Ecological management zoning in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China based on the balance of supply and demand for ecosystem services.

Ecological management zoning is the key to cope with the imbalance between ecosystem service supply and demand induced by rapid urbanization, and it is of great significance in solving the problems of ecological damage and impaired ecosystem services. Taking Huhhot, a typical city in arid and semi-arid areas, as an example, we measured the supply of four typical ecosystem services, namely, water yield (WY), carbon storage (CS), soil conservation (SC), and habitat quality (HQ), from 2000 to 2020 using InVEST model, and measured the demand based on multi-source data. We used the -score standardization method and the coupling coordination degree model to analyze the matching types of ecosystem service supply-demand and the coupling coordination degree at the grid scale, and delineated the ecological management zoning. The results showed that the supply of WY and SC increased and the supply of CS and HQ decreased between 2000 and 2020. The supply of ecosystem services was lower in the central city and higher in the northern mountains and southern hills. There was an overall upward trend in the demand for four ecosystem services. The demand for WY was higher in the central and northern parts. The demand for CS and HQ was higher near the central city. The demand for SC was higher in the northern mountains and southern hills. There was a mismatch between the supply of and demand for ecosystem services, with areas of low supply and high demand for WY, CS and HQ in the vicinity of the central city. The average value of the coupling coordination degree of supply and demand was 0.46, which was on the verge of becoming dysfunctional. Hohhot City was divided into four ecological management zones, ecological function protection zones focusing on ecological conservation, ecological conservation zones focusing on ecological protection and construction, ecological general protection zones to promote economic development, and important urban zones focusing on high-quality development.