Dynamic Evolution of the Ecological Resilience and Response under the Context of Carbon Neutrality

Abstract

Among the background of rapid urbanization and climate change, the capacity of urban ecosystems to recover from disturbances has been considerably disrupted. However, the existing study often lacks dynamic assessments in terms of the response process underlying ecological resilience. Here we use the “resistance, adaptability, and recovery” framework to quantify the ecological resilience, and the dynamic response of ecological resilience to carbon storage and emissions was investigated. The results showed that (a) the ecological resilience of Dalian demonstrated a trend of continuous decline from 2005 to 2019; (b) the clustering characteristics of cold/hot spots for ecological resilience in Dalian were obvious. The cold spots of ecological resilience agglomerated into larger cold spots area during the study. The new patches were mainly located in the southern of Jinzhou and the downtown area of Dalian; (c) carbon storage had a clear positive impact on urban ecological resilience, and this impact showed an increasing trend. In contrast, carbon emissions had a clear negative impact on urban ecological resilience. The piecewise linear regression results reveal that the impact of carbon emission on ecological resilience had a threshold effect, and the area above the threshold became the key area for ecological resilience management; (d) according to the development trend and response conclusion of ecological resilience, the study area was divided into areas of low ecological resilience emission reduction, high ecological resilience carbon storage, and ecological resilience stability protection zone. The present study provides spatial guidance for investigating the evolution and response process of ecological resilience.