Spatially heterogeneity response of ecosystem services supply and demand to urbanization in China

Abstract

Abstract A deep understanding of the impact of urbanization on ecosystem service (ES) supply and demand is crucial to regional ecological management and sustainable development. The existing studies mainly focused on the various impacts of urbanization on ES supply, however, there is still a lack of comprehensive research on the spatial heterogeneity response of ES supply, demand and supply-demand ratio (i.e., surplus or deficit) to urbanization, especially at the national scale. To fill this gap, we measured the spatiotemporal changes of ES supply, demand and supply-demand ratios in China utilizing the ecological footprint model at the county scale of resolution. Additionally, the Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR) model was used to explore the spatial heterogeneity response of ES supply, demand and supply-demand ratios to different types of urbanization (i.e., population, economic and land). The results showed that areas with larger total ES demand was mainly concentrated in the Northeast Plain, Liaodong Peninsula, North China Plain, Pearl River Delta, Southeast coastal areas, and Sichuan Basin, while the northwest, northeast and north of China had the greater total ES supply. The counties with strong ES deficit were found in southeastern China, while, most counties in northwestern China were in ES surplus. Additionally, there was significant spatial heterogeneity influence of different types of urbanization on ES in China. Population urbanization in the southeast and south of China had a strong positive impact on the supply-demand ratio in 2000 and 2015, while economic urbanization in the northwest and south regions exerted a more remarkable positive influence. The greater positive impact of land urbanization on the supply-demand ratios was mostly concentrated in northwest China in 2000, and this effect also appeared in southeast China in 2015. Moreover, land urbanization presented a more direct and dominant impact on the ES supply, demand and supply-demand ratios than population and economic urbanization. The findings highlighted that we should focus on the impact of urban expansion on the ecosystem, formulating rational land use planning and optimizing urban spatial configurations, can be used to offset the ES deficit and realize regional sustainable development.