Spatiotemporal Patterns of Ecosystem Service Value Changes and Their Coordination with Economic Development: A Case Study of the Yellow River Basin, China

By integrating multiple remote sensing data sources this study accurately assesses the spatiotemporal characteristics of changes in ecosystem service values (ESVs) in the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2015 through Theil-Sen median trend analysis and the Mann-Kendall test. The stability and continuity of the ESVs were comprehensively characterized using coefficients of variation and the Hurst exponent. The degree of coherence between ESVs and economic growth (represented by gross domestic product GDP) on the same temporal and spatial scales was analyzed using ecological-economic coordination (EEC) models. The results show that (1) from 2001 to 2015 the total ESV and the ESV per unit area in the Yellow River Basin generally showed a U-shaped pattern (decreasing slightly then increasing rapidly). (2) The areas with increasing ESVs made up approximately 55.6% of the total area of the river basin. The areas with a decreasing pattern were mainly in the west and north of the Yellow River Basin. (3) The stability and continuity of the ESVs showed a clustered, compact distribution. (4) The most common level of EEC was slightly uncoordinated followed by slightly coordinated and highly coordinated. The proportion of coordinated areas was relatively higher in cultivated land and the lowest in built-up land.