High-Quality Human Activity Intensity Maps in China From 2000 to 2020

IF 6 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Global Ecology and Biogeography Pub Date : 2025-10-02 DOI:10.1111/geb.70130

Wenqi Xie, Yonghui Yao

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

Human activity intensity (HAI) is a crucial metric for quantifying human impacts on ecosystems. It is essential for studying humans' role in macro-ecological processes such as habitat connectivity, ecosystem change and biodiversity loss. However, the lack of high-quality HAI datasets in China has hindered related research. Our goals were to develop an improved method for national HAI mapping and to present a comprehensive HAI assessment in China from 2000 to 2020.

Location

China.

Time Period

2000–2020.

Major Taxa Studied

Terrestrial ecosystem.

Methods

We developed an improved HAI mapping methodology by introducing a comprehensive eight-indicator system covering socio-economic, natural environment and resources dimensions, more rigorous scoring models (e.g., travel time calculation) and a principal component analysis-based indicator overlaying method. China's first spatiotemporally consistent HAI maps from 2000 to 2020 were produced by applying this methodology and using higher temporal resolution and more reliable data than those used in global research.

Results

Our HAI dataset demonstrated significantly improved accuracy, with an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.085; 34% lower than that of the global human footprint product (RMSE = 0.125). Additionally, it outperformed in challenging landscapes, such as rugged terrains, arid regions and natural-human transition zones. The results show between 2000 and 2015, over 620,000 km² of areas with very low human activity (HAI < 0.5) disappeared, resulting in the fragmentation of natural habitats, particularly in forest ecosystems and grassland ecosystems.

Main Conclusions

We developed a national-scale HAI mapping method framework, by which high-quality HAI datasets for China were produced. Thanks to our HAI product, we revealed details that cannot be reflected in global datasets (e.g., grazing ban) and provided critical insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of human impacts on ecosystems in China. This methodology offers global relevance as a reference model, facilitating human-nature relationship research in other countries.

Abstract Image

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2000 - 2020年中国高质量人类活动强度图

目的人类活动强度（HAI）是量化人类活动对生态系统影响的重要指标。这对于研究人类在栖息地连通性、生态系统变化和生物多样性丧失等宏观生态过程中的作用至关重要。然而，国内缺乏高质量的HAI数据集，阻碍了相关研究的开展。我们的目标是开发一种改进的国家HAI制图方法，并提出2000年至2020年中国HAI的综合评估。位置中国。时间：2000-2020年。主要分类群研究陆地生态系统。方法通过引入涵盖社会经济、自然环境和资源维度的综合八指标体系、更严格的评分模型（如旅行时间计算）和基于主成分分析的指标叠加方法，改进了HAI制图方法。中国首张2000 - 2020年时空一致的HAI地图采用该方法制作，使用了比全球研究更高的时间分辨率和更可靠的数据。结果我们的HAI数据集显示出显著提高的准确性，总体均方根误差（RMSE）为0.085；比全球人类足迹产品低34% （RMSE = 0.125）。此外，它在崎岖地形、干旱地区和自然-人类过渡地带等具有挑战性的景观中表现出色。结果表明：2000 - 2015年，人类活动极低区（HAI < 0.5）消失面积超过62万平方公里，导致自然栖息地破碎化，尤其是森林生态系统和草地生态系统。我们开发了一个国家尺度的HAI制图方法框架，通过该框架产生了高质量的中国HAI数据集。由于我们的HAI产品，我们揭示了全球数据集无法反映的细节（例如放牧禁令），并为人类对中国生态系统影响的时空动态提供了重要见解。该方法具有全球相关性，可作为参考模型，为其他国家的人与自然关系研究提供便利。

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来源期刊

Global Ecology and Biogeography 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

3.10%

发文量

170

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Global Ecology and Biogeography (GEB) welcomes papers that investigate broad-scale (in space, time and/or taxonomy), general patterns in the organization of ecological systems and assemblages, and the processes that underlie them. In particular, GEB welcomes studies that use macroecological methods, comparative analyses, meta-analyses, reviews, spatial analyses and modelling to arrive at general, conceptual conclusions. Studies in GEB need not be global in spatial extent, but the conclusions and implications of the study must be relevant to ecologists and biogeographers globally, rather than being limited to local areas, or specific taxa. Similarly, GEB is not limited to spatial studies; we are equally interested in the general patterns of nature through time, among taxa (e.g., body sizes, dispersal abilities), through the course of evolution, etc. Further, GEB welcomes papers that investigate general impacts of human activities on ecological systems in accordance with the above criteria.