Spatio-temporal analysis of ecological service value driven by land use changes: A case study with Danjiangkou, Hubei section

The escalating impacts of human activities on the ecological environment underscore the significance of valuing ecological resources within the paradigm of sustainable development. In this context, the ecological service value (ESV) of the Danjiangkou watershed (Hubei section) was assessed using a revised equivalent factor evaluation method. Additionally, the study determined the human activity intensity (HAI) and employed GeoDetector to delineate the spatial heterogeneity of ESV, thereby investigating the underlying causes. Results show that vegetation coverage attains a high level of 94%, with a minor 1.37% land use change between 2016 and 2020. Secondly, ESV exhibited a substantial variation, rising from 75.55 billion to 79.81 billion yuan, a growth rate of 5.64%. Lastly, the explanatory degree for the synergistic interplay of HAI and expenditure on the spatial variation of ESV surpassed 30%, and the average sensitivity coefficient of up to 0.82 further indicated the apparent impacts of land use and human interference activities on ESV. The study makes an excellent effort to clarify the complex coupling relationships between different land use types and ESV, which could serve as an example and model for other studies in the field.