Effects of the Loess Plateau on Habitat Quality of the West Qinling
Mountains, China
Abstract
Under the control of the Loess Plateau, the northern part of the West
Qinling Mountains has obvious transitional features in terms of
topography, climate, soil and vegetation. In order to explore the
effects of the Loess Plateau on habitat quality (HQ) of the West Qinling
Mountains, we selected five typical counties with different percentages
of the Loess Plateau area based on geomorphic types, climate, water
system, vegetation zone, and elevation, and analyzed the spatial and
temporal differentiation characteristics of HQ and their influence
mechanisms with the help of the InVEST model and geographical detector
(GD) model. The results showed that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the three
regions showed a decreasing trend of cultivated land and an increasing
trend of forest as the area of the Loess Plateau within the region
decreases. (2) From 2000 to 2020, HQ changes showed a bipolar sharpening
phenomenon. (3) From 2000 to 2020, the mean HQ showed a trend of first
increasing and then decreasing. HQ of the Loess Plateau, the Transition
Zone, and the West Qinling Mountains showed a three-level gradient of
low, medium, and high. the Transition Zone generally showed the spatial
distribution characteristics of low in the north and high in the south,
and the low grade were mainly distributed in the Loess Plateau area
within the county north. The formation of this geographical distribution
verified that the ecological effects of the Loess Plateau have
influenced the HQ of the West Qinling Mountains. (4) Land use intensity
and population density were the dominant factors causing spatial
differentiation of HQ in the three regions, NDVI and NPP have always
played a key role in the variation of HQ in the Transition Zone, and the
synergistic enhancement effect between various factors promotes the
change of regional HQ.