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Assessing ecological health in a semi-arid basin: a case study of the Wei River Basin, China

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Abstract

A healthy water ecosystem within a river basin is essential for maintaining ecological security, preserving species diversity, and ensuring sustainable socio-economic development. Unfortunately, human activities have significantly threatened the health of water ecosystems in various basins. Consequently, timely restoration and targeted protection of damaged river ecosystems have become crucial objectives in watershed management. As a prerequisite and cornerstone for river protection and management, assessing river ecological health has emerged as a primary focus in current research. In this study, we selected the Wei River Basin, a representative area of the Yellow River Basin, as our research subject. We identified multiple influencing factors, including society, biology, water quality, and habitat, which collectively impact this semi-arid region. To assess the overall impact of these factors on ecological health, we developed a comprehensive River Ecological Health Assessment Index (REHAI) system. The research findings indicate that the Wei River system, as a whole, is currently in a healthy state, while the Jing and Luo River systems are classified as sub-healthy. Furthermore, we observed variations within the Wei River system itself; the upper reaches of the Wei River exhibit higher levels of health compared to the middle reaches, whereas the water environment in the lower reaches is the most compromised. This degradation can be attributed to downstream subsidence, increased pollution, and rapid urbanization. By establishing a river ecosystem health assessment methodology and conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the health status of river ecosystems, this paper puts forward management recommendations for river basins. These findings provide a scientific basis for the sustainable utilization of water resources in river basins and promote the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature.

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Data availability

Data derived from public domain resources. The data that support the findings of this study are available and were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: https://data.tpdc.ac.cn/ (for DEM data), https://www.resdc.cn/ (for land use data).

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Acknowledgements

The National Tibetan Plateau Data Center is thanked for the free provision of the DEM data. The Resource and Environment Science and Data Center of China is thanked for providing the land use data dataset. We would like to thank the Statistical Bureaus of Cities in Shaanxi Province, China, for support in providing statistics data. The anonymous reviewers are thanked for their comments which helped to improve this paper.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the financial support provided by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, CHD (300102352901), and Key Research and Development Program in Shaanxi Province (2022ZDLSFO7-05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. China Jikan Research Institute of Engineering Investigations and Design, Co., Ltd, Xi’an, 710043, China

    Yonglin Yang, Hongye Cao, Yuyun Xia, Dong Liu, Yang Liu & Jianwei Qiao

  2. College of Geological Engineering and Geomatics, Chang’an University, Xi’an, China

    Hongye Cao

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  1. Yonglin Yang
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  2. Hongye Cao
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  3. Yuyun Xia
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  4. Dong Liu
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  5. Yang Liu
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Contributions

Yonglin Yang: conceptualization, methodology; Hongye Cao: supervision; Yuyun Xia: software; Dong Liu: validation and visualization; Yang Liu: software; Jianwei Qiao: formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Hongye Cao.

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Yang, Y., Cao, H., Xia, Y. et al. Assessing ecological health in a semi-arid basin: a case study of the Wei River Basin, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 21687–21708 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32377-z

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