Changes on Land Use and Ecological Service Value in Nanchang City

Based upon changes on the ecological service value (ESV) due to varied land uses in a municipality, structure and sustainable development of the regional ecosystem can be visualized and appropriate planning materialized. This article describes the land use dynamics, transfer matrix, and changes in Nanchang city from 2000 to 2015 using the remote sensing images of the city in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 with an analysis by RS and GIS technology. Applying the calculated ESV, transfer matrix and sensitivity coefficients, the city's temporal and spatial variations caused by the changed land use became available for the study. In Nanchang over the years between 2000 and 2015, the cultivated land decreased significantly while the land taken over by varieties of construction increased markedly. The degree of dynamic land changes was 1.24%. Meanwhile, the total value and structure of municipal ecological services scarcely changed, while the ESV increased merely from 390.35×10⁸ yuan in 2000 to 393.30×10⁸ yuan in 2015. At the time, the areas with high ESV concentrated mostly in the eastern part of Xinjian County and north of Jinxian County, whereas the low ESV fell mainly in downtown and the areas within the city limit. The sensitivity indices of all ESV classes were less than 1 indicating a reliability of the results. ESV changes were directly caused by the changing land use. Hence, scientifically directed and managed land use would be of great significance to a well maintained and serviced regional ecosystem.