Study and Application of Urban Aquatic Ecosystem Health Evaluation Index System in River Network Plain Area

Abstract

The evaluation index system of urban aquatic ecosystem health is of great significance for the assessment and management of urban river networks, and for urban development planning. In this paper, the concept of urban aquatic ecosystem health was analyzed by the relationship between human, city and aquatic ecosystem, and its evaluation index system was established from environmental conditions, ecological construction, and social service. In addition, the weight value of each index was calculated by the analytic hierarchy process, and the grading standard of each index was set. Jiading New City, a typical city of the river network plain area in Yangtze River delta, was selected as the aquatic ecosystem health evaluation sample. The fuzzy comprehensive method was used to evaluate the aquatic ecosystem health of Jiading New City. The results indicated that the water ecosystem health of Jiading New City reached the “good” level. For the criterion level, environmental conditions and ecological construction reached the “good” level, and social services reached the “excellent” level. For the indicator level, most indicators reached “good” and “excellent” levels, but the river complexity and benthic macroinvertebrate diversity are still in the “poor” state, which indicates that the aquatic environment has greatly improved, but the aquatic ecosystem has not been fully restored. Results suggested that river complexity and biodiversity should be increased in urban construction planning. The evaluation index system established in this paper can be used to reflect the urban aquatic ecosystem health conditions in river network plain areas.

Characteristics and Influencing Factors of the Spatial and Temporal Variability of the Coupled Water–Energy–Food Nexus in the Yellow River Basin in Henan Province

“…The subjective weights obtained via the entropy method are denoted as w j [24][25][26], and the objective weights obtained by the hierarchical analysis method are denoted as c j [27,28]. The weights w j and c j were combined linearly to obtain the final weight, denoted as Q, where Q = ac j + bw j ; a and b denote the relative importance of the objective and subjective weights, and satisfy 0 ≤ a ≤ 1, 0 ≤ b ≤ 1 and a + b = 1.…”

Advancing River Health Assessments: Integrating Microscopy and Molecular Techniques through Diatom Indices

“…Recent research has highlighted the severe challenges that rapid urbanization, industrialization, and economic growth pose to biodiversity and ecological balance. Studies have together underscored the grave consequences of these developments, including loss of biodiversity and deterioration of ecosystems [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This evidence has spurred global efforts to rejuvenate aquatic ecosystems, focusing mainly on addressing eutrophication and restoring biodiversity and ecological equilibrium [8][9][10].…”