Urban spatial expansion and its impacts on island ecosystem services and landscape pattern: A case study of the island city of Xiamen, Southeast China

Abstract

National Natural Science Foundation of China; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation; Fujian Provincial department of Science and Technology; Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology; Chinese Academy of Sciences [41201598, 20110490614, 2010I0014, 2011R0093, 3502Z20111049, KZCX2-YW-450, KLUEH201109]Islands are indispensable part of coastal ecosystem, and many inhabited islands in China are now facing increasing stress from urbanization. This paper examines the 100-year history of urban spatial expansion of Xiamen Island, China. The island's urban spatial expansion was analyzed by a land use changes matrix and a land use intensity index (LUII) with special focus on the last 30 years. The impacts of urban spatial expansion on the island ecosystem, in terms of ecosystem service and landscape pattern, were quantitatively studied. The results reveal that urban spatial expansion of Xiamen Island has utilized large areas of woodland, farmland, water area and coastal wetland, which caused continuous increase of LUII, the decrease in ecosystem service value, and significant fragmentation in the landscape pattern. Our study suggests landscape pattern analysis and ecosystem service valuation are two powerful tools that can ensure a holistic and integrative decision making in regulating spatial coastal urbanization. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved