Mountain ecosystem health response to landscape pattern in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

As a critical component of the Earth’s system, Mountains play a pivotal role in global ecological sustainability. To advance sustainable development in mountainous regions, a rigorous examination of the heterogeneous evolutionary dynamics of ecosystem health—driven by landscape pattern variations across diverse terrains—is imperative, alongside formulating spatially differentiated regulatory strategies. However, current ecosystem research frameworks face limitations, including insufficient multi-scale integration and inadequate quantification of human activities, which weaken their ability to explain heterogeneity in ecosystem health. Based on the intrinsic connection between ecosystem health and landscape patterns—a connection that directly determines ecosystem function and stability—this study proposes a novel “Drivers-Landscape Patterns-Ecosystem Health” framework. It is used to analyze ecosystem health responses to mountain landscape heterogeneity. Incorporating the Vigor − Organization − Resilience − Ecosystem Services (VORS) model reveals evolutionary traits and coupling mechanisms under varied topography, supporting sustainable ecosystem management. The study revealed three major findings: (1) From 2000 to 2020, ecosystem health in the area improved gradually, remaining at a moderate level overall but with notable spatial variation—health increased significantly with elevation. (2) Landscape patterns strongly correlated with ecosystem health, and topographic gradients emerged as a key driver, influencing both landscape metrics and their interactions. (3) Topography and human activities jointly drive divergent landscape pattern evolution across different topographic zones. These findings enhance the understanding of landscape-ecological coupling in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area and offer valuable insights for ecosystem management in similar mountainous regions globally.