1. Spatiotemporal differentiation and mechanisms of ecological quality in Central Asia.
- Author
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Wang, Xiong, Du, Xixi, Qin, Yi, and Xu, Feng
- Subjects
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WATER efficiency , *TEXT summarization , *AGRICULTURAL development , *CLIMATE extremes , *URBAN growth - Abstract
• Mapping large-scale, and high spatial resolution ecological quality (EQ) by GEE. • Overall change of EQ in Central Asia is slight inverted U-shaped. • Driving paths for EQ: urbanization, agriculture, resource, climate and policy. • Land use intensity and agricultural water use efficiency are main factors for EQ. • Interaction between human and natural factors are increasingly important for EQ. With the frequent occurrence of worldwide extreme climate events, human-induced ecosystem degradation has seriously threatened the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in arid ecologically fragile areas. Macro-scale ecological quality (EQ) monitoring and exploration of its driving mechanisms have become research hotspots. However, this research field still lacks a method framework with strong comparability, adaptability and transferability, which significantly restricts the applicability of research results. In this study, a method framework for exploring spatial and temporal changes in EQ and their driving mechanisms based on text summarization and information extraction is constructed. Taking Central Asia as a typical case, this study outlines its EQ driving paths, explores the influencing mechanisms of representative drivers, and verifies the effectiveness of this method framework based on the comparison of the spatial and temporal evolution of EQ at multiple scales. The results indicate that the overall EQ in Central Asia exhibited a slight inverted U-shaped trend, with its driving paths falling into five categories: urban expansion, agricultural development, resource extraction, climate change, and ecological protection. The fragmentation of areas with high EQ is the main landscape characteristic in Central Asia. Furthermore, land use intensity and agricultural water use efficiency are significant factors in Central Asia's EQ evolution. Over time, the interaction between anthropogenic and natural factors has played an essential role in EQ evolution in Central Asia, with interactions between altitude, climate aridity, agricultural water use efficiency, and land use intensity gradually intensifying. This study has an implication for the construction of method framework for EQ-related study in ecologically fragile areas at the macro scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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