Developing a Framework for Ecosystem Health Assessment in Arid Lands based on the CVOR Model: A Case Study of Abarkuh, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Environmental planning MSc graduated, Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Resources and Desert Studies Faculty, Yazd University

2 Environmental Sciences Department, Natural Resources and Desert Studies Faculty, Yazd University

3 Yazd Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management, Carbon Sequestration Service

10.22052/jdee.2023.248502.1085

Abstract

Being highly vulnerable, arid ecosystems require conscious management worldwide. Therefore, as health assessment studies on such ecosystems can help landscape planners develop effective strategies in this regard, the current study sought to localize an ecosystem health assessment model for arid lands using the CVOR model to assess the health of Abarkuh city, an arid (desert) region located in the central part of the Iranian plateau. To this end, a set of criteria reflecting the ecological conditions of the study area in particular and arid lands, in general, was selected, including C (Water and wind erosion, quantity and quality of water resources), V (the amount of primary production under natural conditions and soil organic carbon), O (landscape heterogeneity and connectivity), R (vegetation percentage, changes in underground water level, and soil salinity).
The results of the study revealed that the quantity and quality of groundwater, water erosion, and wind erosion were of greatest importance in the health status of arid ecosystems. On the other hand, the result of the ecosystem health assessment in the study area specifically showed that the development of land uses in the area had posed great challenges to its ecosystem’s health conditions, with 48% and 9% of the region's area being marked with a relatively unhealthy condition and unhealthy condition, respectively. Moreover, the status of land use in the region indicated that many gardens and agricultural lands had been left under the influence of such an unhealthy ecosystem, aggravating the health of the region. Therefore, the region has turned into the origin of dust phenomenon at the local level.  

Keywords

Main Subjects

  1. Abbaszadeh Tehrani, N., Mohd Shafri, H. Z., Salehi, S., Chanussot, J., Janalipour, M. Remotely-Sensed Ecosystem Health Assessment (RSEHA) model for assessing the changes of ecosystem health of Lake Urmia Basin. International Journal of Image and Data Fusion. 2022; 13:2, 180-205.
  2. Abkhan Consulting Engineers. Hydrology and Water Resources Report on Basic and Socio-Economic Resource Plan of Natural Resources Collaborative Management and Rural Development of Carbon Capture Bahman Abarkooh. 2015; 180.
  3. Albrich, K., Rammer, W., Turner, M. G., Ratajczak, Z., Braziunas, K. H., Hansen, W. D., Seidl, R. Simulating forest resilience: A review. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 2020; 29:12, 2082-2096.
  4. Ayers, R. S., Westcot, D. W. Water quality for agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome. 1985; 29:18.
  5. Burkhard, B., Müller, F., & Lill, A. Ecosystem Health Indicators. In S. E. Jørgensen & B. D. Fath (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Ecology. Academic Press. 2008; 18: 1132-1138.
  6. Chan, Y. Increasing soil organic carbon of agricultural land. Primefact, 2008; 735: 1-5.
  7. Chang, M.-E., Zhao, Z.-Q., Chang, H.-T., & Shu, B. Urban green infrastructure health assessment, based on landsat 8 remote sensing and entropy landscape metrics. European Journal of Remote Sensing. 2021; 54:1, 417-430.
  8. Chen, W. A multi-scale assessment of ecosystem health based on the Pressure-State-Response framework: a case in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Urban Agglomerations, China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2022; 29:19. 29202-29219.
  9. Costanza, R. Ecosystem health and ecological engineering. Ecological Engineering. 2012; 45: 24-29.
  10. Costanza, R., Mageau, M. What is a healthy ecosystem? Aquatic ecology. 1999; 33:1. 105-115.
  11. Czúcz, B., Keith, H., Maes, J., Driver, A., Jackson, B., Nicholson, E., Kiss, M., Obst, C. Selection criteria for ecosystem condition indicators. Ecological Indicators. 2021; 133: 108376.
  12. Das, M., Das, A., & Mandal, A. Research note: Ecosystem Health (EH) assessment of a rapidly urbanizing metropolitan city region of eastern India – A study on Kolkata Metropolitan Area. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2020; 204: 103938.
  13. Das, M., Das, A., Pereira, P., & Mandal, A. Exploring the spatio-temporal dynamics of ecosystem health: A study on a rapidly urbanizing metropolitan area of Lower Gangetic Plain, India. Ecological Indicators. 2021; 125: 107584.
  14. Ekumah, B., Armah, F. A., Afrifa, E. K. A., Aheto, D. W., Odoi, J. O., Afitiri, A.-R. Geospatial assessment of ecosystem health of coastal urban wetlands in Ghana. Ocean & Coastal Management. 2020; 193: 105226.
  15. Ferro-Azcona, H., Espinoza-Tenorio, A., Calderón-Contreras, R., Ramenzoni, V. C., Gómez País, M. d. l. M., Mesa-Jurado, M. A. Adaptive capacity and social-ecological resilience of coastal areas: A systematic review. Ocean & Coastal Management. 2019; 173: 36-51.
  16. Ge, F., Tang, G., Zhong, M., Zhang, Y., Xiao, J., Li, J., Ge, F. Assessment of Ecosystem Health and Its Key Determinants in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Urban Agglomeration, China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19:2, 771.
  17. He, J., Pan, Z., Liu, D., Guo, X. Exploring the regional differences of ecosystem health and its driving factors in China. Science of the Total Environment. 2019; 673: 553-564.
  18. He, R., Huang, X., Ye, X., Pan, Z., Wang, H., Luo, B., Liu, D., Hu, X. County Ecosystem Health Assessment Based on the VORS Model: A Case Study of 183 Counties in Sichuan Province, China. Sustainability. 2022; 14:18. 11565.
  19. Jørgensen, S., Xu, L., Costanza, R. Handbook of ecological indicators for assessment of ecosystem health. CRC press. 2016; 234.
  20. Kalele, D. N., Ogara, W. O., Oludhe, C., Onono, J. O. Climate change impacts and relevance of smallholder farmers’ response in arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya. Scientific African. 2021;12: e00814.
  21. Kang, P., Chen, W., Hou, Y., Li, Y. Linking ecosystem services and ecosystem health to ecological risk assessment: A case study of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration. Science of the Total Environment.2018; 636: 1442-1454.
  22. Li, Y.-y., Dong, S.-k., Wen, L., Wang, X.-x., Wu, Y. Three-dimensional framework of vigor, organization, and resilience (vor) for assessing rangeland health: A case study from the alpine meadow of the qinghai-tibetan plateau, China. EcoHealth. 2013; 10:4. 423-433.
  23. Li, Y., Wu, Y., Liu, X. Regional ecosystem health assessment using the GA-BPANN model: a case study of Yunnan Province, China. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. 2022; 8:1. 2084458.
  24. Liu, Y., Yang, C., Tan, S., Zhou, H., Zeng, W. An approach to assess spatio-temporal heterogeneity of rural ecosystem health: A case study in Chongqing mountainous area, China. Ecological Indicators. 2022; 136:108644.
  25. Lu, Y., Wang, R., Zhang, Y., Su, H., Wang, P., Jenkins, A., Ferrier, R. C., Bailey, M., Squire, G. Ecosystem health towards sustainability. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. 2015; 1:1. 1-15.
  26. Ma, Y., Wang, S., Zhang, Q., Guo, K., He, Y., Chen, D., Sui, M., Zhang, G., Zang, L., Liu, Q. Aerial Seeding Promotes the Restoration of Ecosystem Health in Mu Us Sandy Grasslands in China. Agriculture. 2022; 12:8. 1255.
  27. Mallick, J., AlQadhi, S., Talukdar, S., Pradhan, B., Bindajam, A. A., Islam, A. R. M. T., Dajam, A. S. A Novel Technique for Modeling Ecosystem Health Condition: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia. Remote Sensing.2021; 13:13. 2632.
  28. Pan, Z., He, J., Liu, D., Wang, J. Predicting the joint effects of future climate and land use change on ecosystem health in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China. Applied Geography. 2020; 124: 102293.
  29. Peng, J., Liu, Y., Li, T., Wu, J. Regional ecosystem health response to rural land use change: A case study in Lijiang City, China. Ecological Indicators. 2017; 72: 399-410.
  30. Rafiei-Sardooi, E., Azareh, A., Joorabian Shooshtari, S., Parteli, E. J. R. Long-term assessment of land-use and climate change on water scarcity in an arid basin in Iran. Ecological Modelling. 2022; 467: 109934.
  31. Ramesh, T., Bolan, N. S., Kirkham, M. B., Wijesekara, H., Kanchikerimath, M., Rao, C. S., Sandeep, S., Rinklebe, J., Ok, Y. S., Choudhury, B. U. Soil organic carbon dynamics: Impact of land use changes and management practices: A review. Advances in agronomy. 2019; 156: 1-107.
  32. Rapport, D. J., Costanza, R., & McMichael, A. J. Assessing ecosystem health. Trends in ecology & evolution. 1998; 13:10. 397-402.
  33. Ren, Y., Zhang, F., Li, J., Zhao, C., Jiang, Q., Cheng, Z. Ecosystem health assessment based on AHP-DPSR model and impacts of climate change and human disturbances: A case study of Liaohe River Basin in Jilin Province, China. Ecological Indicators. 2022; 142: 109171.
  34. Su, M., Fath, B. D., Yang, Z. Urban ecosystem health assessment: A review. Science of the Total Environment. 2010; 408:12, 2425-2434.
  35. Wang, H., Hou, P., Jiang, J., Xiao, R., Zhai, J., Fu, Z., & Hou, J. Ecosystem Health Assessment of Shennongjia National Park, China. Sustainability. 2020; 12:18, 7672.
  36. Wang, Z., Liu, Y., Li, Y., Su, Y. Response of Ecosystem Health to Land Use Changes and Landscape Patterns in the Karst Mountainous Regions of Southwest China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19:6, 3273.
  37. Wang, Z., Yang, Z., Shi, H., Han, F., Liu, Q., Qi, J., & Lu, Y. Ecosystem health assessment of world natural heritage sites based on remote sensing and field sampling verification: Bayanbulak as case study. Sustainability. 2020; 12:7, 2610.
  38. Wu, F., Wang, X., Ren, Y. Urbanization’s Impacts on Ecosystem Health Dynamics in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18:3, 918.
  39. Wu, Z., Lei, S., He, B.-J., Bian, Z., Wang, Y., Lu, Q., Peng, S., Duo, L. Assessment of landscape ecological health: A case study of a mining city in a semi-arid steppe. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16:5, 752.
  40. Xiao, R., Liu, Y., Fei, X., Yu, W., Zhang, Z., Meng, Q. Ecosystem health assessment: A comprehensive and detailed analysis of the case study in coastal metropolitan region, eastern China. Ecological Indicators. 2019; 98: 363-376.
  41. Xie, X., Fang, B., & He, S. Is China’s Urbanization Quality and Ecosystem Health Developing Harmoniously? An Empirical Analysis from Jiangsu, China. Land. 2022; 11:4, 530.
  42. Xie, X., Fang, B., Xu, H., He, S., X. Study on the coordinated relationship between Urban Land use efficiency and ecosystem health in China. Land Use Policy. 2021; 102: 105235.
  43. Yan, Y., Zhao, C., Wang, C., Shan, P., Zhang, Y., Wu, G. Ecosystem health assessment of the Liao River Basin upstream region based on ecosystem services. Acta Ecologica Sinica. 2016; 36:4, 294-300.
  44. Yang, Y., Song, G., Lu, S. Assessment of land ecosystem health with Monte Carlo simulation: A case study in Qiqihaer, China. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020; 250: 119522.
  45. Yushanjiang, A., Zhang, F., Leong Tan, M. Spatial-temporal characteristics of ecosystem health in Central Asia. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 2021; 105: 102635.
  46. Zhang, J., Shi, Y., Xian, C., Zhang, L., Zou, Z. How urbanization affect the ecosystem health of Tibet based on terrain gradients: a case study of Shannan, China. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. 2022; 8(1): 2097449.

References

  1. Abbaszadeh Tehrani, N., Mohd Shafri, H. Z., Salehi, S., Chanussot, J., Janalipour, M. Remotely-Sensed Ecosystem Health Assessment (RSEHA) model for assessing the changes of ecosystem health of Lake Urmia Basin. International Journal of Image and Data Fusion. 2022; 13:2, 180-205.
  2. Abkhan Consulting Engineers. Hydrology and Water Resources Report on Basic and Socio-Economic Resource Plan of Natural Resources Collaborative Management and Rural Development of Carbon Capture Bahman Abarkooh. 2015; 180.
  3. Albrich, K., Rammer, W., Turner, M. G., Ratajczak, Z., Braziunas, K. H., Hansen, W. D., Seidl, R. Simulating forest resilience: A review. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 2020; 29:12, 2082-2096.
  4. Ayers, R. S., Westcot, D. W. Water quality for agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome. 1985; 29:18.
  5. Burkhard, B., Müller, F., & Lill, A. Ecosystem Health Indicators. In S. E. Jørgensen & B. D. Fath (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Ecology. Academic Press. 2008; 18: 1132-1138.
  6. Chan, Y. Increasing soil organic carbon of agricultural land. Primefact, 2008; 735: 1-5.
  7. Chang, M.-E., Zhao, Z.-Q., Chang, H.-T., & Shu, B. Urban green infrastructure health assessment, based on landsat 8 remote sensing and entropy landscape metrics. European Journal of Remote Sensing. 2021; 54:1, 417-430.
  8. Chen, W. A multi-scale assessment of ecosystem health based on the Pressure-State-Response framework: a case in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Urban Agglomerations, China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2022; 29:19. 29202-29219.
  9. Costanza, R. Ecosystem health and ecological engineering. Ecological Engineering. 2012; 45: 24-29.
  10. Costanza, R., Mageau, M. What is a healthy ecosystem? Aquatic ecology. 1999; 33:1. 105-115.
  11. Czúcz, B., Keith, H., Maes, J., Driver, A., Jackson, B., Nicholson, E., Kiss, M., Obst, C. Selection criteria for ecosystem condition indicators. Ecological Indicators. 2021; 133: 108376.
  12. Das, M., Das, A., & Mandal, A. Research note: Ecosystem Health (EH) assessment of a rapidly urbanizing metropolitan city region of eastern India – A study on Kolkata Metropolitan Area. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2020; 204: 103938.
  13. Das, M., Das, A., Pereira, P., & Mandal, A. Exploring the spatio-temporal dynamics of ecosystem health: A study on a rapidly urbanizing metropolitan area of Lower Gangetic Plain, India. Ecological Indicators. 2021; 125: 107584.
  14. Ekumah, B., Armah, F. A., Afrifa, E. K. A., Aheto, D. W., Odoi, J. O., Afitiri, A.-R. Geospatial assessment of ecosystem health of coastal urban wetlands in Ghana. Ocean & Coastal Management. 2020; 193: 105226.
  15. Ferro-Azcona, H., Espinoza-Tenorio, A., Calderón-Contreras, R., Ramenzoni, V. C., Gómez País, M. d. l. M., Mesa-Jurado, M. A. Adaptive capacity and social-ecological resilience of coastal areas: A systematic review. Ocean & Coastal Management. 2019; 173: 36-51.
  16. Ge, F., Tang, G., Zhong, M., Zhang, Y., Xiao, J., Li, J., Ge, F. Assessment of Ecosystem Health and Its Key Determinants in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Urban Agglomeration, China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19:2, 771.
  17. He, J., Pan, Z., Liu, D., Guo, X. Exploring the regional differences of ecosystem health and its driving factors in China. Science of the Total Environment. 2019; 673: 553-564.
  18. He, R., Huang, X., Ye, X., Pan, Z., Wang, H., Luo, B., Liu, D., Hu, X. County Ecosystem Health Assessment Based on the VORS Model: A Case Study of 183 Counties in Sichuan Province, China. Sustainability. 2022; 14:18. 11565.
  19. Jørgensen, S., Xu, L., Costanza, R. Handbook of ecological indicators for assessment of ecosystem health. CRC press. 2016; 234.
  20. Kalele, D. N., Ogara, W. O., Oludhe, C., Onono, J. O. Climate change impacts and relevance of smallholder farmers’ response in arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya. Scientific African. 2021;12: e00814.
  21. Kang, P., Chen, W., Hou, Y., Li, Y. Linking ecosystem services and ecosystem health to ecological risk assessment: A case study of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration. Science of the Total Environment.2018; 636: 1442-1454.
  22. Li, Y.-y., Dong, S.-k., Wen, L., Wang, X.-x., Wu, Y. Three-dimensional framework of vigor, organization, and resilience (vor) for assessing rangeland health: A case study from the alpine meadow of the qinghai-tibetan plateau, China. EcoHealth. 2013; 10:4. 423-433.
  23. Li, Y., Wu, Y., Liu, X. Regional ecosystem health assessment using the GA-BPANN model: a case study of Yunnan Province, China. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. 2022; 8:1. 2084458.
  24. Liu, Y., Yang, C., Tan, S., Zhou, H., Zeng, W. An approach to assess spatio-temporal heterogeneity of rural ecosystem health: A case study in Chongqing mountainous area, China. Ecological Indicators. 2022; 136:108644.
  25. Lu, Y., Wang, R., Zhang, Y., Su, H., Wang, P., Jenkins, A., Ferrier, R. C., Bailey, M., Squire, G. Ecosystem health towards sustainability. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. 2015; 1:1. 1-15.
  26. Ma, Y., Wang, S., Zhang, Q., Guo, K., He, Y., Chen, D., Sui, M., Zhang, G., Zang, L., Liu, Q. Aerial Seeding Promotes the Restoration of Ecosystem Health in Mu Us Sandy Grasslands in China. Agriculture. 2022; 12:8. 1255.
  27. Mallick, J., AlQadhi, S., Talukdar, S., Pradhan, B., Bindajam, A. A., Islam, A. R. M. T., Dajam, A. S. A Novel Technique for Modeling Ecosystem Health Condition: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia. Remote Sensing.2021; 13:13. 2632.
  28. Pan, Z., He, J., Liu, D., Wang, J. Predicting the joint effects of future climate and land use change on ecosystem health in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China. Applied Geography. 2020; 124: 102293.
  29. Peng, J., Liu, Y., Li, T., Wu, J. Regional ecosystem health response to rural land use change: A case study in Lijiang City, China. Ecological Indicators. 2017; 72: 399-410.
  30. Rafiei-Sardooi, E., Azareh, A., Joorabian Shooshtari, S., Parteli, E. J. R. Long-term assessment of land-use and climate change on water scarcity in an arid basin in Iran. Ecological Modelling. 2022; 467: 109934.
  31. Ramesh, T., Bolan, N. S., Kirkham, M. B., Wijesekara, H., Kanchikerimath, M., Rao, C. S., Sandeep, S., Rinklebe, J., Ok, Y. S., Choudhury, B. U. Soil organic carbon dynamics: Impact of land use changes and management practices: A review. Advances in agronomy. 2019; 156: 1-107.
  32. Rapport, D. J., Costanza, R., & McMichael, A. J. Assessing ecosystem health. Trends in ecology & evolution. 1998; 13:10. 397-402.
  33. Ren, Y., Zhang, F., Li, J., Zhao, C., Jiang, Q., Cheng, Z. Ecosystem health assessment based on AHP-DPSR model and impacts of climate change and human disturbances: A case study of Liaohe River Basin in Jilin Province, China. Ecological Indicators. 2022; 142: 109171.
  34. Su, M., Fath, B. D., Yang, Z. Urban ecosystem health assessment: A review. Science of the Total Environment. 2010; 408:12, 2425-2434.
  35. Wang, H., Hou, P., Jiang, J., Xiao, R., Zhai, J., Fu, Z., & Hou, J. Ecosystem Health Assessment of Shennongjia National Park, China. Sustainability. 2020; 12:18, 7672.
  36. Wang, Z., Liu, Y., Li, Y., Su, Y. Response of Ecosystem Health to Land Use Changes and Landscape Patterns in the Karst Mountainous Regions of Southwest China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19:6, 3273.
  37. Wang, Z., Yang, Z., Shi, H., Han, F., Liu, Q., Qi, J., & Lu, Y. Ecosystem health assessment of world natural heritage sites based on remote sensing and field sampling verification: Bayanbulak as case study. Sustainability. 2020; 12:7, 2610.
  38. Wu, F., Wang, X., Ren, Y. Urbanization’s Impacts on Ecosystem Health Dynamics in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18:3, 918.
  39. Wu, Z., Lei, S., He, B.-J., Bian, Z., Wang, Y., Lu, Q., Peng, S., Duo, L. Assessment of landscape ecological health: A case study of a mining city in a semi-arid steppe. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16:5, 752.
  40. Xiao, R., Liu, Y., Fei, X., Yu, W., Zhang, Z., Meng, Q. Ecosystem health assessment: A comprehensive and detailed analysis of the case study in coastal metropolitan region, eastern China. Ecological Indicators. 2019; 98: 363-376.
  41. Xie, X., Fang, B., & He, S. Is China’s Urbanization Quality and Ecosystem Health Developing Harmoniously? An Empirical Analysis from Jiangsu, China. Land. 2022; 11:4, 530.
  42. Xie, X., Fang, B., Xu, H., He, S., X. Study on the coordinated relationship between Urban Land use efficiency and ecosystem health in China. Land Use Policy. 2021; 102: 105235.
  43. Yan, Y., Zhao, C., Wang, C., Shan, P., Zhang, Y., Wu, G. Ecosystem health assessment of the Liao River Basin upstream region based on ecosystem services. Acta Ecologica Sinica. 2016; 36:4, 294-300.
  44. Yang, Y., Song, G., Lu, S. Assessment of land ecosystem health with Monte Carlo simulation: A case study in Qiqihaer, China. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020; 250: 119522.
  45. Yushanjiang, A., Zhang, F., Leong Tan, M. Spatial-temporal characteristics of ecosystem health in Central Asia. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 2021; 105: 102635.
  46. Zhang, J., Shi, Y., Xian, C., Zhang, L., Zou, Z. How urbanization affect the ecosystem health of Tibet based on terrain gradients: a case study of Shannan, China. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. 2022; 8(1): 2097449.

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