Mountainous areas play critical roles in ecosystem service provision, yet face challenges from fragile ecosystems and persistent poverty. China's Qinling Mountains exemplify this tension and necessitate coordinated ecological-economic development pathways. This study constructed an ecological-economic efficiency evaluation model. The model incorporates five inputs spanning environmental, infrastructure, soil, and labor dimensions. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) serves as the expected output, while carbon emission is the undesirable output. Pearson correlation analysis, Dutilleul's modified t-test for spatial adjustment, and the super-efficiency slacks-based measure (SuperSBM) model were applied to assess Pearson ecological-economic correlations, the influence of spatial autocorrelation on correlation significance, relative efficiency, and spatial differences. The resulting efficiency scores capture how well economic output aligns with resource-ecological inputs, rather than reflecting absolute ecological quality. Through slack analysis, the main sources of inefficiency and priority areas for ecological improvement were identified. Differentiated ecological product value realization policy implications were then discussed via terrain–function composite zoning and illustrative case evidence. Results showed that Pearson ecological-economic correlations were directionally negative in relatively plain areas but positive in mountainous areas, although these correlations became non-significant after spatial autocorrelation adjustment using Dutilleul’s modified t-test. Efficiency varied substantially across the 536 watershed units, with Baoji and Xi'an exhibiting the highest values. The Qinling Mountains should further integrate market-based mechanisms and community participation to enhance ecological product value realization. • Ecological-economic efficiency was evaluated using SuperSBM for 536 watersheds • Pearson correlations were directionally negative in plains and positive in mountains • Dutilleul's test showed Pearson correlations were non-significant after adjustment • Zoning-based ecological product value realization policy implications were discussed
Yang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.