Response of Spatio-Temporal Differentiation Characteristics of Habitat Quality to Land Surface Temperature in a Fast Urbanized City

Abstract

The degradation and loss of global urban habitat and biodiversity have been extensively studied as a global issue. Urban heat islands caused by abnormal land surface temperature (LST) have been shown to be the main reason for this problem. With the accelerated urbanization process and the increasing possibility of abnormal temperatures in Zhengzhou, China, more and more creatures cannot adapt and survive in urban habitats, including humans; therefore, Zhengzhou was selected as the study area. The purpose of this study is to explore the response of urban habitat quality to LST, which provides a basis for the scientific protection of urban habitat and biodiversity in Zhengzhou from the perspective of alleviating heat island effect. We used the InVEST-Habitat Quality model to calculate the urban habitat quality, combined with GIS spatial statistics and bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis, to explore the response of habitat quality to LST. The results show the following: (1) From 2000 to 2015, the mean value of urban habitat quality gradually decreased from 0.361 to 0.304, showing a downward trend as a whole. (2) There was an obvious gradient effect between habitat quality and LST. Habitat quality’s high values were distributed in the central and northern built-up area and low values were distributed in the high-altitude western forest habitat and northern water habitat. However, the distribution of LST gradient values were opposite to the habitat quality to a great extent. (3) There were four agglomeration types between LST and habitat quality at specific spatial locations: the high-high type was scattered mainly in the western part of the study area and in the northern region; the high-low type was mainly distributed in the densely populated and actively constructed central areas; the low-low type was mainly distributed in the urban-rural intersections and small and medium-sized rural settlements; and the low-high type was mainly distributed in the western mountainous hills and the northern waters.

Driving Mechanism of Habitat Quality at Different Grid-Scales in a Metropolitan City

“…The value range was 0-1, with values close to 1 meaning higher habitat quality, and those closer to 0, meaning lower habitat quality. We followed the recommended values in the InVEST model manual and relevant literature and set the model parameters in combination with the actual situation of the study area [11,[49][50][51]. The main calculation formulas are as follows:…”

Habitat Quality Assessment and Driving Factors Analysis of Guangdong Province, China

“…At present, scholars at home and abroad have mainly focused on assessing and predicting regional habitats [24][25][26] and exploring spatial and temporal variation characteristics [25], spatial and temporal evolution characteristics [27], relationships with ecological responses [26], and the construction of evaluation systems [28]. However, few studies have been conducted on the mechanisms that influence spatial variation in habitat quality.…”

Monitoring spatiotemporal impacts of changes in land surface temperature on near eastern fire salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata) in the Middle East

“…The supposed scarcity of the species in northwestern Syria could be attributed to the shortage of suitable surface water. Review of the research literature showed that there are few studies on the relationship between habitat suitability and connectivity, and LST analysis has been carried out on small scales such as at the city [ 44 ] or at the wetland scales [ 45 ]. The present study aims to investigate the impact of increasing and decreasing trends of LST on habitat suitability and connectivity.…”