Cross-sensitivity analysis of land use transition and ecological service values in rare earth mining areas in southern China

Exploring the cross-sensitivity between land use transformation and ecological service values in rare earth mining areas is of great significance for the development of ecological protection and restoration in rare earth mining areas. To study the impact of land use changes on ecosystem service functions in rare earth mining areas, firstly, the land use change trends in the study area from 2009 to 2019 were analyzed using the land transfer matrix; then the distribution of ecosystem service values and the flow direction of ecosystem service values in the study area were measured based on the ecosystem service value equivalents; a spatial autocorrelation analysis was done on the ecosystem service values to explore their spatial distribution patterns; and finally, the cross-sensitivity coefficient was used to quantitatively assess the extent and direction of the impact of land use change on ecosystem service values. The results show that the land use types in the study area are mainly forest land and farmland, with woodland accounting for the highest proportion of the study area. The ESV changes in the study area are consistent with the trend of land use transformation, with the overall increase and decrease being comparable, and the decrease in ESV is mainly concentrated in the areas with a large increase in mining land and construction land; during the study period, the study area was significantly reduced with low-low cluster areas and the ecological environment was improved; from 2009 to 2014, the ecological sensitivity coefficient is more variable, and is more sensitive to the net conversion between water and desert, from 2014 to 2019, the ecological sensitivity coefficient is less variable, and the most sensitive is the net conversion between cultivated land and water. The study area should be reasonably developed for rare earth resources and the ecological environment around the mining area should be reasonably protected to build an ecological security pattern.