Analyzing interactions between nature reserves and adjacent land use: A gravity model approach

The expansion of human society exerts complex impacts on nature reserves, where intertwined resource, socioeconomic, and governance factors disrupt the balance between land development and ecological preservation. Resolving conflicts between conservation needs and human land use demands remains critical. This study develops a gravity-model–based interaction framework to quantify reserve–surrounding land use dynamics from vulnerability and resilience perspectives, using the Wuyishan National Nature Reserve as a case study. The results show that land use scale and proximity are the primary determinants of the reserve's vulnerability and resilience. Except for green space and square land (37.76), surrounding urban development land exerts a stronger effect on resilience than on vulnerability, indicating that urban expansion inevitably imposes ecological pressures on the reserve. Methodologically, a key innovation is the estimation of land use vulnerability and resilience. Except for green k), which provides benchmark impact values and reveals the heterogeneous influences of different construction-land categories on the resilience and vulnerability of land-cover types within the reserve. These findings offer an operational basis for land use zoning, buffer design, and policy coordination to better balance ecological protection and local development.