Shaanxi Qinling Mountain Ecological Vulnerability Assessment

Combined with the regional characteristic of Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi, this treatise establishes the Qinling area ecological vulnerability evaluation indicators'system on the basis of extensive and all-round research documents.39 county (district) ecological vulnerable degrees are calculated with two methods respectively and the two results are analyzed and synthesized, which will provide guiding significance for ecological conservation, resource utilization and sustainable development in the study area.At first, the treatise reviews the contents of comprehensive evaluation of ecological vulnerability in China and other countries, then builds the model of "sensitivity (situation)-pressure (disturbance)-elasticity (response)" according to the concept and connotation of ecological vulnerability,18 indexes are chosen in accordance with the local conditions. By using both subjective and objective methods respectively to determine the weights of different indexes, the two evaluation results are analyzed and synthesized, the appraisal results are more reasonable and reliable. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is adopted to determine the weight and the method of composite index evaluation is applied to calculate the ecological vulnerability values, the study analyzed the dominant reason of vulnerability in different region. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) is chosen as a subjective appraisal tool to weight different indexes. The spatial difference of ecological vulnerability is showed by ArcGIS. The result shows that shaanxi Qinling Mountains is moderate vulnerability primarily and the spatial differentiation of the ecological vulnerability is significant. Topography is the dominant factor of differentiation of the ecological vulnerability in different region. Human unreasonable behavior has increased the ecological vulnerability of Shaanxi Qinling Mountains.