Study on RS-and GIS-based ecological capital assessment in arid areas

Abstract

Ecological capital assessment is currently one of the important research contents in the interdisciplinary field of ecology, resources economics, environmental economics and ecological economics. To scientifically assess ecological capital redounds to decision-makers to consider the ecological cost in economic development, and is also necessary for sustainable economic development in arid areas. Based on the theory of landscape ecology, in this paper the per unit area ecological capital values in arid areas are researched by using the Landsat TM data, CBERS satellite data, meteorological data, MODIS satellite data and other ecological data, and the RS-and GIS-based models of assessing ecological capital values in arid areas are developed. Moreover, based on the field-measured data, a case study on ecological capital assessment in the Manas River basin, Xinjiang in 2003 is carried out. The basin is divided into 4 ecological capital areas so as to quantitatively calculate the ecological capital values of the ecosystems, analyze the spatial distribution of ecological capital, and chart the maps of spatial distribution of ecological capital. The results show that the total ecological capital value of the ecosystems in the Manas River basin in 2003 was 1.494 54×1011 yuan RMB. In spatial distribution, the ecological capital decreases from the alpine zones to the plains and from the oases to the deserts, which accords with the distribution of vegetation zonality in this arid area. The assessed results can objectively reflect the ecological capital and its spatial distribution in the arid basin, and can also provide reference for roundly carrying out the assessment of ecological capital in arid areas.