Ecological sensitivity is one of the important indicators of regional ecological fragility, which can represent the sensitivity of ecosystems to natural environmental conditions and human activity disturbances in the region. In this study, the ecological sensitivity of land resources in the Tumen River Basin of China was quantitatively evaluated by taking 3 ecologically sensitive impact types, including the natural environment, human disturbance, and soil erosion, as evaluation criteria, and 11 ecologically sensitive factors were selected to build an evaluation system using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, to determine the weights of the evaluation factors, combined with geographic information system (GIS) technology. The results show that: (1) Among the three types of ecological sensitivity factors, the influence of human disturbance is the most obvious, and the two factors of land use type and distance from construction land have the highest weights in the comprehensive ecological sensitivity evaluation. (2) There are no extremely sensitive areas or insensitive areas in the Tumen River Basin in China. Highly sensitive areas account for only 0.59% of the total area and are mainly concentrated in the lakes, rivers, and reservoirs in the study area. Moderately sensitive areas account for 54.12%, which are concentrated in the central part of the Tumen River Basin Slightly sensitive areas are mainly located in the mountainous areas in the north and south of the study area. (3) Among the various land resource types, the proportion of slightly sensitive areas and moderately sensitive areas of woodland is close (about 50%), while cultivated land, grassland, construction land, and bare land are mainly moderately sensitive areas (73.95%, 82.07%, 96.59%, and 78.78%), and water bodies are mostly distributed within highly sensitive areas (60.97%), and all wetlands with the smallest area are moderately sensitive. The results of the study can provide data support and a scientific basis for regional ecological protection and development planning.

Introduction: An assessment of the potential impacts of future urban expansion on multiple ecosystem services (ESs) represents an essential contribution to the sustainable development of the transnational area of Changbai Mountain (TACM). However, the potential ES losses attributed to future urban expansion have been assessed in few studies.Methods: In this study, we evaluated the potential ES losses attributable to urban expansion in the TACM over the period from 2015 to 2050. To achieve this objective, we initially quantified multiple ESs (namely, food production (FP), carbon storage (CS), water retention (WR), and air purification (AP)) based on 1992 data, and subsequently simulated urban expansion from 2015 to 2050 by coupling Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios (SSPs) with the zoned Land Use Scenario Dynamics-urban model. Finally, the potential impacts of future urban expansion on ESs were evaluated on multiple scales.Results: The results indicated that during the period from 2015 to 2050, the extent of urban land will grow by between 157.59 and 517.77 km², resulting in FP, CS, WR, and AP losses of 193.76–684.39 thousand tons, 1.47–5.24 million tons, 8.74–30.00 million tons, and 0.34–1.18 thousand tons, respectively.Discussion: The subregion falling within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) will experience the most severe future losses of ESs, with losses of FP, CS, WR, and AP being 1.06–3.77-fold, 1.15–3.46-fold, 1.10–3.54-fold, and 1.08–3.21-fold higher, respectively than those that occurred in this subregion the period of 1992–2015. Specifically, the encroachment of new urban land onto cropland and woodland will be the main contributing factor in these future declines in ESs. Furthermore, the reductions in ESs attributable to urban expansion in this subregion will have serious effects on human wellbeing. By 2050, the loss of FP will affect approximately 9.58%–30.00% of the population. Moreover, among the residents of this subregion, the loss of AP will contribute to the need for additional expenditures of 6.63–19.81 million euros on air purification measures. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that effective policies and regulations should be implemented to promote the sustainable development of the TACM.

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) provide non-material benefits that support human well-being and motivate ecosystem conservation, yet their subjectivity and spatial ambiguity complicate quantitative assessment and management. Taking the Changbai Mountain tourism area as a case, we adopted the ecosystem service matrix method to assess the CES supply score based on the natural system and human system. The service coverage density was obtained through accessibility, thereby quantifying the available supply index for each tourist source area. In addition, we quantified CES demand using a questionnaire survey. Demand for 10 CES types was measured via preference ranking and integrated with the entropy weight method; statistical analysis and GIS mapping were used to examine spatial patterns and influencing factors. Results show that: (1) The overall CES demand in the Changbai Mountain tourism area exhibits clear spatial differentiation, with higher demand in the central and eastern regions and lower demand in the northwest. High-demand areas are mainly concentrated in cities relatively close to the Changbai Mountain tourism area. (2) Among individual CES, recreation (r = 6.58), natural landscapes (r = 6.35), and aesthetic value (r = 6.19) receive the highest demand, and demand structure is significantly associated with occupation, education level, consumption level, and spatial distance. The results indicate that cultural services dominated by knowledge-based services are significantly positively correlated with educational level (r = 0.549, p < 0.001). (3) CES supply capacity shows strong seasonal fluctuations, and is frequently overloaded during peak seasons, leading to prominent supply–demand conflicts; with the exception of Shenyang, Dalian, Jilin and Anshan, the other 17 cities exhibit supply–demand imbalance. By integrating multiple CES types and multiple drivers, this study reveals spatial matching patterns of CES supply and demand in a complex mountain ecotourism region and provides evidence to support ecotourism management, service capacity improvement, and sustainable development.