As an important ecological protective screen in northern China, monitoring and evaluating the dynamic changes in habitat quality and their relationship with land use changes in Bayannur played a notable role in maintaining regional ecological balance and species diversity. Based on the Google earth engine （GEE） platform, this study employed multi-period remote sensing image coupling to construct a remote sensing ecological index （RSEI）, analyzed the changes in habitat quality in Bayannur City from 2000 to 2022, and explored its relationship with land use changes. The results showed that： ① From 2000 to 2022, although the habitat quality of Bayannur improved slowly, the overall quality was poor. The annual change rate was 0.000 8 a-1 （P>0.05）, showing an insignificant upward trend, and the habitat quality in the south was significantly higher than that in the north. ② The changes of land types in Bayannur mainly occurred in Urad Middle Banner and Urad Back Banner. The changes in grassland area were the largest, followed by those of wasteland and cultivated land. ③ From 2000 to 2010, the increase in habitat quality in the study area was mainly related to the conversion of other land types to cultivated land and the conversion of wasteland and some cultivated land to grassland. From 2010 to 2022, the decrease in habitat quality was related to the shrinkage of grassland areas and the conversion of large areas to wastelands. ④ Grassland had the greatest impact on the rising and falling areas of habitat quality. For every 10% increase in grassland area, the rising area increased by 6.33%, and the falling area decreased by 4.58%. The research could provide a scientific theoretical basis for urban land pattern optimization, ecological environment management, and ecological civilization city construction in arid and semi-arid areas.
Keywords: Bayannur City; MODIS remote sensing data; ecological environment quality; land use changes; remote sensing ecological index.