommendations for Cangnan County include expanding carbon sink land, scientifically planning carbon source land, optimizing transport structures, and promoting new energy vehicles to advance carbon emission reduction and sustainable development. Full article

Ecosystem services play a vital role in human well-being, with land-use changes exerting substantial influence on ecosystem service value (ESV) and land-use carbon emissions (LUCEs). Understanding the spatio-temporal relationship and transition dynamics between ESV and LUCEs is essential for promoting high-quality ecological development aligned with the “dual carbon” objective. This study takes the Loess Plateau as the research object. Based on five-phase land-use data from 2000 to 2020, the ESV and LUCEs are calculated. Exploratory spatio-temporal data analysis is used to explore their spatio-temporal relationship and transition paths, and the quadrant model is introduced to analyze the transition patterns from the perspective of ecological quality. The results indicate the following: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the ESV of the Loess Plateau increased from CNY 579.032 billion to CNY 582.470 billion, with an overall increase of only 0.15%. Among the changes in land use, changes in forest and grassland significantly affected the ESV. (2) The LUCEs from land use on the Loess Plateau increased from 137.15 Mt to 458.43 Mt, with an average annual growth rate of 6.22%. Affected by industrialization and urbanization, the LUCEs showed significant spatial differences at the provincial and county scales. (3) There was a certain positive spatial correlation between ESV and LUCEs. The distribution of significantly correlated areas did not change significantly from 2000 to 2020, and the relationship characteristics were mainly characterized by Type IV transitions. (4) At the county scale, ESV and LUCEs exhibited temporal stability, with most counties situated in the general ecological category, indicating substantial potential for enhancing regional ecological quality. These research outcomes offer a foundational framework for devising tailored regional carbon emission reduction strategies. Full article

The stability of ecosystems in coastal plain cities is fragile, and the interaction between humans and the land is complex, making the region’s natural water cycle capabilities more vulnerable to destruction. Quantitatively assessing the water conservation services in coastal areas and revealing its spatial characteristics and driving factors play a crucial role in the construction of regional ecological barriers and the assurance of ecological security. In this study, based on the water balance model, the spatial dynamics of water in the ecosystems of Yancheng from 2019 to 2021 were assessed in two dimensions: ecosystem and administrative subdivision. The response of the influencing factors to the water conservation was examined using a geographical detection. The results show the following: (1) Yancheng’s water conservation services increased (2019–2021), averaging 1.188 × 10⁹ m³/a. Spatially, it was higher in southeastern/northern sectors and lower in western/central regions, with wetlands and croplands contributing 93.76% collectively while others each accounted for <1%. (2) NDVI was the strongest driver of spatial heterogeneity (q = 0.736), followed by per capita water use, population density (q = 0.642), and DEM (q = 0.638); GDP per capita and annual precipitation exerted the weakest influences. (3) Factor interactions exceeded individual factors in explanatory power, dominated by population density synergies with per capita water use and NDVI, which most strongly controlled spatial patterns. (4) Optimization thresholds were identified: peak water conservation occurred at DEM 5.34–5.47 m and NDVI 0.37–0.42. This study provides a new perspective on water conservation in coastal areas, supplying serves as a reference for crafting specific water preservation strategies in the coming years. Full article

An in-depth analysis of land use dynamics during the evolution of regional urban systems is crucial for understanding developmental trajectories and promoting coordinated urban growth. This study adopts a land-use perspective, examining the expansion of urban construction land while identifying its source areas. By integrating Zipf’s law and using urban construction land area as an indicator of urban scale, this research analyzes transformations within the urban system. The findings reveal the following: (1) The total area of urban construction land in the Yangtze River Delta has continued to expand over time, exhibiting an inverted U-shaped curve, with high concentration observed in riverine and coastal zones. (2) Cultivated land serves as the primary source for construction land, contributing on average 77.70% over the past 25 years, amounting to a conversion of 5664.51 square kilometers. Rural residential areas rank second, contributing an average of 11.90%. (3) The rank-size distribution of cities based on urban land area largely aligns with Zipf’s law, albeit with deviations at both ends. The Pareto index increased from 0.803 to 0.897, indicating a trend toward weaker dispersion and greater concentration in urban size distribution. In conclusion, future urban development should emphasize rational expansion grounded in sustainable practices, strengthen farmland protection to ensure food security, and effectively manage rural land transformation to promote efficient land use and ecological balance. These measures will support the balanced and coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities within the urban system. Full article

Climate change has emerged as a critical global issue. Land-use/cover change (LUCC) plays a pivotal role in influencing terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycles and further regulates carbon emission intensity by reshaping the spatial characteristics of landscape patterns. Taking 300 Chinese cities as the study area, an analytical framework encompassing carbon emission accounting, regional land-use landscape pattern analysis, spatiotemporal correlation between landscape patterns and carbon emissions, and economic “core-periphery” disparities was presented. The land-use carbon emissions and landscape pattern indices of each city from 2005 to 2020 were calculated, and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was employed to examine the impact of land-use landscape pattern changes on carbon emissions from an urban perspective. Furthermore, the cities were categorized into developed and underdeveloped groups based on the median per capita GDP to compare how economic development levels moderate this impact mechanism. The results indicate that the relationship between landscape patterns and carbon emissions exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity, highlighting the complexity of the influence of land-use morphology on carbon emissions. Sustainable land-use strategies must account for regional disparities in economic levels, planning capacity, and administrative characteristics rather than pursuing a uniform urban form. Economic development significantly moderates the carbon mitigation effects of landscape patterns through its influence on spatial governance capacity, leading to pronounced differences between cities at varying development levels. Moving forward, regionally tailored approaches that integrate landscape optimization with industrial transformation and ecological conservation should be prioritized to provide spatial solutions for achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Full article

Land use efficiency (LUE) serves as a crucial nexus between economic development and sustainable resource management, directly influencing urban production–consumption systems. While economic development stages (EDSs) reflect a region’s environmental carrying capacity and profoundly affect LUE, the specific mechanisms governing this relationship remain unclear. In this study, we combined multi-source data to portray the spatiotemporal patterns of EDSs and LUE in 276 Chinese cities from 1995 to 2020, and we identified the nonlinear effects of EDSs on LUE. Based on the fine-scale LUE, it is confirmed that the older the age of urban land generation, the higher the LUE, laying a theoretical foundation for subsequent research. Simultaneously, the EDS continues to be upgraded, with approximately 70% of cities reaching the post-industrialization stage or higher by 2020. The results of partial dependency plots (PDPs) revealed that the EDS has a positive impact on LUE. From the perspective of different urban scales, the higher the EDSs of supercities, type I large cities, type II large cities, and type II small cities, the greater the positive impact on LUE, whereas the impact patterns at other urban scales follow an inverted U-shape. These findings carry important implications for sustainable spatial development, particularly in optimizing land resource allocation to assist the shift to more efficient production systems and responsible consumption patterns. Full article

Ecosystem services (ES) are a key bridge connecting natural ecosystems with human social development. The core significance of ecosystem service value (ESV) is to quantify the contribution of ecosystems to human well-being. The mining of mineral resources causes disturbance to the structure, function, and value of ecosystems. This study focuses on the high groundwater level coal–grain overlapping areas in eastern China, the mining of mineral resources has led to widespread loss of cropland and carbon sinks in the region. Considering the particularity of ecosystem evolution caused by coal mining subsidence, we developed multiple land use demand scenarios under dual objective constraints based on PIM and Markov chain, including Inertial Development (ID), Food Security (FS), Urban Expansion (UE), Ecological Restoration (ER). The PLUS model was used to simulate the spatial changes of land use and the equivalent factor method was used to calculate the changes in ESV, exploring the best path to improve the ecological benefits of the coal–grain overlapping areas. The results indicate that: (1) By 2030, the study area will add 54,249.09 ha of coal mining subsidence, mainly mild and moderate subsidence, and cropland being the most affected by subsidence among all land types. (2) In the multi-scenarios, the total ESV is ranked as follows: ecological governance scenario (CNY 51.21199 billion) > ID scenario (CNY 51.0898 billion) > food security scenario (CNY 48.4767 billion) > UE scenario (CNY 48.27157 billion). Among them, the ER scenario achieves all individual ESV gains and has the highest overall ESV. (3) Spatial analysis shows that in the ER scenario, the ESV of mining townships significantly increases and the ESV gap between other townships has decreased. However, the FS scenario and UE scenario have led to widespread degradation of ESV between various townships in eastern mountainous areas, and severe degradation of ESV in some urban townships. This study validated the accuracy and applicability of the PLUS model in medium scale and plain regions. The study has confirmed our hypothesis that reasonable land use and ecological restoration methods can achieve Pareto improvement in regional ESV, provided a holistic and local dialectical perspective for related research, and a scientific basis for the sustainable development of coal grain overlapping areas. Full article

Globally, the accelerating aging of the rural labor force is profoundly impacting the economic resilience of the labor-intensive forestry sector. However, the intrinsic connection between the two has not been fully understood and requires further exploration. As the most populous nation globally and a top producer, trader, and consumer of forest products, China stands out as a perfect case study for this issue. Based on this, this study utilizes panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2022 and employs a dual machine learning model to empirically examine the impact and mechanisms of rural labor force aging on forestry economic resilience from the perspective of production factors. The findings indicate: (1) overall, the increase in rural labor force aging significantly inhibits forestry economic resilience; (2) rural labor force aging enhances forestry economic resilience by promoting large-scale forest land management, driving forestry technological innovation, and increasing government capital investment; it also inhibits forestry economic resilience by reducing educational human capital and health human capital; (3) the rural force aging exerts a marked adverse effect on the resilience of the forestry economy in the eastern and central regions, major grain-producing areas, and major grain-consuming areas. Based on this, this study proposes policy recommendations in three areas: building a flexible and diversified labor supply and replacement system, exploring a “scale and technology” integration path suited to national conditions, and implementing differentiated regional strategies. The aim is to provide a reference for government departments in formulating strategies to enhance the resilience of the forestry economy in the era of aging. Full article

The purpose of this study is to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of urban expansion and its influencing factors in Shaanxi Province, China, as well as simulate future land use and predict the situation and development stage of urban expansion. An understanding of these factors is conducive to the coordinated development of the population, resources, and the economy; the optimization of the urban spatial layout; and the high-quality development of Shaanxi Province. Research methods: With IDRISI Selva17 and the expansion intensity index, the CA–Markov model was adopted to simulate and predict the land use type based on the land use data of Shaanxi Province from 2000 to 2020. The urban built-up areas in Shaanxi Province have been continuously expanding in the past 30 years, especially since 2010, when expansion slightly accelerated, and the expansion intensity changed, first rising and then falling. The Kappa index is as high as 0.70, which further confirms the accuracy of the land use spatial evolution prediction by the CA–Markov model. By combining the urban expansion index with the simulation model, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of the internal relationship between the historical evolution of and future trends in construction land expansion because of the high-quality coordinated development of Shaanxi Province and extends the research perspective with creative ideas. Full article

Wetlands frequently experience drying and rewetting (DRW) alternation, which intricately influences the physical, chemical, and biological processes within the soil matrix. The conversion of agricultural land into wetland ecosystems has raised significant concerns regarding the release of phosphorus. However, a significant knowledge gap persists in understanding the implications of this phenomenon for phosphorus transformation and release dynamics within soils situated in the freeze–thaw zone of Northeast China. To address this gap, we conducted a series of experiments involving the simulation of varying intensities and frequencies of DRW alternation using soil column samples collected from restored wetlands. This study evaluated phosphorus fractions with different levels of mobility and availability using methods based on standardized chemical extraction. We subsequently analyzed the impacts of these alterations on phosphorus fractions from the perspectives of soil chemical properties and microbial community changes. DRW events were found to facilitate the conversion of labile inorganic phosphorus into organic phosphorus fractions, driving the transformation of mobile phosphorus into potentially mobile fractions. Moderate drought events showed a significant increase in soil bacterial diversity and abundance, while both normal and extreme drought events caused a decrease in bacterial diversity. Moreover, DRW treatment increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and decreased the relative abundance of Chloroflexi. Redundancy analysis identified organic carbon and bacterial diversity as key drivers influencing phosphorus fractions. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of the intricate relationships among soil characteristics, microbial ecosystems, and the complex behavior of phosphorus under various DRW regimes in restored wetlands. Full article

Soil erosion threatens agricultural sustainability in tropical upland areas. This study evaluated soil erosion in Nam Dong district, Central Vietnam, using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on local stakeholder input. The USLE employed spatial data on rainfall, soil, topography, and land cover, while the AHP incorporated the perspectives of nine diverse community members. Both models identified the mountainous central region as most at risk; the USLE classified 62% of land as extreme erosion, whereas the AHP classified 82% as severe. These differences reflect the empirical approach of USLE versus the perception-driven results of the AHP. The study found that applying both methods independently and comparing their outcomes can yield different soil erosion scenarios. Furthermore, additional research is recommended to explore the use of the AHP as a tool for calibrating the relative importance of input factors in the USLE model. This approach could enhance the accuracy of soil erosion risk assessments and support more effectively targeted conservation strategies in complex upland landscapes. Full article

Landscape health assessments are crucial for balancing conservation and use practices. However, studies considering different land use intensities and grid scales from a functional perspective are limited. This study aimed to develop a landscape classification and indicator system based on functional characteristics using Xiqiao Mountain National Forest Park and Yunyong National Forest Park as research objects. The entropy weight method was used to determine indicator weights, and grid analysis and spatial interpolation were used to analyze the spatial distribution, impact differences, and factors influencing landscape health. The effect of different grid scales on landscape health under varying land use intensities first weakened and then strengthened with increasing grid scales; the optimal grid scales for the two parks were 54 × 54 m and 66 × 66 m, respectively. The forest/non-forest area ratio decreased as the health level of the landscape increased. At the optimal grid scale, the threshold range of the forest/non-forest area ratio for achieving optimal landscape health was 4.46–5.81 and 0.79–0.87 in the two parks, respectively. The results indicate that improved landscape health in suburban forest parks requires the intensive development of construction land, enhanced forest management, and functional synergistic designs to promote coordinated functional development. Full article

This study investigated the impacts of land-use history and an episodic flood event on the soil quality of a riverine floodplain ecosystem, providing long-term and short-term disturbance perspectives. The study took place in the Saint Michael’s College Natural Area, which has over a hundred-year history of land-use change. Based on aerial orthoimagery, three zones (a recently abandoned farm field, a new-growth forest, and an old-growth forest) were selected that reflected different land-use histories. Two plots were selected per zone and pooled soil samples were collected from each before and after a major flooding event. Surface soil quality before flooding was often similar among the new- and old-growth forested areas (1.4 mg-P/g-soil, 6.8% soil organic matter (SOM), 0.79 humification index (HIX), and 13% Peak T) but differed from that found in the recently abandoned farm field, which had higher phosphorus levels (1.6 mg-P/g-soil), lower SOM content (3.9%), more microbial-like SOM (0.65 HIX and 17% Peak T), and drier soils. Flooding caused SOM to better resemble that of a forest rather than an agricultural field, and it lowered phosphorus levels. The results of our study suggest that episodic flooding events could help accelerate the restoration of soil organic matter conditions. Full article

Common prosperity serves as a pivotal condition for achieving sustainable development by fostering social equity, bolstering economic resilience, and promoting environmental stewardship. Differential land revenue, as a crucial form of property based on spatial resource occupation, significantly contributes to the achievement of common prosperity, though empirical evidence of its impact is limited. This study explores the potential influence of land utilization revenue disparity on common prosperity from the perspective of urban macro differential rent (UMDR). Utilizing panel data from 280 Chinese cities spanning 2007 to 2020, we discover that UMDR and common prosperity levels exhibit strikingly similar spatiotemporal evolution. Further empirical analysis shows that UMDR significantly raises urban common prosperity levels, with a 0.217 standard unit increase in common prosperity for every 1 standard unit rise in UMDR. This boost stems from enhanced urban prosperity and the sharing of development achievements, encompassing economic growth, improved public services, enhanced ecological civilization, and more equitable distribution of development gains between urban and rural areas and among individuals. Additionally, we observe that UMDR has a more pronounced effect on common prosperity in eastern cities and those with a predominant service industry. This study enhances the comprehension of the relationship between urban land revenue disparities, prosperity, and equitable sharing, presenting a new perspective for the administration to contemplate the utilization of land-based policy tools in pursuit of the common prosperity goal and ultimately achieve sustainable development. Full article