Spatial-temporal response of the regional ecological quality to urban settlement development

Based on the objective evaluation of the regional ecological quality (Urban Cluster in Mid-inner Zhejiang) by Remote Sensing based Ecological Index (RSEI), it was proposed to study the spatial-temporal response of the regional ecological quality to the urban built-up areas, impervious surface, land use and "production-living-ecological" space under urban settlement change to quantitatively describe the mechanism of human activities' influence on the regional ecology. The results showed that: (1) From 1985 to 2020, the RSEI of the Urban Cluster in Mid-inner Zhejiang was above 0.50 as a whole, showing a trend of first decreasing and then increasing with a slight decrease in some parts. (2) From the perspective of the urban built-up areas, it was dominated by ecological level 2-3, gradually changing from ecological level 3 to ecological level 2. (3) From the perspective of the impervious surface, it was dominated by ecological level 2-3, accounting for more than 75.00% of the total study area. (4) From the perspective of land use, the cropland, forestland, water and construction land were mainly ecological level 2-4, 3-4, 3-4 and 2-3. (5) From the perspective of "production-living-ecological" space, production space, ecological space and living space were dominated by ecological level 3, 3-4 and 2-3. The results can deepen the understanding of the impact of urban settlement development on the regional ecological quality, avoid the unbalanced situation of blindly pursuing socio-economic development while ignoring the ecological environment, which scientifically helps the sustainable construction and high-quality development of the Urban Cluster in Mid-inner Zhejiang.