Land use transitions and the associated impacts on ecosystem services in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China based on the geo-informatic Tupu method

Abstract Rapid urbanization in China has greatly exacerbated land use transitions (LUTs), which seriously threaten the ecosystem. The existing literature lacks information on the spatio-temporal analysis of LUTs, and assessments of ecosystem services remain incomplete. This lack of information may limit the formation and implementation of landscape plans and ecologically oriented policies. This study attempts to fill this gap by analysing the geographic features of LUTs with the geo-informatic Tupu method and exploring the responses of ecosystem services to LUTs. A newly revised benefit transfer method that utilizes the land use/land cover change data derived from the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (MRYREB) is implemented. The results indicate that the area of construction land continued to increase markedly, while the area of cultivated land declined continuously from 1995 to 2015. This increase in construction land was mainly derived from the occupation of cultivated land. The Tupu units of “forestland → cultivated land,” “cultivated land → forestland,” “cultivated land → water area,” and “water area → cultivated land” were the dominant driving forces of the changes in ecosystem services value (ESV) in the MRYREB. Hotspots of ESV changes were mainly located in the surrounding mountainous areas during 1995–2005 and 2005–2010, while the coldspots during 2010–2015 were mainly located in the plains. The findings in this study have important implications for ecosystem conservation, ecological function zoning, ecological compensation decision-making, and related land development in the MRYREB.