Impacts of industrial land expansion on natural habitat quality in Ganzhou City

Abstract Over the past three decades, rapid industrial land expansion has exacerbated conflicts between industrial land demand and natural habitat conservation. A comprehensive understanding of the impacts of industrial land expansion on natural habitat quality (NHQ) is crucial for optimizing industrial land allocation while safeguarding natural habitats and biodiversity. However, the indirect impact of industrial land expansion on NHQ remains insufficiently explored. Using Ganzhou City as a case study, this research built on previous definitions of industrial land, integrated land use and cover data with the InVEST module, and set multi-scale maximum effective distances to quantify the direct and indirect impacts of industrial land expansion on NHQ from 1990 to 2020. We found that: (1) Industrial land expansion in Ganzhou has accelerated, with its area increasing from 11.02 km² to 212.33 km², representing an 18.27 times growth. (2) Multi-scale analysis revealed that the extent and spatial range of the impacts of industrial land expansion on NHQ significantly increased with the expansion of the assessment scale. At a maximum effective distance of 6 km, regional NHQ declined by 4.32%, with indirect impacts (3.96%) far exceeding direct impacts (0.36%). (3) Among different natural habitat types, wetland and grassland were the most significantly affected, with NHQ declining by 7.41% and 4.83%, respectively, at the 6 km scale, with indirect impacts being the dominant factor in both cases. (4) The NHQ decline resulting from industrial land expansion has already threatened 71 endangered species. We suggest that, in the future industrial land expansion process, Ganzhou should focus on optimizing the spatial pattern of industrial land, adopting intensive and efficient land use strategies, and coordinating industrial development with biodiversity conservation to achieve the goal of landscape sustainability.