Spatio-temporal evolution of rural industry and ecology based on perspective of symbiosis theory: Insights from Jiangxi Province, China

Rural industrial development and ecological civilization transformation are crucial to China's comprehensive advancement of rural revitalization. However, many regions still face the issue of a conflict between economic development and ecological protection. Symbiosis theory provides a new perspective for understanding the interactive relationship of rural industry and ecology (RIE). Jiangxi Province, one of China's first national pilot zones for ecological conservation, exemplifies rural areas' typical challenges in balancing industrial development and ecological protection, and has been selected as the study area. By integrating the characteristics of RIE with symbiosis theory, a comprehensive RIE assessment framework was constructed. The comprehensive model, spatial autocorrelation method, and symbiosis theory model were employed to address the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of RIE, reveal the symbiotic relationship (SR) and the symbiosis types of RIE, and explore the path of symbiotic development between RIE. Results indicated that: (1) Since 2015, RIE has shown an upward trend, with regional differences in ecological development levels gradually shrinking. Significant spatial correlation and agglomeration characteristics exist, but a coordinated regional development pattern has not yet emerged. (2) Overall, the symbiosis degree (SD) between RIE showed a positive trend with narrowing gaps, the symbiosis coefficient (SC) of industry to ecology converged to 0.5 under a positive asymmetric mutualism (PAM) mode, suggesting that their relationship tended to be coordinated. Specifically, rural ecology grew increasingly influential on industry in most counties. (3) Rural areas were classified into different types led by industry-dominated PAM, and various optimization paths were proposed. Future efforts should promote the equalization of the interaction forces between RIE according to local conditions.