Assessment of Land-Use/Cover Changes and Its Ecological Effect in Rapidly Urbanized Areas—Taking Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration as a Case

Based on the land-use data of 2000 and 2015, this study makes a quantitative analysis of the ecological environment effect in Pearl River Delta using the ecological environment quality index and the ecological contribution rate of land-use change types. The results showed the following: (1) During 2000–2015, the land-use changes in Pearl River Delta mainly manifested in the reduction of cultivated land, forest land, water area, and unused land, while the area of construction land and grassland showed an increasing trend. The quality of ecological environment in the Pearl River Delta was largely stable but slightly declined overall; (2) Over the past 15 years, the comprehensive ecological environment index of the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration has decreased by 0.02. With an average annual decrease of 0.11%. The spatial expansion caused by urbanization had the most profound impact on the decline of the ecological environment quality in the Pearl River Delta; (3) The eco-environmental quality indices of various cities in the Pearl River Delta declined to varying degrees. The city with the largest decline was Dongguan, followed by Shenzhen and Zhongshan. The spatial differentiation characteristics of the eco-environmental quality index indicate that the ecological quality preferences of cities distributed around the study area and close to the inland areas, while the ecological quality of the central coastal cities are biased. The quality of the ecological environment is related to the basis of the regional ecological environment. The research results have important practical significance for maintaining regional ecological balance and promoting the sustainable use of land resources, and they provide a reference for the study of the ecological and environmental effects of land-use changes in key cities in economically developed areas.