As a critical predisaster warning tool, landslide susceptibility assessment is crucial in disaster prevention and mitigation efforts. However, earlier methods for assessing landslide susceptibility have often ignored the impact of similarities in geographical attributes, restricting their feasibility in regions with diverse characteristics. The geographical-optimal-similarity (GOS) model effectively captures similarity relations within geospatial data and can isolate region-specific landslide features, thus overcoming this challenge. Consequently, a landslide susceptibility assessment method was developed by integrating the information value (IV) model with the GOS model. Huangshan City in Anhui Province, China, was selected as the study region. This research used 11 remote sensing feature factors and 657 historical landslide points, combined with the IV model, to construct a dataset for landslide prediction and susceptibility assessment using the GOS model. The findings indicate that, compared to conventional methods such as random forest, logistic regression, and radial basis function classifier, the GOS model enhances the area under the curve (AUC) value by 2.81% to 8.92%, reaching 0.846. This demonstrates superior performance and confirms the effectiveness and accuracy of the method in landslide susceptibility assessment. Furthermore, compared to the basic-configuration-similarity (BCS) model, the GOS model increases the AUC value by 9.64%, achieving 0.846. This approach substantially diminishes the effects of historical data accuracy, revealing upgraded applicability in landslide susceptibility evaluations. Landslides in Huangshan City are primarily influenced by rainfall and vegetation cover. High-susceptibility zones are predominantly located in areas with high precipitation and low vegetation cover. In contrast, low-susceptible and non-susceptible zones are primarily found in flat areas with high vegetation cover and farther from fault lines. The majority of the study region lies within landslide-prone zones, with non-susceptible areas comprising only 12.43% of the total area. Historical landslides are largely concentrated in moderate- to high-susceptibility zones, accounting for 92.24% of all landslide occurrences. Landslide density increases with the susceptibility level, with a density of 0.15 landslides per square kilometre in high-susceptibility zones. This study brings forward a reliable strategy for establishing the spatial relationship between geographical attribute similarity and landslide susceptibility, bolstering the method’s adaptability across various regions.

Terrestrial ecosystems are vital carbon sinks that can effectively restrain the rise in CO₂ in the atmosphere. How ecosystem carbon storage (CS) in semi-arid watershed areas with slow urbanization is affected by comprehensive factors of the environment and land use, along with its temporal and spatial changes has still not been fully explored. Notably, there is a paucity of research on the temporal and spatial changes and development trends of CS in the rapid deformation belt of slopes from the eastern margin of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau to the Loess Plateau. Taking Bailong River Basin (BRB) as an example, this study combined GeoSOS-FLUS, the InVEST model, and localized “social–economic–nature” scenario to simulate the long-term dynamic evolution of CS. The aim was to study how topographic factors and land use change, and their interactions impact carbon sinks and gradient effects in steep-slope areas, and then find out the relationship between carbon sinks and topographic factors to explore strategies to improve regional carbon sink capacity. The results showed that the following: (1) CS in BRB increased year by year, with a total increase of 558 tons (3.19%), and showed significant spatial heterogeneity, mainly due to the conversion of woodland and arable land; (2) except for land use type, the relationship between CS and topographic gradient is inverted U-shaped, showing a complex spatial response; and (3) it is estimated that by 2050, under the arable land protection and natural development scenarios, CS will decrease by 0.07% and 0.005%, respectively, encroachment on undeveloped mountain areas, while the ecological protection scenario gives priority to protecting the carbon sinks of woodland and grassland, and CS will increase by 0.37%. This study supports the implementation of targeted ecological protection measures through topographic gradient zoning, provides a reference for policy makers in similar topographic regions to effectively manage the spatial heterogeneity of CS, and helps further strengthen global and regional climate change mitigation efforts.