Abstract
Urbanization is one of the most significant human activities in the Anthropocene, with profound impacts on environmental quality. The lack of an understanding about the relationship between urbanization and ecological quality limits the effectiveness of urban planning and ecological policies in alleviating urban ecological problems. Based on the integrated ecological index RSEI (remote sensing ecological index), this study attempts to clarify the spatio-temporal characteristics of ecological quality in an urbanization process through an empirical study in China’s Pearl River Delta (PRD) and explores the relationship between urbanization and ecological quality. Our results show that the ecological development of the PRD in the period of 1986 to 2019 was a phased and polarized process. Two periods are distinguished, based on RSEI dispersion: the period of 1986 to 2003, with slight dispersion, and the period of 2004 to 2019, with higher dispersion. Plain areas show evidence of ecological degradation, whereas a considerable improvement was observed in hilly areas. Industrialization and consummation of legal system were the driving factors behind the phased development of ecological quality, while the differences in landform and land management were the fundamental reasons for the spatial differentiation of ecological quality. The findings of this study provide experience and enlightenment for ecological management and sustainable development strategies in regions seeking rapid growth in their prosperity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article.
References
Bryan BA, Gao L, Ye YQ, Sun XF, Connor JD, Crossman ND, Stafford-Smith M, Wu JG, He CY, Yu DY, Liu ZF, Li A, Huang QX, Ren H, Deng XZ, Zheng H, Niu JM, Han GD, Hou XY (2018) China’s response to a national land-system sustainability emergency. Nature 559:193–204. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0280-2
Chen THK, Qiu C, Schmitt M, Zhu XX, Prishchepov AV (2020) Mapping horizontal and vertical urban densification in Denmark with Landsat time-series from 1985 to 2018: a semantic segmentation solution. Remote Sens Environ 251:112096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112096
Desouhant E, Gomes E, Mondy N, Amat I (2019) Mechanistic, ecological, and evolutionary consequences of artificial light at night for insects: review and prospective. Entomol Exp Appl 167(1):37–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12754
Exelis Visual Solutions Inc (2014) ENVI Manual. http://www.exelisvis.com/ProductsServices/ENVIProducts.aspx. Accessed 25 Nov 2014
Fang CL, Zhou CH, Gu CL, Chen LD, Li SC (2016) Theoretical analysis of interactive coupled effects between urbanization and eco-environment in mega-urban agglomerations. Acta Geographica Sinica 71:531–550. https://doi.org/10.11821/dlxb201604001
Figueiredo L, Krauss J, Steffan-Dewenter I, Cabral JS (2019) Understanding extinction debts: spatio-temporal scales, mechanisms and a roadmap for future research. Ecography 42:1973–1990. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04740
Gong P, Li X, Zhang W (2019) 40-year (1978–2017) Human settlement changes in China reflected by impervious surfaces from satellite remote sensing. Sci Bull 64(11):756–763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2019.04.024
Hanfi MY, Mostafa M, Zhukovsky MV (2019) Heavy metal contamination in urban surface sediments: sources, distribution, contamination control, and remediation. Environ Monit Assess 192:32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7947-5
Laspidou CS, Mellios NK, Spyropoulou AE, Kofinas DT, Papadopoulou MP (2020) Systems thinking on the resource nexus: modeling and visualisation tools to identify critical interlinkages for resilient and sustainable societies and institutions. Sci Total Environ 717:137264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137264
Li G, Sun SB, Han JC, Yan JW, Liu WB, Wei Y, Lu N, Sun YY (2019) Impacts of Chinese grain for green program and climate change on vegetation in the loess plateau during 1982–2015. Sci Total Environ 660:177–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.028
Li M, Hu MM, Xia BC (2020) Spatial differentiation and aggregation characteristics of ecological security of urban agglomeration in the Pearl River Delta. Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Sunyatseni 59:96–104. https://doi.org/10.13471/j.cnki.acta.snus.2020.01.012
Liang LW, Chen MX, Luo XY, Xian Y (2021) Changes pattern in the population and economic gravity centers since the reform and opening up in China: the widening gaps between the South and North. J Clean Prod 310:127379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127379
Liang YT, Zhou ZK, Li X (2019) Dynamic of regional planning and sustainable development in the Pearl River Delta, China. Sustainability 11(21):6074. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216074
Liu W, Zhan JY, Zhao F, Yan HM, Zhang F, Wei XQ (2019) Impacts of urbanization-induced land-use changes on ecosystem services: a case study of the Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region, China. Ecol Ind 98:228–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.10.054
Lü LT, Zhang J, Peng QZ, Ren FP, Jiang Y (2019) Landscape pattern analysis and prediction in the Dongjiang River Basin. Acta Ecol Sin 39:6850–6859. https://doi.org/10.5846/stxb201808281844
Murray NJ, Keith DA, Bland LM, Ferrari R, Lyons MB, Lucas R, Pettorelli N, Nicholson E (2018) The role of satellite remote sensing in structured ecosystem risk assessments. Sci Total Environ 619–620:249–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.034
Nathaniel SP, Nwulu N, Bekun F (2021) Natural resource, globalization, urbanization, human capital, and environmental degradation in Latin American and Caribbean Countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28:6207–6221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10850-9
Nichol J (2005) Remote sensing of urban heat islands by day and night. Photogrammetric Eng Remote Sens 71:613–621. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.71.5.613
Peng J, Xie P, Liu YX, Ma J (2016) Urban thermal environment dynamics and associated landscape pattern factors: a case study in the Beijing Metropolitan Region. Remote Sens Environ 173:145–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.11.027
Phalan B (2018) What have we learned from the land sparing-sharing model? Sustainability 10(6):1760. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061760
Ren YJ, Lü YH, Fu BJ, Comber A, Li T, Hu J (2020) Driving factors of land change in China’s Loess Plateau: quantification using geographically weighted regression and management implications. Remote Sensing 12:453. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12030453
Shen J, Wang SJ, Liu W, Chu JX (2019) Does migration of pollution-intensive industries impact environmental efficiency? Evidence supporting “Pollution Haven Hypothesis.” J Environ Manage 242:142–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.04.072
Watanabe MDB, Ortega E (2014) Dynamic emergy accounting of water and carbon ecosystem services: a model to simulate the impacts of land-use change. Ecol Model 271:113–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.03.006
Wang ZB, Liang LW, Sun Z, Wang XM (2019) Spatiotemporal differentiation and the factors influencing urbanization and ecological environment synergistic effects within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration. J Environ Manage 243:227–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.04.088
Wendling LA, Huovila A, Castell-Rudenhausen MZ, Hukkalainen M, Airaksinen M (2018) Benchmarking nature-based solution and smart city assessment schemes against the sustainable development goal indicator framework. Front Environ Sci 6:69. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2018.00069
Wong CP, Jiang B, Kinzig AP, Ouyang Z (2018) Quantifying multiple ecosystem services for adaptive management of green infrastructure. Ecosphere 9(11):02495. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2495
Wood SLR, Jones SK, Johnson JA, Brauman KA, Chaplin-Kramer R, Fremier A, Girvetz E, Gordon LJ, Kappel CV, Mandle L, Mulligan M, O’Farrell P, Smith WK, Willemen L, Zhang W, DeClerck FA (2018) Distilling the role of ecosystem services in the sustainable development goals. Ecosyst Serv 29:70–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.10.010
Wu JL, Wang X, Wang H, Gong DC, Yang J, Jiang B, Zhang CL, Deng XJ, Zhou L, Wang BG (2020) Rapidly alleviating particulate matter pollution while maintaining high-speed economic development in the “world’s factory.” J Clean Prod 266:121844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121844
Wu L (2020) Forty years of reform and opening up: course and experience. Contemporary China Press, Beijing
Xiao R, Li Z, Wu Z, Wu C, Yi W (2017) Urbanization process and eco-environmental effects in the Pearl River Delta Region. Longmen Publishing House of Science Press, Beijing
Xie H, Zhang Y, Zeng X, He Y (2020) Sustainable land use and management research: a scientometric review. Landscape Ecol 35(2):2381–2411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01002-y
Xu HQ (2008) A new index for delineating built-up land features in satellite imagery. Int J Remote Sens 29:4269–4276. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160802039957
Xu HQ (2013) A remote sensing urban ecological index and its application. Acta Ecol Sin 33:7853–7862. https://doi.org/10.5846/stxb201208301223
Xu HQ (2015) Retrieval of the reflectance and land surface temperature of the newly-launched Landsat 8 satellite. Chin J Geophys 58:741–747. https://doi.org/10.6038/cjg20150304
Xu HQ, Wang YF, Guan HD, Shi TT, Hu XS (2019) Remote sensing detecting ecological changes with a remote sensing based ecological index (RSEI) produced time series and change vector analysis. Remote Sensing 11:2345. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11202345
Xu XB, Yang GS, Tan Y, Zhuang QL, Li HP, Wan RR, Su WZ, Zhang J (2016) Ecological risk assessment of ecosystem services in the Taihu Lake Basin of China from 1985 to 2020. Sci Total Environ 554–555:7–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.120
Yang J, Huang X (2021) 30 m annual land cover and its dynamics in China from 1990 to 2019 (1.0.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4417810
Ye JP, Liu SY, Sheng F, Liu Z, Yang M, Li J (2020) Landscape pattern evolution and ecological environment effect of Xunwu watershed. Acta Ecol Sin 40:4737–4748. https://doi.org/10.5846/stxb201909201966
Yuan BD, Fu LN, Zou YA, Zhang SQ, Chen XS, Li F, Deng ZM, Xie YH (2021) Spatiotemporal change detection of ecological quality and the associated affecting factors in Dongting Lake Basin, based on RSEI. J Clean Prod 302:126995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126995
Zhang GL, Bai JH, Xiao R, Zhao QQ, Jia J, Cui BS, Liu XH (2017) Heavy metal fractions and ecological risk assessment in sediments from urban, rural and reclamation-affected rivers of the Pearl River Estuary, China. Chemosphere 184:278–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.05.155
Zhang Y, Long H, Tu S, Ge D, Ma L, Wang L (2019) Spatial identification of land use functions and their tradeoffs/synergies in China: implications for sustainable land management. Ecol Ind 107:105550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105550
Zhang ZS, Chen CL, Liao WQ (2016) Geography of Guangdong. Beijing Normal University Press, Beijing
Zhao AZ, Zhang AB, Liu JH, Feng LL, Zhao YL (2019) Assessing the effects of drought and “grain for green” program on vegetation dynamics in China’s Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2014. CATENA 175:446–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.01.013
Zheng K, Wei JZ, Pei JY, Cheng H, Zhang XL, Huang FQ, Li FM, Ye JS (2019) Impacts of climate change and human activities on grassland vegetation variation in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Sci Total Environ 660:236–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.022
Zhou R, Lin M, Wu Z, Liu H, Zhong L (2020) Construction of ecological security in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from the perspective of importance of ecosystem services. Ecological Economy 36:189–196
Funding
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41771096 and No. 42201098) and Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China (No. 202102080254).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Ting Li and Yuxiang Dong made substantial contributions to the study design and led the writing of the manuscript. Both authors contributed critically to the drafts, and both approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
The manuscript is approved by all authors for publication.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Li, T., Dong, Y. Phased and polarized development of ecological quality in the rapidly-urbanized Pearl River Delta, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 36176–36189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24852-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24852-2