Study on the Spatial Heterogeneity of the Impact of Forest Land Change on Landscape Ecological Risk: A Case Study of Erhai Rim Region in China

Abstract

As an important ecological ecotone of water and land ecosystems, the lakeside is characterized by a variety ecosystem services and high vulnerability. Forest land is important in resolving the ecological risks of the lakeside area and building its ecological base. It is important to explore the effect of change in forest land on landscape ecological risk in the lakeside area, alleviate the contradiction between ecological protection and construction and development in the area, and realize sustainable development. The present study attempted to explore the spatial and temporal evolutionary features of forest land in the Erhai rim region from 2000 to 2020 using bivariate spatial autocorrelation and multi-scale geographical weighted regression (MGWR) models. The following are the findings of this investigation of the 2000–2020 period: (1) the forest land area in the region generally decreased, first increasing and then decreasing, and was mainly occupied by cultivated land and artificial surfaces; (2) the total landscape ecological risk in the region presented an upward trend, and medium- and higher-risk areas were the main risk areas, with the latter increasing; (3) the impact of forest land expansion and contraction intensity on landscape ecological risk exhibited spatial and temporal heterogeneity. The main forms of forest land change at different stages differed, and the impacts on landscape ecological risk were also different. Reasonable forest land expansion can effectively alleviate the growth in landscape ecological risk, whereas the shrinkage of forest land would aggravate the landscape ecological risk in the Erhai rim region. Moreover, the findings can offer reference for the exploration of ecological protection and coordinated optimization of economic development in Erhai Lake.

The Ecological Management and Sustainable Development of Forests

“…At the macro-scale, this Special Issue discusses three aspects of forest ecosystem characteristics and management, i.e., characteristic identification [5][6][7][8], mechanism analysis [9][10][11], and optimization management [12].…”

“…Forest land is important in resolving the ecological risks of the lakeside area and building its ecological base. Wang, Wu et al (2023) [8] explored the spatial and temporal evolutionary features of forest land in the Erhai rim region using bivariate spatial autocorrelation and multi-scale geographical weighted regression (MGWR) models. The results revealed that reasonable forest land expansion can effectively alleviate the growth of landscape ecological risk in the Erhai rim region, whereas the shrinkage of forest land would aggravate this risk.…”

Ecological Risk Assessment of Forest Landscapes in Lushan National Nature Reserve in Jiangxi Province, China

“…However, the impact of human and natural factors has led to the emergence of environmental and ecological problems [5], especially forest and biodiversity loss, forest fragmentation, etc., in forest nature reserves due to natural and human factors [4] that change the structure and spatial pattern of the forest ecosystem. A change in the organization and structure of an ecosystem has regional and accumulative influences on ecology [6]. This results in ecosystem sensitivity and fragility [7], as well as the degradation of ecological services and functions [8], which results in ecological risks.…”

“…Furthermore, it pays attention to the spatial heterogeneity of the regional landscape's ecological risks [21]. It is not only used for land use changes, but also for forest ecosystems [6]. Presently, this method is widely used, and it has become the main method used for ecological risk assessments [22].…”

Analysis of the Spatial and Temporal Evolution and Driving Factors of Landscape Ecological Risk in the Four Lakes Basin on the Jianghan Plain, China

“…Within the framework of this study, the landscape pattern not only determines the form of resource and environmental distribution [17] but also quantifies the LUCC. Therefore, taking the landscape pattern as an entry point, a landscape index was constructed, integrating fragmentation, dominance, and separation of landscape structure to describe the LER [18]. LER assessment focuses more on the coupled correlation perspective of ecological processes and spatial patterns by constructing a sampling grid, which divides it into multiple risk areas to provide a more accurate spatial representation of risk [6].…”