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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2021, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (5): 1653-1662.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202105.020

• Special Features of Landscape Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of small irrigation facilities on hydrological connectivity of ditches in North Jiangsu Plain, China.

WU Yu-qin1, QIU Chun-qi2, XU Jia-yi1, LI Yu-feng2*, LIU Hong-yu2, WANG Gang1   

  1. 1School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China;
    2School of Marine Science and Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
  • Received:2020-08-02 Accepted:2020-10-20 Online:2021-05-15 Published:2021-11-15
  • Contact: *E-mail: pandalee_0826@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (41871188, 31971547), the Technology Plan Project of Jiangsu Province (Social Development-Major Technology Demonstration Project) (BE[2018]681) and the Special Fund of Natural Resources Development of Jiangsu Province (JSZRHYKJ[2020]03).

Abstract: Hydrological conditions in the plains irrigation area are complex, which are strongly affected by small irrigation facilities and human management. In this study, the connectivity index of ditch network and the influence index of rural small irrigation facilities were constructed to quantitatively analyze the hydrological connectivity of a typical plain irrigation area, Fudong irrigation area, in north Jiangsu Province. The self-organizing feature map (SOM) analysis method was used to identify the effects of small irrigation facilities on the spatial heterogeneity of ditch network structure connectivity. The results showed that the hydrological structure connectivity differed in different regions of Fudong. The connectivity in the north of the irrigation area was the best, but the worst in the central and southern part of the irrigation area. There were 876 pumps, 633 gates and 2420 culverts in the study area. Without the effects of small irrigation facilities, there were 13 villages with poor hydrological structure connectivity and 48 villages with good and best hydrological structure connectivity. Under the effects of small irrigation facilities, the number of villages with poor connectivity was reduced to 8, while the number of villages with good and best connectivity was increased to 53. Due to the influence of gates and culvert, the hydrological connectivity of 26 villages in Fudong became poor. The hydrological connectivity of 39 villages had been enhanced due to the existence of pump.

Key words: ditch network, hydrological connectivity, self-organizing feature map (SOM), cluster analysis, plain irrigation area