JOURNAL OF NATURAL RESOURCES ›› 2016, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (10): 1688-1701.doi: 10.11849/zrzyxb.20150161

Special Issue: 人地系统

• Resource Evaluation • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Adaptation of Regional Human-environmentalSystem under the Risk of Soil Erosion: A Case Study of Yulin City

CHEN Jia, WU Kong-sen, YIN Sha, YANG Qing-qing   

  1. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, China
  • Received:2016-02-22 Revised:2016-06-02 Online:2016-10-20 Published:2016-10-20
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41571163; Northwest University Graduate Innovation Projects, No.YZZ15015

Abstract: The concept of adaptation provides a new research thought in the field of sustainable science. On the basis of summarizing and combing the definition of adaptation and integrating the theories and methods related to adaptation, this paper proposes an analytical framework of the adaptation based on the risk disturbance. In this research, risk-adaptive capacity index is used to quantify the adaptation of regional human-environmental system, and adaptation of system is divided into two dimensions: risk interference and adaptive capacity (including three parameters: ecological capacity, economic capacity and social capacity). From the perspective of the risks of soil erosion in the study area, the adaptation evaluation index system is constructed. By using USA Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and adaptive function model, the risk of soil erosion and the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of adaptive capacity of human-environmental system in Yulin City were analyzed. On the foundation of the evaluation of adaptive level of system, this paper reveals the driving factors of the adaptive evolution of human-environmental system in different periods in Yulin City. The results are shown as follows: 1) In Yulin City, the risk of soil erosion significantly decreased during 2000-2011, but the spatial and temporal evolution was obvious. In 2011, the high loss areas were transferred to the southwest region and region along the Great Wall. 2) During 2000-2011, the adaptive level of system showed an overall increasing trend in Yulin City, however it was polarized in space showing a pattern of “high in northwest Yulin and low in southeast Yulin”. The northern counties were significantly higher than the southern part in ecological capacity, economic capacity and social capacity, but the advancement of adaptive level of the southern counties was more obvious than the northern part. 3) The driving force of the adaptive evolution of human-environmental system transformed from the social and economic development to the combined action of ecological environment restoration, economic capacity enhancement and social security promotion.

Key words: adaptive capacity, risk, soil erosion, Yulin City

CLC Number: 

  • S157.1