Figure 1 - available via license: CC BY
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
Ecological security assessment aims at identifying an ecosystem’s stability, recognizing the ability to maintain ecological health under various scenarios of ecological risks. In this study, we focus on the ecological security of Liao River Basin not only in terms of directly considering the sustainable development of the basin itself but also in t...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... study was conducted in LRB, which is located in northeastern China, bordering Songhua River Basin to the north and Bohai Gulf to the south (38 • 41 -45 • 10 N and 116 • 31 -128 • 17 E). The LRB has an area of 31.4 × 10 4 km 2 and contains six sub-basins (Figure 1). The LRB terrain is lower in the southern and central regions and higher in the northern, eastern, and western regions. On one hand, the upstream region in the basin has witnessed a substantial growth in animal husbandry and agriculture industries but has a relatively lower population density. On the other hand, the downstream region is an old primary industrial base in northeast China, with two rapidly developing regions-the central-south city group in Liaoning province and Shenyang Economic Zone-located in this area, and it has a relatively higher population ...
Similar publications
The identification of ecological security pattern(ESP) is of great significance in solving regional ecological security problems. The study proposes two new perspectives for the study of ESP Firstly, a new method for identifying ecological supply and demand areas based on the ratio of ecosystem service supply and demand is proposed; The second is t...
Rapid urbanization would lead to deterioration of the eco-environment and damage the functioning of ecosystem services. Ecological security pattern (ESP) is one of important national strategies in China for coordinating the ecosystem protection and economic development. Previous studies have mainly focused on how to identify ecological sources and...
Low carbon sustainable development (LCSD) has become an inevitable choice, for which China has put forward a “dual-carbon” policy. The purpose of this study is to capture the interaction between the environment and the economy in the context of this goal, thus evaluating LCSD level from a systematic perspective. This paper proposes a super slack ba...
Evaluating the ecosystem health of riparian zones is helpful for decision-makers to formulate appropriate management measures. However, there are few methods for such evaluation which account for both the human requirements and ecological aspects of riparian zones. To address this, we created a Pressure-State(Vigor-Organization-Resilience)-Response...
With the accelerated urbanization and frequent occurrence of climate extremes, the regional ecosystem service level has ushered in a great challenge, and the resilience of the ecological network has gradually weakened, leading to lower ecological benefits and production levels. As a core ecologically sensitive area in the middle reaches of the Yang...
Citations
... The entropy method measures the disorder degree of a system's state through information entropy and judges the relative amplitude of index change [11]. The calculation formula is as follows: ...
Climate change and human activities have caused various ecological risks to coastal urban agglomerations. Ecological security refers to the state of health of an ecosystem and its integrity. An objective and comprehensive evaluation of ecological security is significant for protecting the structure and function of coastal ecosystems. The driving force–pressure–state–impact–response (DPSIR) model was used to construct a dynamic simulation model of ecological security in the Xiamen–Zhangzhou–Quanzhou region (XZQR), located on the eastern coast of China. The ecological security level (ESL) characteristics of the spatial and temporal patterns were evaluated by calculating the ecological security index (ESI). Obstacle factors were analyzed as well. The results show the following: (1) From 2011 to 2021, the average ESI rose from 0.238 to 0.686 and went through a relatively insecure stage (2011–2015), a critical stage (2016–2019), and a relatively secure stage (2020–2021). (2) The ESI level in Quanzhou was higher in the early stage, and the level of ecological security in Zhangzhou showed a significant rising trend, increasing by 0.541. Its increase depended on increases in the impact layer. (3) The impact layer is the main obstacle layer affecting the ESL, and the main obstacles include CO2 emissions (0.117), annual rainfall (0.091), general public budget expenditures (0.082), GDP growth rates (0.082), and green coverage in built-up areas (0.075). Therefore, we recommend promoting the complementary advantages of the XZQR and implementing ecological restoration projects.
... Tang et al. [31] used another watershed, namely, that of Chaohu Lake, as their study target and comprehensively evaluated the ecological safety status of the water prior to and following the introduction of the river management system. Zhao et al. [32] constructed a process analysis model regarding the environmental security of the Liaohe River basin, which considers its importance as part of the environmental macro-regulation of the northeast region. One more study has constructed an ecological and environmental security evaluation system for the Batangilin Desert and its surrounding areas based on the drivers, pressure, state, and impact [33]. ...
Ecological security is related to human well-being, is closely linked to a region’s sustainable development, and is an essential cornerstone of any national security system. The Demonstration Zone of Green and Integrated Ecological Development (DZGIED) of the Yangtze River Delta is a critical point in implementing the integrated development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta. This paper used the Pressure–State–Response (PSR) framework to evaluate the regional ecological security (RES) in the DZGIED based on multi-source remote sensing and GIS data. And the analysis was conducted from the overall and administrative division perspective. The results show that (1) from 2000 to 2020, the ecological security of the DZGIED shows a slight decline overall. The RES decreased from 0.60 to 0.53. The RES level is kept above the critical security level and needs further improvement. (2) Significant differences in the RES across townships, with more pronounced changes in extreme values. The ecological security status of more than 80% of the townships shows solid positive spatial correlations. The ecological security of the DZGIED is more critical to the central area. (3) Human disturbance is the most important factor causing the decline in ecological security and the impact of environmental safety on the central area is more enormous. (4) The ecological security state of the DZGIED shows an improving trend, but it is still necessary to promote the construction of various demonstration projects. This paper aims to ensure the sustainable development of the DZGIED in the future and to provide guidance for policy formulation on ecological safety in the DZGIED from the perspective of administrative divisions. It also provides a reference for small-scale regional ecological safety evaluation studies such as townships.
... The aim was to determine the ability of ecosystems in maintaining ecological health under different ecological risk scenarios. Zhao et al (Zhao C et al.,2018) focused on the sustainable development of the basin in the Liaohe River basin. They developed an analysis framework called the 'structure-quality-process' to evaluate the ecological safety of the basin, considering both its own development and regional ecological macro-control. ...
Ecosystem health assessment on a large river basin scale is a crucial area of focus in ecological health evaluation, representing a prominent research direction in environmental science and landscape ecology. The Qinghe River Basin, which faces multiple environmental challenges induced by human activities, has significant impacts on both the ecological environment and the sustainable development of society and economy. In order to fully understand the ecological health status of this basin, an ecological health assessment was conducted in there. With reference to the Guidelines for Basin Ecological Health Assessment (Trial) , a systematic framework was developed to establish an assessment system that includes both aquatic and terrestrial systems within the basin to ensure a comprehensive evaluation. The WHI, which is a comprehensive assessment index, was utilized for this purpose.By adopting an integrated approach, the ecological health assessment of the Qinghe River Basin provides a comprehensive evaluation of the overall condition of the river basin. The results indicate an average evaluation grade of 58.66, reflecting the overall ecological health of the Qinghe River Basin. The assessment of the ecological system in the Qinghe River Basin is an important step in understanding the current situation and major issues faced by the basin. It also provides a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for promoting sustainable development, effective management, and comprehensive environmental protection in the area. This study not only contributes valuable insights to the scientific community but also supports policymakers and stakeholders in making informed decisions to protect ecological integrity and promote sustainable development.
... Ecological quality in Northeast China presented a remarkable distribution pattern, which was better in eastern and northern parts, followed by central and northeastern parts, with western and southwestern parts being the worst (Fig. 3b). This result was consistent with previous studies (Song et al., 2015;Zhao et al., 2018), indicating that forest quality was better than cropland, grassland, and bare land. From 2000 to 2019, the ecological quality of Northeast China was mainly improved, but it was degraded in local areas. ...
The remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) has been established as a comprehensive indicator to evaluating long-term ecological quality (EQ) changes. However, previous studies mostly focused on EQ change analysis at discrete time points and ignored the continuous process. This study aims to construct an annual EQ collection from 2000 to 2019 to reveal the spatial and temporal changes in EQ under the combined action of multiple factors. We developed annual RSEI in Northeast China based on Google Earth Engine and described the patterns of EQ changes from 2000 to 2019 using trend analysis. Furthermore, we quantified the contributions of natural and anthropogenic driving factors and their interactions on EQ changes utilizing the geographical detector model. The results showed that the EQ of Northeast China improved from Moderate to Good over 2000-2019, with RSEI increasing from 0.54 to 0.67. The pixel-based trend analysis suggested that the regions with stable and improved EQ accounted for 52.57% and 46.73%, respectively. EQ improvements were mostly found in cropland, grassland, and woodland. EQ deterioration areas only accounted for 0.70% and mainly occurred in urban, coastal, and sandy areas. Among the nine driving factors, elevation, land use intensity, and slope were the primary factors for EQ improvement, with contributions of 20%, 16%, and 13% in Northeast China, respectively, while the eco-engineering area explained 32% of the negative effect on EQ deterioration. Compared with the contribution of a single factor, the multi-factor interactions significantly enhanced those factors' explanatory power for EQ variations. The results of this study will provide significant information and important reference for decision-makers to make more targeted efforts on environmental protection and ecological restoration.
... The Liaohe River Basin (LRB) is one of China's seven major river basins, and its northwestern portion is positioned in agriculture-pastoral interlacing zone of North China. Being China's major ecological barrier, the region is susceptible to climate change, and lacks the resilience to maintain ecosystem stability (Zhao et al., 2018). Since the 1950s, accelerated socio-economic development, overgrazing, urban expansion and an exponential increase of population have directly or indirectly destroyed the surface vegetation state (Bryan et al., 2018). ...
Elucidating the response mechanism of variation in vegetation trend to determinant is of great value to environmental resource management, particularly significant in the ecologically fragile area. The Liaohe River Basin (LRB) is a key part of eco-security in China, which has experienced apparent climatic variations and intensified human activities in recent decades. Yet, it still remains not clear about drivers in shaping the spatio-temporal patterns of vegetation growth. Here, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was utilized to investigate the spatio-temporal variation of vegetation coverage from 2000 to 2019. Then, we incorporated partial derivatives analysis to conduct attribution analyses of vegetation greening in light of the meteorological data. The prime findings are as follows: (1) The vegetation coverage in the LRB presented a growing state in the recent 20 years at a rate of 0.0031/a, with significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity due to its slope; (2) The attribution results showed that the average contribution of precipitation, temperature, and solar radiation to the NDVI changes in the LRB was 0.00205/a, 0.00008/a, and − 0.00028/a, respectively. (3) The climatic change played the most dominant role in influencing vegetation activities as a result of the relative contributions of 59.68% of NDVI changes (40.32% contributed by anthropogenic activities); (4) LULC dynamics were characterized by an increase in forest land and large-scale ecological afforestation projects, which increase vegetation coverage. Conversely, urbanization adversely affected vegetation variations. Understanding the findings of this study is expected to offer further scientific support and practical implications for monitoring the local vegetation status.
... In recent years, the number of studies on RESPs in rapidly economically developing areas, important water-conserving areas, and ecologically fragile areas has gradually increased. The research scope has also shifted from a single-species conservation objective to the construction of integrated RESPs that encompass multiple objectives, such as biodiversity conservation, climate regulation, and cultural heritage preservation [22][23][24][25][26]. Therefore, an increasing number of studies have begun to identify ecological corridors by constructing RESPs using experimental methods such as biotelemetry, route studies, and modeling techniques, including network analyses, flow analyses, and minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) analyses [20,27,28]. ...
The construction of regional ecological security patterns (RESPs) has practical significance in guiding cross-regional synergistic ecological conservation; however, quantitative comparative studies within and beyond RESPs are lacking. Here, RESPs were constructed using the minimum cumulative resistance model for the Yangtze River Delta region as the case area, and land use and eco-environmental quality indices within and beyond RESPs were quantitatively analyzed. Ecological land dominated the land use categories within RESPs, with forestland and water bodies accounting for 40.93% and 32.46% of the total area, respectively. Land use within and beyond the RESP region differed in high-intensity land use regions, and the eco-environmental quality index (EQI) variations were notable. Among the analyzed cities, land use intensity within the RESP region was lower than that beyond the RESP region, and the EQI within the RESP region was generally higher than that beyond the RESP region. Land use intensities were typically less than 2% in southeastern Zhejiang and southern Anhui. The EQI data were supported by the examination of the remote sensing ecological index. The established RESP restricts the expansion of construction land and encourages ecological protection, according to the comparative analysis of land use transitions.
... Terms of ecosystem structures, also known as the organizing power of ecosystems, indicate the interrelationship of ecosystem components and the diversity of ecological elements [55]. The spatial continuity between landscape units directly influences the convenience of movement of energy and material between patches [52]. ...
Mining activities have contributed to the growth of the city, but also raised non-negligible eco-geological environmental issues that threaten ecological safety. Ecological security pattern (ESP), as an important grip on the ecological restoration and protection of national land space, helps to balance mining activities and ecological protection in coal resource-based cities. Taking Huaibei City as a study area, we applied the ESP research paradigm: an ecosystem “function-structure” conceptual framework was developed to identify ecological sources, the “coal mining subsidence—economic activities” framework was used to revise ecological resistance surface, and the circuit theory was used to extract ecological corridors. Then, key areas for ecological restoration and protection were identified, including ecological pinch points, barrier points, and fracture points. Finally, the pattern and strategies for ecological restoration and protection were proposed. Study results show that there were 51 ecological sources, covering an area of 152.75 km2; 111 ecological corridors were extracted with 6000 as truncation threshold; 17 pinch points, 75 barrier points, and 117 fracture points were identified. Ecological restoration and protection patterns of “one axis, two shields, four zones, eight belts and multiple corridors”, and strategies for key areas were proposed. The results of the study are important for the sustainable development of coal-resource-based cities.
... . . ( Su et al., 2010, 2011Zhao et al., 2018.) پایدار، ( Gao et al., 2012Hasan et al., 2020) . ...
The present study aims to analyze the ecological security in the KoozehTopraghi Watershed, Ardabil Province, based on the pattern and process-related criteria that cover both land use class and sub-watershed levels. Towards this, firstly, the comprehensive indicator of landscape pattern was calculated via integrating criteria of the splitting index (SPLIT), largest patch index (LPI), edge density (ED), and patch density (PD), and the comprehensive indicator of landscape process was calculated according to the criteria of division (DIVISION), mean patch area (AREA-MN), aggregation index (AI), fractal dimension (FRACTAL), and coefficient of soil erosion intensity (Z). Then, the landscape ecological security index (LSI) was calculated and assessed based on a combination of two main indicators at two levels of class and landscape for 36 sub-watersheds. Finally, the status of LSI was classified into five categories very low, low, medium, high, and very high. It was found that the study watershed has a low level of LSI. Besides, the values of comprehensive indicators of landscape pattern and process were equal to 0.28 and 0.37, respectively. The mean LSI was 0.25. The maximum LSI was equal to 0.78 for sub-watershed 14 (southern part) and its minimum value was calculated at 0.03 for sub-watershed 33 (northern part). Overall, the southern and southwestern parts of the watershed were classified in the high and medium security categories, and the northern parts were classified as very low security. The present results can be used for land use planning, ecological impact assessment, and watershed resource management.
... support human life and socioeconomic activities [5][6][7]. However, in coal resource-based cities, serious ecological and environmental problems frequently occur, such as landscape fragmentation, decreased connectivity, land desertification and salinization, groundwater table decline, soil erosion, vegetation degradation, biodiversity loss, and land subsidence [2,[7][8]. ...
... support human life and socioeconomic activities [5][6][7]. However, in coal resource-based cities, serious ecological and environmental problems frequently occur, such as landscape fragmentation, decreased connectivity, land desertification and salinization, groundwater table decline, soil erosion, vegetation degradation, biodiversity loss, and land subsidence [2,[7][8]. In 2015, coal resources once accounted for about 70% of China's energy consumption, and coal production from large coal bases accounted for 93% of China's energy consumption [3,[8][9]. ...
The coal mining activities and urbanization of China’s coal resource-based cities have caused many ecological and environmental problems that cannot be ignored, seriously threatening regional ecological security. Constructing ecological security patterns (ESP) is an effective way to balance ecological protection, coal mining activities and urbanization. This study aims to take Jining City as an example, and propose a new ecological sensitivity assessment (ESA) method based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis, and then propose a new ESP construction method based on ESA, including the method of determining ecological source patches and their grades through ESA and patch connectivity evaluation, the method of extracting ecological corridors based on the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model, and the method of determining the grade of ecologically sensitive areas based on ESA, and then constructing ESP and "two core, three corridors and multiple points" ecological network planning. And then guide the urban development through ESP and ecological network planning.
... (1) Measuring ecosystem structure Ecosystem structure is represented by the type, area, number, spatial distribution, and configuration of an ecosystem or landscape patch at the macro scale [8,24]. It is closely related to ecological processes, having a significant influence on the capacity to maintain ecosystem stability and integrity [25]. ...
Open-cast coal mining in China has developed rapidly due to its obvious advantages over underground mining. However, it may have negative ecological effects, such as biodiversity loss, water shortage, and soil erosion. Identifying and protecting the key areas with high importance for ecological sustainability are great challenges. The construction of an ecological security pattern (ESP) can improve landscape connectivity and reduce the fragmentation of ecological patches. Thus, it can be seen as an effective measure to protect regional ecological sustainability. In this study, taking the Pingshuo open-cast mining area as a case study area, ecological sources are identified through ecosystem structure and function, and corridors are extracted by constructing an ecological resistance surface, thus forming a valid ecological network. The results show that in 2018, the ESP in the study area included 11 sources with an area of 147.74 km2 and 17 corridors with a length of 92.11 km. Specifically, the ecological sources are mainly distributed in Taocun Township, Jingping Township, and Xiangyangbao Township. Among these 11 sources, sources 7 and 8 are reclaimed waste dump land, meaning that the land reclamation work in Pingshuo greatly promotes connectivity. Furthermore, dump 1 can be restored in the future by constructing three new corridors, which will greatly improve the landscape connectivity of Yuling Township. Overall, this study not only provides an effective framework for constructing and optimizing ESPs in ecologically fragile coal mining areas, but it also adds new insights to the concept of land reclamation in these areas.
