[Evaluating the Ecological Environment Quality in the Tarim River Basin Based on the Modified Remote Sensing...

The Tarim River Basin is one of the most fragile ecological basins in China， and it is of great significance to clarify the trend and driving mechanism of its ecological changes for environmental protection and sustainable development. Based on the ecological characteristics of the Tarim River Basin， which has severe desertification and salinization problems， we proposed a modified remote sensing ecological index （MRSEI） model to comprehensively evaluate the ecological quality of the Tarim River Basin. Furthermore， we explored the trend of the ecological quality and the main driving factors in the study area through the Sen+Mann-Kendall trend analysis and the optimal parameters-based geographical detector. The results showed that： ① The average MRSEI of the study area in 2000， 2005， 2010， 2015， and 2020 was 0.269， 0.248， 0.273， 0.287， and 0.280， respectively， showing a fluctuating upward trend. The spatial distribution of the desert area in the northeast was poorer in terms of ecological quality， whereas the level of ecological quality in other areas from the central region increased gradually with the outward elevation. ② Within the spatial change trend of ecological environment quality in the study area from 2000 to 2020， the proportions of the area with a highly significant decrease， significant decrease， slight decrease， highly significant increase， a significant increase， and slight increase were 0.69%， 2.5%， 43.58%， 0.93%， 3.66%， and 48.65% respectively. The proportion of the area with a slight increase and slight decrease were the largest， accounting for 92.23% of the total area of the study area， indicating that the ecological environment quality of the Tarim River Basin did not change significantly from 2000 to 2020， with slight dominating changes. ③ Evapotranspiration， land use type with elevation was the main single-factor drivers of ecological and environmental quality changes in the Tarim River Basin. Moreover， the land use type with evapotranspiration was the strongest interactive driver， which played a crucial role in ecological and environmental quality changes in the basin. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of the comprehensive ecological management of the Tarim River Basin during the period of 2000-2020 and provides a scientific basis for further sustainable development of the basin and ecological environment monitoring.