Urbanisation and ecosystem health in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomerations, China: A U-curve relationship

Wanxu Chen; Tianci Gu; Jie Zeng

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115565

Urbanisation and ecosystem health in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomerations, China: A U-curve relationship

J Environ Manage. 2022 Sep 15:318:115565. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115565. Epub 2022 Jun 25.

Authors

Wanxu Chen¹, Tianci Gu², Jie Zeng³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geography, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430078, China; State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China. Electronic address: cugcwx@cug.edu.cn.
² Department of Geography, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430078, China. Electronic address: gutc@cug.edu.cn.
³ Department of Geography, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430078, China; State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China. Electronic address: zengjie@cug.edu.cn.

PMID: 35763997
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115565

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation in global urban agglomerations has caused serious disturbances to the structure, function, and health state of ecosystems. Investigating the driving mechanisms behind the impact of urbanisation level (UL) on ecosystem health index (EHI) is important for constructing ecological civilisation and developing superior urban agglomerations in China. However, no in-depth studies exist on these mechanisms in various urban agglomerations, which makes formulation and implementation of effective ecosystem management and control policies difficult. In this study, we estimated UL and EHI based on multisource data, and a set of spatial regression models were then used to analyse the driving mechanisms at global and local scales in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomeration (MRYRUA) in China between 1995 and 2015. Our results demonstrated that EHIs in the MRYRUA were 0.627, 0.613, and 0.610 in 1995, 2005, and 2015, respectively, with 2.71% decreases during the study period. The EHI in the surrounding mountainous regions was considerably higher than that in the plains. There was a significant spatial dependence between the UL and EHI. Low UL and high EHI, high UL and low EHI, and low UL and low EHI were the dominant relationship types in the MRYRUA (25.61%, 11.83%, and 11.27%, respectively). A 10% increase in UL resulted in 1.79%, 2.50%, and 2.99% decrease in EHI for each reference year in the spatial error model with lag dependence model. A U-shaped relationship was identified between UL and EHI in different urban agglomerations and cities of different administrative levels. Therefore, the results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the formulation of macro-control policies and locally specific control policies for ecosystem protection in the MRYRUA.

Keywords: Driving mechanism; Ecosystem health index; Environmental Kuznets curve; Spatial regression; Urbanisation level.

MeSH terms

China
Cities
Ecosystem*
Rivers
Urbanization*