This study evaluated the evolution of water-land transport efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) over 8 years covering the period before and after the implementation of the strategic plan in 2014. Conventional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and three-stage DEA methodologies were employed. Building upon a separate assessment of water and land transport efficiency, a coupling coordination model was applied to analyze their synergistic evolutionary processes. The principal findings were as follows: 1) The overall efficiency of water and land transport remained relatively low, which exhibited a stepwise decline from east to west, with a noticeable improvement in efficiency levels following the implementation of the YREB strategy. 2) External environmental factors had a profound impact on transport efficiency, which was evidenced as a significant contribution to the lower efficiency levels in western provinces and cities. 3) The efficiency of water transport was lower than that of land transport for a certain time. Although there existed a possibility for the coupling of the land and water transport efficiency, the current coordination level was insufficient. The western provinces and cities were found to be the weakest part in the coordination of water and land transport. 4) Scale expansion was a key factor that drove efficiency improvements and regional coordination, though the influence had been gradually diminished. Technological spillover had become a critical factor in promoting the regional coordination of transport efficiency.

Green transformation is an important part of promoting the high-quality development of the tourism industry. It is also a key move to vigorously cultivate the new quality productivity of the tourism industry. Taking the connotation analysis of the greening of the tourism industry as the logical starting point, a theoretical framework from the perspective of "technology-organization-environment" was constructed. The entropy weight assignment method, kernel density estimation and spatial variation function were adopted to reveal the spatial-temporal evolution pattern of the greening development level of the tourism industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2012 to 2022. The dynamic QCA method was used to clarify the configuration promotion path. The results showed that: (1) In terms of temporal evolution, the greening level of the tourism industry in the YREB showed an overall improvement trend, increasing from 0.104 in 2012 to 0.166 in 2022, and the regional gap showed a dynamic narrowing trend. (2) In terms of spatial pattern, the green level of tourism industry in the YREB showed a U-shaped differentiation characteristic of "high in the east and west, low in the middle". The direction of "northeastern-southwest" became the main direction of the spatial difference of the green level of tourism industry. (3) In terms of configuration path, there were four modes for greening the tourism industry, among which "technology-government linkage", "technology-market linkage" and "multi-coordinated urbanization drive" showed regional differences in all regions of the YREB, while "multi-mixed drive" did not show significant regional differences.

The construction of green and smart city clusters is the product of the coordinated development of urbanization, digitalization and greenization. The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) serves as an important demonstration region in China. This paper explored the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and the influencing factors of the coupling coordination development of urbanization, digitalization, and greenization in the YREB. The panel data from 108 cities in the YREB from 2005 to 2022 were collected. The methods of the coupling coordination model, the spatial Markov chain, the spatial Durbin model, and the geographical detector were employed. The results showed that: (1) In terms of temporal evolution, the degree of coupling coordination of the YREB had been increasing year by year, but the urbanization development was ahead of digitalization and greenization for a long time. In terms of spatial evolution, the spatial differentiation of the degree of coupling coordination was obvious, which manifested itself as a “stepped rise” from west to east; (2) There existed a “club convergence” phenomenon in the dynamic evolution of the degree of coupling coordination, which made it difficult to achieve leapfrog development across levels; (3) The development of the degree of coupling coordination was the result of the internal and external multi-dimensional drive of the economic support, resource promotion, government orientation, market pulling force, and social promotion.

Urban shrinkage is a global problem, which has a great impact on the traditional growth-oriented urban planning and development. The contradiction between urban shrinkage and urban expansion exists for a long time in China. It is of great significance to explore the characteristics of land use efficiency in those identified shrinking cities for regulating the relationship between urban development and land use, and promoting sustainable use of urban lands. Based on the dimensions of population and economy, this study comprehensively identified the shrinking cities in the urban agglomeration of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River from 2012 to 2021 at the scale of counties, county-level cities, and municipal districts. The super efficiency SBM model was used to calculate land use efficiency. The global Malmquist index was introduced to analyze the changes of land use efficiency. The results showed that: 1) During the study period, there were a total of 120 population shrinking cities in the study area, which accounted for 69.77% of the total number of units, and 58 economic shrinking cities that accounted for 33.72%. 2) There were a total of 37 shrinking cities identified from both economic and population perspectives, of which there was only one municipal district, and the rest were counties and county-level cities. 3) There were significant differences in land use efficiency between different types of administrative categories. The overall level of land use efficiency in shrinking cities was relatively low, mainly manifested in low and medium low efficiency levels. 4) From the perspective of GM index, the land use efficiency of shrinking cities showed a fluctuating upward trend, with an average annual growth rate of 1.89%. However, there existed a gap between the land use efficiencies of the shrinking cities and the non-shrinking ones.

Studying the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and interactive mechanism of the coordinated development between socio-economic and eco-environment in Wuling Mountains area is of great significance for the construction of regional ecological civilization and sustainable development. Based on the evaluation index system for socio-economic development and eco-environment status of counties, this paper analyzed the spatial-temporal differentiation characteristics of socio-economic development and eco-environment changes in Wuling Mountains area from 2000 to 2020. The coupling coordination degree model was used to systematically discuss the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of coupling coordination between the two, and geographically weighted regression models (GWR) were used to explore the internal mechanisms of their mutual influences. The results showed that: (1) During the study period, the average value of socio-economic index and eco-environment index tended to increase after an initial decrease, and the spatial clustering phenomenon of ecological environment index was consistently significant. (2) The coupling coordination degree between socio-economic and eco-environment fluctuated upward from 2000 to 2020, mainly in the basic and moderate coordination levels, with a relatively stable spatial distribution, but the level of spatial clustering gradually weakened. (3) Socio-economic and eco-environment interacted with each other internally. Green and shared development positively drove changes in the ecological environment, while innovative development was mainly playing a negative inhibitory role. The impact of coordinated and open development on the ecological environment shifted from positive to negative. The ecosystem of water and grassland had a positive supporting effect on regional socio-economic development, while forests could have a constraining effect. The impact of farmland on socio-economic development shifted from negative to positive during the research period. At the same time, the degree of these impacts exhibited obvious spatial heterogeneity and "hierarchical gradual change" characteristics due to different dimensions. The sustainable protection of eco-environment and the in-depth development of green productivity were the keys to the coordinated development of socio-economic and eco-environment in Wuling Mountains area in the future. This research provided reference for relevant decisions of regional management.

Water, energy, and food are intricately interconnected due to mutual demands and systematic influences, potentially posing latent security risks to natural resources, socio-economic systems, and ecological environments. Therefore, analyzing the security of water-energy-food (WEF) systems from a systemic correlation perspective contributes to the sustainable utilization of resources and high-quality socio-economic development. This paper focused on the security of the WEF system in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). Firstly, the concept of field was introduced into the security analysis framework of the WEF system, elucidating the concept and connotation of WEF system security in the "resource-society-ecology" field. Twenty-seven indicators were  selected to construct an evaluation index system for system security. Secondly, based on the co-evolutionary characteristics of the WEF system, the GRA model and FCEM model were combined to assess the security level of the WEF system in the YREB from 2012 to 2022. Finally, the GM(1,1) model was employed to predict the evolution trend of WEF system security in the YREB from 2025 to 2030. The results indicated that: （1） There existed significant differences in the field security level of the YREB from 2012 to 2022, with a spatial trend of high-value areas expanding from upstream to downstream. (2) The security level of the WEF system in the YREB fluctuated between 0.65 and 0.70 from 2012 to 2022, indicating an improvement in security level. （3） The security level of the WEF system in the YREB would remain within the security range from 2025 to 2030, however a slight downward trend was predicted. These findings help identify the spatial and temporal differentiation and the evolution patterns of WEF system security in the YREB, and may provide a reference for exploring ways to enhance WEF system security in the region.

Urban agglomerations are the main sources of carbon emissions. This paper utilized methods including carbon emission coefficient analysis, geometric centroid analysis, and multiple regression analysis to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics of land use carbon emissions in provincial urban agglomerations and their natural and socio-economic impact factors in Jiangsu Province. The results showed that: (1) Over 30 years, the total carbon emissions from land uses of the three agglomerations increased from 35.024 1 million tons to 328.75 million tons, spatially showing a clear gradient increasing distribution pattern from north to south. The total carbon emissions in Xuzhou urban agglomeration had grown faster than those in Nanjing and Su-Xi-Chang; The carbon emissions per unit area showed an overall upward trend, with the minimum and maximum values increasing from -3.99 and 214.7 t/hm2 to -2.74 and 262.43 t/hm2, respectively. (2) the carbon emissions per unit area in Nanjing and Su-Xi-Chang were significantly higher than those in Xuzhou urban agglomeration, but the growth rate in Xuzhou was faster; In the period of 30 years, the centroid of the total carbon emissions from land use changes had generally moved northward; (3) Factors such as topography and vegetation and ecological water bodies would have different degrees or directions of impact on the total and intensity of carbon emissions; (4) Among socio-economic factors, the total population was the most important factor driving the increase in total carbon emissions, but the impact was not the same in different urban agglomerations and at different stages of development; Population aggregation increased the scale of carbon emissions, but reduced the intensity of carbon emissions per unit area; The input of land elements in non-agricultural production, the structure of tertiary industry, and the increase in human activity intensity all promoted the increase in carbon emissions, and urbanization and socio-economic development were becoming increasingly important; The pulling effect of high-speed rail stations on economic activities was not been fully manifested. The proposed methodology was particularly suitable for the spatiotemporal differentiation of driving forces based on administrative units. This work provided support for the formulation of carbon reduction strategies for spatially differentiated provincial land uses, and thereby was helpful in achieving the "dual carbon" strategic goals.

Revealing the synergies and trade-offs relationship between different functions of urban land is an important part of urban land use research. In this study, the POI data was used to measure the functional intensity of "production-living-commercial service" function of urban land within the third ring road of Wuhan. The pearson correlation coefficient and superposition method were employed to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of the synergies and trade-offs relationship between different functions. The results showed that: (1) From 2015 to 2020, the spatial pattern of land production function intensity within the third ring road of Wuhan underwent a transition from centralization to decentralization. Meanwhile, the living function intensity gradually decreased from the urban center to the periphery. The commercial service function, on the other hand, exhibited a polycentric spatial pattern. (2) During the study period, the different functions of urban land in Wuhan predominantly exhibited weak synergies and trade-offs relationship, indicating a relatively independent development trajectory for each function. Specifically, from 2015 to 2020, while the correlation coefficients between the functions of production, living and commercial services passed the significance test, their values were all below 0.4 and showed a decreasing trend. (3) The synergies and trade-offs relationship between the different functions of urban land showed a significant spatial heterogeneity. The production and living functions of the urban land mainly exhibited a synergistic relationship in the urban center. The production and commercial service functions mainly showed a trade-off relationship.  The living and commercial service functions were intertwined, and there existed both synergies and trade-offs between them. (4) The synergies and trade-offs relationship between the different functions was formed under the joint action of social and economic development drive, policy planning guidance, natural condition constraints, and market mechanism incentives. In this study, we revealed the synergies and trade-off relationship between different urban land function. The findings can contribute to a deepened understanding of the characteristics of urban land use change, and provide scientific reference for spatial optimizing of urban land.

In order to explore the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of phytoplankton in a typical curved braided river, three in-situ observations were carried out in Guanzhou reach of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River from September 2020 (wet season), December 2020 (dry season) to May 2021 (normal season). Six observation sections of three types of straight, slightly curved and branched were set up to investigate and analyze environmental factors, nutrients and phytoplankton. The results showed that a total of 86 species of phytoplankton belonging to 47 genera and 6 phyla were collected in the study area, of which Bacillariophyta and Cyanophyta were the dominant species. In terms of temporal changes, the species of phytoplankton increased gradually from the wet season to the normal season of the next year, but the density of algae decreased significantly. The species and density of phytoplankton were significantly affected by the hydrological periods. In terms of spatial distribution, the curved braided river had the largest number of phytoplankton species and its abundance accounted for 34.04 % of the whole Guanzhou area. The relative abundance of phytoplankton in the head, middle and tail of Guanzhou (transitional river and curved braided river) was higher than that in the straight section. The Guanzhou section was affected by the upstream water, and the hydrodynamic forces of the left and right branches changed significantly with the incoming flow conditions, which in turn caused differences in environmental factors and nutrient structure, and drove the local spatial distribution of phytoplankton communities. The pH, water temperature，conductivity, nitrogen and phosphorus in the water were the main driving factors of the phytoplankton in the curved bifurcation section of Guanzhou. The influence of water environmental factors on phytoplankton was more significant.

This study monitored terrestrial water storage (TWS) anomalies in the Dongting Lake Area from 2003 to 2022 using the spherical harmonic coefficients from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On satellite missions. A forward modeling approach was integrated with in-situ lake/reservoir storage data and the WaterGAP Global Hydrology Model (WGHM) simulations to disaggregate TWS components (surface water, groundwater, and soil moisture). The spatiotemporal dynamics and driving factors were also analyzed. This study systematically investigated the applicability of GRACE data in small-scale lake-wetland systems and the response relationships between TWS components and climatic factors. Key findings included: (1) Incorporating leakage corrections for observed water storage variations in the Dongting Lake and the Three Gorges Reservoir significantly improved groundwater component separation accuracy. After eliminating 1-month time lag effects, the correlation coefficient between satellite-based and observed groundwater storage anomalies reached 0.71. (2) TWS anomalies were dominated by surface water storage (~66%), followed by groundwater storage (~21%), with weak inter-component exchange. Since 2003, TWS deficit indices identified five moderate-to-severe drought episodes totaling 26 months, with cumulative deficits reaching 3 551 mm. Deficits of different water storage components were quantified, which included soil moisture (1 377 mm), surface water (2 691 mm), and groundwater (1 681 mm). (3) Precipitation anomalies and temperature extremes directly regulated TWS dynamics. Total TWS and surface water responded instantaneously to precipitation anomalies, while soil moisture exhibited 1-month hysteresis. Warming amplified water storage deficits, though groundwater exhibited delayed temperature sensitivity. ENSO emerged as the primary drought driver via monsoon system perturbations induced by equatorial sea surface temperature gradients, showing the strongest correlation with surface water storage deficit index.

As the “China Water Tower”, Three-River-Source has a prominent water ecological status. It is of great significance to carry out the assessment of water ecosystem service function and the construction of water security pattern for maintaining national water ecological security. In this paper, the Water Yield module of the InVEST model and Nutrient Delivery Ratio module were used to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of water production service (water quantity) and water quality purification service (water quality) in Three-River-Source from 1980 to 2020. The minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR) was used to construct the water ecological security pattern of Three-River-Source. The results showed that: (1) The average annual water yield of Three-River-Source was 600.08×108m3, showing a fluctuating increasing trend as a whole, and a spatial pattern of “high in the south and low in the north”. The areas with increased water yield depth were mainly located in the northwest, east and southeast of Three-River-Source, while the areas with decreased water yield depth were in the south and southwest edge of Three-River-Source. (2) The TN (nitrogen), TP (phosphorus) and water purification output of the Three-River-Source showed a trend of decreasing first and then increasing. The average annual output was 84628.37 t, 8167.32 t and 92795.69 t, respectively. The high output area showed the spatial characteristics of “concentrated distribution in the south and southeast, scattered distribution in the east”. (3) In terms of the construction of water security pattern, 34 water ecological source patches (area of 4626.28 km2) were identified, and 199 water ecological corridors (total length of about 9943.92 km) were extracted, which showed the spatial characteristics of “dense in the middle and east, sparse in the west, and east-west extension”.

Under global warming, the Yangtze River Basin has experienced significant warming and an increased frequency of extreme precipitation events. This study systematically evaluated the performance of climate models and quantified the evolution of extreme precipitation under various warming levels (1.5°C, 2°C, 3°C, and 4°C) using the NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 (N-CMIP6) dataset and a multi-model ensemble (MME). The results showed that, from 1961 to 2023, annual precipitation (PRCPTOT) and extreme precipitation intensity indices (R95p, Rx1day, Rx5day) exhibited no statistically significant long-term trends but demonstrated substantial spatial divergence (p>0.05). Specifically, short-duration heavy precipitation increased in the lower basin, while it attenuated in the middle basin. Concurrently, consecutive dry days (CDD) significantly decreased at a rate of -0.89 days per decade (p<0.05). As warming intensified, extreme precipitation amplified nonlinearly. The growth rates in the 3°C-4°C phase exceeded those by 3-6 times in the 1.5°C-2°C phase. At 4°C of warming, the increase in short-duration precipitation (Rx1day, 23.3%) was 1.5 times higher than that of prolonged events (Rx5day, 15.7%), and precipitation concentration in parts of the middle-lower basin exceeded 50%. The spatial divergence of hydroclimatic risks intensified: the upper and middle regions faced concurrent heavy precipitation and shortened drought duration, while the lower basin was exposed to compounded risks of amplified extreme precipitation and prolonged droughts. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C-2°C could reduce extreme precipitation amplification by 46%-84%, and might significantly mitigate associated risks. These findings provided a scientific foundation for water resource management and climate adaptation strategies in the Yangtze River Basin, and highlighted the critical importance of controlling global temperature rise for sustainable regional development.

To address the issues of unreasonable calculation of traditional ecological base flow, and the difficulty in adapting to practical application demands, this paper took the main control sections of the Baohe River and Xushui River, the primary tributaries of the Hanjiang River, as an example. The Mann-Kendall (MK) test was used to detect mutation points in the runoff sequence, and divided the sequence into subsequences. The ecological base flow of each subsequence was calculated using 14 hydrological methods. The comprehensive ecological base flow was obtained by taking the weighted average of these subsequence ecological base flows. By screening the results, the variable interval of ecological base flow was obtained. Finally, the mid-long term and short term guarantee degrees of ecological base flow were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) The variable interval of ecological base flow could better be adapted to complex and changing environments, which was more reasonable and feasible to implement. (2) For the Hedongdian section, the upper and lower limits of the ecological base flow were 3.02 to 34.64 m3/s and 0.78 to 13.71 m3/s, respectively. For the Shengxiancun section, the upper and lower limits of the ecological base flow were 2.21 to 31.28 m3/s and 0.57 to 12.51 m3/s, respectively. (3) The guarantee degrees for the Hedongdian section were higher than those for the Shengxiancun section. The guarantee degrees for the lower limits of the ecological base flow exceeded those for the upper limits. The mid-long term guarantee degrees of the ecological base flow were higher than those for the short term. The guarantee degrees in dry years were significantly lower than those in wet and normal years. These results provided a scientific basis for the rational development and utilization of water resources, as well as for the construction of ecological civilization of the Baohe River and Xushui River.

It is of great significance to promote green development and harmonious coexistence between humans and nature in order to ensure the safety of water quality in the Project of S-N Water Diversion. The changes in county-level eco-efficiency and their driving factors were explored for the water source area of Middle Route Project of S-N Water Diversion. The non-radial and non-angular super-SBM model were used to calculate the eco-efficiency of 43 counties (districts and cities） in the water source area of Middle Route Project of S-N Water Diversion from 2008 to 2022. The Malmquist Index was used to reveal the internal and external driving factors. The results indicated that the county-level eco-efficiency showed a fluctuating decline from 2008 to 2022. Overall, it was at a moderate to lower level. The trend of county-level eco-efficiency in Shanxi, Hubei, and Henan provinces was generally consistent with the overall trend of the entire region. The overall county-level eco-efficiency showed a distribution pattern of “low in northeast and high in southwest”. The low and high county-level eco-efficiency areas were clustered and connected, while the high and the much lower county-level eco-efficiency areas were relatively scattered. The main reasons for the loss of county-level eco-efficiency included the excessive resource investment and excessive pollutant emissions. The insufficient fiscal fund was also one of the reasons for the loss of county-level eco-efficiency. The PEC Index and the TC index were in a progressive state, but the SEC Index was in a regressive state, which indicated that the improvement of county-level eco-efficiency in the study area was mainly influenced by government macroeconomic regulation and management as well as technological progress. However, the scale economy factors were found to be difficult to play a role in improving county-level eco-efficiency in the water source area of Middle Route Project of S-N Water Diversion.

The unique hydrological variability of Poyang Lake strongly influences the distribution of vegetation growth and microbial metabolism, thereby affecting their carbon balance and greenhouse gas emissions. A two-dimensional hydrodynamic-DNDC (DeNitrification-DeComposition) model was constructed and validated with field and historical in-situ observations to study the dramatic seasonal water level fluctuations in Poyang Lake and the corresponding impact on the net ecosystem CO2 exchange in typical habitat zones (water body, submerged vegetation zone, and emergent aquatic plants-hygrophytes). The annual CO2 flux of the whole lake area was estimated based on Landsat remote sensing images. The results showed that: for the water body and the submerged plants zone, the total annual CO2 fluxes were basically the same for different typical years, whereas the annual CO2 fluxes of the emergent aquatic plants-hygrophytes were different for each typical year, with the highest CO2 emission in the dry year. The average annual CO2 fluxes of the three habitat zones were 566.4 (water body), 972.8 (submerged plant zone), and 3086.9 kg C/hm2/a (emergent aquatic plants-hygrophytes), the annual CO2 emission intensity of the emergent aquatic plants-hygrophytes was the highest. On the intra-annual distribution, the water body and submerged plants zone presented as stable carbon sources in all four hydrological periods of dry-rising-wet-falling, while the emergent aquatic plants-hygrophytes absorbed a large amount of CO2 in the rising and falling periods. The annual CO2 flux of Poyang Lake was 1.66±0.44 g CO2  ·m-2·d-1, which showed a carbon source. In addition, as the excessively high water level in wet years would shorten the plant growth time and lead to the evolution of vegetation in the direction away from the wetland, the CO2 emission from the wetland of Poyang Lake might be reduced for the condition of following average hydrological years with reduced water levels. The results of this paper clarified the key role of inter-annual and intra-annual water level changes on wetland CO2 emissions, which deepened the understanding of vegetation-mediated mechanisms in the carbon cycle process, and provided references for wetland management.

Oxbow lakes are vulnerable to degradation and loss of hydrological connectivity as a result of high-intensity human construction activities and global climate change. The connectivity of oxbow lakes to rivers is essential to maintaining the ecological health of the lakes.However, most of the existing studies on the changes of hydrological connectivity of the oxbow lakes used traditional approaches and focused on the unidirectional lake connectivity. In this study, 16 oxbow lakes in the Lower Jing River Basin were taken as the study area. The long-term changes in hydrological connectivity and the associated driving factors were explored. The method of the graph theory method, the AHP-entropy weight method, the Mann-Kendall trend and mutation detection, the sliding t-test, and the generalized linear regression was adopted. The results showed:(1) The hydrological connectivity of oxbow lakes decreased during both flood and non-flood seasons (P<0.05), with the highest value in the non-flood season in 1990 (G=0.512) and the highest value in the flood season in 1998 (G=0.989). The amount of the loss in hydrological connection varied depending on the water surface ratio. (2) Hydrological connectedness in non-flood season altered abruptly in 1994, as a result of the construction of Three Gorges Dam. The Dam's construction had a profound impact on the connection of the oxbow lakes.(3)Wetland area and runoff volume were the primary determinants of hydrological connectivity in oxbow lakes under varying conditions. During the flood season, water fluctuation frequency and vegetation cover showed the strongest correlations with connectivity. The water surface ratio also influenced the dynamics of connectivity, with low and high ratios exhibiting the highest sensitivity, while medium ratios were less affected by environmental factors. This study offered a theoretical justification for prudent management of the Lower Jing-jiang River Basin's water resources and ecological environment.

The study on ecological zoning in river basins aims to optimize ecosystem management, implement differentiated conservation strategies, and promote the construction of ecological civilization and the enhancement of human well-being. Focusing on the Liuyang River basin, this study integrated methods such as the SWAT model, the Landscape Ecological Risk Index model and the InVEST model to analyze land use changes and their spatiotemporal impacts on landscape ecological risk from 2000 to 2020. Subsequently, the supply and demand of four ecosystem services, including water yield, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and habitat quality, were evaluated. Based on the matching of supply and demand and the classification of ecological risks, five ecological zones were constructed, and differentiated strategies were formulated. The key findings were as follows: (1) Forestland was the primary land-use type in the Liuyang River basin, accounting for about 71.5% of the area. Over the past two decades, land use changes had been characterized by a continuous increase in construction land and water areas, accompanied by a decline in cultivated land, forest land and grassland areas. (2) The landscape ecological risk in the study area was primarily low, relatively low, and moderate. Overall, the ecological risk exhibited a spatial pattern of "higher in the west and lower in the east." For the studied period, the overall landscape ecological risk decreased. (3) There were significant regional differences in the supply and demand patterns of ecosystem services, with higher supply in the east and lower supply in the west, and higher demand in the west and lower demand in the east. The mismatch between supply and demand was severe, with areas of spatial imbalance accounting for up to 76.92% of the total area. (4) By coupling landscape ecological risk with the supply and demand of ecosystem services, the basin was divided into five ecological zones, and the differentiated restoration pathways were proposed. This study provided a new perspective that integrated ecological processes and social development for basin ecological zoning. The research outcomes were helpful in improving the quality of ecosystem services, enhancing basin stability, and reducing ecological risks.

Against the backdrop of environmental decentralization with Chinese characteristics, this paper posited fundamental assumptions concerning pollution management decision-making in livestock and poultry farming within the principal-agent framework of the central and local governments. A dynamic game model encompassing the “central government, local governments, and livestock enterprises” was developed to investigate the evolutionary processes and mechanisms underlying the strategic choices of these entities. Utilizing a simulation model, the paper dynamically analyzed policy instruments aiming at facilitating an idealized game equilibrium among the stakeholders. The findings revealed significant interconnections and multiple evolutionarily stable strategies among the decision-making behaviors of the central government, local governments, and livestock enterprises. Specifically, the most rapid attainment of an effective stable equilibrium occurred when the central government opted for a high degree of environmental decentralization, local governments intensified environmental regulation, and livestock enterprises committed to pollution reduction. Sensitivity analysis of mixed equilibrium strategies indicated that measures such as increasing special subsidies for pollution control and enhancing the assessment of green development performance could incentivize local governments to actively engage in environmental regulation and pollution management. Furthermore, raising environmental protection taxes, strengthening penalties for pollution violations, and increasing the proportion of subsidies allocated by local governments could make pollution reduction an evolutionarily stable strategy for livestock enterprises. Consequently, the paper proposed corresponding solutions from the perspectives of profit distribution mechanisms and endogenous institutional design to promote incentive compatibility among the three parties and to achieve an optimal equilibrium.

Exploring the distribution pattern and obstacles of rural development potential under different functional zoning is of great significance for optimizing the implementation of major functional zoning and promoting differentiated rural development. Taking Lin'an District of Hangzhou City as an example, this study used multi-source data to comprehensively evaluate rural development potential from three dimensions, including rural development capacity, development vitality, and ecological carrying capacity. Spatial auto-correlation analysis and obstacle degree model were further used to analyze the structural differences, spatial patterns, and obstacle factors of rural development potential in different major functional zones. The results showed that: (1) The overall rural development potential in the study area showed a decreasing trend from urbanization potential areas and urbanization advantage areas to ecological economic areas and key ecological areas. High-value agglomeration areas were distributed in blocks around the core villages and towns in various functional zones, while low-value agglomeration areas were mainly distributed along the northern and southern boundary areas; (2) The three dimensions of rural development potential had varying degrees of spatial differences and spatial agglomeration in various major functional zones. The synergistic effect of the three dimensions of rural development potential in urbanization advantage areas and key ecological areas were stronger than that in urbanization potential areas and ecological economic areas; (3) The obstacles to the rural development potential in different major functional zones showed a convergence trend. Four indicators including rural information flow, rural industrial economic output value, logistics, and forest land transfer rate were the public barrier factors for rural development potential in all the major functional zones. Certain factors including per capita cultivated land, shopping convenience, and public transportation accessibility had important impacts on the rural development potential in different major functional zones. These results contributed to the enrichment of the connotation and measurement methods of rural development potential, and could provide decision-making references for differentiated formulation of rural revitalization strategies.