Interactions between Ecosystem Services and Social Economies in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Abstract An in‐depth understanding of the relationships between ecosystem services (ESs) and socioeconomic (SE) development is an important prerequisite for the coordination and sustainable development of regional human–environmental management strategies. In this study, the coupling coordination model is employed to explore the synergistic and trade‐off relationships between ESs and SE factors.The results show that the ESs in the Yangtze River Economic Belt are currently in a trade‐off stage. At the urban scale, the synergy between water production and other ecosystem functions is more than 20% higher than that of other systems. The proportion of trade‐offs between sediment retention and other ecosystem functions is also high, more than 40% higher than that of other systems. ESs are greatly affected by SE development; the expansion of cultivated land area has the largest negative effect on ESs, and rainfall has the largest negative effect on SE factors. The population has the largest positive effect on ESs, and carbon storage has the largest positive effect on SE factors. This study provides a research method by exploring the patterns of development, interaction, and impact in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which can provide a basis for the SE development and ESs management of watershed economic zones.