A Quantitative Assessment of Comprehensive Ecological Risk for a Loess Erosion Gully: A Case Study of Dujiashi Gully, Northern Shaanxi Province, China

Abstract

As a tool that can effectively support ecosystem management, ecological risk assessment is closely related to the sustainable development of ecosystems and human well-being and has become an active area of research in ecology, geography and other disciplines. Taking Dujiashi Gully for the study of gully loess erosion, a comprehensive risk assessment system for identifying risk probability, sensitivity and impairment was established. The spatial distribution of comprehensive ecological risk was analyzed, the ecological risk management categories were simultaneously delineated based on the risk dominant factor and the risk management strategies were formulated in loess regions. The results were as follows: (1) the spatial differences in comprehensive ecological risk were significantly different in the research area. The regions with extremely high and high risk were mainly located in gully areas and secondary erosion gullies, which are in 28.02% of study area. The extremely low-risk areas covered 1/3 of the study area and were mainly distributed to the northwest and south of the study area, where hills are widely spaced. (2) The combined analysis of ecological risk and terrain found that the elevation decreased first and then rose but the comprehensive ecological risk increased first and then decreased from north to south. Comprehensive ecological risk and terrain generally showed an inverse relationship. (3) The study area was divided into four types of risk management categories. Risk monitoring zones, habitat recovery zones, monitoring and recovery zones and natural regulation zones encompass 14.84%, 12.44%, 26.47% and 46.25% of the study area, respectively. According to four types of risk management categories, different risk reduction measures were designed to improve regional sustainable development capacity. Risk identification and risk management categories based on comprehensive ecological risk model can design a sustainable development path for social ecosystem and local farmers and provide a method for sustainable development for similar gully landscapes.

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Landscape Ecological Risk Based on Geomorphological Regionalization during 1980–2017: A Case Study of Shaanxi Province, China

“…The beginning of the "Anthropocene" is reflected by changes in global landscape patterns and ecological functions [3] and this new period is related to the multi-directional evolution of the ecological environment and has generated many ecological risks. The assessment and prevention of ecological risk has become a popular research topic in geography and ecology in response to the comprehensive management of social ecosystems [4][5][6][7][8].…”

The Evolution Response of Ecosystem Cultural Services under Different Scenarios Based on System Dynamics

“…However, when the economic development level of a region is low, the differences in CES in various scenarios are smaller. Other studies found that when people face more survival risks, their perception of the surrounding CES will be reduced [57]. People's direct experience plays an important role in shaping their perception of the surrounding CES [58].…”

Ecological risk assessment of geohazards in Natural World Heritage Sites: an empirical analysis of Bogda, Tianshan

“…lead to destabilization and trigger gravitational mass movement (soil, rock, or debris). As a basic geomorphic indicator, elevation and slope were mostly used to estimate erosion, surface runoff, and landscape [27,39,40]. The infiltration of rainwater increased the soil saturation, sharply dropping absorption and causing a substantial decline in shear strength.…”

“…Vegetation and water flow were the factors with the greatest effect on soil erosion and slope stability. Vegetation enhances the soil shear strength via a series of mechanical and hydrological effects [27,39,41], and NDVI, which indicates the land surface vegetation cover, has been widely used as an influencing factor when quantifying the probability of geodisasters [41][42][43]. Distance to a river reflects the influence of water flow using simplified representation space from major rivers.…”

“…By combining opensource global risk data with risk awareness from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization periodic reports, Pavlova et al identified 60% of the sites on the World Heritage list as being exposed to at least one geological disaster [22]. To minimize these consequences and achieve sustainability, ecological risk assessment can analyse potential and extreme adverse impacts that can be caused by geohazards, making ERA a powerful technical tool [26][27][28]. Until now, however, little research has attempted to build ecological risk assessment frameworks oriented to heritage values protection in Natural World Heritage Sites.…”