Spatio-temporal interplay between ecosystem services and urbanization in the Yangtze River Economic Belt: A new perspective for considering the scarcity effect

The expeditious trajectory of urbanization has profound ramifications on the configuration and functioning of the natural milieu. Given the constrained opulence of natural capital and its indispensable bestowal of ecosystem services in different regions, meticulous contemplation of the relationship between urbanization and the ecosystem service scarcity value (ESSV) while formulating decisions is imperative. This study focuses on the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), where ESSV is quantified by combining the dynamic changes in market supply and demand factors. The influence of supply and demand changes on the ESSV is discussed and analyzed in four scenarios. Subsequently, a multidimensional urbanization comprehensive evaluation index system was established to explore the spatiotemporal interactive response mode between ESSV and urbanization. Our findings manifest a notably augmented ESSV in the YREB from 1990 to 2020, particularly prominent between 2000 and 2010. Moreover, the growth in public goods services outpaced that in private goods services within the same period. Demand-driven scarcity has emerged as the foremost determinant of ESSV. Urbanization levels gradually increased from 1990 to 2020, with a uniform allocation of heightened ESSV and urbanization throughout the region. The urbanization level of YREB, as a whole, exhibited conspicuous spatial heterogeneity, with the downstream region significantly surpassing the middle and upper reaches, and the downstream Yangtze River Delta city cluster and the middle reaches of the Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster notably outpacing that in the surrounding region. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) between the ESSV and urbanization in the YREB develops in a harmonious direction during the study period, accompanied by palpable spatial disparities. The area of unbalanced development gradually decreased, and the area proportion of the coordinated development type of ESSV and urbanization increased continuously. Overall, this study elucidates regional disparities in the reciprocal relationship between the ESSV and urbanization in the YREB, thereby unveiling the extent of incongruity between regional urbanization and the ecosystem. It serves to identify the juncture at which ecological sustainability and urbanization converge harmoniously, thus offering novel insights in achieving comprehensive, high-caliber, and synchronized development in the YREB.