Impacts of multi-scenario land use change on ecosystem services and ecological security pattern: A case study of the Yellow River Delta

The Yellow River Delta(YRD), a critical economic zone along China's eastern coast, also functions as a vital ecological reserve in the lower Yellow River. Amidst rapid industrialization and urbanization, the region has witnessed significant land use/cover changes(LUCC), impacting ecosystem services(ES) and ecological security patterns(ESP). Investigating LUCC's effects on ES and ESP in the YRD is crucial for ecological security and sustainable development. This study utilized the PLUS model to simulate 2030 land use scenarios, including natural development(NDS), economic development(EDS), and ecological protection scenarios(EPS). Subsequently, the InVEST model and circuit theory were applied to assess ES and ESP under varying LUCC scenarios from 2010 to 2030. Findings indicate:(1) Notable LUCC from 2010 to 2030, marked by decreasing cropland and increasing construction land and water bodies.(2) From 2010 to 2020, improvements were observed in carbon storage,water yield, soil retention, and habitat quality, whereas 2020–2030 saw increases in water yield and soil retention but declines in habitat quality and carbon storage. Among the scenarios, EPS showed superior performance in all four ES.(3) Between 2010 and 2030, ecological sources, corridors, and pinchpoints expanded, displaying significant spatial heterogeneity. The EPS scenario yielded the most substantial increases in ecological sources,corridors, and pinchpoints, totaling 582.89 km^(2), 645.03 km^(2),and 64.43 km^(2), respectively. This study highlights the importance of EPS, offering insightful scientific guidance for the YRD's sustainable development.

Using ecosystem service supply and ecosystem sensitivity to identify landscape ecology security patterns in the Lanzhou-Xining urban agglomeration, China

The construction of an ecological security pattern(ESP)is an important way to ensure regional ecological security and to achieve sustainable regional development.It is also one of the hotspot topics of landscape ecology research.This paper identifies the ecological source through the evaluation of the ecosystem service and ecosystem sensitivity of the Lanzhou-Xining(Lan-Xi)urban agglomeration.The minimum cumulative resistance(MCR)model modified by night light data NPP/VIIRS(National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project/Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite)was used to measure the relative resistance of the materials and energy circulation between the source areas,and to establish the resistance surface of the ecological source area expansion.Then ecological corridors were identified based on ecological sources and resistance surface.The ecological strategic node is the ecological fragile point in the ecological corridors.The ecological strategic node is identified with hydrological module by superimposing the"ridge line"of cumulative ecological resistance with the ecological corridor.Combined with ecological sources,corridors and strategic nodes,the ESP of the Lan-Xi urban agglomeration can be constructed.The ecological source of the Lan-Xi urban agglomeration accounts for 28.42%of the total area,most of which is distributed within Qinghai Province.The nature reserves in the area are all located within the ecological source area.A total of 41 potential ecological corridors have been identified in the study area.The total length of the potential corridors is 1201.03 km,comprising 23 source corridors and 18 radiation corridors.There are 30 strategic nodes identified in the Lan-Xi urban agglomeration.These locations are the most vulnerable areas of the ecological corridors.Ecological engineering should be applied in the construction of corridors.Affected by the ecological source,the potential ecological corridor extends from the northwest to the southeast,which is basically consistent with the direction trend of the mountains in the region.

Research hotspots and trends of groundwater and ecology studies:Based on a bibliometric approach

Groundwater,as a critical component of the hydrological cycle,is essential for sustainable ecosystem development.To clarify the current status of domestic and overseas research,and to identify hotspots,frontier and future trends of groundwater and ecology research,this study utilizes bibliometric methods and CiteSpace software to examine relevant published articles in the Web of Science(WOS)and CNKI databases from 1978 to 2022.Specifically,this study analyzes(1)the annual number of published papers;(2)research institutions;(3)keywords;and(4)evolution of research hotspots.The findings reveal that the United States,China,and Germany are the top three countries in groundwater and ecology research.International research hotspots mainly focus on microbial ecology,climate change,groundwater-surface water interactions in the hyporheic zone,biodiversity,and submarine groundwater discharge,while domestic research hotspots mainly focus on ecological water conveyance,ecological flow,groundwater development and utilization,groundwater pollution,and groundwater and ecological protection.Both domestic and international research hotspots exhibit interdisciplinary features with diverse research objects and assessment methods.Future research in this area is expected to focus on topics such as contamination,groundwater quality,framework,mechanism,spatial distribution,and dissolved organic matter.Additionally,the study of ecological recharge,ecological flow,ecological protection,water intake and use will continue to be the hot topics domestically.

Regional ecological security anddiagnosisof obstaclefactors in underdevelopedregions：acasestudy in Yunnan Province,China

In order toclarify regional ecological security status and formation mechanism of regional ecological security barriers in underdeveloped regions of China,we took Yunnan province as a case to evaluate its regional ecological security by using entropy matter-element model,comprehensive index and GIS spatial method,and we diagnosed itsobstacle factors through obstacle degree model. We found a low overall level of regional ecological security in Yunnan. Only Kunmingfell into the good level, 68% of the regions were below the critical safe level. For the vast majority of regions in Yunnan, their regional ecological security was unstable. The indexes related to per capita resources, geological and topographyenvironment, economic, and technologywere at the unsafe or dangerous level.The indexes related to urban expansion, level of income, cultivated land quality were at the level of critical safety. The indexes concerning urban management capacity, airqualityand waterenvironment were at the good or ideallevel. Yunnan's regional ecological security was not good due to natural obstructive environment itself, simultaneously lower backward economic and social level restricted the ability of ecological security response to manage ragile ecological environment. The results of the composite index wereroughly consistent with those of the entropy weight matterelement model. The mean values of the classification index,from high to low, were: the state index>the response index>the pressure index. The state index and the response index had a significant mutual promotion to each other.The regions with good composite index, state index and response index mainly distributed in the central regions of Yunnan Province. Spatial autocorrelation of regional ecological security level in Yunnan was not obvious. Water resources, economic and social development were main obstacle factors of the regional ecological security.When distinguishing with obstacle type, Kunming belonged to natural ecological environment barrier type, while other regions belonged to economic and social barrier type.

Research on Methods of Ecological Security Assessment of the Middle and Lower Reaches of Liaohe River Based on GIS

Ecological security assessment and early warning research possess the attributes of spatiality, non-linearity and randomicity, so we must process much spatial information. Spatial analysis and data management are the advantages of GIS, which can define distribution trend and spatial relations of environmental factors, and show ecological security pattern graphically. Spatial differences of ecological security assessment based on GIS are discussed in this paper, of which the middle and lower reaches of the Liaohe River is taken as a study case. First, to work out pressure-state-response (P-S-R) assessment indicators system, and investigate in person and gather information; second, to digitize the watershed; third, to quantize and calculate by the fuzzy method; last, to construct GIS grid database, and expound spatial differences of ecological security by GIS interpolation and assembly analysis.

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Ecological Security in the Wanjiang City Belt,China

Ecological security is the foundation and guarantee of sustainable development,and its importance is increasingly widely recognized and valued by the world.The Yangtze River Basin is an important ecological security barrier in China and the Wanjiang City Belt(WCB)along the Yangtze River is directly related to the ecological security pattern of the entire basin.Based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response(DPSIR)model and a geographical information system(GIS)platform,an ecosystem security evaluation index system was constructed to measure and evaluate the evolution of ecosystem security in the WCB,China.Results showed that:1)From 2000 to 2018,the overall level of ecological security in the study area was in a state of either early warning or medium warning,but the level of ecological security in each prefecture-level city was significantly different.2)From the perspective of the evolution of the ecosystem,the value of its comprehensive evaluation index dropped from 4.255 in 2000 to 3.885 in 2018.From the perspective of subsystems,the value of Pressure comprehensive evaluation index is much higher than that of other subsystems,indicating that during the rapid development of the social economy,the pressure on the natural environment tended to rise,and triggered changes in the State and Response subsystems.3)The coefficient of variation(CV)of the Driver was much higher than other factors influencing the ecological security system.There are large differences in the economic development and ecological evolution of the cities in the WCB.This study has improved the theoretical research on regional ecological security,and has certain practical guiding significance for building a beautiful,green and sustainable China and promoting global ecological security.

Quantitative analysis of the dynamic change and spatial differences of the ecological security: a case study of Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province

Using the theory and method of the ecological footprint, and combining the changes of regional land use, resource environment, population, society and economy, this paper calculated the ecological footprint, ecological carrying capacity and ecological surplus/loss in 1986-2002 on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province. What is more, this paper has put forward the concept of ecological pressure index, set up ecological pressure index models, and ecological security grading systems, and the prediction models of different ecological footprints, ecological carrying capacity, ecological surplus and ecological safety change, and also has assessed the ecological footprint demands of 10,000 yuan GDE The results of this study are as follows： （1） the ecological carrying capacity in northern Shaanxi shows a decreasing trend, the difference of reducing range is the fastest; （2） the ecological footprint appears an increasing trend; （3） ecological pressure index rose to 0.91 from 0.44 during 1986-2002 on the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi with an increase of 47%; and （4） the ecological security in the study area is in a critical state, and the ecological oressure index has been increasing rapidlv.

Optimization of Rural Settlement Distributions Based On the Ecological Security Pattern: A Case Study of Da’an City in Jilin Province of China

Following the trends of Chinese rural transformation development, and the sustainable development goals for resources and environment, reasonable arranging the potential development space and the ecological space, so as to optimize the distributions of rural settlement would be the key challenge for rural areas in ecologically fragile regions. From the perspective of maintaining regional ecological security, this paper takes Da’an City, a typical ecological fragile region in Jilin Province, as the case area, constructing the comprehensive ecological security pattern(ESP) on basis of landscape ecology, and applying the landscape pattern indexes to quantitative analysis the spatial distribution characteristics of rural settlements. Then, different optimization directions and management strategies are put forward for rural settlements in each secure zone under the comprehensive ESP. The experimental results showed that 1) the area of the low security zone, the general security zone, the moderate security zone and the extreme security zone was 1570.18 km^2, 1463.36 km^2, 1215.80 km^2 and 629.77 km^2, representing 32.18%, 29.99%, 24.92% and 12.91% of the total area of the target area, respectively. 2) The rural settlements in Da’an City were characterized by a high degree of fragmentation with a large number of small-scale patches. 3) The area of rural settlements in the ecological relocation zone, the in situ remediation zone, the limited development zone and the key development zone was 22.80 km^2, 42.31 km^2, 36.28 km^2 and 19.40 km^2, accounting for 18.88%, 35.03%, 30.04% and 16.06% of the total area of rural settlements, respectively. Then, different measures were proposed for settlements in different optimization zones in order to scientifically plan important ecological space, production space and living space in rural areas. This paper aims to provide fundamental support for rural settlements based on redistribution from the perspective of landscape ecology and provide insights for rural planning and rural habitat environmental improvement.

Ecological Security Evaluation Algorithm for Resource-Exhausted Cities Based on the PSR Model

Today,resource depletion threatens a number of resource-based cities in China.The ecological security problem caused by the long-term exploitation of natural resources is a key issue to be solved in the development of resource-exhausted cities.Using 23 indicators,this study evaluated the ecological security status and development trends of 21 resource-exhausted cities in China from 2011 to 2017.The results showed that from 2011 to 2015,the overall ecological security of this type of city was low,with over 60%of the cities at an unsafe level.However,ecological security improved rapidly after 2016,and by 2017,all of the cities had reached the critical safety level.The top 10 indicators of ecological security included industrial sulfur dioxide emissions,water supply,agricultural fertilizer application,and forest coverage.These 10 indicators’cumulative contribution to ecological security was 48.3%;among them,reducing industrial sulfur dioxide emissions contributed the most at 5.7%.These findings can help governments better understand the ecological security status of resource-exhausted cities,and it can provide a reference for the allocation of funds and other resources to improve the ecological safety of these cities.

Study on the Construction of Eco-security System in China under the Ecological Civilization Concept——Based on the Ecological Civilization Construction in Qingzhen City of Guizhou Province

The construction of eco-security system was a complicated systematic project, included the comprehensive construction and collaborative propulsion of eco-environment system, eco-economy system, eco-culture system, eco-society system and eco-law system. The comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of ecology, economy and society only could be achieved under the guidance of ecological civilization concept by the integrated consideration, comprehensive planning and multi-coordination.

Ecological Security Assessment in County Area Based on P-S-R Model——A Case Study of Ningwu County,Shanxi Province

To further understand the status quo and change tendency of ecological security in county area, we took the example of Ningwu County, the headstream of Fenhe River, confronting serious eco-environment problem and considerable human impacts. Taking Ningwu as the study area and using variation coefficient method to determine the weights of the indices, we built ecological security pattern based on Pressure-State-Response （P-S-R） Model of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The ecological security status was evaluated by calculating eco-security index （ESI） with socio-economic statistical data of Ningwu during 2001 -2010. The results showed that the situation of eco-security had been improved from heavy alarm to relative safety during 2001 -2010. It reflected that the ecological economic system in Ningwu County tended to be relaxed constantly after experienced a sharp conflict between ecological environment and economic growth. The ecological safety awareness was growing, however, by force of the objective requirements of population growth and economic development, the situation of ecological security was still unstable.

Ecological Footprint and Ecological Security Evaluation in the Upper Min River Basin

On the basis of the ecological footprint (EF) model, this paper studied theecological security in the Upper Min River Basin ecosystem. The result shows that with 2. 038 2 hm^2per capita ecological capacity (0. 422 2 hm^2 higher than per capita EF) ,and 165 825 hm^2 ecologysurplus , the ecosystem in Upper Min River is generally secure at present. But the arable land isoverweighed and omens an eco-security crisis. Meanwhile, problems such as low forest coverage rate,severe loss of water and soil,enlargement of arid-valley area, frequent occurrence of mountainhazards and degradation of pastures have been major threats to the eco-security of this region. Thecalculation result of ten-thousand-yuan ( RMB) GDP shows that the use of natural resources isextensive, and there will be a rapid increase tendency of EF in the future. In order to maintain thepresent eco-security, the ways of use natural resources must be improved in the Upper Min RiverBasin.

Dynamic Evaluation of Land Ecological Security in Anhui Province Based on PSR Model

Based on PSR framework method, the land ecological security evaluation index system of 16 cities of Anhui Province was constructed. The land ecological security value of subsystem in Anhui Province from 2000 to 2011 was calculated using the index weight which was determined by the entropy weight method, and land ecological security trend from 2012 to 2017 was forecasted using GM （1,1） model. The results indicated that, the land ecological security index in Anhui Province from 2000 to 2017 was rising on the whole, with the average value increasing from 0.442 in 2000 to 0.450 in 2017, and there was a huge difference among cities; at the same time, the state index and response index of each subsystem of land ecological security also rose. GM （ 1, 1 ） model had high simulation precision and was able to predict the land ecological security level and the de- velopment trend of each subsystem of Anhui Province from 2012 to 2017. The main factors that influenced the land ecological security of Anhui Prov- ince included per capita farmland area, population density, natural growth rate of population, urbanization level, soil coordination degree, agricultur- al mechanization degree, and the area proportion of nature reserve, which are the focus of land ecological security regulation in the future.

Determination of optimum nitrogen application rates in Zhejiang Province, China, based on rice yields and ecological security

Excessive nitrogen（N） fertilization in intensive agricultural areas such as the plain region of South China has resulted in low nitrogen use efficiency and serious environmental problems. To determine the optimum N application rate, grain yield, apparent nitrogen recovery efficiency（ANRE）, apparent N loss, and ammonium（NH_3） volatilization under different N application rates in the three years from 2012 to 2014 were studied. The results showed that the relationship between grain yields and N application rate in the three years were well fitted by quadratic equations. When N application rate reached 197 kg ha^（–1） in 2012, 199 kg ha^（–1） in 2013 and 196 kg ha^（–1） in 2014, the plateau of the grain yields appeared. With the increase of N application rate, the ANRE for rice decreased which could be expressed with sigmoidal equation; when N application rate was 305 kg ha^（–1） in 2012, 275 kg ha^（–1） in 2013 and 312 kg ha^（–1） in 2014, the curves of ANRE appeared turing points. Besides, the relationship between soil Nresidual and N application rate was fitted by the quadratic equation and the maximums of soil Nresidual were reached in the three years with the N application rate of 206, 244 and 170 kg ha^（–1）, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that NH3 volatilization and apparent N loss in three years all increased with the increasing N application rate. When the amount of NH3 volatilization increased to 11.6 kg N ha^（–1） in 2012, 40.5 kg N ha^（–1） in 2013 and 57.0 kg N ha^（–1）in 2014, the apparent N loss in the three years had obvious increase. To determine the optimum N application rate, the average N application on the plateau of the grain yield was considered as the lower limit while the average N application rate at the turning points of ANRE, the residual N in soil and apparent N loss was taken as the upper limit. According to the results in three years, the optimum N application rate for rice in Zhejiang was 197–255 kg ha^（–1）.

Study on Community Ecological Security

This paper argues that community ecological security(CES) includes personal security, public safety and humanistic ecological security. The personal security is to protect the resident's life and physical health, public safety means that the residents don't suffer from physical damages or property damages in daily life, and humanistic ecological security is interpreted as that ideas of harmony, fairness, balance implied in ecology are used to coordinate the social relations of settlements, alleviate the increasingly serious social problems of residential space differentiation. In light of serious community ecological safety issues in China, the corresponding measures are pointed out: road system of "separating people and vehicles"; consideration of disaster prevention and mitigation in residential space design; the community construction from culture, environment, management and service; response to the residential space differentiation.

Systematic Design and Coordination Acts of Ecological Security in Upper Yangtze River in China

In this paper, systematic design and act of eco-security is discussed as a focal point of conflict and unrest. The situation of ecosystem, the schematic framework of eco-security design, the main acts of ecosystem improvement, major difficulties and challenges have also been analyzed. The purpose of this study was to formulate the systematic framework of eco-security maintenance, to highlight systematic idea or philosophy of ecological rehabilitation and eco-security. A three-dimensional schematic model is applied to design the security of ecosystem. It was concluded that: 1) maintaining ecological security requires far better and sophisticated resource management skill and ecological improvement measures, and is also a continuing and multifac-eted task. It cannot be permanently accomplished by a single action and program; 2) at present, technical system and policy and law system dimensions of ecological security are not enough even in short; 3) development of ecological industries is beneficial to local economic development and ecosystem protection.

Current Status, Influence and Countermeasure of Biological Invasion on Ecological Security in China

The concept, pathways and the present status of biological invasion in China are reviewed in the paper, and the effect of biological invasion on ecological security is also introduced. On this basis, the measures such as establishing early-warning mechanism, strengthening the management of invasive species and quarantine of alien species, establishing scientific system of introduction and improving people awareness are proposed to control the invasion of alien species, so as to ensure the ecological security in china.

Study on New Urbanization and Urban Ecological Security Assessment

Taking the relationship between new urbanization and urban ecological security protection as research object, based on pressure -status - response model, taking Gaochun （Gucheng Lake basin） and Zhangjiakou （Guanting Reservoir basin） as the examples, basin ecological security in its new urbanization process was evaluated. Based on the principle of comprehensiveness, representativeness and data availability, evaluation indexes were selected, and index system was established. Mathematical function of evaluation indexes was established, and security index of each evaluation indicator in index layer was determined. Using weighted average method, ecological security indexes in the two areas were obtained. On the basis of comparison and analysis, it is proposed that we must deal with urban ecological security problem in new urbanization process, thereby truly achieving ultimate value orientation of new urbanization construction oriented by people.

Sustainable livelihood security in Odisha, India: A district level analysis

Sustainable livelihood security(SLS) is an integrating framework that encompasses current concerns and policy requirements for ecological, social, and economic dimensions of sustainable development. It carries particular importance for developing economies. This study intends to verify the relative status of SLS of the 30 districts in Odisha, which is a backward state in eastern India. In this study, a total of 22 relevant indicators relating to the three components of SLS—ecological security, social equity, and economic efficiency have been taken, based on various kinds of government reports. The principal component analysis(PCA) was used to ascertain the indicators and the importance of each of them to the corresponding component of SLS. The ecological security index(ESI), social equity index(SEI), economic efficiency index(EEI), and composite sustainable livelihood security index(CSLSI) of each district of Odisha were calculated through the min-max normalization technique. The results revealed that there are wide variations in SLS among the districts of Odisha. In this study, the districts are categorized into four levels based on the scores of ESI, SEI, EEI, and CSLSI as very low(<0.400), low(0.400–0.549), medium(0.550–0.700), and high(>0.700). According to the classification result of CSLSI, 2 districts are found to be in the very low category, 20 districts are under the low sustainability category, 8 districts are in the medium category, and none of the districts are found to be in the high sustainability category. The district of Sambalpur ranks the highest with a CSLSI score of 0.624. The bottom five districts are Gajapati, Bolangir, Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, and Malkangiri, having the CSLSI scores of 0.438, 0.435, 0.406, 0.391, and 0.344, respectively. The result of this study suggests that region-specific, systematic, and proactive approaches are desirable for balanced development in Odisha. Further, policy intervention is required to implement more inclusive tribal welfare policies.

Dynamic Change of Arable Land Ecological Security: A Case Study of Panyu District, Guangzhou City

Ecological security of arable land is closely related to grain security and social stability. This paper took 12 typical indexes from the aspects of ecological pressure, state and response of arable land considering natural, social and economic conditions to construct the ecological index system of arable land in Panyu District, Guangzhou City, and adopted objective weighting method and comprehensive analysis method to analyze the dynamic change of ecological security and security level of arable land in the study area. The results showed that ecological security pressure value and response value of arable land in Panyu District from 2008 to 2013 increased and the overall ecological security level was low, manifesting the level of "sensitive–risky–sensitive". Specifi cally, ecological security of arable land in 2008 was sensitive, risky from 2009 to 2011, and the security level rose to the sensitive level again in 2012 and 2013. Ecological restoration and rebuilding of arable land should be enhanced, and ecological security early warning system should be established by protecting quantity and quality of arable land, so as to protect arable land resources effectively, and promote sustainable development of arable land.