Remote Sensing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Temporal and Spatial Changes in the Eco-Environment of a Typical Arid Land of the Tarim Basin in Western China

Lingxiao Sun, Yang Yu, Yuting Gao, Jing He, Xiang Yu, Ireneusz Malik, Malgorzata Wistuba and Ruide Yu
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Lingxiao Sun: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Yang Yu: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Yuting Gao: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Jing He: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Xiang Yu: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Ireneusz Malik: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Malgorzata Wistuba: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Ruide Yu: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: The eco-environment provides various spaces, conditions, and resources for human development, and their quality is a significant factor affecting sustainable development in a region. Most drylands face environmental fragility due to problems such as infertile land, scarce suitable living space, and a lack of resources. Therefore, investigating the temporal and spatial changes in the eco-environment of drylands is vital to developing them sustainably. This paper takes Hetian, which is located in the Tarim Basin of Western China and has typical features of an arid (or a hyper-arid) region, as the research area. The ecological index (EI) was used to construct a comprehensive ecological evaluation system, and five sub-indices (the biological richness index, vegetation coverage index, water network denseness index, land stress index, and pollution load index) were calculated to identify the quality and changes in the eco-environment of Hetian in 1995, 2009, and 2018. The results show that, from 1995 to 2018, the EI in Hetian showed a continuous downward trend (from 24.76 to 16.32), representing a change (ΔEI) of −8.44; this indicates significant deterioration in the quality of the local eco-environment. Large fluctuations in the EI also suggests that the environment in Hetian is very sensitive. In addition, the results revealed a degradation of Hetian, which includes a hyper-arid region.

Keywords: eco-environment; ecological index; biological richness; vegetation coverage; water network denseness; land stress; pollution load; desertification; arid land (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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