The effects of urbanization on net primary productivity in southeastern china

Dengsheng Lu, Xiaofeng Xu, Hanqin Tian, Emilio Moran, Maosheng Zhao, Steven Running

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

Net primary productivity (NPP) is one of the major ecosystem products on which human societies rely heavily. However, rapid urban sprawl and its associated dense population and economic conditions have generated great pressure on natural resources, food security, and environments. It is valuable to understand how urban expansion and associated demographic and economic conditions affect ecosystem functions. This research conducted a case study in Southeastern China to examine the impacts of urban expansion and demographic and economic conditions on NPP. The data sources used in research include human settlement developed through a combination of MODIS, DMSP-OLS and Landsat ETM+ images, the annual NPP from MODIS, and the population and gross domestic product (GDP) from the 2000 census data. Multiple regression analysis and nonlinear regression analysis were used to examine the relationships of NPP with settlement, population and GDP. This research indicates that settlement, population and GDP have strongly negative correlation with NPP in Southeastern China, but the outcomes were nonlinear when population or GDP reached certain thresholds.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)404-410
Number of pages7
JournalEnvironmental Management
Volume46
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2010

Keywords

  • Gross domestic product
  • Human settlement
  • Multiple regression analysis
  • Net primary productivity
  • Population
  • Southeastern China

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