Spatial and Temporal Variations of Habitat Quality and Its Response of Landscape Dynamic in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

Shuangshuang Liu, Qipeng Liao, Mingzhu Xiao, Dengyue Zhao and Chunbo Huang
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Shuangshuang Liu: Key Laboratory of Regional Ecology and Environmental Change, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Qipeng Liao: School of Arts and Communication, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Mingzhu Xiao: School of Arts and Communication, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Dengyue Zhao: Key Laboratory of Regional Ecology and Environmental Change, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Chunbo Huang: Key Laboratory of Regional Ecology and Environmental Change, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Habitat quality is an important indicator for assessing biodiversity and is critical to ecosystem processes. With urban development and construction in developing countries, habitat quality is increasingly influenced by landscape pattern changes. This has made habitat conservation to be an increasingly urgent issue. Despite the growing interest in this issue, studies that reveal the role of land use change in habitat degradation at multiple scales are still lacking. Therefore, we analyzed the spatial and temporal variations of habitat quality of the Three Gorges Reservoir area by the InVEST habitat quality model and demonstrated the responses of habitat quality to various landscape dynamics by correspondence analysis. The result showed that the habitat quality score of this area increased from 0.685 in 2000 to 0.739 in 2015 and presented a significant spatial heterogeneity. Habitat quality was significantly higher in the northeastern and southwestern parts of the reservoir area than in other regions. Meanwhile, habitat quality improved with altitude and slope, and increased for all altitude and slope zones. The habitat quality of >1000 m and >25° zone exceeds 0.8, while the habitat quality of <500 m and <15° zone is less than 0.6. Habitat quality significantly varied among landscape dynamics and was extremely sensitive to vegetation recovery and urban expansion. The vegetation restoration model of returning farmland to forest is difficult to sustain, so we suggest changing the vegetation recovery model to constructing complex vegetation community. This study helps us to better understand the effects of landscape pattern changes on habitat quality and can provide a scientific basis for formulating regional ecological conservation policies and sustainable use of land resources.

Keywords: biodiversity; ecological restoration; habitat quality; InVEST model; land use change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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