Quantitative assessment of ecological quality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban megaregion, China

doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201708.008

Abstract

Abstract: The ecological quality symbolizes the capacity of sustainable development of regional economy and society, as well as the degree of stability and coordination between social production and human settlement environment. Therefore, how to quantitatively assess ecological quality and its change, as well as coordinate the relation between the ecological quality and urbanization, is becoming a hotspot of urban ecology. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban megaregion, where urbanization developed rapidly and environmental problems became increasingly evident, was chosen as the study area. Then we calculated the ecological parameters including the vegetation fraction, biomass, and the percent cover of built-up land based on remote sensing data, and combined with vegetation fragmentation index, to develop a comprehensive index model of ecological quality based on RS indicators by using principal component analysis. The ecological quality and its dynamics in the BTH urban megaregion from 2000 to 2010 were quantitatively evaluated. The results showed that the ecological model constructed in this paper could be used to evaluate the ecological quality and change of city and region objectively and comprehensively. The index of ecological quality in BTH increased from 2.38 in 2000 to 2.84 in 2010, with a growth rate of 19.3%. The growth rate of2000-2005 (12.2%) was higher than that of 2006-2010 (7.2%). Spatially, high values of the index were distributed in the north of the megaregion, while low values in the west and southeast. Ecological quality and its change varied greatly by cities. The ecological quality of Chengde was better than the other cities significantly, followed by Beijing, Qinhuangdao and Baoding, whereas Tianjin had the worst ecological quality. The ecological quality in Chengde, Beijing, Qinhuangdao and Baoding were higher than the average level of the entire BTH megaregion, while Langfang, Tianjin and Cangzhou were lower than the average level. Except for Tangshan, the ecological quality in all other cities was improved from 2000 to 2010. The ecological quality indices of Cangzhou and Hengshui were improved significantly, with growth rates of 520.5% and 171.8%, respectively.

WANG Jing, ZHOU Wei-qi, XU Kai-peng, YAN Jing-li, LI Wei-feng, HAN Li-jian. Quantitative assessment of ecological quality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban megaregion, China[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2017, 28(8): 2667-2676.

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