This essay combines the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime light data and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) nighttime light data into a “synthetic DMSP” dataset, from 1992 to 2020, to retrieve the spatio-temporal variations in energy-related carbon emissions in Xinjiang, China. Then, this paper analyzes several influencing factors for spatial differentiation of carbon emissions in Xinjiang with the application of geographical detector technique. Results reveal that (1) total carbon emissions continued to grow, while the growth rate slowed down in the past five years. (2) Large regional differences exist in total carbon emissions across various regions. Total carbon emissions of these regions in descending order are the northern slope of the Tianshan (Mountains) > the southern slope of the Tianshan > the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang > the northern part of Xinjiang. (3) Economic growth, population size, and energy consumption intensity are the most important factors of spatial differentiation of carbon emissions. The interaction between economic growth and population size as well as between economic growth and energy consumption intensity also enhances the explanatory power of carbon emissions’ spatial differentiation. This paper aims to help formulate differentiated carbon reduction targets and strategies for cities in different economic development stages and those with different carbon intensities so as to achieve the carbon peak goals in different steps.

High-intensity land use and resource overloaded-induced regional land use spatial pattern (LUSP) are essential and challenging for high-quality development. The empirical studies have shown that a scientific land uses spatial layout, and the supporting system should be based on a historical perspective and require better considering the double influence between the current characteristics and future dynamics. This study proposes a comprehensive framework that integrates the resource environment carrying capacity (RECC) and land use change (LUC) to investigate strategies for optimizing the spatial pattern of land use for high-quality development. China’s Zhengzhou city was the subject of a case study whose datasets include remote sensing, spatial monitoring, statistics, and open sources. Three significant results emerged from the analysis: (1) The RECC has significant spatial differentiation but does not follow a specific spatial law, and regions with relatively perfect ecosystems may not necessarily have better RECC. (2) From 2020 to 2030, the construction land and farmland will fluctuate wildly, with the former increasing by 346.21 km² and the latter decreasing by 295.98 km². (3) The study area is divided into five zones, including resource conservation, ecological carrying, living core, suitable construction, and grain supply zones, and each one has its LUSP optimization orientation. This uneven distribution of RECC reflects functional defects in the development and utilization of LUSP. In addition, the increase in construction land and the sharp decline of farmland pose potential threats to the sustainable development of the study area. Hence, these two elements cannot be ignored in the future high-quality development process. The findings indicate that the LUSP optimization based on dual dimensions of RECC and LUC is more realistic than a single-dimension solution, exhibiting the LUSP optimization’s effectiveness and applicability.

Recent years have witnessed rapid and widespread economic growth in regions involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), mainly due to the construction of six economic corridors. This paper aims to quantify the levels of six economic corridors according to the socioeconomic development levels in the BRI regions. Here, a gridded socioeconomic development index was first created, and a dividing line was drawn to reveal the distribution characteristics of socioeconomic development in the BRI regions. A classification method was then applied to identify local development levels. Finally, we created an economic corridor development index (ECDI) to evaluate the progress of six economic corridors. The results reveal spatial heterogeneity within the socioeconomic groups of BRI regions, which can be roughly divided into offshore (or Part A, 50.54%) and inland (or Part B, 49.46%) areas. Although both parts comprise roughly the same area, over 95% of the population is located in offshore regions. The China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor has the highest development index due to a stable political environment and long-running cooperation. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor suffers from the lowest ECDI but with strong development potential. Our methods can provide critical reference and practice for the future evaluation of the level of regional development. The results of this study can offer policymakers some insight into reducing socioeconomic inequality in the BRI regions.

Climate change will bring huge risks to human society and the economy. Regional climate change risk assessment is an important basic analysis for addressing climate change, which can be expressed as a regional system of comprehensive climate change risk. This study establishes regional systems of climate change risks under the proposed global warming targets. Results of this work are spatial patterns of climate change risks in China, indicated by the degree of climate change and the status of the risk receptors. Therefore, the risks show significant spatial differences. The high-risk regions are mainly distributed in East, South, and central China, while the medium-high risk regions are found in North and southwestern China. Under the 2°C warming target, more than 1/4 of China’s area would be at high and medium-high risk, which is more severe than under the 1.5°C warming target, and would extend to the western and northern regions. This work provides regional risk characteristics of climate change under different global warming targets as a foundation for dealing with climate change.

Henan, China, is likely the most populous agricultural province worldwide. It is China’s major grain-producing area, with a continuously increasing population (96 million), which is greater than 93% of countries worldwide. However, this province has been experiencing unprecedented urbanization recently due to national policies and measures, such as a plan to build the capital city of Henan into a national center, resulting in severe conflicts in land use that endanger food security regionally and globally. To facilitate decision-making on this problem, we explored the detailed urban-rural development of Henan by modeling these land-use conflicts. Conventional modeling of a region’s urban-rural development is to navigate trade-offs (a) solely between different land-use types (b) by assuming that each type provides a single service (e.g., croplands produce all the food), and (c) under a polynomial regression-based projection of population. In contrast, we considered both land-use type and intensity, resulting in a detailed land system for Henan. By introducing the concept of land system services (e.g., food production), we established a many-to-many relationship between land system classes and services. These allowed us to carry out the most comprehensive modeling of Henan’s urban-rural development under eighteen combined scenarios of population growth and land-use policies on food production. The modeling results of these scenarios provide a solid basis for making decisions regarding Henan’s urban-rural development. We also revealed the influence mechanism of population growth, land-use policies, and their combinations, highlighting the benefits of securing food production by agricultural intensification rather than merely expanding the area of cropland.

As the world’s largest developing country, the ability of China’s agricultural resource utilization to effectively support the current and future food security goals has been affected by a variety of factors (e.g., transformed supply channels, tightening international situation and frequent emergencies) in recent years and has attracted extensive attention from the academic community subject to multiple factors. This study uses literature review, statistical analysis, and spatial analysis methods to systematically explore China’s food security situation in the context of farmland resource constraints. It is found that the demand-side pressures such as demographic changes, social class differentiation, and dietary structure adjustments derived from economic growth and rapid urbanization have placed extremely high expectations on food supply. However, the quantitative restrictions, utilization ways, and health risks of farmland resources on the supply side constitute a huge hidden concern that affects the stability of food production. Although China’s farmland protection system is undergoing a transition from focusing on quantity management to sustainable use, the matching and coordinating demand pressure and supply capacity for food security is unbalanced. Therefore, facing uncertain future development scenarios, policymakers should focus on building a resilient space for China’s farmland protection to withstand the interference of major emergencies. The existing farmland protection space policy can be integrated by establishing a national farmland strategic reserve system (based on resilient space), and further development of targeted use control measures for zoning, grading, and classification will help realize sustainable China’s farmland resources use.

The energy dissipation of boundary resistance is presented in this paper based on the flow resistance. Additionally, the river morphology responses to the resistance energy dissipation are explored using the Gaocun-Taochengpu reach in the lower Yellow River as a prototype. Theoretical analysis, measured data analysis and a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model are synthetically used to calculate the energy dissipation rate and riverbed morphological change. The results show that the energy dissipation rate along the channel will increase in both the mean value and the fluctuation intensity with increasing discharge. However, the energy dissipation rate will first decrease and then increase as the flow section or width-depth ratio increases. In addition, the energy dissipation rate has a significant positive correlation with the riverbed stability index. The results imply that the water and sediment transport efficiency of the river channel can be improved by optimizing the cross-sectional configuration to fulfil the minimum energy dissipation rate of the boundary resistance under stable riverbed conditions.

Geographically, the Qinling-Daba Mountains serve as the main body of the north-south transitional zone of China. However, the transitional patterns of their plant species still need to be clarified. This study analyzed latitudinal variations of plant species richness, relative importance values (RIV), and plant species abundance based on plant community field survey data for 163 sample sites along three north-south transect lines in the eastern, middle, and western parts of the study areas. The difference in RIV between subtropical and temperate species (SND-RIV) was selected to reveal the latitudinal interlacing pattern of northern and southern plant species. Along the eastern (Sanmenxia-Yichang), middle (Xi’an-Dazhou), and western (Tianshui-Guangyuan) transects, the richness and RIV of subtropical plant species increased while those of temperate plant species decreased from north to south. In the eastern transect, temperate plant species richness and RIV were the highest at Shennongjia and Funiu Mountain, respectively, because of their high elevations. In the middle transect, subtropical plant species richness and RIV were the highest in the Daba Mountains. In the western transect, richness and RIV were higher for subtropical than temperate plant species from the south of Longnan. The crisscrossing areas of northern and southern plant species were ~180 km, ~100 km, and ~60 km wide for the eastern, middle, and western transects, respectively, showing a narrowing trend from east to west. For the eastern and western transects, decreases in subtropical plant species distribution from south to north could be attributed to a decrease in mean annual precipitation in the same direction. However, for the middle transect, mean annual temperature had a slightly greater influence on plant species’ latitudinal distribution than the moisture index. This study provides a more solid scientific basis for future investigations of this key geographical boundary in China.

Accurate and rapid evaluation of the regional eco-environment is critical to policy formulation. The remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) model of the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (GBGEZ) during 2001-2020 was established and evaluated using four indices: dryness, wetness, greenness, and heat. This paper proposes an information granulation method for remote sensing based on the RSEI index value that uses granular computing. We found that: (1) From 2001 to 2020, the eco-environmental quality (EEQ) of GBGEZ tended to improve, and the spatial difference tended to expand. The regional spatial distribution of the eco-environment is primarily in the second-level and third-level areas, and the EEQ in the east and west is better than that in the middle. The contribution of greenness, wetness, and dryness to the improvement of EEQ in the study region increased year by year. (2) From 2001 to 2020, the order of the contribution of the EEQ index in the GBGEZ was dryness, wetness, greenness, and heat. (3) The social and economic activities in the study region had a certain inhibitory effect on the improvement of the EEQ.

Since the implementation of the Development of Western Regions in 2000, a series of major ecological construction projects have been implemented, leading to a series of changes in the ecological conditions and ecological services of western China. This study calculated the amount of ecosystem services in total in the western region from 2000 to 2019, and analyzed ecological changes and the characteristics of spatio-temporal variations in ecological services. A relevant analysis method was applied to explore the tradeoff and synergy of service. It was found that the area of settlements and wetland ecosystems in the western region increased significantly from 2000 to 2015, whereas grassland showed a downward trend year by year. The vegetation fraction showed a decreasing belt-like distribution from south to north. It showed a fluctuating increase during 2000 to 2019, with inter-annual and large spatial differences. The water conservation service (WCS) had a slight downward trend from 2000 to 2019, and the main decreasing areas were distributed in southeastern Tibet, the western part of the Three Rivers Source region, and the karst rocky desertification area. The soil conservation service (SCS) showed an increasing but fluctuating trend, with the greatest increases observed in the Loess Plateau region, western Sichuan and Yunnan, northwest Tibet, and southeast Tibet. The windbreak and sand fixation service (SFS) showed a downward trend, and the sharp decline was mainly in the central and western parts of Inner Mongolia, Tibet and parts of northern Xinjiang. Ecosystem supply and WCS, and SCS were mainly synergistic, which were found in areas north of the Qinling Mountains-Huaihe River (QM-HR) line, especially in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. Ecosystem supply was mainly tradeoffs with SFS, and it was found in the agriculture-pastoral transition zone. The synergistic degree of ecosystem services in areas subjected to ecological engineering policy was greater than that in non-engineering areas. Quantitative assessment of ecosystem service changes and their tradeoffs is helpful for scientific ecological management and maximizing ecological benefits.

Land degradation affects extensive drylands around the world. Due to long-term misuse, the Israeli Sde Zin dryland site has faced severe degradation. The study objective was to assess the feasibility of passive restoration in recovering the site. The study was conducted in four land-units along a preservation-degradation continuum: (1) an area that has not faced anthropogenic disturbances (Ecological land); (2) an area that was proclaimed as a national park in the 1970s (Rehabilitation); (3) an area that was prone, until recently, to moderate anthropogenic pressures (Triangle); and (4) a dirt road that was subjected to long-term off-road traffic (Dirtroad). Soil was sampled and analyzed for its properties. The soil physical quality followed the trend of Ecological land > Rehabilitation > Triangle > Dirtroad. Specifically, high soil salinity in the latter three land-units is attributed to long-term erosional processes that exposed the underlying salic horizons. Herbaceous and shrubby vegetation cover was also monitored. The herbaceous vegetation cover followed the trend of Ecological land (86.4%) > Rehabilitation (40.3%) > Triangle (26.2%) > Dirtroad (2.1%), while the shrubby cover was 2.8% in the Ecological land-unit, and practically zero in the other land-units. It seems that despite the effectiveness of passive restoration in recovering the soil’s physical properties, the recovery of vegetation is limited by the severe soil salinity.

Forest ecosystem, as a predominant component of terrestrial ecosystems in view of carbon sinks, has a high potential for carbon sequestration. Accurately estimating the carbon sequestration rate in forest ecosystems at provincial level, is a prerequisite and basis for scientifically formulating the technical approaches of carbon neutrality and the associated regulatory policies in China. However, few researches on future carbon sequestration rates (CSRs) for Chinese forest ecosystems for provincial-level regions (hereafter province) have been reported, especially for forest soils. In this study, we quantitatively assessed the carbon sequestration rates of existing forest ecosystems of all the provinces from 2010 to 2060 using the Forest Carbon Sequestration model (FCS), in combination with large quantities of field-measured data in China under three future climate scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5). Results showed that CSRs across provinces varied from 0.01 TgC a^-1 to 36.74 TgC a^-1, with a mean of 10.09 ± 0.43 TgC a^-1. Inter-provincial differences have been observed in forest CSRs. Regarding the spatial variations in CSRs on a unit area basis within provinces, the eastern region provinces have a larger capacity for sequestration than the western region, while the western region has greater CSR per unit GDP and per capita. Moreover, there are significant negative correlations between the CSRs per capita in each province and the corresponding GDP per capita, under the assumption that GDP per capita is constant in the future across provinces. In summary, there is a significant regional imbalance in CSR among provinces. Special technological and policy interventions are required to realize carbon sink potential sustainably. An overlap in China’s poorer areas and areas with stronger carbon sinks has indicated that existing policies to support traditional carbon trading are insufficient. Regulatory measures such as “regional carbon compensation” must be adopted urgently in line with the Chinese characteristics, so that people in western or underdeveloped regions can consciously strengthen forest protection and enhance forest carbon sinks through coordinated regional development while ensuring that China’s forests play a greater role in carbon neutrality strategies.

Rapid economic and social change promotes to improve human wellbeing (HW), but poses threats to ecosystems and the environment. Studying the coupling relationship between HW and ecosystem services (ES) is crucial for informing high-quality development. Firstly, we built a comprehensive index system for HW assessment, and evaluated HW for 17 prefecture-level cities in Shandong province, China, from 2000 to 2018. Then, we quantified ES based on land use data. Finally, we assessed the coupling coordination degree and analyzed the relationships between HW and each type of ES value. The results were as follows: (1) HW values increased overall in Shandong, with the highest value in Jinan (0.8034) and the lowest value in Heze (0.4965) in 2018. (2) The total ES values for the 17 cities increased slightly. The ranking of 17 cities according to the ES value per unit area was different from the ranking according to the total ES value. (3) All 17 cities in Shandong were in the coordinated development phase after 2015, with increasing coupling coordination degrees. There were clear positive relationships between HW and ES. General and specific policy recommendations were proposed, providing scientific evidence and a reference for Shandong’s urban management and policy formulation.

The semiconductor industry typifies the international division of labor and exhibits significant structural differences in global trade in key product segments. The evolution of cross-border trade flows and dependency relationships, as well as trade organization patterns of manufactured products, equipment and materials for manufacturing, are investigated by constructing a global semiconductor trade relationship matrix and using the Gini coefficient and trade dependency index. It was found that: (1) the global semiconductor trade is highly spatially unbalanced, with materials and equipment trade in particular highly concentrated in a few countries on both the supply and demand sides; (2) China has replaced the US as the largest global semiconductor trade player and has shaped the regionalized system of manufactured goods and materials trade with East and Southeast Asian economies, but its equipment trade is highly dependent on Europe and the US; (3) the semiconductor production model has promoted the regionalization of the east and southeast Asia region in the trade of manufactured products and materials, and developed economies such as the US, the EU, Japan, and South Korea have maintained their monopolistic advantage in the trade of semiconductor equipment by building exclusive innovation networks and establishing trade barriers. The monopolistic nature of the semiconductor equipment trade and the regionalization of manufactured goods and materials have formed the characteristics of the global semiconductor trade and are likely to be further strengthened in future trade.

Vegetation change is of significant concern because it plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and climate. Many studies have examined recent changes in vegetation growth and the associated drivers. These drivers include both natural and human activities, but few studies have identified the regulation factors. By employing normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data, we analyzed the spatiotemporal pattern of vegetation change in China and then explored the driving factors. It was found that the overall greening of China has improved significantly, especially in the Loess Plateau and southwest China. The Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim, however, have not seen as much growth. Natural conditions are conducive to vegetation growth. Although socioeconomic development will be more beneficial for vegetation restoration, the current level and speed of development have a negative effect on vegetation. The regulation factors are considered separately since they affect both directly and indirectly. Regulation factors have accelerated vegetation growth. By understanding the factors affecting the current vegetation growth, we can provide a guide for future vegetation recovery in China and other similar countries.

Cities and the countryside have long been an inseparable organic whole. China’s new model of high-quality urbanization requires integrated urban and rural development and rural vitalization. Problems inherent to urban areas are caused by problems inherent to rural areas, and vice versa. Such problems are closely linked, and the compound each other to create “urban-rural problems.” As such, rural vitalization is necessary to prevent problems associated with growing cities, and the new model of urbanization is required to prevent problems in rural areas. Based on a review of domestic and foreign research on integrated urban and rural development, this study analyzes the root causes of persistent urban and rural problems and their counterposing patterns on a theoretical level; analyzes the main factors and driving mechanisms as well as the underlying pattern and sustainability of integrated urban and rural development; constructs a measurement test for integrated urban and rural development; and proposes a triangular model of integrated urban and rural development. It confirms that China’s integrated urban and rural development is in the late period of urbanization, which features a high degree of integration and more urban areas and fewer rural areas. Subsequently, it will enter the final period of urbanization and a stage of deep integration, with more urban and fewer rural areas. In the future, it will be necessary to implement a strategy of deeply integrated urban and rural development and use new urbanization and rural vitalization to solve urban-rural problems and improve the quality of urban and rural development. New theories and methods of integrated urban and rural development will need to be created and an evaluation system to judge quantitatively the depth of integrated urban and rural development will need to be established, in order to create desirable urban and rural areas. Future efforts should aim to develop greater synchronization, deeper integration, and mutual success between the new model of urbanization and rural vitalization, so as to improve the high-quality development of, and modernize, both urban and rural areas.

Multi-source weighted-ensemble precipitation (MSWEP) is one of the most popular merged global precipitation products with long-term spanning and high spatial resolution. While various studies have acknowledged its ability to accurately estimate precipitation in terms of temporal dynamics, its performance regarding spatial pattern and extreme rainfall is overlooked. To fill this knowledge gap, the daily precipitation of two versions of MSWEP (MSWEP V2.1 & V2.2) are compared with that of three representative satellite- and reanalysis-based products, namely the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM 3B42 V7), the climate prediction center morphing technique satellite-gauge merged product (CMORPH BLD), and the fifth-generation reanalysis product of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ERA5). The comparison is made according to the dense daily rainfall observations from 539 rain gauges over the Huaihe River Basin in China during 2006-2015. The results show that MSWEP V2.1, MSWEP V2.2 and CMORPH BLD have better performance on temporal accuracy of precipitation estimation, followed by ERA5 and TRMM 3B42 V7. MSWEPs yield the most even spatial distribution across the basin since it takes full advantage of the multi datasets. As the weighted-ensemble method is independently carried out on each grid in MSWEPs, the spatial distribution of local precipitation is changed by different source data, which results in that MSWEPs perform worse than CMORPH BLD in terms of the representation of precipitation spatial pattern. In addition, the capability of MSWEPs to describe the spatial structure in the rainy season is lower than that in the dry season. Strong precipitation (≥100 mm/d) events are better represented in TRMM 3B42 V7 products than in MSWEPs. Finally, based on the comparison results, we suggest to improve the merging algorithm of MSWEP by considering the precipitation spatial self-correlation and adjusting the merging weights based on the performance of the source datasets under different precipitation intensities.

Spatial-temporal scales effects are general among human-nature interactions. However, the laws and mechanisms of the interaction between humans and the environment at different spatial-temporal scales remain to be identified. The Hexi Corridor in Northwest China is located in the eastern section of the Silk Road and is one of the world’s first long-distance cultural exchange centers. Here we present a comprehensive dataset of the Hexi Corridor, including changes in environments, population, wars, famines, settlements, and ancient oases from the Neolithic to the historic period. Results show that humans adapt to climate change on the millennium scale by choosing corresponding production methods. Environmental change, civilization evolution, and dynasty replacement interrelate on the decadal and centennial scales. Social crises are closely linked to extreme weather events on the interannual scale. On the basis of these results, we find similar time scale effects in the world’s major ancient civilizations. We do so by analyzing their processes of civilization evolution.

Research on the spatio-temporal correlation between the intensity of human activities and the temperature of earth surfaces is of great significance in many aspects, including fully understanding the causes and mechanisms of climate change, actively adapting to climate change, pursuing rational development, and protecting the ecological environment. Taking the north slope of Tianshan Mountains, located in the arid area of northwestern China and extremely sensitive to climate change, as the research area, this study retrieves the surface temperature of the mountain based on MODIS data, while characterizing the intensity of human activities thereby data on the night light, population distribution and land use. The evolution characteristics of human activity intensity and surface temperature in the study area from 2000 to 2018 were analyzed, and the spatio-temporal correlation between them was further explored. It is found that: (1) The average human activity intensity (0.11) in the research area has kept relatively low since this century, and the overall trend has been slowly rising in a stepwise manner (0.0024·a^-1); in addition, the increase in human activity intensity has lagged behind that in construction land and population by 1-2 years. (2) The annual average surface temperature in the area is 7.18 ℃ with a pronounced growth. The rate of change (0.02 ℃·a^-1) is about 2.33 times that of the world. The striking boost in spring (0.068 ℃·a^-1) contributes the most to the overall warming trend. Spatially, the surface temperature is low in the south and high in the north, due to the prominent influence of the underlying surface characteristics, such as elevation and vegetation coverage. (3) The intensity of human activity and the surface temperature are remarkably positively correlated in the human activity areas there, showing a strong distribution in the east section and a weak one in the west section. The expression of its spatial differentiation and correlation is comprehensively affected by such factors as scopes of human activities, manifestations, and land-use changes. Vegetation-related human interventions, such as agriculture and forestry planting, urban greening, and afforestation, can effectively reduce the surface warming caused by human activities. This study not only puts forward new ideas to finely portray the intensity of human activities but also offers a scientific reference for regional human-land coordination and overall development.

Ecosystem services are the media and channels through which ecological elements, structures, functions, and products benefit human society. Regulating the utilization intensity and protection methods of society on the ecosystem according to the ecosystem service value (ESV) and its influencing mechanism is of great significance for achieving the sustainable development goals. This paper takes the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as the research object and describes the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of ESV in the GBA from 2000 to 2015. Panel quantile regression is also implemented to increase the understanding of the influencing mechanism of ESV. The main results are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2015, the total ESV declined with a decreasing rate. The areas of decline were mainly distributed in the central part of the GBA and areas along the Pearl River Estuary. (2) Elasticity index, indicating response of ESV to land use change, reached its peak (1.08). The spatial distribution of elasticity index showed that land use changes brought about more intense ESV variations at the junction of cities. (3) In areas with different ESV levels, the influencing factors have different effects. Land use integrity can only promote ecosystem service capabilities in low-ESV areas. The positive effect of temperature on ecosystem service capacity increases with the increase of ESV, which reflects the self-reinforcement of the ecosystem. Moreover, the negative effect of economic density on ecosystem service capacity decreases with the increase of ESV, which reflects the self-protection of the ecosystem. The combination of such self-reinforcement and self-protection will lead to an ESV gap between the high- and low-ESV areas, and induce the “natural Matthew effect.”

Most terrestrial models synchronously calculate net primary productivity (NPP) using the input climate variable, without the consideration of time-lag effects, which may increase the uncertainty of NPP simulation. Based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and climate data, we used the time lag cross-correlation method to investigate the time-lag effects of temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation in different seasons on NDVI values. Then, we selected the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) model to estimate the NPP of China from 2002 to 2017. The results showed that the response of vegetation growth to climate factors had an obvious lag effect, with the longest time lag in solar radiation and the shortest time lag in temperature. The time lag of vegetation to the climate variable showed great tempo-spatial heterogeneities among vegetation types, climate types, and vegetation growth periods. Based on the validation using eddy covariance data, the results showed that the simulation accuracy of the CASA model considering the time-lag effects was effectively improved. By considering the time-lag effects, the average total amount of NPP modeled by CASA during 2001-2017 in China was 3.977 PgC a^-1, which is 11.37% higher than that of the original model. This study highlights the importance of considering the time lag for the simulation of vegetation growth, and provides a useful tool for the improvement of the vegetation productivity model.

Monitoring alpine lakes is important for understanding the regional environmental changes caused by global warming. In this study, we provided a detailed analysis of alpine lake changes in the Tianshan Mountains (TS) and discussed their driving forces based on Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI, WorldView-2, Bing, Google Earth, and ASTER imagery, along with climatic data from 1990 to 2015. The results showed that during the study period, the total number and area of alpine lakes in the eastern TS exhibited an increasing trend, by 64.06% and 47.92%, respectively. Furthermore, the continuous expansion of glacial lakes contributed 95.12% and 94.17% to the total increase in the number and area, respectively, of alpine lakes. Non-glacial lakes exhibited only intermittent expansion. Since the 1990s, the new glacial lakes in the eastern TS have been mainly proglacial and extraglacial lakes. Over the past 25 years, eastern TS has experienced a temperature increase rate of 0.47 °C/10a, which is higher than that in other TS regions. The rapidly warming climate and glacier recession are the primary causes of the accelerated expansion of glacial lakes in the eastern TS.

As a type of urban gentrification oriented by high-quality educational resources, jiaoyufication is a socio-spatial process that refers to the middle-class group that attaches importance to education realizes the agglomeration in famous school districts by purchasing high-price school district houses. Based on the theoretical analysis of jiaoyufication conducted by Chinese and foreign scholars, this paper takes Nanjing as a case city, applies multi-source data like POIs (points of interest), real estate market data, mobile-phone user portraits and questionnaires, and develops a composite measurement of jiaoyufication to identify jiaoyufied school district, jiaoyufied group & its spatial characteristics, and discusses the causal mechanisms and effects of jiaoyufication. With the GIS-entropy-TOPSIS model, this paper evaluates the jiaoyufication level of public primary school districts in the main urban area of Nanjing. The result show that 218 primary school districts are categorized into four types, i.e., high jiaoyufied school district, mid-high jiaoyufied school district, medium jiaoyufied school district, and low jiaoyufied school district. The high jiaoyufied school districts are closely associated with the institutional system. In the high jiaoyufied school districts, many middle-class families have abundant social, economic, and cultural capital. They purchase and move to houses with lower living quality in school districts to pursue high-quality education for their children. The strict school district system, soaring school district housing prices, and intense educational competition continuously solidify the jiaoyufication levels of famous school districts and lock the opportunities for high-quality education in specific school-district spaces and classes or groups. The phenomenon of this socio-spatial reconstruction process, which results from the unequal distribution of high-quality educational resources, tends to aggravate the rich-poor gap and social segregation in cities. It is suggested that equalization of compulsory education services should be effectively carried forward as soon as possible.

Situated in the hinterland of Eurasia, Central Asia is characterized by an arid climate and sparse rainfall. The uneven spatial distribution of water and land resources across the region has pressured economic and social development. An accurate understanding of Central Asia's water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) is vital for enhancing the sustainability of water resources utilization and guiding regional economic and social activities. This study aims to facilitate the sustainability of water resources utilization by evaluating the region's WRCC from the viewpoints of economic and technological conditions and social welfare. A concise yet effective model with relatively fewer parameters was established by adopting water resources data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and socioeconomic data from the World Bank. The results indicated that the WRCC of all five Central Asian countries showed an increasing trend with improved water use efficiency from 1995 to 2020. Kazakhstan's WRCC was significantly higher than the other four countries, reaching 54.03 million people in 2020. The water resources carrying index (WRCI) of the five Central Asian countries varied considerably, with the actual population sizes of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan highly overloaded. Although there has been a decrease in Central Asian countries’ WRCI between 1995 and 2020, water resources utilization problems in the region remain prominent. Based on the water resources carrying capacity evaluation system, to increase available water resources and improve production water use efficiency are key to address these issues. In light of this, this study offers practical and feasible solutions at the policy level: (1) The implementation of signed multilateral agreements on transboundary water resources allocation must proceed through joint governmental efforts. (2) Investments in advancing science and technology need to be increased to improve water use efficiency in irrigation systems. (3) The output of water-intensive crops should be reduced. (4) The industrial structure could be further optimized so that non-agricultural uses are the primary drivers of gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

The black soil region of northeast China is a vital food base and is one of the most sensitive regions to climate change in China. However, the characteristics of the crop phenological response and the integrated impact of climate and phenological changes on agricultural productivity in the region under the background of climate change are not clear. The future agricultural risk assessment has been insufficiently quantified and the existing risk level formulation lacks a sound basis. Based on remote sensing products, climate data, and model simulations, this study integrated a logistic function fitting curvature derivation, multiple linear regression, and scenario simulation to investigate crop phenology dynamics and their climate response characteristics in the black soil region. Additionally, the compound effects of climate and phenology changes on agricultural production and possible future risks were identified. The key results were as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2017, 29.76% of the black soil region of northeast China experienced a significant delay in the start of the growing season (SOS) and 16.71% of the total area displayed a trend for the end of the growing season (EOS) to arrive earlier. The time lagged effects of the SOS in terms of the crop response to climatic factors were site and climatic parameter dependent. The influence of temperature was widespread and its effect had a longer lag time in general; (2) Both climatic and phenological changes have had a significant effect on the inter-annual variability of crop production, and the predictive ability of both increased by 70.23%, while the predictive area expanded by 85.04%, as compared to that of climate change in the same period of the growing season; (3) Under the RCP8.5 scenario, there was a risk that the future crop yield would decrease in the north and increase in the south, and the risk area was constantly expanding. With a 2.0℃ rise in global temperature, the crop yield of the southern Songnen black soil sub-region would reduce by almost 10%. This finding will improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying climate change and vegetation productivity dynamics, and is also helpful in the promotion of the risk management of agrometeorological disasters.

High-resolution mapping and monitoring of national land use/cover changes contribute significantly to the knowledge of the interaction between human activities and environmental changes. China’s Land Use/cover Dataset (CLUD) for 2020 and its dynamic changes in 2015-2020 were developed to extend the CLUD to over 30 years (i.e., the 1980s to 2020 at 5-year intervals) by integrating remote sensing big data and knowledge-based human-computer interaction interpretation methods. This integrating method for CLUD 2020 improved the efficiency of national land use/cover mapping and the accuracy of land use pattern change detection compared to earlier CLUD products, with an overall accuracy of 95%. The intensity of land use change decreased across China in 2015-2020 compared to 2010-2015, although both characteristics of its spatial changes were similar. The cropland area continued to shrink at national scale in 2015-2020, with two regional hotspots including the widespread conversions from dry land into paddy land in Northeast China and the coexistence of widespread land cultivation and cropland abandonment in Xinjiang of Northwest China. Built-up land area continued to expand in China, showing consistency between 2015-2020 and 2010-2015, in which hotspots transited from the surroundings of coastal megacities to the city surroundings of the central and western zones. For natural land, although the woodland and grassland decreased in 2015-2020, its magnitude expanded compared to 2010-2015. In comparison, the water body area in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau increased significantly under the continuous impact of climate change. These characteristics of land use change were closely related to the development strategy of the top-level design of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) (e.g., ecological civilization construction and high-quality development).

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) occupies an important position in China’s socioeconomic development and ecological conservation efforts. Understanding the spatiotemporal characteristics of the relationships among multiple ecosystem services (ESs) and their drivers is crucial for regional sustainable development and human-earth system coordination. This study simulated food production (FP), water yield (WY), net primary production (NPP), soil conservation (SC), and habitat quality (HQ) in the YRB from 2000 to 2020, and evaluated the spatial evolution and the relationship of ESs at the raster scale. Redundancy analysis was used to identify the impact of natural, socioeconomic, and landscape patterns on the relationship between ESs. The results demonstrated that the average HQ per unit area decreased by 18.10%, while SC, NPP, WY, and FP increased by 42.68%, 47.63%, 30.82%, and 67.10%, respectively, from 2000 to 2020. The relationship between ESs in the YRB was dominated by weak trade-offs and weak synergies at a temporal scale, with the trade-offs strengthened in the Upper Yellow River Basin (UYRB) and the Middle Yellow River Basin (MYRB), and synergies strengthened in the Lower Yellow River Basin (LYRB). At the spatial scale, the relationships between HQ and WY, HQ and SC, HQ and NPP, FP and SC, and FP and HQ were all dominated by trade-offs, while other ES pairs were mostly based on synergistic relationships. In the YRB, the relationships among ESs were mainly influenced by human disturbance, precipitation, and land-use and exploitation intensity. Specifically, the trade-offs among ESs in the UYRB were primarily affected by precipitation, and those in the MYRB and LYRB by human disturbance. The heterogeneity of the landscape could also effectively promote synergies among ESs. This study could provide insights into trade-offs and synergies among ESs and their driving forces and lay a foundation for ecological restoration and sustainable development of ESs in the YRB.

Identifying the dynamics of the eco-efficiency of cultivated land use (ECLU) is important to balance food security and environmental protection. The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is a vital region of national strategic development in China. However, the spatio-temporal characteristics and typical patterns of the ECLU in the YREB remain unclear. This study aims to reveal the spatio-temporal characteristics of the ECLU by using the super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) and a spatial autocorrelation model. The typical patterns of the ECLU were classified based on a decision tree algorithm. The results indicate that the overall ECLU increased from 0.78 to 0.87 from 2000 to 2019, dropping sharply in 2003 before rising again. Different reaches had similar trends. The local indicators of spatial association (LISA) cluster reflect that the spatial distributions of high-high and low-low agglomeration varied dramatically among these years. The ECLU was divided into three typical patterns considering the restriction of agrochemicals and water resources (RAW), cultivated land and agrochemicals (RCA), as well as technology (RT). Most cities belonged to the low ECLU category in RT pattern. Fully understanding the spatio-temporal characteristics and classification of the ECLU will provide a reference for decision-makers to improve the ECLU in different regions.

The middle reaches of the Yellow River represent an important area for the protection and development of the Yellow River Basin. Most of the area of the river basin is within the Loess Plateau, which establishes it as a fragile ecological environment. Firstly, using high-resolution data of land use in the watershed from the past 30 years, landscape ecological risk (LER) sample units are defined and an ecological risk index (ERI) model is constructed. Kriging interpolation is used to display the LER spatial patterns, and the temporal and spatial evolution of risk is examined. Secondly, the spatial evolution of land use landscape change (LULC) is analyzed, and the correlation between land use landscape and ecological risk is discussed. Finally, Based on the LER model, a risk-based minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model is established, and a comprehensive protection and management network system for the ecological source-corridor-node system designed. The results suggest that in the past 30 years, LER has a high spatial correlation and areas with extremely high ecological risks are concentrated in northwest and southeast areas of the region, of which the northwest area accounts for the highest proportion. Risk intensity is closely related to the spatial pattern of land use landscape. ERI values of forestland, grasslands, and unused land and farmland are low, medium, and high, respectively. The trend of risk evolution is “overall improvement and partial deterioration”. Man-made construction and exploitation is the most direct reason for the increase of local ecological risks. The high ecological-risk areas in the northwest are dominated by deserts which reduce excessive interference by human activities on the natural landscape. Recommendations are: high-quality farmland should be protected; forestland should be restored and rebuilt; repair and adjust the existing ecosystem to assist in landscape regeneration and reconstruction; utilize the overall planning vision of “mountain, water, forest, field, lake, grass, sand” to design a management project at the basin scale; adhere to problem-oriented and precise policy implementation.