Spatiotemporal response of ecosystem services to tourism activities in urban forests

Abstract

Tourism in urban forests is rapidly becoming an increasing trend; however, rather few studies have used quantitative measurement to describe the relationship between tourism intensity and ecological functions. This study provides a practical framework that integrates ecosystem service value (ESV) assessment, Internet big data mining and spatial regression analysis to identify the spatial response of ESV and land use/land cover change to tourism activities from 2009 to 2019 in the Siming Mountain Region (SMR), a famous tourist resort located in the eastern coastal China. Results showed that between 2009 and 2019 total ESV increased by 7.1%. Nevertheless, there have been drastic transitions in land use types with function adjustments from traditional agricultural production to diversified tourism-oriented services. Significant spatial autocorrelation was identified for the patterns of ESV changes. GWR further highlighted that the relationship between ESV change and rural tourism indicators varied in space. ESV change in the core zone was negatively correlated with changes in catering service spots and recreational venues, whereas it was positively correlated with local lodgings. Ultimately, targeted recommendations and countermeasures for spatial planning and sustainable tourism development of urban forests under new circumstances were discussed.