Analysis of ecological security pattern of rare earth mining areas in South China based on MCR model

The rare earth mining area in South China is the main production base of ionic rare earth in the world, which has brought inestimable economic value to the local area and even the whole nation. However, due to the lack of mining technology and excessive pursuit for economic profits, a series of environmental problems have arisen, which is a great threat to the ecosystem of the mining area. Taking Lingbei rare earth mining area in Ganzhou as an example, this paper discriminated and analyzed such aspects as the ecological source, ecological corridor and ecological nodes of the mining area based on the landscape ecological security pattern theory and the minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR) method, and constructed a landscape ecological security pattern of the mining area during the 2009, 2013 and 2018. The results show that: i) The patch area of the ecological source of rare earth mining area is small, mainly concentrated in the east and west sides of the mining area. ii) During the selected year, the ecological source area, ecological corridors, radiation channels and the number of ecological nodes in the rare earth mining area are increasing, indicating that the landscape ecological security of the rare earth mining area has been improved to some extent, but it remains necessary for relevant departments to make a optimized planning to further reconstruct the ecological security pattern of the rare earth mining area.

An analysis of the interaction between industrial structure protection, ecological resources and environmental pollution externalities based on PSR model

Taking the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin in Hubei Province as the research area, based on the "pressure state response" framework model, the evaluation index system of landscape ecological security in the basin is constructed, and its spatiotemporal change process and characteristics are discussed. The results show that the comprehensive index of landscape ecological security in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is gradually rising, and the area above the middle and high security level accounts for 52% of the total area of the study area. The high safety areas in the basin are mainly concentrated in the areas with good vegetation coverage, such as natural reserves and forestry development areas, whose distribution pattern is opposite to the risk distribution pattern of geomorphic disasters such as landslides, debris flows and soil erosion.

Effect of Compactness of Urban Growth on Regional Landscape Ecological Security

With rapid urbanization destroying the ecological environment, scholars have focused on ways to coordinate harmonious development using urban spatial layouts and landscape ecological security. To explore landscape ecological security (the landscape elements, spatial positions and connections that are of key significance to the health and safety of ecological processes) from the perspective of urban form evolution pattern will help to open a new perspective of urban management research, and become the basic work of urban space policy and the implementation of the beautiful China strategy. Based on urban growth and land use data from 356 cities in China, this study applied a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to quantify the impact of China’s urban growth pattern on landscape ecological security at the spatial level. The research results show that: (1) To some extent, the infilling growth pattern has a certain effect on the enhancement of regional landscape ecological security; (2) In the three control variables (DEM, Population density and GDP), the following conclusions are drawn: regional landscape planning should reasonably allocate landscape resources according to the local topographic features to obtain a higher landscape ecological security; The increase of population density leads to the fragmentation and diversity of the landscape in some regions, which makes the landscape ecological security weak; more economically developed areas have stronger landscape ecological security. This paper highlights the importance of urban growth patterns to landscape ecological security. In addition, considering the different urban evolution trajectories in developed and developing countries, this study proposes targeted development recommendations, providing a reference for urban managers to formulate reasonable development policies and to realize sustainable development with the goal of landscape safety management and control.

Ecological Security Assessment Based on Remote Sensing and Landscape Ecology Model

The various ecological processes of human beings are not only restricted by the landscape pattern on the regional scale but also affect the local and regional landscape together with global climate change. To date, most of the research on ecological security is based on the pressure-state-response (PSR) model, while there were a few studies based on the landscape ecology model approach. In addition, there has been little literature focus on the dynamic change process of ecological security, especially the simulation and prediction of the future development trend of ecological security. The purpose of this research is to establish a landscape ecological security evaluation method based on grid division, be aimed at breaking the inherent drawbacks of the administrative region as a unit mode approach, anticipated to better reflect the landscape ecological security status of the study area. A complex framework was constructed by integrating random forest algorithm, Fishnet model, landscape ecology model, and CA-Markov model. Multitemporal remote sensing data were selected as a data source, and land use maps of the study area were obtained through the random forest machine learning algorithm firstly. And then, the study area is divided into 307 grids of 2 km × 2 km using the Fishnet model. Next, the landscape disturbance index, landscape vulnerability index, and landscape loss index are used on the grid scale to establish a landscape ecological security evaluation model. Finally, ecological security assessment of Zhengzhou city was carried out, and the distribution map of the landscape ecological status in 1986, 1996, 2006, 2016, and predicted for 2026 was obtained. The results of the study showed that, as time goes by, the areas with high ecological safety gradually decrease. It is predicted that by 2026, the ecological security level of Zhengzhou will be dominated by lower ecological security areas. The research results can provide basic information and decision support for government agencies and land use planners to ensure responsible and sustainable development of the urban environment and ecology.

Landscape change patterns at three stages of the construction and operation of the TGP

Analyses of landscape change patterns that are based on elevation and slope can not only provide reasonable interpretations of landscape patterns but can also help to reveal evolutionary laws. However, landscape change patterns and their model in different landforms of the typical watershed in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) has not been quantified and assessed effectively. As a complex geographical unit, the ecological environment in the middle reach of the Yangtze River has experienced great changes due to the construction of the Three Gorges Project (TGP) and its associated human activities. Here, based mainly on a digital elevation model (DEM) and remotely sensed images from 1986, 2000, 2010, and 2017 and by using GIS technology, speeds/ trends of landscape change, the index of landscape type change intensity, landscape pattern indices, and landscape ecological security index, the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of different elevations, slopes, and buffer landscape types were analyzed in typical watersheds, as well as an evolutionary model of the landscape pattern. The results indicated that (1) the landscape types along with the land classification and buffer zone that were influenced by the TGR construction have undergone a phased change, with the period 2000–2010 being the most dramatic period of landscape evolution during the impoundment period; (2) landscape type shifts from human-dominated farmland to nature-driven forestland and shrub-land as elevations, slopes and buffer distances increased. The landscape has shifted from diversity to relative homogeneity; (3) land types and buffer zones played essential roles in the landscape pattern index, which is reflected in the differences in landscape type indices for spatial extension and temporal characteristics. The results of this paper illustrate the spatial–temporal characteristics of various landscape types at three distinct stages in the construction of the TGR. These findings indicate that the landscape ecological security of the watershed is improving year by year. The follow-up development of the TGRA needs to consider the landscape change patterns of different landforms.