Ecosystem services are the beneficial goods and services that ecosystems provide to humans. Urbanization is an important feature of human social development. While promoting economic and social development, it also brings about land degradation, resource depletion, environmental pollution and other problems, intensifying the transformation of natural ecosystems into semi-natural and artificial ecosystems, ultimately leading to the loss of ecosystem service functions and declining value. The study of the impact of urbanization on the value of ecosystem services is of critical importance for the conservation of ecosystems and sustainable development. This study examined the spatio-temporal patterns of urbanization’s impacts on ecosystem service value in the Yellow River Basin from the perspective of spatio-temporal heterogeneity. Findings: (1) Both the ecosystem service value (ESV) and urbanization level (UL) in the Yellow River Basin were on the rise on the whole, but they were significantly spatially negatively correlated and mainly characterized by the high–low spatial clustering of “low ESV–high UL” and “high ESV–low UL”. This negative correlation was gradually weakened with the transformation of the urbanization development mode and ecological restoration projects in the Yellow River Basin. (2) The impacts of the five urbanization subsystems on the value of ecosystem services were diverse. Landscape urbanization had a negative impact on the value of ecosystem services in all regions; economic urbanization and innovation urbanization changed from having a negative to a positive impact; and demographic urbanization and social urbanization had both a positive and a negative impact. (3) To promote the coordinated development of ecological environmental protection and urbanization in the YRB, this paper proposes to change the urbanization development model, implement ecological restoration by zoning, and formulate classified development plans. This study compensates for the shortcomings of current studies that ignore the different impacts of urbanization subsystems on ecosystem service value and lack sufficient consideration of the spatio-temporal heterogeneity characteristics of urbanization and ESVs, enriches the theoretical understanding of the interrelationships between natural and human systems in basin areas, and provides a scientific basis for the rational formulation of urban planning and ecological protection policies in the region, which is of great theoretical and practical significance.

Tourist impact management in ecotourism destinations requires an accurate description of tourists’ spatiotemporal behavior patterns and recreation preferences to minimize the ecological environmental impact and maximize the recreation experience. This study classified tourist behaviors into five typical behavior patterns based on the digital footprints of tourists visiting Ziwuyu of the Qinling Mountains, including 348 traveling tracks and 750 corresponding geotagged photographs: short-distance, traversing, reentrant, large loop, and small loop. Furthermore, each behavior pattern’s recreation preference was identified using photograph analysis. Tourists with large-loop and reentrant behavior patterns have 89.8% and 30% chances of visiting Jianshanding, respectively. Key protected areas are faced with the risk of ecological environmental damage. Based on the behavior pattern differentiation and preference of tourists, this paper provides a decision-making basis for the classified management and guidance of tourists in ecotourism destinations. It has reference value for the management of similar ecotourism destinations.

The existing evidence regarding the influence of visual and physical environmental features of park pathways on walking behavior is limited and contentious, partly due to the lack of control over pathway configurational attributes and walking behavior measurement methods. This study addresses this gap by using space syntax and GPS to quantify the structural attributes and pedestrian counts within the pathways in Fengqing Park. Through stratified regression analysis, we examined the impact of environmental factors on walking behavior while controlling for pathway configurational attributes. The findings reveal that even after accounting for pathway configurational attributes, visual (R² = 0.223) and physical (R² = 0.173) environmental factors significantly affect walking behavior. Specifically, pathways with greater choice (β = 0.359, p < 0.01) and depth (β = 0.179, p < 0.05) are more favored. In terms of visual elements, landscape architecture (β = 0.143, p < 0.05) enhances walking behavior, while the presence of water bodies (β = –0.168, p < 0.01) negatively affects it. With respect to the physical environment, path width (β = 0.514, p < 0.01), length (β = 0.163, p < 0.05), and surface smoothness (β = 0.152, p < 0.05) play significant roles in influencing walking behavior. This study contributes to advancing our understanding of the impact of the environmental features of urban park pathways on walking behavior, reconciling research disparities in this domain, and providing guidance for the design and improvement of park pathways.