Impact of Human Disturbance Intensity on the Landscape Ecological Risk Index and Threshold Identification: A Case...

Although general standards have been established for wetland park design, current understanding of the long-term impacts of human disturbance on ecological risk within wetland parks remains limited. This limitation may lead to the underestimation of prolonged anthropogenic effects and obscure potential threats to future ecological security and the effectiveness of conservation efforts in wetland parks. Therefore, this study takes Xiazhuhu National Wetland Park (XNWP), a representative national wetland park, as a case study. By employing a human disturbance intensity (HDI) assessment model and a landscape ecological risk index (ERI) evaluation model, the study quantitatively analyzes the impacts and threshold effects of human disturbance on landscape ecological risk over a 10-year period. Results show that both HDI and ERI have exhibited a rapid upward trend over the past 10 years, mean HDI increasing from 0.28 to 0.36 (+29%), while the ERI range expanded from 0.076-0.351 to 0.107-0.956, with clear thresholds at HDI = 0.24 and HDI = 0.39, demarcating three distinct threshold intervals. These findings highlight the long-term impact of human activities on ecological security and offer valuable insights for sustainable wetland park planning.