Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Evaluation of ecosystem resilience in the regions across Qinghai-Tibet railway based on GIS.

GAO Jiang-bo1;ZHAO Zhi-qiang1,2;LI Shuang-cheng1   

  1. 1College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;2State Key Laboratory for Environmental and Urban Sciences, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China
  • Received:2008-05-06 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:2008-11-20 Published:2008-11-20

Abstract: Based on GIS technique and the methods of mean-squared deviation weight decision and catastrophe progression, a more clear definition and associated evaluation for ecosystem resilience were given, with a case study in the regions across Qinghai-Tibet railway by using the indices of plant community coverage, species diversity, and biomass. It was shown that the areas with high ecosystem resilience were mainly located in the Qilian Mountain meadow grassland, Huangshui Valley needle-leaved and deciduous broad-leaved forest, and south Tanggula Mountain kobresia swamp meadow, while those with the lowest resilience were in the central part of Qaidam Basin, and the Kunlun Mountains. Most areas in the regions had higher or medium ecosystem resilience, with a trend of that in the south of Kunlun Mountains, the resilience in the north of the railway was lower, while in the east of Qaidam Basin (especially in the Qinghai Lake area), the resilience was lower in the south than in the north of the railway. Through the evaluation of ecosystem resilience, the key issues in the process of ecological resilience could be found, and corresponding effective measures would be pointed out to manage alpine ecosystems. Moreover, combining with the evaluation of vulnerability, scientific basis for regional development could be provided to avoid or mitigate the negative effects of human activities on eco-environment.

Key words: model, plant diversity, monitoring network