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In recent years, ecological problems in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River have been frequent. Therefore, exploring its core influences can advance the implementation of "Ecological Protection and High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin". This paper constructs an indicator system based on PSR guidelines, evaluates the ecological protection level of 55 cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River from 2009 to 2019, and uses correlation analysis with geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model to explore the spatial distribution characteristics of influencing factors, such as intensity of fertilizer application, amount of agricultural film applied, afforestation area per capita, and green technology innovation level on the ecological protection level. It is found that the overall level of ecological protection has shown a steady increase, but the spatial distribution varies widely. The ecological level increased from 0.2218 to 0.3357, showing a decreasing distribution trend from coastal to inland. Furthermore, it is found that the ecological protection level has a significant positive spatial correlation, mainly for similar clustering. The Global Moran's I for ecological protection level is greater than 0, and the Moran scatter plot has a high number of cities distributed in the first and third quadrants. There is a heterogeneity in the spatial and temporal distribution of factors influencing the level of ecological protection. Fertilizer application, the agricultural film uses, and afforestation area per capita are mainly negatively affected, while green innovation level has a strong positive effect, and agricultural film use, afforestation area per capita, and green innovation level become the core influencing factor of different regions. Therefore, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the ecological protection level should be improved by implementing a regional differentiated development strategy, realizing cross-regional linkages between cities and focusing on differences in core driving factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key ecological function areas are not only recognized as the critical subject for national and global ecosystem protection, but also the crucial hinterland for maintaining the livelihood of local residents. Studies on livelihood resilience contribute to better understand the adaptation strategies and development needs of poor and highly vulnerable groups in key ecological function zones, which is crucial to promoting the long run sustainability. Based on the survey data of 575 households, this paper constructs the livelihood resilience evaluation index system from three dimensions of buffer capacity, self-organization ability and learning ability. The method of weighted sum is used to evaluate the livelihood resilience of farmers, and the influencing factors are analyzed by multiple regression model. The results show that the overall level of livelihood resilience of farmers is weak, and the self-organization ability of farmers is significantly higher than their buffering ability and learning ability. We found that ecological policy, age of head of household, diversity of livelihoods, family size, and environmental dependence are the key factors that affect the resilience of farmers' livelihoods. We argued that, new methods such as establishing a technical training system for farmers, promoting livelihood diversity, improving and implementing active ecological policies, and building long-term and effective risk warning, emergency response, and poverty alleviation mechanisms should be considered and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]