Ecological Security Patterns Assessment of Liao River Basin

Chunli Zhao, Chenxing Wang, Yan Yan, Peng Shan, Jiaxun Li and Jianguo Chen
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Chunli Zhao: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Chenxing Wang: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Yan Yan: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Peng Shan: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Jiaxun Li: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Jianguo Chen: Department of Engineering Physics, Institute of Public Safety Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-11

Abstract: Ecological security assessment aims at identifying an ecosystem’s stability, recognizing the ability to maintain ecological health under various scenarios of ecological risks. In this study, we focus on the ecological security of Liao River Basin not only in terms of directly considering the sustainable development of the basin itself but also in terms of its importance as part of an ecological macro-control for northeast China. We built a “structure-quality-process” analytical framework to assess the ecological security of Liao River Basin. Our results showed that (i) land conversion from cultivated to artificial surfaces represented a dramatic change occurring in the region; (ii) the requirements of regional sustainable development would not likely be satisfied in regard to the given ecosystem services provided by the basin due to poor spatial coordination capability; and (iii) the priority areas for optimizing the ecological security patterns of the basin include the upstream and the downstream regions. The “structure-quality-process” assessment framework provides a dynamic perspective of ecological security and also considers the relationships and functions of the internal structures and processes of the ecosystem. The optimization of ecosystem structures and processes is essential and forms the basic measures and key content of macro-control for well-structured ecological security patterns.

Keywords: Liao River Basin; ecological security; ecosystem service; ecological quality; ecosystem structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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