TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating Spatiotemporal Patterns and Integrated Driving Forces of Habitat Quality in the Northern Sand-Prevention Belt of China
AU - Zhang, Huayong
AU - Zheng, Jiayu
AU - Zou, Hengchao
AU - Wang, Zhongyu
AU - Ji, Xiande
AU - Zhang, Shijia
AU - Liu, Zhao
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - Understanding habitat quality patterns and their drivers in arid zones is of fundamental importance to the sustainability maintenance of terrestrial ecosystems, but remains elusive. Here, we applied the InVEST model to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of habitat quality in the northern sand-prevention belt (NSPB) across five time periods (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018), coupled with the structural equation model (SEM) and boosted regression tree (BRT) model to identify their integrated driving forces. The results exhibited that habitat quality in high-level zones expanded gradually from 2000 to 2018, while the middle- and low-level zones shrank. Climate, soil, topography, and human activities were significantly correlated with habitat quality, with mean annual temperature (MAT) and human activities being key contributing factors in the high-level and low-level zones, respectively, whereas the contribution of factors varied considerably in the middle-level zones. The interactions among climate, soil, topography, and human activities jointly drive habitat quality changes. Climate intensified the positive effects of soil on habitat quality, while the topographic and human activities mainly affected habitat quality indirectly through climate and soil. Our findings offer a scientific guidance for the restoration and sustainable management of desertification ecosystems in northern China.
AB - Understanding habitat quality patterns and their drivers in arid zones is of fundamental importance to the sustainability maintenance of terrestrial ecosystems, but remains elusive. Here, we applied the InVEST model to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of habitat quality in the northern sand-prevention belt (NSPB) across five time periods (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018), coupled with the structural equation model (SEM) and boosted regression tree (BRT) model to identify their integrated driving forces. The results exhibited that habitat quality in high-level zones expanded gradually from 2000 to 2018, while the middle- and low-level zones shrank. Climate, soil, topography, and human activities were significantly correlated with habitat quality, with mean annual temperature (MAT) and human activities being key contributing factors in the high-level and low-level zones, respectively, whereas the contribution of factors varied considerably in the middle-level zones. The interactions among climate, soil, topography, and human activities jointly drive habitat quality changes. Climate intensified the positive effects of soil on habitat quality, while the topographic and human activities mainly affected habitat quality indirectly through climate and soil. Our findings offer a scientific guidance for the restoration and sustainable management of desertification ecosystems in northern China.
KW - driving forces
KW - habitat quality
KW - InVEST model
KW - land use
KW - sustainability maintenance
KW - the northern sand-prevention belt
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186120510&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su16041508
DO - 10.3390/su16041508
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85186120510
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 16
JO - Sustainability
JF - Sustainability
IS - 4
M1 - 1508
ER -