Spatiotemporal changes and driving forces of ecosystem vulnerability in the Yangtze River Basin, China:...

Area of Science:

• Ecological assessment
• Environmental science
• Spatial analysis

Background:

• Ecosystem vulnerability is critical for regional ecological protection and management.
• Previous studies lack comprehensive assessment of spatial heterogeneity impacts on ecosystem vulnerability.
• Understanding drivers of ecosystem vulnerability variation is essential for conservation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the ecosystem vulnerability pattern in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) using a habitat-structure-function framework.
• To examine the spatial heterogeneity impacts of climate change and human activities on ecosystem vulnerability variation from 1990 to 2018.
• To provide policy recommendations for ecosystem conservation and management in the YRB.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a habitat-structure-function framework for ecosystem vulnerability assessment.
• Utilized the Geographically Weighted Regression model to analyze spatial heterogeneity impacts.
• Analyzed data for the Yangtze River Basin from 1990 to 2018.

Main Results:

• The ecosystem vulnerability index (EVI) generally decreased from upstream to downstream in the YRB.
• 63.85% of the basin experienced a decline in EVI, primarily in the source, southwest, and north regions.
• Climate change impact on EVI increased with time scales, while human activities remained the dominant driver. Areas with increased EVI were mainly in the southeast and east.

Conclusions:

• Climate warming, humid trends, and strengthened ecological protection benefited EVI decline.
• Climate change impacts were concentrated in the source and upper reaches, while human activities impacted the entire basin.
• The proposed framework is extendable for assessing vulnerability in other regions and ecosystem types.