ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Study on the Response of Habitat Quality
to Land Use Change in the Middle and
Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River
Based on the InVEST-GWR Model
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School of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China
Submission date: 2024-03-15
Final revision date: 2024-05-08
Acceptance date: 2024-07-09
Online publication date: 2024-11-05
Corresponding author
Ran Yu
School of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China
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ABSTRACT
The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are not only the areas with high biodiversity
levels in China, but also the areas with the fastest economic development rate. The continuous change
in regional land use has a profound impact on the structure and quality of the regional ecosystem.
Therefore, to reveal the impacts of land use changes on habitat quality, this study used the InVEST model
and geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to estimate the habitat quality quantitatively and
analyze the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of the habitat quality based on the land use data
in the years of 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 in the area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
River. The results showed that the main land use types in the study area were paddy land and forest
land, and the area of the two types accounted for more than 65% of the whole area. From 1990 to 2020,
construction land expanded by 452.68 km2 and was concentrated along the Yangtze River and in the
downtown areas of Maanshan City, Wuhu City, and Tongling City, while the farmland in the study
area was reduced by 1227.92 km2. From the perspective of habitat quality, the area proportion of the
lowest grade of habitat quality increased from 4.85% in 1990 to 8.47% in 2020. The average values of
habitat quality were 0.5918 in 1990, 0.5902 in 2000, 0.5850 in 2010, and 0.5814 in 2020, which showed
a trend of continuous decline in the average value of habitat quality in the study area. The areas with
low values of habitat quality were mainly concentrated along the Yangtze River. From 2010 to 2020, the
impact of paddy land and dry land on habitat quality showed a two-level differentiation trend, and the
lowest regression coefficients were -0.4431 and -0.121, respectively. The impact of forest land on habitat
quality was mainly positive, with the highest value of the regression coefficient of 0.657. The impact of construction land on habitat quality was mainly negative, and it was concentrated along the Yangtze
River and south of it, with the lowest value of -1.0625.