Spatio‐Temporal Change of Habitat Quality in Northeast China: Driving Factors Exploration Based on Land Use and Land Cover Change

ABSTRACT Ecological environment plays an indispensable role in sustaining and developing human society and natural ecosystems, while it continually suffers from degradation caused by human activities. Land Use and Land Cover (LULC), which serves as a proxy of the intensity of human intervention, has been regarded as an equally important factor affecting habitat quality as climate change. Despite exploring the close relationship between LULC changes and habitat quality, current research remains largely theoretical and does not delve into management measures following habitat degradation. Consequently, its practical implications for ecological conservation are limited. In this study, taking Northeast China, which has a prominent contradiction between LULC and ecological protection, as the study area, the InVEST model was introduced to assess the habitat quality based on LULC data from 2000 to 2020. Then, the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model was employed to analyze the explanatory variables of habitat quality change in terms of LULC change. The results indicated that LULC change in Northeast China from 2000 to 2020 mainly occurred between cultivated land, artificial land, grassland, and forestland. Habitat quality demonstrated a progressive decline yet remained at an intermediate level and exhibited significant spatio‐temporal heterogeneity on the whole. Furthermore, the regression results demonstrated there was a significant correlation between LULC change and habitat quality change. Finally, Northeast China was classified into three functional zones by the K‐Means clustering analysis: coordinated development zone, ecological conservation zone, and key ecological functional zone, each with its own characteristics and development priorities. The findings can provide a scientific reference for the rational use of land and zoning management of habitat quality in Northeast China.