Exploring the spatial and temporal evolution of landscape ecological risks under tourism disturbance: A case study of the Min River Basin, China

Numerous ecological issues will arise from the expansion of tourism-related infrastructure and activities, potentially having a major effect on the ecosystem. However, its impact on landscape ecological risk (LER) is still poorly understood. Taking the Min River Basin as an example, an improved LER evaluation method was adopted in this study, which uses landscape disturbance based on landscape pattern and incorporates ecosystem services (ESs) represent landscape vulnerability. On this basis, the impacts of tourism-related infrastructure and activities on ecology environment were comprehensively considered, and buffer zone analysis, scenario analysis, response index (RI), and the bivariate Moran’s I approaches were applied to identify the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of LER under tourism interference. The results show that: (1) The Min River Basin’s LER from 2000 to 2020 demonstrates a trend of gradually decreased, primarily in the middle and low risk areas. Most of the areas where scenic spots and roads are located are high risk areas, suggesting that tourism disturbances negatively affect LER. (2) There is a spatial gradient effect associated with the influence of tourism infrastructure on LER, and the impact degree varies throughout different tourism infrastructure. (3) The difference of scenic spots causes diverse degrees of LER. Through comparison, it is found that the LER of high-grade and cultural scenic spots is larger than that of low-grade and natural scenic spots. The quantitative results of the RI show that the values inside the influence zones of scenic spots and roads are 5 times and 9 times more than the values outside, respectively. This suggests that tourism infrastructure increases LER. (4)There is a spatial correlation between LER and tourism activities intensity. In order to offer a scientific reference for balancing local tourism development and ecological environmental conservation, this study develops a more thorough and rigorous research framework of the impact of tourism on LER.