This study examines the optimization of land use patterns to address the dual challenges of urban expansion and ecological conservation, while promoting agricultural sustainability within the context of enhanced environmental protection and sustainable socio-economic development. Utilizing the PLUS model, which incorporates strategic planning principles and industrial policy requirements, we developed a targeted planning scenario to project land use in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region for the year 2030. This research aims to establish a balance between socio-economic growth and ecological conservation. The findings demonstrate that: (1) The model employed is both effective and reliable; (2) Under the targeted planning scenario, as opposed to a natural evolution scenario, there is a notable expansion in the areas dedicated to croplands, woodlands, and scrublands, while building lands are developed responsibly with a controlled expansion rate of 1.3, thus moderating development intensity; (3) The planning approach significantly enhances the value of ecosystem services compared to natural trajectories, thereby improving service capacities; (4) The ecosystem service values associated with land use under the 2030 scenario exhibit significant spatial concentration, with distinct zones of high and low concentration providing valuable spatial insights for future land use optimization and regulatory adjustments.

Earthquakes can alter the structure of ecosystems rapidly. This study aimed to assess the impact of earthquakes on plateau ecosystems using the 2021 Maduo 7.4-magnitude earthquake as a case study. A plateau ecosystem assessment index (PEAI) was proposed based on the 3S-Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs model (3S-InVEST) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). It was constructed using information on land cover, vegetation coverage, landscape pattern, habitat quality, and ecosystem service value to comprehensively evaluate the impact on plateau ecosystems. The findings revealed that: (1) After the earthquake, the overall PEAI decreased from 5.47 to 5.09, which was a decline of 6.94%. The value of ecosystem services decreased by RMB 5.5814 billion, and the degree of impact displayed a spatial gradient pattern that diminished with seismic intensity. (2) The area with intensity level X was the most affected and that with intensity level VII was the least affected, with a decline of 40.76% and 1.64% in PEAI, respectively. The spatial heterogeneity analysis revealed that land cover changes were the most drastic in Ngoring Lake, Gyaring Lake, and the river area in the north of the VII seismic intensity zone. (3) A big change in land cover was witnessed after the earthquake, whose direction was from lake wetland to sandy land, marshy wetland, and grassland, and from riverine wetland to marshy wetland and grassland. Among the various types of wetlands, marshy wetlands experienced the most significant decrease, followed by lake wetlands and riverine wetlands, with a reduction of 286.28 km², 61.66 km², and 30.82 km², respectively. (4) The vegetation coverage showed structural degradation, with medium- and high-coverage areas decreasing by 6.03% and 3.16%, respectively. However, the ecosystem service value of grasslands increased against the trend, revealing their ecological resilience. The study identified land cover change, degradation of ecosystem service value, and vegetation decline as the core driving factors behind a decrease in PEAI. This assessment system provides a quantitative basis for prioritizing post-earthquake ecological restoration efforts on the plateau.

This study takes the ecological resilience of coal cities as the research theme, constructs an index system including 41 constraint factors from the three dimensions of social economy, resources and the environment, and takes Xuzhou as a typical case study with data from 2002 to 2023 as the original data. The GM-Markov time series prediction model and ARIMA model are used to fit the developmental prospect of ecological resilience in 2024-2040, with the aim of accurately predicting the future development trend. The results show that Xuzhou will reach the “ideal state” of ecological resilience in 2031 at the earliest and 2032 at the latest. In that state, the case city can better coordinate the contradictory relationship between the “limitation” and “need” of ecological resilience, and realize positive development of the socio-economic, resource and environmental subsystems. Then, the understanding of this research topic is deepened and the following coping strategies are proposed based on the research results: improve the collaborative digital governance co-construction model and lay a solid foundation for ecological resilience, optimize the collaborative digital co-governance mechanism to enhance the efficiency of ecological governance, adhere to the fundamental spirit of shared development and release the dividends of ecological governance.

Landscape pattern is considered a powerful concept for identifying environmental changes, whereas landscape ecological risk serves as a negative indicator of urban ecosystem health. However, few studies have systematically explored the relationship between the two aspects. This study utilizes Nanjing as a case study, analyzing the spatiotemporal changes in landscape patterns and LER from 2012 to 2022, and geographically and temporally weighted regression is employed to investigate the impact of landscape pattern on the spatial changes of LER. The results indicate the following: (1) From 2012 to 2022, the study area was primarily composed of cultivated land, followed by forest land and construction land, a distribution closely constrained by topographic conditions. (2) Most landscape pattern indices reached extreme values in the first gradient zone of the city center and the third gradient zone on the edge of the main urban area, while fluctuating across several urban subcenters. (3) The overall pattern of LER presented a clear center-periphery polarization structure, with high-risk areas distributed in the southwestern zone and along the Yangtze River. Over time, the area gradually expanded and transitioned from a scattered to a clustered spatial pattern. Low and sub-low risk areas were concentrated in the city center and urban subcenters, exhibiting a continuous decline in areal extent. (4) A significant negative correlation was observed between landscape pattern indices and LER, indicating that enhanced landscape diversity and richness can partially mitigate ecological risk. (5) Regarding degradation from unregulated development, Nanjing can proactively reduce LER by refining local landscape configurations. This entails linking fragmented ecological patches in the northern and southern prime farmland belts, or softening the edges of high-intensity built-up areas to ease impacts on peripheral biodiversity.