Evaluating the effects of urban expansion on natural habitat quality by coupling localized shared socioeconomic pathways and the land use scenario dynamics-urban model

How Human Activity Has Changed the Regional Habitat Quality in an Eco-Economic Zone: Evidence from Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone, China

“…Previous studies on habitat quality mostly focused on a single perspective, such as the impact of urbanization development on habitat quality [ 30 , 31 , 52 ]. Compared with these studies, this study takes the PLEEZ as the study area and analyzes the impact of land-use changes on regional habitat quality from the perspectives of urbanization development and ecological protection.…”

“…The basic principle of this method is to obtain the degree of habitat degradation by calculating the negative impact of threat factors on the habitat and then to calculate the habitat quality with the appropriate conditions of the habitat and the degree of degradation. The formula for calculating the degree of habitat degradation [ 30 , 52 ] is as follows: where D xj is the degree of habitat degradation of grid x in land-use type j ; ω r is the weight of threat factor r , which indicates the relative degree of damage to the habitat by the threat factor; r y is the intensity of threat factor y ; β x is the resistance of the habitat to external interference; S jr is the relative sensitivity of the habitat to threat factors; i rxy is the influence of threat factor r in grid y on grid x ; R is the total number of threat factors; Y r is the grid number of threat factor r ; d xy is the distance between grid x and grid y ; and d r max is the maximum interference radius of threat factor r . The degree of habitat degradation is between 0 and 1.…”

“…The habitat quality calculation formula [ 30 , 52 ] is as follows: where Q xj is the habitat quality of grid x in land-use type j , H j is the habitat suitability of different land-use types, k is the half-saturation constant, and z is the scaling parameter. The habitat quality value is between 0 and 1.…”

“…Based on the characteristics of the study area and the recommended values for the INVEST model determined through references [ 30 , 42 , 52 ] and expert consultations, cultivated land, construction land, and unused land were chosen as the threat factors. The parameters to be set for each threat factor are the maximum influence distance, weight, and decay type.…”

“…According to Song et al [ 52 ] and McDonald et al [ 53 ], we evaluated the impact of construction land expansion on habitat quality by calculating the habitat degradation rate caused by construction land expansion. The formula for evaluating the impact of construction land expansion on habitat quality is as follows: where is the change rate in habitat quality caused by construction land expansion in region x from P 1 to P 2 , is the habitat quality of region x in P 1 , and is the habitat quality in region x with the influence of construction land expansion between P 1 and P 2 .…”