Ecosystem service connectivity (ESC) is the spatial and functional links among and within ecosystems that support unimpeded service flows, and that could play an important role in ecosystem stability enhancement and regional land planning. Understanding the relationships between landscape patterns and ESC is crucial to achieving certain sustainable development goals, but it has not yet received an adequate amount of attention. Here, we evaluated the changes and connectivity of five key types of ecosystem services from 2000 to 2020 and analyzed the correlations and spatial aggregations between the ESCs and landscape metrics in the wetlands of the Yellow River Delta, China. Various research methods, such as the InVEST model, spatial autocorrelation analysis, Spearman’s correlation, and self-organizing map, were applied. The results showed that water yield, water purification, and habitat quality showed high connectivity, but the overall ESC declined along with the restoration of the wetland area. Meanwhile, the High-High ESC cluster of water yield, water purification, and habitat quality had similar spatial distribution patterns, and both were dominated by tidal flats. Moreover, the ESC and landscape metrics showed significant correlations and spatial heterogeneity, and a potential connectivity between water yield and habitat quality was also found. These findings can assist decision-makers in developing effective ecosystem management strategies and provide a reference for future research on ecosystem service connectivity.

Ecological compensation is an important policy tool for coordinating ecological protection and economic development and narrowing regional disparities. In China, Linyi, for the first time, applied a cap-and-trade policy to the forestry sector by implementing the Intergovernmental Forest Ecological Indicator Trading Policy (IFEITP)—a new ecological compensation policy—to increase the city’s overall forest coverage. However, the compensation standard for this policy was formulated solely by referring to provincial afforestation subsidy standards, resulting in excessively low indicator trading prices and making the policy difficult to sustain. This paper proposes a technical framework for ecological compensation based on the ecosystem service spillover value (ESSV), aiming to optimize the IFEITP. The results revealed that during the policy implementation period, Linyi’s total ecosystem service value (ESV) increased, and the proportion of ESV provided by forests in each district and county also increased. Under the new framework, there were minor changes in the ecosystem service supply zones and payment zones. The compensation received by supply zones increased by 116.2%, whereas the payments made by payment zones accounted for less than 0.2% of local fiscal revenue. The newly calculated indicator trading price under this framework not only reflects the value of ecosystem services but also remains within the acceptable range of government finances, demonstrating high operability and providing a basis for optimizing the IFEITP. This study offers broader insights for regions with similar ecological and socioeconomic conditions, enabling the application of analogous ecological compensation policies to maintain environmental justice and promote sustainable development.

Important ecosystem services (ES), defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as benefits people obtain from ecosystems, are provided by kelp forests (