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The quantity-quality and gain-loss conversion pattern of green vegetation during urbanization reveals the importance of protecting natural forest ecosystems

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Abstract

Contexts

To quantify ecosystem service (ES) changes caused by the dynamic of green vegetation (GV) during rapid urbanization, it is necessary to fully understand the ‘real’ conversion pattern of GV, yet key and ‘real’ conversion patterns within specific periods and contributions to GV quality remain poorly understood.

Objectives

We use normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as a mediator to represent GV quality. Land cover transfer matrix (LCTM) and urban greenspace dynamic index (UGDI) were employed to fully understand GV dynamic from quantity-quality and gain-loss perspectives. The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRDMR), one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the world, was selected as a case.

Results

From 1990 to 2015, built-up land, forests and grasslands has the most dynamic conversion, and also has the most significant impact on NDVI. The NDVI value of the newly-built forest (0.29) was much lower than that of the lost forest (0.5), which demonstrate the value and importance of existing natural forest ecosystem, as newly-built forest does not provide the same ESs (although newly-built forest generally has stronger carbon sequestration ability). Hence, we reconfirm and suggest that in regional ecological planning and management, in addition to creating new, higher quality GV, it is essential to protect existing natural forest ecosystems.

Conclusion

The study proposed new and full perspectives, including quantity-quality and gain-loss angle of view, enhance the understanding of GV dynamic and can be used in other related analyses. Results also provide important theoretical bases for regional ecological planning and natural forest ecosystem protection.

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Funding

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42171093), Scientific and Innovative Action Plan of Shanghai (Grant No. 21ZR1408500), Shanghai Pujiang Program (Grant No. 21PJ1401600) and Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (Grant No. SHUES2021A02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China

    Gaoyuan Yang & Zhaowu Yu

  2. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, 1958, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Gaoyuan Yang

  3. College of Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Yi Xiao

  4. Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco‑Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Liangjun Da

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  1. Gaoyuan Yang
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  4. Zhaowu Yu
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Contributions

GY analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript, YX collected and analyzed the data, LD commented the manuscript, ZY proposed the idea, analyzed the data, and wrote and edited the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhaowu Yu.

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Yang, G., Xiao, Y., Da, L. et al. The quantity-quality and gain-loss conversion pattern of green vegetation during urbanization reveals the importance of protecting natural forest ecosystems. Landsc Ecol 37, 2929–2945 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01519-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01519-4

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