Transportation significantly affects regional land-use changes and ecosystem service functions. Exploring the correlations among transport development, spatial pattern of land-use changes, and ecosystem service changes are important for mitigating the deterioration of regional ecosystems due to human activities. In this study, 2000–2020 was selected as the study period to explore the effects of land-use changes on the ecosystem service value (ESV) in the Wuling Mountains. The results showed that: (1) the Wuling Mountains have experienced four stages of transport development and (2) transportation development has contributed to land-use change. The spatial pattern associated with construction land growth has evolved due to transport development. Garden land has gradually spread into the entire region with transport development. Policies from different periods have had more of an effect on ecological land and cropland. (3) During the study period, the ESV first increased and then declined. The periphery of the transportation axis formed a concentration zone of ESV cold spots. In contrast, ESV hot spots were more concentrated in areas along the Yangtze River. The results of this study provide guidance for land-use policy and spatial planning under the concept of green development.

Terrestrial carbon storage plays a vital role in limiting global climate change and achieving regional carbon neutrality. However, intensive human activities and rapid urbanization have led to a rapid decline in carbon storage. Understanding what causes carbon storage to decline and how this happens is important for the scientific regulation of urbanization and safeguarding of urban ecological security. This study takes Wuhan as an example and analyzes the quantity, structure, and spatial patterns of urban land-use changes in the context of human activities and natural conditions, and applies correlation methods to identify general relationships between influencing factors and carbon storage. The results of the study are as follows: over the 30-year period studied, the area devoted to construction land increased by 757 km² and the carbon storage decreased by 7.68 × 10⁶ t. Outside Wuhan’s Third Ring Road, there was a significant increase in the carbon storage, but in the areas where construction increased, there was a reduction in carbon storage. Carbon storage in the remote suburbs was significantly higher than in the city center, and the distribution pattern was characterized by significant spatial heterogeneity. Our analysis revealed that human economic and social activities have affected Wuhan’s ecosystem carbon storage to a significant extent. Policymakers should focus on industrial optimization, strictly control the red line of ecological protection, and ultimately achieve high-quality urban development.

The adaptability selection of household livelihood in coal resource-exhausted areas is of great significance to improve the quality of households' life and promote the construction of livable and viable rural areas. Based on household survey data in typical resource-depleted villages in Northern Jiangsu and Southern Shandong of China, we quantified the levels of livelihood well-being and ecosystem service dependence. Besides, Propensity Score Matching with Difference-in-Differences model (PSM-DID) were used to analyze the impacts of three modes of village consolidation (VC), i.e., village migration consolidation, characteristic village consolidation, and rural infrastructure renovation on livelihood adaptive selection. The results showed that: (1) The average household well-being levels of all the three modes have been improved to some extent. The index of ecosystem service dependence increased slightly after village migration consolidation, that of characteristic village consolidation decreased, and that of rural infrastructure renovation did not change significantly. (2) The probabilities of "high well-being and low dependence" transformation of the coupling relationship after the three modes of VC were 20.0%, 43.7% and 21.6%, respectively. This means that VC had a positive impact on household livelihood adaptability. (3) There were some differences in the influence of different modes on household livelihood adaptability. Among them, the effect of characteristic village consolidation was the best, followed by that of rural infrastructure renovation, and that of village migration consolidation was last. Finally, some suggestions have been put forward. On the one hand, it is necessary to increase investments in the VC. On the other hand, the VC should be implemented according to local conditions to formulate differentiated village development plans. Thus, the coupling relationship optimization of household well-being and ecological dependence can be promoted.