The economic and social development evaluation system with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the leading indicator is no longer applicable to the current social progress in China. It is essential to carry out an assessment of the Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) to integrate ecological benefits into the economic and social evaluation system and promote sustainable socio-economic development. This study took Guangxi, an important province in South China, as the study area. We used four periods of land use and land cover data (LULC), meteorological data, soil data and yearbook statistics to construct a GEP assessment framework based on geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technologies. We accounted for the provisioning services, regulating services, and tourism services provided by Guangxi in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 and analyzed the region’s and municipalities’ spatial–temporal pattern characteristics and trends of change in GEP. In addition, this study also discusses the relationship between GEP and GDP. The results showed that many important products and services provided by natural ecosystems in Guangxi had enormous economic benefits. GEP had increased from CNY 15,657.37 billion in 2005 to CNY 36,677.04 billion in 2020, and the distribution of GEP showed obvious spatial heterogeneity. The value of ecosystem regulation services was about 65–89% of GEP, which is the main component of GEP. From 2005 to 2020, natural ecosystem protection and socio-economic development have achieved coordinated development in Guangxi. GEP and GDP showed upward trends in general. Although Guangxi is relatively backward in terms of economic development, the scientific quantification of the unrealized value of the services provided by the ecosystem through GEP accounting makes it possible to transform ecological advantages into economic advantages. It could help the local government and people to re-recognize the value of ecological resources and realize the beautiful vision of lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets.

Urban expansion is leading to the loss and fragmentation of habitats, which poses a threat to wildlife. People are hopeful that, through scientific urban planning and the adoption of innovative models for human communities, such a situation can be improved. Thus, a case study was carried out in Nanning City, China, to extract habitats, build an ecological resistance surface, and construct a habitat connectivity network (HCN). To simulate changes to unused land in the future, we put forth the A (the parcel is divided into strips), B (the parcel is divided into two strips), C (the central area of the parcel is planned as a quadrangle), and D (opposite to Scenario C, the peripheral area is green space) scenarios of human communities that guarantee a 30% ratio of green space, and established the corresponding HCNs. The results indicate that: (1) Currently, the habitats cover approximately 153.24 km² (34.08%) of the entire study area. The ecological corridors in this region amount to a total of 5337, and the topological indicators and robustness indicate a strong stability of the current HCN. (2) With urban expansion, once continuous habitats are being fragmented into smaller green spaces, it is estimated that the habitats will shrink by 64.60 km². The topological indicators and robustness reveal that the stability of the HCNs becomes lower as well. Multiple scenario simulations demonstrated that Scenario D is better than Scenarios B and C, while Scenario A performed the worst. (3) Furthermore, we observed a stronger negative impact of urban expansion on local connectivity. This indicates that the influence of urban expansion on the local HCNs is often more pronounced and may even be destructive. Our findings can advise urban planners on decisions to minimize the impact of urban expansion on wildlife.

The ecosystem in the Northeast Forest Belt (NFB) can provide various ecosystem services, such as soil conservation, habitat provision, water conservation, and so on. It is essential for maintaining the ecological environment in Northeast China and the entire country. In the face of increasingly severe environmental problems, the comprehensive and accurate evaluation of ecosystem conditions and their changes is significant for scientific and reasonable recovery and protection measures. In this study, the NFB was taken as the research area. The spatio-temporal changes in ecological quality from 2005 to 2015 and the main driving factors behind them were analyzed by constructing the comprehensive ecosystem evaluation index. The results showed that: The landscape types of the NFB were mainly forest, cropland, and grassland. And the better ecological environment of the NFB was mainly distributed in the south of Changbai Mountains (CBM), the middle of Lesser Khingan Mountains (LKM), and the northwest of Greater Khingan Mountains (GKM). In contrast, the northeast of CBM, the southwest of LKM, and the edge of southern GKM were relatively poor. During 2005–2015, the ecosystem in the NFB was in a relatively good state as a whole, showing a steady-to-good development trend. However, more attention needed to be paid to some areas where degradation still existed. Land use/cover, climate (annual average rainfall, etc.), and human disturbance were potential factors affecting ecosystem evolution in the NFB. This study aims to provide an effective scientific basis and policy reference for the environmental protection and construction of the NFB.

Identifying and protecting key sites of ecological assets and improving spatial connectivity and accessibility are important measures taken to protect ecological diversity. This study takes Guangxi as the research area. Based on the gross ecosystem product (GEP), the ecological source is identified, and the initial ecological network (EN) is constructed by identifying the ecological corridor with the minimum cumulative resistance model. The internal defects of the initial ecological network are extracted using the circuit theory, the priority areas for restoration and protection with clear spatial positions are determined according to the complex network analysis, and the network’s performance before and after optimization is comprehensively evaluated. The results show that 456 initial ecological sources and 1219 ecological corridors have been identified, forming the initial ecological network of Guangxi. Based on the circuit theory, 168 ecological barriers, 83 ecological pinch points, and 71 ecological stepping stones were extracted for network optimization. After optimizing the ecological network, there are 778 ecological sources with a total area of 73,950.56 km² and 2078 ecological corridors with a total length of 23,922.07 km. The GEP of the optimized structure is 13.33% higher than that of the non-optimized structure. The priority areas for protection are distributed in a large area, and the attached GEP reaches USD 118 billion, accounting for 72% of the total GEP attached to the optimized ecological source area. The priority areas for restoration are scattered in small patches, with a GEP of USD 19.27 billion. The robustness and connectivity of the optimized ecological network have been improved obviously. This study attempts to identify key sites of ecological assets and the priority regions for restoration and conservation using genuine geographical location and reference materials for regional ecological network optimization and implementation.

The ecosystem services (ES) can be influenced by various environmental factors. In order to efficiently allocate resources and manage ecosystems, it is important to understand the mechanisms by which these environmental effects impact the interactions and trade-offs among different ES. While previous studies have primarily examined the impact of individual environmental factors on ES, the intricate mechanisms underlying the effects of multiple environmental factors have been largely overlooked. In this study, we adopted a path analysis approach that considered interactions among explanatory variables. We analyzed multiple geospatial datasets from various sources, including remote sensing and climate data, to examine the main drivers—precipitation, temperature, FVC (fractional vegetation cover), NPP (net primary productivity), human activities, and altitude—affecting five ecosystem services: carbon sequestration service (C), habitat provision service (HP), soil conservation service (SCS), sand-stabilization service (SSS), and water conservation service (WCS) in arid and semi-arid mountainous regions. Our investigation found that all five ES have shown an upward trajectory over the past two decades. The most significant growth was observed in C, which increased by 39.4%. Among the environmental factors examined, precipitation has been identified as the predominant factor influencing the ES and the synergies and trade-offs among ES. The influence of precipitation on SCS reached a coefficient of 0.726. Human activity factors had the greatest influence on HP of the five ES with a path coefficient of 0.262. Conversely, temperature exhibited a suppressive influence on ES. The impact of factors such as NPP and altitude on ES was comparatively modest. Notably, human activities assumed a substantial contributory role in shaping the relationship encompassing WCS. It is worth noting that individual factors exerted differential effects on ES along distinct environmental gradients, including anthropogenic gradients. In this context, the combination of high altitude and substantial FVC demonstrated a notable contribution to WCS. Our study can provide valuable insights for the management of ES which can be utilized to optimize the regulation of the Loess Plateau Ecological Screen (LPES) ecological construction and promote regional sustainable development.