Characterizing landscape pattern and ecosystem service value changes for urbanization impacts at an eco-regional scale

This paper qualitatively examined urbanization impacts at an eco-regional scale by analyzing landscape pattern and ecosystem service value changes in four eco-regions in the Hang-Jia-Hu region (China): the Hang-Jia-Hu Plains agricultural eco-region (region 1), the Tianmu Mountain forest eco-region (region 2), the Hangzhou urban eco-region (region 3), and the Qiandao Lake watershed forests-wetlands eco-region (region 4). Our results showed that the four eco-regions exhibited a similar urbanization process of rapid population growth, economic development and urban expansion. The considerable urban expansion led to a loss of 8.5 billion RMB yuan ecosystem service values per year on average between 1994 and 2003. The problems associated with urbanization were namely that the level of the landscapes within regions 1, 2, and 3 became increasingly more diverse, irregular, fragmented and isolated. Region 4 presented the opposite trend. Multivariate regression further qualitatively explored the dynamics of landscape changes in response to urbanization as well as the interactions between landscape pattern and ecosystem service values. It was found that landscape fragmentation, configuration and diversity, which were induced by urbanization, could significantly impair the provisions of ecosystem services. By discussing the inside meaning of the obtained regression models, we also discussed some implications for landscape planning. Our results highlighted the significance of joint application of landscape metric analysis and ecosystem service values assessment in landscape planning.

► Urbanization impacts at eco-regional scale were characterized.
► Urbanization led to considerable declines of ecosystem services.
► Urbanization resulted in fragmented and configured landscapes.
► Fragmentation and configuration impaired ecosystem services provisions.
► A joint tool for landscape planning was proposed.