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Understanding the ecological security situation of Fuzhou City holds significant theoretical and practical value for the government departments in implementing development strategies and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Using the Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom (DIKW) framework, this study combined various remote sensing and GIS methods to comprehensively analyze Fuzhou's past, present, and future ecological security levels. The results showed a strong isotropic cluster in the city's ecological security. Among the influencing factors, the degree of regional development was found to have the greatest impact, while water body coverage had the least. The influencing factors are mutually reinforcing. Under the natural development scenario, the area of secure level in 2020 decreased by 1243.70 km2, while under the ecological protection scenario, it declined by 1263.34 km2. In the future, Fuzhou's ecological security level is expected to face increasing fragmentation. Based on these findings, the study proposes strategies to balance economic development and ecological protection in Fuzhou City. These recommendations aim to provide the government departments with relevant data support for land resource management and contribute to the high-level development of the City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of the ecological security pattern (ESP) and ensuring its integrity are the focal points of ecological actions. However, existing evaluation frameworks lack comprehensiveness, and studies addressing temporal dimensions are limited. This study constructed a comprehensive framework to evaluate ESP and introduced a method to portray the relationship between ecological security status and landscape structure. Initially, multiple indicators were optimized to construct an ecological security index (ESI). The relationship between ESI and landscape structure was quantified. Then, fifteen spatiotemporal factors were combined using the Analytical Hierarchy Process to construct an ecological resistance layer. Finally, Circuit theory was applied to visualize trends in ESP. The findings indicated that ecological security was generally better but with a downward trend. The relationship between ESI and landscape fragmentation was mainly a tradeoff. The area of stable ecological sources was 1251.06 km2 (1996–2021). The number of minimal-cost corridors decreased continuously. Ecological sources with the highest conservation priority were the largest (1336.2 km2) in 2021. The number of pinch points was 25, 31, and 30, while ecological barriers covered 51.5, 148.74, and 139.51 km2 in 1996, 2008, and 2021, respectively. This study will serve as a valuable methodological reference and support ecological civilization projects in Fuzhou. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the urban land dynamics and its causes is critical to manage and predict both urban development and its associated environmental qualities. However, little is known and documented about the historical urban land dynamics in Pingtan. By integrating remote sensing, geographic information systems and statistical analysis, this study aims to quantify and map the spatiotemporal urban dynamics using Landsat imageries in four timespans (1984, 1996, 2007 and 2017) along with driving factors. It specifically addressed urban expansion intensity, forms of expansion, transitions, nature of landscape and modelled socioeconomic drivers. The results revealed that urban land expanded by 18.19% (57.55 km2) during 1984–2017 and its intensity of expansion was rapid (≥ 0.5). The expanded area was mainly originated from farmland (70.3%) followed by shrub land, water bodies and grassland (21.8% altogether). Metrics of urban landscape revealed a continuous increase in shape irregularity and size variability among patches. The level of fragmentation also increased from 1984 to 2007. However, from 2007 onward, patches' aggregation started to prevail. Urban expansion was significantly driven by socioeconomic factors (variable importance in the projection > 1) like urban population, GDP from different sectors, income and road constructions. Policies of economic development and spatial planning laws also affected urban expansion. Although urban densification showed an upward trend, urban expansion was dominant. Leapfrog and edge expansion together accounts > 80% of newly expanded urban areas. Hence, a big challenge in the future will be how to limit urban expansion, promote its densification and manage associated environmental impacts sustainably in the face of dynamic socioeconomic and policy factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]