The multi-dimensional perspective of ecological security evaluation and drive mechanism for Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve, China

Evaluating the ecological security status of National Nature Reserve (NNR) has become a critical issue because NNR plays important roles in environmental protection and socio-economic sustainable development. This study employed the Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve (BNNR) as an example to construct the evaluation index system of ecological security, which was improved by adding society, economy and environment characteristics into driving force, pressure, state, impact and response modules, developing a modified DPSIR model. In addition, a Geo-detector was used to identify the key factors and the driving mechanisms that affect ecological security status of the BNNR. The results showed that ecological security status of the BNNR was classified into the safe area and unsafe area, with 46.95 % and 53.05% of the total area of the BNNR, respectively. The safe area was mainly distributed in the central areas of the reserve, where the ecological security index was from 0.329 to 0.370, whereas the unsafe area was mainly distributed in margins of the reserve, where the ecological security index was under 0.329. A Geo-detector identified that the per capita natural forest protection compensation funds, Engel's coefficient, domestic waste treatment, adult illiteracy rate, annual household income, and poverty incidence rate were key factors, and further showed that interactions between the social factors and economic factors were the primary external driving force for ecological security in the BNNR. These results suggest that the modified DPSIR model from multi-dimensional perspective can be used to evaluate ecological security and reveal ecological security driving mechanism, which presents a possible pattern of evaluate the ecological security status of NNR.

Automated summary

The study used BNNR as an example to construct an evaluation index system for ecological security and identified key factors and driving mechanisms using a Geo-detector. The results classified the ecological security status of BNNR into safe and unsafe areas, with safe areas mainly in central regions and unsafe areas mainly in margins of the reserve. The study suggests that the modified DPSIR model can be used to evaluate ecological security and reveal driving mechanisms, providing a possible pattern for assessing the ecological security of NNRs.