## 4 Conclusions and Discussion  
Starting from the spatial-temporal change pattern of land-use in a South-East coastal region, this study took Ningde City of China as the research area to explore how its land-use transitions (LUTs) change the ecosystem and its spatial distribution, thus affecting the structure and function of the ecosystem services during 2000-2020. Specifically, the geo-informatic Tupu method was applied to demonstrate the spatio-temporal trajectory and LUTs patterns in recent 20 years based on remote-sensing interpretation data. On this basis, we applied the newly revised benefit-transfer method (equivalent factor method), and developed an evaluation model to assess the net value of ecosystem services caused by different land-use types. The findings can provide scientific data for the policies of land-use and eco-compensation standards. Accordingly, the conclusions are as follows. 1. The land-use structure of Ningde City showed a remarkable pattern evolution. The study results indicate that from 2000 to 2020, the land-use structure of Ningde City was primarily characterized by cultivated land and forest land, collectively constituting over 80% of the total area. These land-use types significantly influence the ESV in Ningde City. Notably, the main trends observed for each land-use type include a consistent decline in cultivated land and forest land, accompanied by a continuous expansion of orchard land, water bodies, and built-up land. Conversely, the area of unutilized land showed negligible changes during the study period. From 2000 to 2020, the area of cultivated land transferred out has slowed down, from mainly forest land and water bodies to mainly built-up land, and at the same time, the area transferred out as forest land is getting smaller and smaller, while the area transferred out as built-up land is getting larger and larger; the area transferred out as forest land is mainly due to the implementation of the policy of returning farmland to forest, and the area transferred out as built-up land is mainly concentrated in the economically developed areas around the urban areas of counties and municipalities, which indicates that urbanization and industrialization in Ningde City are taking up a large amount of arable land. This indicates that urbanization and industrialization in Ningde City have taken up a large amount of cultivated land. The conversion of forest land and grassland into cultivated land is more obvious, mainly in the plains in front of the mountains where the terrain is more balanced. Over the past 20 years, along with the social and economic development of Ningde City and the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization, a large amount of cultivated land has been taken up by non-agricultural constructions, resulting in a continuous decline in the area of cultivated land, which has made the per capita cultivated land area of Ningde City more and more tense. In 1998, China issued and implemented the Land Management Law, which explicitly stipulates a \"Compensation System for Occupying Arable Land\"; driven by the cultivated land protection policy, people have strengthened land remediation and reclamation, thus prompting the conversion of residual forest land, grassland, and abandoned garden land into cultivated land. Since areas with high elevation and steep slopes are unsuitable for farming activities, the implementation of measures to balance the occupation and replenishment of arable land has prioritized areas with relatively gentle terrain. In the two time-series units, there are obvious differences in the changes in both upward and downward mapping in the counties and districts of Ningde City. From 2000 to 2010, Gutian County has the most stable land-use change, while Zherong County is the most active; Gutian County has the largest rate of land-use change, with the highest area of new increased grassland and the highest area of decreased cultivated land; and Fu'an and Xiapu Counties have the largest area of new increased built-up land.