Bird communities across varying landcover types in a Neotropical city

Urbanization poses a serious threat to local biodiversity, yet towns and cities with abundant natural features may harbor important species populations and communities. While the contribution of urban greenspaces to conservation has been demonstrated by numerous studies within temperate regions, few consider the bird communities associated with different landcovers in Neotropical cities. To begin to fill this knowledge gap, we examined how the avifauna of a wetland city in northern Amazonia varied across six urban landcover types (coastal bluespace; urban bluespace; managed greenspace; unmanaged greenspace; dense urban; and sparse urban). We measured detections, species richness, and a series of ground cover variables that characterized the heterogeneity of each landcover, at 114 locations across the city. We recorded >10% (98) of Guyana's bird species in Georgetown, including taxa of conservation interest. Avian detections, richness, and community composition differed with landcover type. Indicator species analysis identified 29 species from across dietary guilds, which could be driving community composition. Comparing landcovers, species richness was highest in managed greenspaces and lowest in dense urban areas. The canal network had comparable levels of species richness to greenspaces. The waterways are likely to play a key role in enhancing habitat connectivity as they traverse densely urbanized areas. Both species and landcover information should be integrated into urban land-use planning in the rapidly urbanizing Neotropics to maximize the conservation value of cities. This is imperative in the tropics, where anthropogenic pressures on species are growing significantly, and action needs to be taken to prevent biodiversity collapse.     

Acceptance of near-natural greenspace management relates to ecological and socio-cultural assigned values among European urbanites

Grasslands are widespread elements of urban greenspace providing recreational, psychological and aesthetic benefits to city residents. Two urban grassland types of contrasting management dominate urban greenspaces: frequently mown, species-poor short-cut lawns and less intensively managed, near-natural tall-grass meadows. The higher conservation value of tall-grass meadows makes management interventions such as converting short-cut lawns into tall-grass meadows a promising tool for urban biodiversity conservation. The societal success of such interventions, however, depends on identifying the values urban residents assign to different types of urban grasslands, and how these values translate to attitudes towards greenspace management. Using 2027 questionnaires across 19 European cities, we identify the assigned values that correlate with people's personal greenspace use and their preferences for different types of urban grasslands to determine how these values relate to the agreement with a scenario of converting 50% of their cities’ short-cut lawns into tall-grass meadows. We found that most people assigned nature-related values, such as wildness, to tall-grass meadows and utility-related values, such as recreation, to short-cut lawns. Positive value associations of wildness and species richness with tall-grass meadows, and social and nature-related greenspace activities, positively correlated with agreeing to convert short-cut lawns into tall-grass meadows. Conversely, disapproval of lawn conversion correlated with positive value associations of cleanliness and recreation potential with short-cut lawns. Here, people using greenspaces for nature-related activities were outstandingly positive about lawn conversion. The results show that the plurality of values assigned to different types of urban grasslands should be considered in urban greenspace planning. For example, tall-grass meadows could be managed to also accommodate the values associated with short-cut lawns, such as tidiness and recreation potential, to support their societal acceptance.     

How much heat can we grow in our cities? Modelling UK urban biofuel production potential

Biofuel provides a globally significant opportunity to reduce fossil fuel dependence; however, its sustainability can only be meaningfully explored for individual cases. It depends on multiple considerations including: life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, air quality impacts, food versus fuel trade‐offs, biodiversity impacts of land use change and socio‐economic impacts of energy transitions. One solution that may address many of these issues is local production of biofuel on non‐agricultural land. Urban areas drive global change, for example, they are responsible for 70% of global energy use, but are largely ignored in their resource production potential; however, underused urban greenspaces could be utilized for biofuel production near the point of consumption. This could avoid food versus fuel land conflicts in agricultural land and long‐distance transport costs, provide ecosystem service benefits to urban dwellers and increase the sustainability and resilience of cities and towns. Here, we use a Geographic Information System to identify urban greenspaces suitable for biofuel production, using exclusion criteria, in 10 UK cities. We then model production potential of three different biofuels: Miscanthus grass, short rotation coppice (SRC) willow and SRC poplar, within the greenspaces identified and extrapolate up to a UK‐scale. We demonstrate that approximately 10% of urban greenspace (3% of built‐up land) is potentially suitable for biofuel production. We estimate the potential of this to meet energy demand through heat generation, electricity and combined heat and power (CHP) operations. Our findings show that, if fully utilized, urban biofuel production could meet nearly a fifth of demand for biomass in CHP systems in the United Kingdom's climate compatible energy scenarios by 2030, with potentially similar implications for other comparable countries and regions.     

Psychological benefits of greenspace increase with biodiversity

The world's human population is becoming concentrated into cities, giving rise to concerns that it is becoming increasingly isolated from nature. Urban public greenspaces form the arena of many people's daily contact with nature and such contact has measurable physical and psychological benefits. Here we show that these psychological benefits increase with the species richness of urban greenspaces. Moreover, we demonstrate that greenspace users can more or less accurately perceive species richness depending on the taxonomic group in question. These results indicate that successful management of urban greenspaces should emphasize biological complexity to enhance human well-being in addition to biodiversity conservation.     

喀斯特山地城市内山体绿地对城市热岛的减温效应——以安顺市西秀区为例

山体绿地是喀斯特山地城市内典型的城市绿地景观类型,其对于改善城市生态环境、提升喀斯特山地城市生态服务功能具有重要作用。以黔中典型喀斯特山地城市安顺市为研究对象,运用2011年和2016年两期热红外遥感影像和城市景观结构空间数据,在反演分析城市热岛效应及其强度时空分布特征的基础上,运用冷热点分析剖析了山体绿地与城市热岛效应冷点分布区的关系,揭示山体绿地对城市热岛的减温效应。结果表明:基于Landsat热红外遥感数据反演地表温度结果显示,2011—2016年,安顺市西秀区平均反演地表温度升高约4℃;主城区一带热岛效应呈现加剧趋势,但总体热岛面积呈下降趋势,绿岛区多分布于水体和山体绿地中,且山体绿地对热岛效应减缓作用逐年增大;热/冷聚集面积呈现上升趋势,约40%~50%的冷聚集区由山体绿地贡献,热聚集区主要由建筑用地和其他用地构成;500 m格网尺度下,山体绿地面积与地表温度呈显著负相关,表现为山体绿地面积占格网比例每增加10%,地表温度将降低0.17~0.27℃。研究结果可为喀斯特山地城市山体绿地管理、城市绿地空间规划和城市热环境缓解提供科学依据。     

Urban greenspace composition and landscape context influence natural enemy community composition and function

Conservation research has historically been aimed at preserving high value natural habitats, but urbanization and its associated impacts have prompted broader mandates that include the preservation and promotion of biodiversity in cities. Current efforts within urban landscapes aim to support biodiversity and diverse ecosystem services such as storm water management, sustainable food production, and toxin remediation. Arthropod natural enemies provide biocontrol services important for the ecosystem management of urban greenspaces. Establishing habitat for these and other beneficial arthropods is a growing area of urban conservation. Habitat design, resource inputs, management, and abiotic conditions shape the value of greenspace habitats for arthropods. In general, larger patches with diverse plant communities support a greater abundance and diversity of natural enemies and biocontrol services, yet opposing patterns or no effects have also been documented. The surrounding landscape is likely a contributor to this variation in natural enemy response to patch-scale habitat design and management. Looking across rural–urban landscape gradients, natural enemy communities shift toward dominance by habitat generalists and disturbance tolerant species in urban areas compared to rural or natural communities. These changes have been linked to variation in habitat fragmentation, plant productivity and management intensity. In landscape-scale studies focusing solely within cities, variables such as impervious surface area and greenspace connectivity affect the community assembly of natural enemies within a patch. Given these findings, a greater mechanistic understanding of how both the composition and spatial context of urban greenspaces influence natural enemy biodiversity–biocontrol relationships is needed to advance conservation planning and implementation.     

Fine‐scale variation within urban landscapes affects marking patterns and gastrointestinal parasite diversity in red foxes

1. Urban areas are often considered to be a hostile environment for wildlife as they are highly fragmented and frequently disturbed. However, these same habitats can contain abundant resources, while lacking many common competitors and predators. The urban environment can have a direct impact on the species living there but can also have indirect effects on their parasites and pathogens. To date, relatively few studies have measured how fine‐scale spatial heterogeneity within urban landscapes can affect parasite transmission and persistence.
2. Here, we surveyed 237 greenspaces across the urban environment of Edinburgh (UK) to investigate how fine‐scale variation in socio‐economic and ecological variables can affect red fox (Vulpes vulpes) marking behavior, gastrointestinal (GI) parasite prevalence, and parasite community diversity.
3. We found that the presence and abundance of red fox fecal markings were nonuniformly distributed across greenspaces and instead were dependent on the ecological characteristics of a site. Specifically, common foraging areas were left largely unmarked, which indicates that suitable resting and denning sites may be limiting factor in urban environments. In addition, the amount of greenspace around each site was positively correlated with overall GI parasite prevalence, species richness, and diversity, highlighting the importance of greenspace (a commonly used measure of landscape connectivity) in determining the composition of the parasite community in urban areas.
4. Our results suggest that fine‐scale variation within urban environments can be important for understanding the ecology of infectious diseases in urban wildlife and could have wider implication for the management of urban carnivores.

     

双碳战略背景下城市生态系统的碳汇功能与生物多样性可以兼得

“碳达峰、碳中和”是中国对世界的庄严承诺, 也是当前指导我国可持续发展的重要战略。碳排放的空间分布表明, 城市及其周边地区是最主要的碳排放区。随着我国的城市化进程不断推进, 如何有效减少城市碳排放、增加碳汇成为关系着双碳战略成效的关键问题。作为城市空间中唯一的自然碳汇, 城市绿地生态系统的固碳增汇作用日益突出。加强城市绿地的碳汇建设, 如果按照传统的人工营建思路, 只种植在当前情景下碳汇能力强的少数植物种则很可能会减少生物多样性。基于植物分配有限资源时存在权衡关系的生态学一般原理, 不仅选取当前情景下碳汇能力强的植物, 还要考虑适应环境变化、在未来环境下碳汇能力强的植物, 以及遭遇极端环境时有一定碳汇能力的植物。在此框架下, 选取恰当的植物多样性组合有望实现更好的城市绿地碳汇功能, 即环境稳定时碳汇能力更强, 环境变化时碳汇能力更稳, 出现极端事件时碳汇损失更小。具体的做法包括: (1)扩展绿地物种库信息, 纳入植物的碳减排能力、适应环境变化能力、应对极端变化能力等信息; (2)考虑植物在碳汇能力与应对气候变化能力之间的权衡关系, 将植物分成不同类型的组, 比如高碳汇低适应、低碳汇高适应; (3)根据不同城市的环境和未来气候变化特点, 因地制宜地选择恰当植物组合营建城市绿地; (4)开展城市绿地建设的全生命周期碳计量, 以近自然方式营建和管养城市绿地, 减少管护过程的碳排放。这些举措有助于实现城市绿地碳汇能力提升与生物多样性保护的双重目标。城市生态系统的‌结构与功能共赢, 对落实双碳战略和生态文明建设意义重大。     

How can urban green spaces be planned for climate adaptation in subtropical cities?

The cooling effect of greenspaces is an important ecosystem service, essential for mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) effect and thus increasing urban resilience to climate change. Techniques based on landscape planning to alleviate the increasing frequency of extreme climate are becoming more of a focus in urban ecology studies. In this paper, we proposed and defined the urban cooling island (UCI) extent, intensity, and efficiency, as well as the threshold value of efficiency (TVoE) introduced from the “law of diminishing marginal utility” for the first time. The radiative transfer equation has been compared with other algorithms and used to retrieve accurate land surface temperature (LST) in a subtropical city of China − Fuzhou. Two important and arguable factor − size and shape of greenspaces also been expressed and explored. The results indicate that: (1) larger-sized greenspaces produce a higher cooling effect. However, there exist a TVoE, which is in line with our hypothesis. The TVoE in Fuzhou is 4.55 ha. (2) The circles and squares greenspaces have a significant correlation with LST and also show the highest UCI intensity and efficiency. (3) 92% of the maximum extent of greenspaces are within the 30–180 m limit, and the mean UCI extent and intensity are 104 m and 1.78 °C. (4) The greenspaces connected with waterbodies intensified the UCI effects, whereas the grassland-based greenspace shows the weakest UCI effects. The methodology and results of this study could help urban planners to mitigate the UHI effects efficiently, and to employ the climate adaptive planning.     

城市绿地生态评价研究进展

城市绿地的科学评价为绿地的规划和管理提供了参考,对人们正确认识和改造绿地建设起着重要的作用,为城市绿地生态功能的发挥提供了重要的依据和保障。以绿地结构的评价为基础,总结了城市绿地生态功能、服务评价、健康评价的方法和研究进展;提出了城市绿地生态风险评价的基本方法并概括了城市绿地可持续评价的研究方向。结果显示:当前城市绿地的生态评价在范围上逐渐从微观尺度发展到宏观尺度,日益强调绿地的生态服务功能,重点关注于绿地的碳储量与降温增湿功能与效益评价以及价值化研究;城市绿地的健康评价和可持续性评价均尚处于初级的探索阶段。指出了城市绿地生态评价的关键在于评价结果在管理和规划中的应用,在评价内容上必须关注各部分的结合,在评价方法上应该借助基础研究的长期监测、评价的量化以及多学科交叉的渗透。     

城市土壤碳循环与碳固持研究综述

城市化过程带来的土地利用变化和环境污染是全球变化的重要方面,城市为人们了解人类与自然复合生态系统对全球变化的影响及其对全球变化的响应过程提供一个独特的"天然实验室"。陆地生态系统碳循环是全球变化研究的热点领域之一,然而,人们对城市在全球碳循环中的作用和影响知之甚少,城市土壤碳循环研究处于起步阶段。介绍了城市土壤的主要特性和碳循环特征,指出强烈的人为作用是其最突出的特点;综述了城市土壤碳库、碳通量和碳固持研究方面取得的进展;探讨了城市化过程中土地利用变化、土壤中生物及土壤管护措施、城市小气候、大气污染沉降和土壤污染等对土壤碳循环的影响;提出未来城市碳循环研究需要开展长期系统监测、深化城市土壤碳循环机制研究、创新研究范式和研究方法、并将研究成果与城市景观规划与设计相结合,提升城市土壤碳管理能力。     

社会经济因素对上海市居住区植物多样性的影响

居住区是城市地区主要的土地利用类型之一,也是城市生物的重要生境之一,在生物多样性保护中发挥着重要作用.前人研究发现,国外城市居住区的植物多样性受到社会经济水平的影响,在中国的城市管理体制下,上述结论是否成立有待证明.本研究对上海市39个居住区进行植物多样性调查,选取人口密度、房价、房龄、绿化率4个社会经济指标,利用单因素分析和偏最小二乘回归分析方法,探讨社会经济因素对上海市居住区植物多样性的影响.结果表明: 社会经济因素会影响城市居住区的植物多样性,人口密度、房价、房龄和绿化率对不同分类群的物种多样性的影响各异.其中,房龄对大多数分类群的影响效果最大,其次是人口密度、绿化率和房价.本研究证明,“奢侈效应”和“遗产效应”假说在上海城市居住区只适用于一部分植物类群.研究结果可为上海的城市植物多样性的维持、保护、管理以及城市和景观规划提供参考.     

1980-2015年珠三角城市群城市扩张的时空特征分析

以珠三角城市群9座城市为研究对象,基于1980-2015年3期遥感影像提取的土地利用数据,通过扩张强度、扩张速率以及景观格局指数定量分析珠三角城市群尺度上城市扩张的时空变化特征。结果表明：（1）城市群扩张数量特征：1980-2015年珠三角城市群建设用地面积扩张约3倍,1980-2000和2000-2015期间分别扩张1513.1、3043.8 km²;扩张强度不断增强,扩张速率明显加快。（2）城市群扩张空间特征：珠三角城市群中扩张迅速的城市主要分布在研究区中部的城镇密集带及沿海地区;扩张较慢的城市主要分布在靠内陆的周边地带。（3）基于时间尺度发现珠三角城市群结构的演变呈现出由单核模式（广州,1980年）-双核模式（广州、深圳,2000年）-多中心、网络化模式演化的特征（东莞、中山等相邻城市,2015年）。（4）基于景观格局特征,珠三角区域扩张快速的城市形状复杂,结构趋于分散;扩张较慢的城市形状更规则,分布更聚集。（5）天然的人文联系与优越的地理位置、社会经济、政府政策以及基础设施的建设等因素共同驱动珠三角城市群的发展。该研究对提高城市群规划管理水平具有参考价值。     

Key lessons for achieving biodiversity‐sensitive cities and towns

Australia's urban landscapes offer opportunities to marry socio‐economic and biodiversity conservation objectives. Yet, information is needed on what urban landscape and habitat features are important for wildlife. In this article, we draw together our research from southeastern Australia to describe key lessons for biodiversity‐sensitive cities and towns. Lesson 1: The effects of urbanization on wildlife extend into adjacent habitats. We recommend retaining large, undisturbed areas of habitat away from development, avoiding intensive development adjacent to important conservation areas, prioritizing areas of ecological and social significance, screening light and noise pollution at the urban fringe and around large nature reserves, and planting appropriately provenanced locally native species for public streetscapes, parks and gardens. Lesson 2: Strategic enhancement of urban greenspace offers biodiversity gains. We recommend increasing the total amount of greenspace cover, maintaining ecological structures as habitat islands, using landscaping techniques to minimize risks to human safety, and gardening with low‐flowering native shrubs. Lesson 3: Large old trees need to be managed for long‐term sustainability. We recommend retaining large old trees in new developments, increasing the maximum standing life of urban trees, protecting regenerating areas and planting more seedlings, supplementing habitat features associated with large trees, and ensuring that young trees have space to grow through time. Lesson 4: Education and engagement connects residents with nature and raises awareness. We recommend education programs to enhance opportunities for residents to experience and learn about biodiversity, engaging residents in the establishment and maintenance of wildlife habitat, providing ‘cues to care’, facilitating access to garden plants that benefit wildlife, and encouraging cat containment. These lessons provide an evidence‐base for implementing conservation and management actions to improve the capacity of our cities and towns to support a diverse and abundant biota.     

The extent of shifts in vegetation phenology between rural and urban areas within a human‐dominated region

Urbanization is one of the major environmental challenges facing the world today. One of its particularly pressing effects is alterations to local and regional climate through, for example, the Urban Heat Island. Such changes in conditions are likely to have an impact on the phenology of urban vegetation, which will have knock‐on implications for the role that urban green infrastructure can play in delivering multiple ecosystem services. Here, in a human‐dominated region, we undertake an explicit comparison of vegetation phenology between urban and rural zones. Using satellite‐derived MODIS‐EVI data from the first decade of the 20th century, we extract metrics of vegetation phenology (date of start of growing season, date of end of growing season, and length of season) for Britain's 15 largest cities and their rural surrounds. On average, urban areas experienced a growing season 8.8 days longer than surrounding rural zones. As would be expected, there was a significant decline in growing season length with latitude (by 3.4 and 2.4 days/degree latitude in rural and urban areas respectively). Although there is considerable variability in how phenology in urban and rural areas differs across our study cities, we found no evidence that built urban form influences the start, end, or length of the growing season. However, the difference in the length of the growing season between rural and urban areas was significantly negatively associated with the mean disposable household income for a city. Vegetation in urban areas deliver many ecosystem services such as temperature mitigation, pollution removal, carbon uptake and storage, the provision of amenity value for humans and habitat for biodiversity. Given the rapid pace of urbanization and ongoing climate change, understanding how vegetation phenology will alter in the future is important if we wish to be able to manage urban greenspaces effectively.     

Urban ecosystems and the North American carbon cycle

Approximately 75–80% of the population of North America currently lives in urban areas as defined by national census bureaus, and urbanization is continuing to increase. Future trajectories of fossil fuel emissions are associated with a high degree of uncertainty; however, if the activities of urban residents and the rate of urban land conversion can be captured in urban systems models, plausible emissions scenarios from major cities may be generated. Integrated land use and transportation models that simulate energy use and traffic‐related emissions are already in place in many North American cities. To these can be added a growing dataset of carbon gains and losses in vegetation and soils following urbanization, and a number of methods of validating urban carbon balance modeling, including top down atmospheric monitoring and urban ‘metabolic’ studies of whole ecosystem mass and energy flow. Here, we review the state of our understanding of urban areas as whole ecosystems with regard to carbon balance, including both drivers of fossil fuel emissions and carbon cycling in urban plants and soils. Interdisciplinary, whole‐ecosystem studies of the socioeconomic and biophysical factors that influence urban carbon cycles in a range of cities may greatly contribute to improving scenarios of future carbon balance at both continental and global scales.     

Accessibility to greenspaces: GIS based indicators for sustainable planning in a dense urban context

The issue of accessibility to urban greenspaces is raising as one of the most debated in sustainable urban planning, especially in topics such as environmental justice and health inequalities. This is mainly due to the growing attention that is recognised today to health and well-being benefits from greenspaces. Different people interpret accessibility based on their individual needs and priorities, but it is generally acknowledged that access to greenspaces may be particularly beneficial for children, lower socioeconomic groups and for people with other mental/psychological illness. However, if accessibility is the measure of the ease of reaching valued destinations, clarifying its definition is an important pre-requisite for further analysis aimed at supporting urban planning choices on greenspaces.The following paper presents a set of accessibility indicators aimed at quantifying different measures of accessibility to existing open spaces for the city of Catania, south Italy, an urban context characterised by a general lack of greenspaces and high density of urban settlements.Proposed indicators are divided into two main categories: simple distance indicators (SIs) and proximity indicators (PIs). The first accounts for the number of people or users that can have access to a particular open space, while the second weights these people or users with the distance from their location to the open spaces. Indicators are calculated using different thresholds of Euclidean and network distances.Results show different scenarios in terms of rank of greenspaces accessibility, strongly influenced by chosen distance metric (Euclidean vs network) and thus emphasise a careful use of these indicators as planning support tools. Some practical implications of measuring accessibility for urban planning can be highlighted: for instance, specific land uses might be chosen for highly accessible open spaces, especially those characterised by a high proximity to residential settlements. Examples include allotment gardens, playgrounds and other informal green areas.     

长三角城市群碳排放与城市用地增长及形态的关系

城市是一种重要的碳源,城市扩张过程中的用地面积增长和空间特征变化均会影响城市碳排放。分析1995—2015年长三角城市群碳排放重心转移,查明碳排放和城市用地增长的脱钩状态时空变化,并通过构建面板数据模型探究城市形态对碳排放的影响,得出以下结论:(1) 1995—2015年长三角城市群碳排放重心经历了西南向-西北向-东南向-西北向的转移过程,这种转移过程与其相应时期内部分城市的工业发展与产业结构调整有关;(2) 1995—2015年,长三角城市群碳排放与城市用地增长的脱钩状态存在着显著的时空异质性。研究区由以扩张负脱钩为主变化为以弱脱钩为主,2005年以后,区域之间的脱钩差异开始缩小,总体来看研究区脱钩状态趋向于同质。至2015年,近70%的城市已达到了脱钩,其中上海等城市实现了强脱钩;(3)连续完整的地块在区域内的主导程度会对城市碳排放产生负向的影响,而城市用地斑块的破碎化程度和聚集程度对碳排放有着正向的影响,且相对而言,聚集程度的正向影响更为显著。     

闽南三市绿地景观格局与地表温度的空间关系

深入探索绿地景观格局对热环境的影响机制,对于改善城市生态环境具有重要意义。基于厦门、漳州、泉州三市的Landsat遥感数据,应用景观生态学与空间自相关理论,探讨了绿地景观与地表温度的空间分布特征,并用双变量空间自相关与空间自回归模型分析两者之间的空间关系。结果表明:闽南三市绿地与地表温度均具有显著的空间自相关性;内陆的高海拔地区,绿地分布密集,地表温度较低,而城区、乡镇及大片的耕地,绿地分布较少,地表温度较高;漳州、泉州绿地景观格局对地表温度的影响更显著,厦门最弱;绿地的景观类型比例、最大斑块指数、聚集度指数、平均斑块面积与地表温度呈负相关,斑块密度与地表温度呈正相关;边缘密度、平均形状指数与地表温度的关系存在不确定性;空间滞后模型与空间误差模型能更好地解释绿地景观格局与地表温度的空间关系。     

关中平原城市群扩张对生态用地的多尺度影响

城市扩张与生态空间保护的矛盾是新型城镇化和国土空间规划过程中急需解决的问题之一。作为黄河流域生态保护与高质量发展的核心区域，关中平原城市群面临更加严峻的生态和资源胁迫。但相关研究主要对研究区整体的生态环境变化进行测度，少有研究分析城市群发展对生态用地的多尺度影响，且忽略了城市群中土地变化最剧烈，生态受胁迫最严重的城市边缘区。因此，基于土地利用数据，结合土地利用转移矩阵、景观指数、估算城市扩张间接影响的生态用地面积等方法，研究从城市群、重点城市和主要城市边缘区3个尺度分析1990-2018年城镇扩张对生态用地的直接和间接影响。结果表明：（1）关中平原城市群土地利用类型以半生态用地（耕地）为主，面积占比超过40%。而城市边缘区主要以半生态用地和建设用地为主。1990-2018年城市群建设用地面积比例由3.67%增长至5.93%，耕地面积共计减少3032.11 km²，自然生态用地的面积增加628.03 km²。受耕地占补、退耕还林等多重政策的影响，半生态用地和自然生态用地的变化呈现为"拉锯式"发展特征。（2）城市扩张对半生态用地的直接影响大于对自然生态用地的直接影响，各尺度土地利用转移变化大同小异，新增建设用地的主要来源均为耕地，其中城市边缘区的耕地受城镇扩张的挤占最为突出。（3）城市扩张对自然生态用地的间接影响大于直接影响，且不同城市建设用地对自然生态用地的间接影响因耕地补偿机制的不同而有所差异。因此，对关中平原城市群实施"一刀切"的耕地补偿政策实际上并不合理，应当因地制宜，考虑地区土地资源条件，适当调整发展和约束政策，更有利于城市群的可持续发展。