Multi-scale urban ecosystem service changes and their impact mechanisms on human well-being

With increasing urbanization pressures, there is an urgent need to improve the urban residents' well-being and achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Ecosystem services (ESs) are vital for human well-being (HW) and survival, providing essential benefits like clean water while supporting the SDGs. However, understanding the impact mechanism of urban ESs on the HW under the framework of the SGDs in a changing world remains challenging. This study simulated five key ESs: net primary productivity (NPP), water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), soil fixation (SF), and ecosystem carbon sink (ECSI) using ecological models at the pixel, urban green space and county scales, and calculated supply services at the county scale. Then we established an evaluation index system of the HW to reveal the impact mechanism of the ESs on the HW. The study found that in Beijing, the ESs improved by 29.14%-267.42%, while SF decreased by 55.84% during 2000-2020, and the urban green space became a carbon sink since 2010. At the pixel and urban green space scales, vegetation significantly drove the ES dynamics, with the relative importances exceeding 90% in supporting NPP and exceeding 55% in restraining WY. The urban landscape patterns dominated the ES dynamics at the county scale. The impervious landscape percentage inhibited NPP, ECSI and SC with the relative importances of 66.47%, 39.94% and 19.52%. The HW in Beijing increased from 2005 to 2020, with a notable difference between central urban and non-central urban counties. The supporting services supply had significantly negative direct and indirect impacts on the HW. The indirect impact of the urban ecosystem supporting service supply on the HW was through restraining provisioning service supply and supporting regulating service supply. The provisioning service supply had a significantly positive direct influence on the HW. This study can provide valuable references for sustainable urban management.