Integrating the actual benefits of ecosystem services to assess ecosystem health and its drivers in the Sichuan-Yunnan ecological barrier zone

The synergistic supply of ecosystem services (ESs) is crucial for maintaining regional ecosystem health (EH) and achieving sustainable development goals. However, traditional EH assessments, when considering the potential supply of ESs, overlook the actual benefits generated by trade-offs among them, thereby failing to reveal the actual ecological conditions. Thus, taking the Sichuan-Yunnan ecological barrier zone (SYEBZ) as a case study, this study integrated ecosystem integrity and ESs benefits to evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamic of EH from 2000 to 2025, then employed multiple spatial analysis models to identify the dominant factors, interactions and regional variations affecting EH from both global and local perspectives. We found that (1) this improved method better reflects the actual state of EH under human disturbance compared to traditional methods. (2) The EH level showed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing during 2000–2025, with ecological degradation primarily occurring in Chengdu city and its surrounding areas. (3) Socioeconomic factors (i.e., POP and GDP) as the dominant influence on regional EH, followed by topography, while other natural factors primarily exert their effects through regulating ecological baselines and carrying capacity. (4) The impact of dominant factors on EH exhibited spatial heterogeneity, for which differentiated ecological management strategies have been formulated. The research findings can provide practical guidance for the ecosystem management and healthy development of SYEBZ.