Healthy and sustainable urban agglomerations development relies heavily on land use optimization. However, there is insufficient scientific basis and reliable quantitative analysis for land use pattern identification and optimal prediction in embryonic urban agglomeration. Therefore, taking the Lanzhou–Xining (LX) region, a typical primary developing urban agglomeration, as the study area, we first assessed the land ecological suitability (LES). Then, we embedded the LES evaluation results in the land optimization process and constructed the MCR-MOP- Dyna-CLUE model framework, simulating and optimizing land use patterns for the year 2035 under ecological optimization and business as usual scenarios, which aimed to explore a sustainable land use pattern for embryonic urban agglomerations. The results indicated that the ecological optimization scenario based on LES had a more rational land use pattern. It appropriately controlled the expansion rate of construction land and effectively alleviated the problems of construction land encroaching on farming land and ecological land. Meanwhile, the ecosystem services increased in value based on adequately addressing the need for food security and economic development. Compared to the business as usual scenario, the construction land under the ecological optimization scenario was 19,622.69 ha less, and the cultivated land was 32,103.29 ha more. Moreover, the ecological benefit and the economic benefit increased by 187,490.4595 million yuan and 151,808,605.1 million yuan from 2020 to 2035, respectively, under the ecological optimization scenario. Our research is of great value for making decisions on sustainable land use and land resource management in initial developing agglomerations.

Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing various key ecosystem services to humans and other organisms. However, an insufficient understanding of the economic value and importance of wetland resources has seriously weakened the ecosystem service value of wetlands. Thus, a more comprehensive understanding of wetland ecosystem services must be revealed in order to propose appropriate conservation policies. Therefore, to achieve the abovementioned goals, we used the emergy value accounting method to account for the ecosystem service value of the Maqu alpine wetlands, and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index was used to analyze the driving forces affecting changes in ecosystem services. The results indicate that the ecosystem service value of the Maqu alpine wetlands showed a trend of decline and then rebound during 1990–2020; its unit area emergy value decreased from 3.85 × 10¹⁰ sej/m²/y to 3.04 × 10¹⁰ sej/m²/y during 1990–2000, and after 2010, it began to gradually rebound. Moreover, the monetary ecosystem service value of the Maqu alpine wetlands continued to rise during the study period, reaching 41.45 USD/m²/y in 2020, thus reflecting the great potential value of wetland ecosystems. Based on our analysis, the key drivers affecting the changes in ecosystem services include economic scale and emergy benefit. Rapid and intensive human activities have boosted local economic development, but these developments have come at the cost of environmental degradation. Finally, some suggestions are proposed. This study suggests that the alpine wetlands in Maqu occupy an important ecological position within the whole Yellow River basin. Therefore, it is worthwhile to invest a significant amount of funding in their restoration and protection.