Spatio-temporal dynamics of ecosystem health and its response to human activities in China's first batch of national parks

As a pivotal institutional innovation within China's ecological civilization reform, the national park system plays a critical role in enhancing biodiversity conservation, improving environmental quality, and safeguarding national ecological security. Enhancing ecosystem health in national parks contributes significantly to both ecological security and human well-being. Based on the Vitality-Organization-Resilience (VOR) model, this study explored the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of ecosystem vitality, ecosystem organization, ecosystem resilience and ecosystem health in the first batch of national parks from 2000 to 2023. The results show that: (1) From 2000 to 2023, except for the slight decrease in the ecosystem health level of Wuyishan National Park (WYM), the ecosystem health level of the other four national parks showed an overall upward trend. Among them, Sanjiangyuan National Park (SJY) showed the greatest increase in ecosystem health level, while Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park (NCTL) showed the smallest improvement. (2) The ecosystem health of SJY was dominated by medium and higher levels, while the rest of the national parks were dominated by high levels. (3) The ecosystem health level of SJY presented a spatial distribution pattern of "low in the northwest and high in the southeast", while that of the rest of the national parks showed a trend of "high expansion and low contraction". (4) Human activities exerted both inhibitory and facilitative effects on ecosystem health improvements across China's first batch of national parks. In the future, national parks management should pay particular attention to the level of ecosystem health in areas that are vulnerable to human activities.