Accurately simulating and predicting the urban expansion process, especially in expeditious urbanization areas, is an important aspect of managing limited land resources and adjusting flawed land use policies. This research was conducted on the basis of a high-temporal-resolution land use dataset to precisely model urban expansion in a rapidly developing zone by integrating the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), cellular automata (CA), and Markov Chain (MC). An urban suitability index (USI) map was created using ANN and fed to CA–MC to identify possible changed-to-urban cells. Two ANNs, multiple-layer perceptron (MLP) and long short-term memory network (LSTM), were implemented as simulation models for comparison. Due to its ability to capture more temporal information, LSTM outperformed MLP in modeling urban expansion dynamics over a short temporal interval. The simulated results were validated by (fuzzy) kappa simulation and the results revealed that the combination of ANN and CA–MC can precisely model the urban development locations due to its strength in revealing the nonlinear relationship between the expansion process and its drivers. The same model was applied to southern Auckland, and the compared results show that the most simulated variance is caused by the land use policies implemented by different types of governments.

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Integrating ANNs and Cellular Automata–Markov Chain to Simulate Urban Expansion with Annual Land Use Data

Ecological security assessment of Xilingol grassland in China using DPSIRM model

Accurate identification of land use conflicts is an important prerequisite for the rational allocation of land resources and optimizing the production–living–ecological space pattern. Previous studies used suitability assessment and landscape pattern indices to identify land use conflicts. However, research on land use conflict identification from the perspective of ecological security is insufficient and not conducive to regional ecological, environmental protection, and sustainable development. Based on ecological security, this study takes Shandong Province as an example and comprehensively evaluates the importance of ecosystem service function and environmental sensitivity. It identifies the ecological source, and extracts ecological corridors with a minimum cumulative resistance model from which ecological security patterns are constructed. It identifies land use conflicts through spatial overlay analysis of arable land and construction land. The results show that: (1) Shandong Province has formed an ecological security pattern of “two ecological barriers, two belts, and eight cores” with an area of 15,987 km2. (2) The level of arable land–ecological space conflict is low, at 39.76%. The proportions of serious and moderate conflicts are 13.44% and 26.97%, respectively, distributed primarily on the Jiaodong Peninsula and the low hill areas of Ludong. (3) Construction land–ecological space conflict is reasonably stable and controllable, at 76.39%, occurring mainly around urban construction land, with serious and moderate conflict concentrated in the eastern coastal areas, mainly between rural settlements and ecologically safe space in the region. This study has important theoretical and practical reference values for identifying land use conflicts, protecting regional ecological security, and optimizing land use patterns.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2196/pdf?version=1670071124

Identification of Land Use Conflicts in Shandong Province from an Ecological Security Perspective

Impacts of landscape pattern on ecological network evolution in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Urban Agglomeration, China

Ecological security patterns (ESPs) have become an important spatial approach to alleviate the contradiction between ecological protection and economic development. The identification of ecological sources is the primary part of studying ESPs, and methods based on ecosystem services (ESs) have been widely used. However, the current method of simply overlaying ESs for ecological source identification has difficulty supporting different regional decision‐making needs of the target. Taking the West Liaohe River basin in China as an example, this study aims at developing four regional sustainable development goals (RSDGs) of carbon neutrality, water security, soil security, and biodiversity protection. Six ESs, including net primary production (NPP), water retention (WR), water purification (WP), soil conservation (SC), soil loss by wind (SL), and habitat quality (HQ), in the West Liaohe River basin from 2010 to 2020 were evaluated. Based on the current mainstream research paradigm of ‘source identification‐resistance surface construction‐corridor extraction‐safety pattern identification’, combined RSDGs and ESs, the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model was used to identify the West Liaohe River basin development goals. The pattern of ecological security was discussed, and the identification, optimization, and construction plan of the regional comprehensive ESP were discussed in combination with the actual situation of the region. The study found that simply overlaying ESs to identify ecological sources leads to the neglect of some areas that provide key ESs, and it is difficult to directly support regional ecological protection decisions under different objectives, while a multiobjective‐oriented comprehensive ecological security pattern helps to promote ESs and their relationships. The research results will help to improve the understanding of the ESP and provide a basis for the ecological protection and restoration of the basin and the optimization of the spatial structure to promote the sustainable development of the ‘social‐economic‐ecological’ complex system in the West Liaohe River basin.

Linking regional sustainable development goals with ecosystem services to identify ecological security patterns

An integrated approach to constructing ecological security patterns and identifying ecological restoration and protection areas: A case study of Jingmen, China

In order to control the development of urban space, it is important to explore scientific methods to provide a reference for regional territorial space planning. On the basis of the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model and the cellular automaton (CA)-Markov model, we constructed a new technical method for delineating urban development boundaries, exploring the temporal and spatial distribution characteristic of land use in Wuhan from 2010 to 2020 through nighttime and remote sensing images, and simulating the urban development boundaries of Wuhan from 2025 to 2035. The results show that: (1) the scales of Wuhan City’s built-up areas in 2010, 2015, and 2020 were 500 km2, 566.13 km2, and 885.11 km2, respectively, and the trends of expansion run to the east and southeast, and (2) on the basis of the MCR model, the urban development boundary scale of Wuhan City in 2025, 2030, and 2035 from the perspective of actual supply will be 903.52 km2, 937.48 km2, and 1021.44 km2, respectively, and based on the CA-Markov model, the urban development boundary scales of Wuhan City in 2025, 2030, and 2035 from the perspective of ideal land demand will be 912.75 km2, 946.40 km2, and 1041.91 km2, respectively. By combining the results of the two methods, we determined areas of 901.62 km2, 944.39 km2, and 1015.36 km2 as the urban development boundaries of Wuhan City in 2025, 2030, and 2035, respectively. According to the principle of supply–demand balance, the urban development boundary delineated by the integration of the MCR model and CA-Markov model, which is in line with the spatial expansion trend of growing cities, could optimize the urban development pattern; solve the contradiction between urban development, farmland protection, and ecological protection; and provide a methodological reference and decision-making basis for planning practice.

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A New Perspective for Urban Development Boundary Delineation Based on the MCR Model and CA-Markov Model

Accelerated land use and land cover changes affect regional landscape patterns and change the ecological environment, including soil conservation capabilities. This is not conducive to the sustainable development of human society. In this research, we explored the land use change pattern and landscape change pattern in western Hubei from 2000 to 2020. Using the Chinese soil loss equation and stepwise regression, we measure how landscape patterns affect soil erosion under land use and cover changes in western Hubei Province. The results show that average soil erosion in the mountainous areas of western Hubei tended to increase from 2000 to 2010 and decrease from 2010 to 2020; soil erosion was higher in the western than in the eastern part of the study area. The land in areas with high-intensity and low-intensity soil erosion was mainly waterfront/grassland and cropland/forestland, respectively, and the area of moderate to severe soil erosion was greatest when the slope was 10–20°. When the slope exceeded 20°, the soil erosion area of each grade tended to decrease; thus, 20° is the critical slope for soil erosion in the study area. The landscape pattern in mountainous areas changed dramatically from 2000 to 2020. At the landscape level, landscape fragmentation increased and connectivity decreased, but the area of landscape diversity was stable. Soil erosion in western Hubei was positively correlated with the contiguity index, aggregation index and largest patch index but negatively correlated with the Shannon evenness index. The higher the landscape fragmentation and the greater the accumulation of single land-use types, the more severe the soil erosion is, while the higher the landscape connectivity and the richer the landscape diversity, the less severe the soil erosion is. The results can inform regional landscape management and soil conservation research.

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Exploring the Effects of Land Use Changes on the Landscape Pattern and Soil Erosion of Western Hubei Province from 2000 to 2020

Air purifiers should pay much attention to hospital-associated infections, but the role of a single air purifier is limited. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the combined application of the nonequilibrium positive and negative oxygen ion purifier (PNOI) and the high-efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) on a complex, polluted environment. Two of the better performing purifiers were selected before the study. The efficacy of their use alone and in combination for purification of cigarette particulate matter (PM), Staphylococcus albicans, and influenza virus were then evaluated under a simulated contaminated ward. PNAI and HEPA alone are deficient. However, when they were combined, they achieved 98.44%, 99.75%, and 100% 30 min purification rates for cigarette PM, S. albus, and influenza virus, respectively. The purification of pollution of various particle sizes and positions was optimized and reduced differentials, and a subset of airborne influenza viruses is inactivated. Furthermore, they were superior to ultraviolet disinfection for microbial purification in air. This work demonstrates the strong purification capability of the combined application of these two air purifiers for complex air pollution, which provides a new idea for infection control in medical institutions.

/pdf/reducing-the-effectiveness-of-ward-particulate-matter-1shb9s4r.pdf

Reducing the Effectiveness of Ward Particulate Matter, Bacteria and Influenza Virus by Combining Two Complementary Air Purifiers

Understanding the mechanism of regional soil chemical property changes is crucial for guiding precise farming and further alleviating poverty in mountainous areas. Our aims were to monitor the temporal and spatial changes in the soil chemical property in subtropical mountainous areas and explore the effect of human activities, soil and topographic factors on the changes. In this study, a total of 332 soil samples were collected from 2017 to 2020 in Baokang County, subtropical mountainous area in central China. We analyzed the soil pH, soil organic matter (OM), soil available phosphorus (AP), soil available potassium (AK), soil total nitrogen (TN) and used Kriging interpolation to draw the map of spatial distribution of soil chemical properties in Baokang County from 2017 to 2020. The geographical detector was used to explore the driving forces of soil chemical property change over the years of research. The results show that: 1) from 2017 to 2020, soil pH, soil OM, and soil AP in Baokang County was increasing from north to south and the value of three chemical properties showed a slight decreasing trend. Soil AK showed an increasing trend, with higher values in Longping and Xiema towns and relatively lower values in Guoduwan, and soil TN was at a high level with large spatial variation. 2) The human activities, soil and topographic factors all affect soil properties in Baokang. In human activities, the cropping system and crop yield were strong explanatory factors for the changes in soil chemical properties, especially for AK and AP. The q values of all the indicators in the soil factor were relatively high, which displays that all indicators we selected affected the changes in soil properties. Soil OM and soil TN were the factors that affected each other with the greatest driving force, as were soil AP and soil AK. The driving force of DEM was greater among the topographic factors (slope, topographic relief and DEM), and its effect on five soil chemical properties showed that AK>AP>OM>TN>pH. 3) The interactions between each two factors showed a two-factor-enhanced relation, indicating that multiple factors form the soil properties of Baokang County. The findings of this study offer some scientific basis and suggestions for local government to control soil quality and economic development.

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Temporal and Spatial Changes and Driving Forces of Soil Properties in Subtropical Mountainous Areas from 2017 to 2020: A Case Study of Baokang County, Hubei Province, China

Siqi Yi

Papers

An integrated approach to constructing ecological security patterns and identifying ecological restoration and protection areas: A case study of Jingmen, China

A New Perspective for Urban Development Boundary Delineation Based on the MCR Model and CA-Markov Model

Exploring the Effects of Land Use Changes on the Landscape Pattern and Soil Erosion of Western Hubei Province from 2000 to 2020

Reducing the Effectiveness of Ward Particulate Matter, Bacteria and Influenza Virus by Combining Two Complementary Air Purifiers

Temporal and Spatial Changes and Driving Forces of Soil Properties in Subtropical Mountainous Areas from 2017 to 2020: A Case Study of Baokang County, Hubei Province, China