The impacts of urban land expansion on ecosystem services in Wuhan, China

A clear understanding of the impacts of urban land expansion on ecosystem services is crucial for sustainable urban planning. Although various studies have shown that urban land expansion caused a degradation of ecosystem services, the relationship between the spatial variation of urban land expansion and ecosystem services still remains unclear. This study quantified the ecosystem services and urban land expansion indicators of Wuhan for 1990–2015 and analyzed the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of ecosystem service values (ESVs) and urban land expansion indicators. Using spatial autocorrelation analysis and linear regression, the quantitative and qualitative correlations between ecosystem services and urban land expansion indicators were explored. The total ESV of Wuhan decreased by 16.47%, representing a loss of 1636.19 million yuan. Areas with extremely low ESVs continuously expanded outward from the urban center. During 2010–2015, the urban land expansion area, intensity, damage weight, and distance peaked, which caused an enormous decrease of the total ESV. Negative correlations were found between urban land expansion and all ecosystem services; the correlation with food production was most significant, indicating that urban land expansion had the strongest impact on food production. The expansion area is the main factor causing the decline of each ecosystem service among urban land expansion indicators. This study presents the impact characteristics of urban land expansion on ecosystem services, and the results provide a reference for reasonable decision making in urban planning.