District-Level RSEI Patterns and Ecological Heterogeneity in the Minsk Region, Belarus

Assessing ecological environment quality at the administrative-unit scale is important for understanding regional landscape differentiation and ecological dynamics in temperate regions. This study used the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI), derived from Landsat 8/9 growing-season imagery processed in Google Earth Engine, to examine district-level spatiotemporal patterns and ecological heterogeneity in the Minsk Region, Belarus, during 2016–2025. Annual RSEI maps were generated to characterize spatial patterns, intra-district variability, and temporal tendencies. Mean district-level RSEI values ranged from 0.539 to 0.682, showing clear spatial differentiation among districts. Higher values were generally associated with forest-dominated and semi-natural landscapes, whereas agriculturally transformed and urbanized districts showed lower values and greater internal heterogeneity. Temporal trends were predominantly negative but weak. The results indicate that average ecological conditions alone are insufficient for characterizing district-level ecological environment quality and confirm the usefulness of RSEI for detecting subtle ecological contrasts in temperate Eastern European landscapes.