Exploring Development Trends of Terrestrial Ecosystem Health—A Case Study from China

Abstract

Terrestrial ecosystem health (TEH) is the basis of regional sustainability development. The state of TEH is an important research direction in the land science field. The purpose of this paper was to explore the development trends and influencing factors of the. By using the radial basis function (RBF), neural network model, geographic information system (GIS), and the comprehensive index method, this paper predicted the land ecological changes of Henan Province from 2007 to 2025 based on a comprehensive evaluation of the system. The results show that the TEH of Henan Province exhibited a general trend of improvement from 2007 to 2025. The predictions exhibited a tendency to fluctuate and increase, from “severe warning” to “moderate warning” and even to “no warning” state. The early warning index of the subsystem showed a fluctuating upward trend except for the press subsystem, which fluctuated between “extraordinary warning” and “heavy warning” states. The overall TEH level is improving but is largely dependent on effective corresponding measures. The health status of the land ecosystem in Henan Province is guaranteed to be stable due to improvements in rural residential incomes, mechanization levels of cultivated land, domestic sewage treatment rates, and the numbers of scientific and technological personnel per unit of land. The TEH is mainly restricted by the population densities, urbanization levels, inputs of fertilizers and pesticides, and average wastewater load factors of the land. To improve the health level of the land ecosystem, it is necessary to reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides and to control the urbanization rate. At the same time, improving the level of forest coverage and the effective irrigation rate play a positive role in improving ecosystem health. The results provide a reference for land-use planning and management decisions.

Land Use Change and Ecosystem Health Assessment on Shanghai–Hangzhou Bay, Eastern China

“…Therefore, terrestrial ecosystems are related to the cycles and development of all ecosystems, and maintaining a healthy ecosystem state is an important way to achieve the sustainable development of the economy and society [5][6][7][8]. However, with the rapid economic and social development of major urban agglomerations of China in recent years, such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, land use has changed dramatically and led to an unprecedented impact on local landscape patterns and urban ecosystem health [9,10]. Presently, researchers and government departments of the whole world pursue the common goal of the harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature, and the way to coordinate Land 2022, 11, 867 2 of 17 between urban development and ecological environment protection is a pressing and difficult issue of common concern [11].…”