Spatiotemporal exploration of ecosystem service, urbanization, and their interactive coercing relationship in the Yellow River Basin over the past 40 years

Understanding how ecosystem services (ESs) interact with urbanization is crucial for formulating sustainable develop-ment policies. Although previous literature has paid attention to this topic, information on complex spatiotemporal in-teractions between ESs and urbanization remains inadequate, especially in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), a typical basin that will usher in rapid progress of ecological protection and urbanization. In this study, we constructed a frame-work for evaluating ecosystem service values (ESV) and urbanization by synthesizing multi-source data in the YRB from 1980 to 2018, and further revealing the interactive coercing mechanisms of ESV and urbanization. We found that the YRB has experienced rapid urbanization, with an increasing growth trend for all urbanization indicators, es-pecially from 2000 onwards. ESV had a significant negative correlation with urbanization, showing a decreasing trend with urbanization growth before 2000, but reversed this trend after 2000 as ecological restoration projects offset the adverse effects of urbanization on ESV. Furthermore, while significant negative spatial correlations occurred between ESV and urbanization, these correlations diminished over time. The results also revealed differences in the spatial cor-relations between global and local scales, with three types of spatial correlations at the local scale: High-Low (high ESV and low urbanization), Low-High (low ESV and high urbanization), and Low-Low (low ESV and low urbanization). Our results contribute to understanding the interactive coercing relationship between ESV and urbanization in the YRB, particularly at the local scale, and insights into coordinating future ecological protection and urban development.

Automated summary

Understanding the interaction between ecosystem services (ESs) and urbanization is crucial for sustainable development policies. This study constructed a framework for evaluating ecosystem service values (ESV) and urbanization in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from 1980 to 2018, and revealed the coercive mechanism between ESV and urbanization. The results showed that the YRB has experienced rapid urbanization, with a negative correlation between ESV and urbanization before 2000, but a reversal of this trend after 2000 due to ecological restoration projects. The spatial correlations between ESV and urbanization diminished over time, and different spatial correlations were observed at the local scale.