Ecological security assessment at different spatial scales in central Yunnan Province, China

PLoS One. 2022 Jun 28;17(6):e0270267. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270267. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Healthy ecosystems are the basis of social and economic development. It is of great significance to conduct ecological security assessments in rapidly urbanization areas. Based on the driving forces, pressure, state, impact, and response (DPSIR) model, five years (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015) of remote sensing images, social and economic statistics, and field survey data were used to establish an ecological security assessment index system. The ecological security assessment of central Yunnan Province (CYP) urban agglomeration was conducted at the 1 km × 1 km pixel scale and at the county scale based on the multilevel weighted comprehensive index method. The results showed that: (1) With 2005 as the turning point, the ecological security situation in CYP first decreased and then increased. (2) The ecological security at the county scale was mainly categorized as unsafe. At the pixel scale, ecologically unsafe and relatively unsafe areas were mainly distributed in central, northern, and western CYP. (3) The ecological security deterioration and strengthened spatial distribution differences were caused by habitat fragmentation, different physical geographical conditions, and population agglomeration. These results can provide a basis for the coordination and sustainability of economic development and environmental protection in urban agglomerations with rapid urbanization.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • China
  • Conservation of Natural Resources / methods
  • Ecology* / methods
  • Ecosystem*
  • Urbanization

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Multi-government International Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Key Project of the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2018YFE0184300) (J.W.); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41561048) (J.W.). The study was co-funded by RFBR (grant number 19-55-80010\19), MOST (grant number 2018YFE0184300) and NRF (grant number 120456) according to the research project number 19-55-80010\19 (E.K. and A.T.), and the Yunnan Provincial University Science and Technology Innovation Team (IRTSTYN) (J.W.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.