Landscape ecological risk assessment and influencing factors in ecological conservation area in Sichuan-Yunnan provinces, China.

Abstract

It is important for preventing and resolving landscape ecology risk and promoting regional sustainable development to explore the characteristics of temporal and spatial variations of landscape ecology risk of key ecological function zone and to reveal the potential influence of human activity on aggravation of landscape ecological risk. Based on the land cover data of 2000, 2010, and 2020, we constructed a model of risk assessment on landscape ecology, incorporating a landscape index and an assessment of ecological vulnerability, with the support of ArcGIS 10.8 and Fragstats 4.2. The spatial analysis method was used to examine the temporal and spatial variations of landscape ecology risk in ecological conservation in Sichuan-Yunnan provinces. We used the Geodetector to quantify the impacts of natural and social-economy factors in different ranges of region on landscape ecological risk. The results showed that from 2000 to 2020, the area of artificial land surface, water body, shrubland in the study area showed an upward trend, while the area of forest, cultivated land, grassland, wetlands, barren land, and permanent snow cover and glacier showed an downward trend. There was remarkable transfer of landscape types among forest, grassland and cultivated land, especially for the transfer from cultivated land to artificial surface. The mean value of landscape ecological risk had been reducing. The classes of landscape ecological risk was consistent with the changes and shifts of landscape. Landscape ecological risk was mainly at lower, low, and high levels in ecological conservation in Sichuan-Yunnan provinces. Natural factors, including elevation and precipitation, generally drove the temporal-spatial variations of landscape ecological risk. In addition, factors such as economy, society and regional accessibility could contribute to prominent impacts on local area suffering from pejorative risk.