The mitigation effects of park green space on Urban Heat Island (UHI) have been extensively documented. However, the relative effects of the configuration of park components on land surface temperature (LST) inside the park and indicators (i.e., park cooling intensity and distance) surrounding the park is largely unknown. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to explore the quantitative impacts of configuration and morphology features under different urban park scales on the cooling effect. In this study, based on Landsat-8 OLI/TIRS images on 3 August 2015 and 16 August 2020 during summer daytime, the LSTs of Shanghai City were retrieved by atmospheric correction method. Then, the relationships of park landscape features with LSTs in the park and typical indicators representing cooling efficiency of 24 parks on different grades were analyzed. The results showed that the average temperature in urban parks was, respectively, 1.46 °C and 1.66 °C lower than that in the main city of Shanghai in 2015 and 2020, suggesting that urban parks form cold islands in the city. The landscape metrics of park area (PA), park perimeter (PP), green area (GA) and water area (WA), were key characteristics that strong negatively affect the internal park LSTs. However, the park perimeter-to-area ratio (PPAR) had a significant positive power correlation with the park LSTs. Buffer zone analysis showed that LST cools down by about 0.67 °C when the distance from the park increases by 100 m. The Maximum Cooling Distance (MCD) for 2015 and 2020 had a significant correlation with PA, PC, PPAR, GA and WA, and increased sharply within the park area of 20 ha. However, the medium park group had the largest Maximum Cooling Intensity (MCI) in both periods, followed by the small park group. There could be a trade-off relationship between the MCD and MCI in urban parks, which is worth pondering to research. This study could be of great significance for planning and constructing park landscapes, alleviating Urban Heat Island effect and improving urban livability.

Ecological engineering is a widely used strategy to address environmental degradation and enhance human well-being. A quantitative assessment of the impacts of ecological engineering on ecosystem services (ESs) is a prerequisite for designing inclusive and sustainable engineering programs. In order to strengthen national ecological security, the Chinese government has implemented the world’s largest ecological project since 1999, the Grain for Green Program (GFGP). We used a professional model to evaluate the key ESs in Lvliang City. Scenario analysis was used to quantify the contribution of the GFGP to changes in ESs and the impacts of trade-offs/synergy. We used spatial regression to identify the main drivers of ES trade-offs. We found that: (1) From 2000 to 2018, the contribution rates of the GFGP to changes in carbon storage (CS), habitat quality (HQ), water yield (WY), and soil conservation (SC) were 140.92%, 155.59%, −454.48%, and 92.96%, respectively. GFGP compensated for the negative impacts of external environmental pressure on CS and HQ, and significantly improved CS, HQ, and SC, but at the expense of WY. (2) The GFGP promotes the synergistic development of CS, HQ, and SC, and also intensifies the trade-off relationships between WY and CS, WY and HQ, and WY and SC. (3) Land use change and urbanization are significantly positively correlated with the WY–CS, WY–HQ, and WY–SC trade-offs, while increases in NDVI helped alleviate these trade-offs. (4) Geographically weighted regression explained 90.8%, 94.2%, and 88.2% of the WY–CS, WY–HQ, and WY–SC trade-offs, respectively. We suggest that the ESs’ benefits from the GFGP can be maximized by controlling the intensity of land use change, optimizing the development of urbanization, and improving the effectiveness of afforestation. This general method of quantifying the impact of ecological engineering on ESs can act as a reference for future ecological restoration plans and decision-making in China and across the world.

Understanding the soil phosphorus (P) cycle is a prerequisite for the sustainable management of land resources. The sequential-extraction method was used to determine P fractions in 513 soils of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr. plantations. With these data, this study applied structural equation modeling to evaluate the interaction between various soil P fractions. Quantitative analysis was conducted on the importance of different soil P pools and P transformation pathways on soil P availability in a larch plantation. Our study showed that soluble inorganic P (Pi) was directly positively affected by labile Pi, labile organic P (Po), secondary mineral P, and primary mineral P, and was directly negatively affected by moderately labile Po. Soluble Pi was not directly affected by occluded P. The primary mineral P (β = 0.40) had the greatest total impact on soluble Pi, followed by secondary mineral P (β = 0.32) and labile P (labile Pi and Po, β = 0.31), and then occluded P (β = 0.11), with the total impact of moderately labile Po being relatively small (β = −0.06). In summary, this study reveals the important roles of soluble Pi in P transformations and in determining overall P availability in soils, as well as the extensive effects of weathering on soil P dynamics in L. principis-rupprechtii plantations.