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| Ecological security evaluation in sandy areas:A case study in sandy areas of northern Yanchi |
| Pang Chao,Xie Rui,Chen Shuqing,Wu Xiuqin |
| School of Soil and Water Conservation,Beijing Forestry University,100083,Beijing,China |
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Abstract The ecological environment of settlements is fragile in sandy areas where natural disasters such as sand and drought are frequent,and seriously threaten the ecological security of settlements. The sandy
area in northern Yanchi County, Ningxia Province, was selected as a case. The sandy area is located at the junction of Ningxia, Shaanxi and Mongolia, situated in the southern edge of the Mu Us Desert, and is a typical farming animal husbandry interlaced zone. The ecological security evaluation system towards settlements of the sandy area was built according to the sand disaster system theory. Then with the land use data in 2012, the ecological security evaluation of the settlement was carried out. Our aims were to provide some advice and reference to promote and protect the ecological security of settlements in sandy areas, give a guide to reasonable use of the land, and provide scientific basis to achieve regional social, economic and sustainable development of the ecological environment. Simultaneously, we attempted to explore research methods in ecological security, and provide a foundation for future studies of ecological safety in sandy areas. Under the guidance of sand disaster system theory, the ecological evaluation index system of the sandy area settlements was built. The evaluation system consists of six evaluation factors, i. e. , soil type, soil organic carbon content, vegetation coverage, location of vegetation between settlement and sand land and so on. The results of ecological security evaluation of settlements in the sandy areas showed that there are 286 settlements in the study area, among which 102 settlements are safe, accounting for 35.7% of the total settlements;184 settlements are dangerous, accounting for 64.3% of the total settlements. About half of dangerous settlements are in moderate danger or above. So it needs to improve the ecological security of the settlements in sandy areas and corresponding ecological safety protection measures should be taken.
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Received: 03 April 2015
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