Exploring Impacts of Land Use and Cover Changes on Ecosystem Services on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

Abstract

The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QXP), as Asia’s “Water Tower” and a global climate regulation hub, provides essential ecosystem services that sustain global ecological security and the well-being of 2 billion people. However, the fine-scale relationship between land use changes and ecosystem services on the QXP, as well as the underlying driving mechanisms, remain under researched. Therefore, the InVEST model was used in this study to assess the distribution of key factors of ecosystem services—habitat quality (HQ). A four-quadrant diagram method was proposed to quantitatively identify the dynamic relationship between land use changes and habitat quality. The XGBoost-SHAP algorithm was used to determine the main driving factors affecting the conversion between coordinated and conflicting areas. This study finds the following: (1) the proportion of land area undergoing land use change on the QXP is approximately 7.5%, with significant grassland degradation; (2) habitat quality distribution shows a high edge-low northern pattern, and forest land has the greatest impact on habitat quality changes; (3) in the past 20 years, the relationship between land use changes and habitat quality has shown a trend of coordinated development, with a 50:1 ratio of coordination to conflict evolution. The relationship between cities and water source areas has experienced the most dramatic changes; moreover, in the conversion between coordination and conflict regions, natural factors are the main drivers, followed by socio-cultural factors. This study reveals the dynamic relationship between land use changes and habitat quality interactions on the QXP, providing a scientific basis for regional sustainable development and related planning.