Habitat threat factors.

<div> The Critical Karst Zone provides rich natural resources and is an important habitat for the survival and development of the world’s human population. Meanwhile, urbanization processes have disrupted the structure and function of natural ecosystems, endangering biodiversity and habitats. However, existing studies have few frequently explored the combined effects of the natural environment and human activities on changes in habitat quality. This article uses the InVEST model and the GeoDetector method to analyze the changes in landscape patterns, spatiotemporal evolution of habitat quality, and their driving factors in karst areas. The results show that: (i) From 1990 to 2020, forest, cropland, and grassland fluctuated sharply, while the building and waters area showed an exponential upward trend. The overall landscape fragmentation and spatial heterogeneity are enhanced. (ii) The karst habitat quality index decreased from 0.7751 to 0.74085, showing an overall downward trend. The habitat quality shows a spatial distribution pattern of “high in the surrounding areas and low in the central areas”, and autocorrelation analysis shows that county-level units have significant spatial agglomeration effects. (iii) The overall type shows an enhancement of dual factor or non-linear, in which land use intensity and population density are the main driving factors for the spatio-temporal evolution of habitat quality. In summary, adopting stringent ecological protection and restoration initiatives aimed at minimizing human activity intensity and safeguarding natural habitat integrity in karst regions is imperative. Such measures contribute to the scientific underpinning for decision-making regarding the optimization of regional landscape composition and enhance land spatial planning strategies. </div>