Study on hierarchical transformation mechanisms of regional ecological vulnerability and its applicability

This study analyzed hierarchical change patterns of regional ecological vulnerability by coupling GIS data and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. It identified the spatiotemporal features of eco-environment and major environmental problems in Weihe Plain, a typical urban agglomeration in China. Previous studies on regional ecological vulnerability have been focusing on evaluating ecological vulnerability status and developing assessment methods, while ignoring the mechanisms of vulnerability transformation from one to another level. This study further proposed a subjective evaluation model for ecological vulnerability classification and transformation analysis in a multi-index hierarchical evaluation system. The results indicated that ecological vulnerability index was higher in the urban areas than the surrounding counties from 2000 to 2012, which had a great relationship with the impacts of urbanization on ecological vulnerability. The light ecological vulnerability level was found to be relatively variable over the years and have the greatest impact on the change of regional ecological environment. Analysis with the transformation matrix model found that the degree of regional ecological environment stability was regulated by two mechanisms: 1) The proportion of the constant ecological vulnerability level is essential for maintaining the stability of ecological environment; and 2) the difference between the area percentages of decreased and increased vulnerability determines the trend of ecological vulnerability changes. As verified by applications to two nearby regions, this ecological vulnerability transformation model can be used to monitor the dynamics of ecological vulnerability and identify the leading ecological vulnerability level in other large geographical areas.