Study on Land Use/Cover Change and Ecosystem Services in Harbin, China

Land use/cover change (LUCC) and ecosystem service functions are current hot topics in global research on environmental change. A comprehensive analysis and understanding of the land use changes and ecosystem services, and the equilibrium state of the interaction between the natural environment and the social economy is crucial for the sustainable utilization of land resources. We used remote sensing image to research the LUCC, ecosystem service value (ESV), and ecological economic harmony (EEH) in eight main urban areas of Harbin in China from 1990 to 2015. The results show that, in the past 25 years, arable land—which is a part of ecological land—is the main source of construction land for urbanization, whereas the other ecological land is the main source of conversion to arable land. There is no significant change in the value ratio of ESV, however, it is also inclined to the southeast of the study area in spaces like the barycenter of LUCC. The EEH degree has risen from the potential crisis area to the medium coordination degree, and then dropped to the low coordination degree. This shows that although there has been limited change of LUCC, ESV, and EEH in eight main urban areas of Harbin in 25 years, there is a contradiction between the allocation of ecological land and non-ecological land.