Spatial assessment of ecosystem degradation risk in semi-arid mining area based on resilience indicators

The middle section of the Yellow River Basin is located in the Loess Plateau,where coal production bases are concentrated.It is a key area for high-quality development and ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin.Ecological protection and restoration issues have received extensive attention.To implement spatially precise ecological degradation control and protection,the resilience of the ecosystem must be considered.For this object,this paper develops a resilience-based spatial assessment method of ecosystem degradation risk in semi-arid mining areas to provide technical support for the protection of the ecosystem of the coal base in the Yellow River Basin.This paper takes the coal base in Shenmu City,Shaanxi Province as the research area,and selects the key influencing factors of resilience by comprehensively considering the mutual control relationship among the multivariable ecosystems.Based on the GIS and mutation stage methods,the ecosystem resilience of the study area is evaluated,and the ecological degradation risk classification standard is established to identify the ecosystem degradation risk area.The research results show that:① the key elements of the ecosystem in the study area include hydrology,topography,soil and vegetation communities,which determine the function,structure and resilience of the ecosystem.The study area is ecologically fragile,and most areas have a low ecosystem resilience index.Only gully areas and sporadic areas with high vegetation coverage have higher resilience indexes.② The risk level of ecological degradation is ranked from high to low regionally as wind-sand-grass beach area> loess hilly area> soil,mountain and rock area along the Yellow River,the area of medium and high risk area is relatively large.③ The coal base in the middle section of the Yellow River Basin is disturbed by climate change and mining activities,the ecological environment is fragile,and the spatial heterogeneity is large.It should become the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin.For key areas,it is necessary to formulate some spatially refined ecological protection and degradation control strategies.Through the spatial assessment of ecosystem resilience,the risks and key factors of ecosystem degradation in mining areas can be found,which helps to formulate some differentiated ecological protection and degradation control strategies.