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Arid Land Geography ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (2): 427-440.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000–6060.2021.02.14

• Earth Surface Process • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Comprehensive ecological security assessment: A case study of Urumqi City

WANG Yishan1,2(),ZHANG Fei1,2,3(),CHEN Rui1,2,QI Yaxiao1,2,LIU Changjiang1,2   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Smart City and Environment Modeling, Resources and Environmental Science College, Xinjiang University,Urumqi 830046, Xinjiang, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, Xinjiang, China
    3. Engineering Research Center of Central Asia Geoinformation Development and Utilization, National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2020-01-05 Revised:2020-07-06 Online:2021-03-25 Published:2021-04-14
  • Contact: Fei ZHANG E-mail:wangyishan639@163.com;zhangfei3s@163.com

Abstract:

For this study, we select the city of Urumqi, which is located in an arid region of China, as the research area and take 2017 as the time node. Then, we select 20 indicators in three aspects of nature, society, and economy to comprehensively characterize the level of LES in Urumqi. Combined with ecosystem services and landscape perspectives, spatial characteristics are described. The results show the following: (1) In 2017, the ESV in Urumqi was 22.07 billion yuan and 97.48% of its area was in the low-to-medium ESV domain. The most important source of ESV contribution were forest-grasslands, and the main contributing area was Urumqi County and Dabancheng District. Obvious differences were observed in the regional ESVs. (2) Urumqi has urban landscape characteristics that are typical of arid areas, and the overall distribution of its landscape is relatively coordinated. However, the landscape distribution having ecological advantages is currently small. The LES is spatially expressed as “west low and east high”, and the overall level is relatively low. Meanwhile, the LESs in various regions exhibit certain classification features. High-value areas are concentrated in edge areas such as Dabancheng District, Urumqi County, and Midong District. In the marginal areas, the LES in the central urban area is generally poor and is deeply affected by human activities. (3) The land ecological security of the various regions of Urumqi City is mainly distributed between the sensitive and relative security levels. Overall ecological security of the city is at a medium level; the edge areas generally exhibited a higher level of ecological security than that exhibited by the central areas. Urumqi County has the highest land ecological security level in the edge area, and high-tech zones have the highest level of land ecological security. With urban expansion and population growth, land encroachment and resource consumption and other similar parameters have intensified. Moreover, the land ecological security in some regions has been destroyed to a certain extent; and it can maintain the current level mainly relying on the natural background (state) of each region in Urumqi. The adverse effects (stress) and positive improvement (response) of human activities are not yet obvious. At present, there is much room for improving the level of land ecological security in Urumqi. Areas with low levels of land ecological security are still concentrated in areas with frequent human activities. Unused land occupies a large proportion in the study area. The desertification situation of Urumqi is still very serious. Forest-grasslands and land covered by water are important to maintain the ecological safety of the land in this area. However, the landscape conditions are relatively poor. In the future, we must pay attention to the land use and environmental protection planning in the study area, especially the protection of forest-grassland and land covered by water. Simultaneously, to avoid the continued deterioration of the land ecological security level, a long-term dynamic monitoring mechanism for the land ecological environment should be established to strengthen the control of land development.

Key words: PSR model, ecosystem service value, landscape ecological security, land ecological security assessment, Urumqi City