Assessment of Spatial Temporal Changes of Ecological Environment Quality: A Case Study in Huaibei City, China

Under the short-term economic development goal, the excessive exploitation of natural resources and the destruction of the ecological environment make the ecological environment of Huaibei cities increasingly fragile. This study constructed the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) to evaluate the ecological environment change trend and its driving factors in Huaibei City from 2000 to 2020. The barycenter migration model was used to determine the RSEI spatial change trend, and the geographic detector was used to analyze the influencing factors of the RSEI value change. The results showed that: (1) the average RSEI value of Huaibei City generally fluctuates within the range of good and excellent grades. (2) The migration direction of the barycenter of RSEI is similar when the level of RSEI improves or decreases from 2000 to 2020, and the barycenter migration is most severe from 2005 to 2015. (3) The driving factors of RSEI change were population density (0.47) > land use (0.24) > slope (0.14) > precipitation (0.08) > temperature (0.04) > altitude (0.03). All the factors had interaction effects on the RSEI, mainly with nonlinear enhancement. (4) From 2000 to 2010, urban construction encroached on all kinds of land, which was the direct reason for the decline in ecological environment quality. From 2010 to 2020, the surge of water and meadow areas improved the ecological environment quality of Huaibei city. Therefore, reducing the expansion of artificial land, returning farmland to forests and meadows, wetland park construction, and other ecological protection measures are the keys to ensuring the sustainable development of regional social and economic development. This study can provide a reference and scientific basis for sustainable development strategy and ecological protection planning to improve the ecological environment quality of Huaibei City.