Variations of Habitat Quality and Ecological Risk and Their Correlations With Landscape Metrics in a Robust Human Disturbed Coastal Region [post]

Huiqing Han, Zhihua Su, Guangbin Yang
2021 unpublished
As impacted by strong intense human activity disturbance, the landscape pattern change significantly affects the habitat quality and ecological risk level in the coastal regions. Though numerous researches were conducted in coastal habitat quality and ecological risk, the correlations of habitat quality and ecological risk with landscape metrics in coastal regions have been rarely reported. A scientific question should be addressed is the scientific basis for the sustainable development of
more » ... al regions. Accordingly, Xinggang town, a coastal region in southern China, was selected as a typical coastal region disturbed by robust human activities. Given high-precision remote sensing data, the temporal-spatial variations of habitat quality and ecological risk in the coastal region were analyzed by adopting the methods of InVEST model and ecological risk index, and the correlations of habitat quality and ecological risk with landscape metrics were examined. As indicated from the results, the deterioration of habitat quality and the increase in ecological risk in the coastal region under the disturbance of human activities exhibited obvious distance gradients. The gradient area close to the coastline was the area with the prominent variations of habitat quality and ecological risk. Most landscape metrics were positively correlated with habitat quality and ecological risk, and the correlations were different in a range of distance gradients. Under the rapid urbanization in the coastal region, the rapid expansion of built-up land and the decrease of natural landscapes significantly impacted the landscape pattern index and then altered the habitat quality and ecological risk level.
doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-861058/v1 fatcat:4h4oudvplvgsfnrabqkto3luem