Urban dynamics and its impact on urban ecosystem services: a study of Asansol Municipal Corporation

The continual urban growth alters the urban ecological landscape pattern and urban ecosystem functions, posing significant challenges to urban environmental and ecological management. The primary goal of this research is to analyze the dynamic character of urbanization and its impact on urban ecosystem services because of the alteration of land use and land cover in Asansol Municipal Corporation. This study employs various analytical tools, including Shannon's entropy and loss and gain analysis, to assess and quantify the urban growth of the study area over the last two decades (2001, 2011, and 2021). The ecosystem service values (ESVs) have been examined using remote sensing and GIS techniques, which correlate with the global value coefficient to estimate total ecosystem service values and individual ecosystem service functions. The present study finds ESVs have declined over time in the study region. The loss in total and some individual ESV in this study landscape necessitates immediate action to improve urban ecosystem sustainability through proper planning and policy implementation.