Analysis of the ecological vulnerability of the western Hainan Island based on its landscape pattern and ecosystem sensitivity

Qiu, Penghua; Su, Xu; Genzong, Xie; Ben-an, Tang; Bai, Hua; Yu, Longshi

doi:10.1016/s1872-2032(07)60026-2

Cited by 50 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Anthropogenic modifications contribute to ecosystem changes, including vegetation loss, degradation of biodiversity, change of land surface and atmospheric temperatures, and pollution among other losses of ecosystem services. Coastal areas, particularly small offshore islands are among the vulnerable ecosystems [1][2][3][4] and can thus be easily decimated by uncontrolled human activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Link between Human Modification and Changes in Land Surface Temperature in Hainan, China Using Image Archives from Google Earth Engine

et al. 2020

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In many areas of the world, population growth and land development have increased demand for land and other natural resources. Coastal areas are particularly susceptible since they are conducive for marine transportation, energy production, aquaculture, marine tourism and other activities. Anthropogenic activities in the coastal areas have triggered unprecedented land use change, depletion of coastal wetlands, loss of biodiversity, and degradation of other vital ecosystem services. The changes can be particularly drastic for small coastal islands with rich biodiversity. In this study, the influence of human modification on land surface temperature (LST) for the coastal island Hainan in Southern China was investigated. We hypothesize that for this island, footprints of human activities are linked to the variation of land surface temperature, which could indicate environmental degradation. To test this hypothesis, we estimated LST changes between 2000 and 2016 and computed the spatio-temporal correlation between LST and human modification. Specifically, we classified temperature data for the four years 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2016 into 5 temperature zones based on their respective mean and standard deviation values. We then assessed the correlation between each temperature zone and a human modification index computed for the year 2016. Apart from this, we estimated mean, maximum and the standard deviation of annual temperature for each pixel in the 17 years to assess the links with human modification. The results showed that: (1) The mean LST temperature in Hainan Island increased with fluctuations from 2000 to 2016. (2) The moderate temperature zones were dominant in the island during the four years included in this study. (3) A strong positive correlation of 0.72 between human modification index and mean and maximum LST temperature indicated a potential link between human modification and mean and maximum LST temperatures over the 17 years of analysis. (4) The mean value of human modification index in the temperature zones in 2016 showed a progressive rise with 0.24 in the low temperature zone, 0.33 in the secondary moderate, 0.45 in the moderate, 0.54 in the secondary high and 0.61 in the high temperature zones. This work highlighted the potential value of using large and multi-temporal earth observation datasets from cloud platforms to assess the influence of human activities in sensitive ecosystems. The results could contribute to the development of sustainable management and coastal ecosystems conservation plans.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Link between Human Modification and Changes in Land Surface Temperature in Hainan, China Using Image Archives from Google Earth Engine

et al. 2020

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“…The purpose of the current study is therefore to assess the influence of tourism-related activities on LST and related ecological effects, by comparing the difference of the ecological variables in locations characterized by tourism and non-tourism related activities. The motivation of this work is in the fact that coastal islands, despite being attractive tourist destinations due to their unique seaside views and warm temperatures, are extremely vulnerable to degradation resulting from the impact of tourists [41][42][43]. Marginal fluctuations in LST in the coastal islands can have far-reaching effects on the indigenous biodiversity of the islands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Influence of Tourism-Driven Activities on Environmental Variables on Hainan Island, China

et al. 2020

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Tourism is a primary socio-economic factor on many coastal islands. Tourism contributes to the livelihoods of the residents, but also influences natural resources and energy consumption and can become a significant driver of land conversion and environmental change. Understanding the influence of tourist-related activities is vital for sustainable tourism development. We chose Hainan Island in South China as a research area to study the influence of tourist-driven activities on environmental variables (as Land Surface Temperatures (LST) and related ecosystem variables) during the period of 2000 to 2019. In Hainan, the local economy relies heavily on tourism, with an ever-growing influx of tourists each year. We categorised location-based points of interest (POIs) into two classes, non-tourism sites and tourism-related sites, and utilised satellite data from the cloud-based platform Google Earth Engine (GEE) to extract LST and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data. We analysed the LST variations, NDVI changes and the land use/land cover (LULC) changes and compared the relative difference in LST and NDVI between the tourism-related sites and non-tourism-related sites. The main findings of this study were: (1) The median LST in the tourism-related sites was relatively higher (1.3) than the LST in the non-tourism-related sites for the 20 years. Moreover, every annual mean LST of tourism-related sites was higher than the LST values in non-tourism-related sites, with an average difference of 1.2 °C for the 20 years and a maximum difference of 1.7 °C. We found higher annual LST anomalies for tourist-related sites compared to non-tourism sites after 2010, which indicated the likely positive differences in LST above the average LST during 20 years for tourism-related sites when compared against the non-tourism related sites, thus highlighting the potential influence of tourism activities on LST. (2) The annual mean NDVI value for tourism-related sites was significantly lower than for non-tourism places every year, with an average NDVI difference of 0.26 between the two sites. (3) The land cover changed significantly: croplands and forests reduced by 3.5% and 2.8% respectively, while the areas covered by orchards and urban areas increased by 2% and 72.3% respectively. These results indicate the influence of the tourism-driven activities includes the relatively high LST, vegetation degradation and land-use conversion particular to urban cover type. The outcome of this work provides a method that combines cloud-based satellite-derived data with location-based POIs data for quantifying the long-term influence of tourism-related activities on sensitive coastal ecosystems. It contributes to designing evidence-driven management plans and policies for the sustainable tourism development in coastal areas.

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“…The erosion sensitivity evaluated in the study is a parameter that has been evaluated since the first studies on landscape sensitivity (Thomas, 2001;Penghua et al, 2007;Mingwu, 2010;Wang and Bian, 2011). Erosion refers to the movement of upper soil due to various factors.…”

Section: The Theoretical Basis Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape Sensitivity Analysis as an Ecological Key: The Case of Duzce, Turkey

Karadağ¹

2019

Appl. Ecol. Env. Res.

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Landscape sensitivity is one of the ways that give us the opportunity to exhibit ecology-based approaches to the world we live in. Landscape sensitivity refers to areas where landscape is sensitive to natural or human-based pressures. This study aims to develop a model for revealing and mapping the landscape sensitivity of Duzce province in Turkey. The model was developed by evaluating four parameters (ecologic process). These are erosion risk, landslide susceptibility, water infiltration and habitat fragmentation. Within the scope of the study, sensitivity data related to each parameter has first been formed within the framework of expert opinions and then all data has been analyzed by ArcGIS 9.3 software and a Duzce Province Landscape Sensitivity Map has been produced. When the landscape sensitivity map obtained within the scope of the model is evaluated, it is seen that the sensitivity in 38.6% of the area is low while it is medium with 30.6%, very low with 21.7%, high with 8.2% and very high with 8.2%. These findings are easily visualized on the map. As a result, the landscape sensitivity map produced is a data that is compatible with ecological principles, produced by scientific methods, compatible with technological tools and can be integrated with similar analyses. In addition it is an important element to develop ecological based decisions related to the space. Therefore, its usage as a basis map for spatial planning is a need beyond desire.

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Analysis of the ecological vulnerability of the western Hainan Island based on its landscape pattern and ecosystem sensitivity

Cited by 50 publications

References 1 publication

Assessing the Link between Human Modification and Changes in Land Surface Temperature in Hainan, China Using Image Archives from Google Earth Engine

Assessing the Link between Human Modification and Changes in Land Surface Temperature in Hainan, China Using Image Archives from Google Earth Engine

Assessing the Influence of Tourism-Driven Activities on Environmental Variables on Hainan Island, China

Landscape Sensitivity Analysis as an Ecological Key: The Case of Duzce, Turkey

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