Spatio-Temporal Changes in Habitat Quality and Linkage with Landscape Characteristics Using InVEST-Habitat Quality Model: A Case Study at Changdang Lake National Wetland, Changzhou, China

Clarifying the spatio-temporal habitat quality changes caused by land use and associated landscape structural changes can provide scientific references for ecological conservation and landscape management. This study investigated spatio-temporal changes in habitat quality associated with land-use change and landscape characteristics in the Changdang Lake National Wetland from 2010 to 2019. The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs ( InVEST) model was used to assess the habitat quality and partial least squares regression analysis was employed to evaluate the contribution of landscape characteristic changes to habitat quality changes caused by the land-use conversion. The results showed that the mean habitat quality value of the study area increased from 0.7 to 0.73. Meanwhile, the areas with high and low habitat quality values increased by approximately 11.6% and 1.9%, respectively, while the areas with moderate habitat quality values decreased by 13.5%; this indicated that the wetland experienced a slight habitat quality improvement. The most important landscape structure variable that accounted for habitat quality change for all land-use types including habitat, semi-habitat and non-habitat was percentage of landscape (PLAND). These findings suggested that strengthening ecological environment management, reducing habitat modifications and restoring degraded natural habitats are crucial to maintaining biodiversity.