Assessment of spatiotemporal changes of ecological environment quality of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in China based on MRSEI

The Ecological Environment Quality (EEQ) is an important foundation for the sustainable development of society and economy. To assess the spatiotemporal changes of the EEQ in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA), we selected MODIS images of 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021 to construct the Modified Remote Sensing Ecological Index (MRSEI) based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Then, we evaluated the spatiotemporal changes and spatial autocorrelation of the EEQ in the YRDUA. The results showed that: the EEQ of the YRDUA was improved from 2001 to 2011, deteriorated from 2011 to 2016, and improved from 2016 to 2021. The overall EEQ of the YRDUA was at moderate or excellent level, and the EEQ in the south was better than that in the north. The EEQ of the southern cities in the study area was better and more stable, while that of the northern cities was relatively poor and changes relatively drastic. The EEQ of the YRDUA was mainly unchanged and improved from 2001 to 2021. The regions with improved EEQ were mainly distributed in the north and west, while those with deteriorated EEQ were mainly distributed in the east and south. The EEQ of the YRDUA was improved gradually from 2001 to 2006, and relatively stable from 2006 to 2011. From 2011 to 2016, the changes were drastic and the EEQ deteriorated greatly; while from 2016 to 2021, the EEQ of the YRDUA was improved, and the area of ecological deterioration was significantly reduced. From 2001 to 2021, the Globalmoran’s I value ranged from 0.838 ~ 0.918. In the past 20 years, NS area in the YRDUA accounted for the highest proportion, while the HH aggregation was mainly distributed in the southern part of the YRDUA, while LL aggregation was mainly distributed in the northern part, indicated that the EEQ in the southern part was better than that in the northern part. This study provides a promising approach to assess the spatiotemporal changes of EEQ in urban areas, which is crucial to formulate the ecosystem protection policies and sustainable development strategies of YRDUA.