Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime light has proved to be an effective tool to monitor human activities, especially in mapping urban areas. However, the inherent defects of DMSP-OLS light including saturation and blooming effects remain to be tackled. In this study, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) product of the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer/Normalized Difference Vegetation Index 1-Month (MODND1M), the temperature product of Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer/Land Surface Temperature 1-Month (MODLT1M) and DMSP-OLS light were integrated to establish the Vegetation Temperature Light Index (VTLI), aiming at weakening the saturation and blooming effects of DMSP-OLS light. In comparison with DMSP-OLS nighttime light, this new methodology achieved the following improvements: (1) the high value (30%–100%) range of VTLI was concentrated in the urban areas; (2) VTLI could effectively enhance the variation of DMSP-OLS light, especially in the urban center; and (3) VTLI reached convergence faster than Vegetation Adjusted Normalized Urban Index (VANUI). Results showed that the urban areas extracted by VTLI were closer to those from Landsat TM images with the accuracy of kappa coefficients in Beijing (0.410), Shanghai (0.718), Lanzhou (0.483), and Shenyang (0.623), respectively. Thus, it can be concluded that the proposed index is able to serve as a favorable option for urban areas mapping.

Understanding the dynamic changes of relationships between ecosystem services (ESs) and their dominant factors can effectively adjust human activities to adapt proactively to global climate change. In this study, the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain (HHHP) was selected to assess the dynamics of four key ESs (NPP, net primary productivity; WY, water yield; SC, soil conservation; FP, food production) from 2000 to 2020. The constraint lines of interactions among ESs were extracted based on a segmented quantile regression model. On this basis, the effects of both human activities and natural factors on the key features of the interactions between ESs were quantified with the help of automatic linear model. The results indicated that two types of constraint relationships, including exponential and humped-shaped, existed among the six pairs of ESs. In the past two decades, small changes in NPP thresholds would lead to large variations in other ESs thresholds. Precipitation and normalized difference vegetation index were the key factors to determine the constraint strength of ESs in the HHHP. The potential maximum value of WY in the HHHP could be increased by adjusting landscape shape to make it more complicated. This study helps to improve the potential of target ESs and provides a decision-making basis for promoting regional sustainable development.

The agro-pastoral transitional zone in northern China is an important agricultural and pastoral production base. This study focuses on the eastern section of the agro-pastoral transitional zone in northern China. Combined with spatio-temporal analysis, stepwise regression, and gray relation analysis, we analyzed the average annual growth rate, spatio-temporal changes, and influencing factors of agricultural and pastoral production in the study area during 2000–2020. The results show that, in the past 20 years, the agricultural and pastoral production of the 50 municipal districts and counties has significantly changed, among which the agricultural production of 38 municipal districts and counties has shown an extremely significant increase. Generally, the growth rate of agricultural production is higher than that of pastoral production. Agricultural and pastoral production in the study area is influenced by socio-economic and land use/cover factors, with an average correlation degree of 0.79 and 0.88, respectively. Climate change affects agricultural production in agricultural counties, with a correlation degree of 0.85. The results of this research provide valuable insights into understanding the long-term temporal and spatial changes in agricultural and pastoral production and help to develop sound agriculture and pastoral management practices in the eastern section of the agro-pastoral transitional zone in Northern China.