Ecological Carrying Capacity And Coupling Model Of Human And Ecosystem

Since the beginning of human society, the influence between human andecosystem persists, but the real conflict doesn t stands out until the industrialrevolution. When in the face of adverse situation caused by human activities, peoplerealized that they need a new framework for research in ecosystems, as well as therole of ecosystem carrying capacity for sustainable development. Quantitativeevaluation of regional ecological carrying capacity, as well as the comprehensiveevaluation of the CHANS, is the realistic measure of that we face the increasingcomplexity of regional complex system and prevent more rapid change. As animportant protective screen in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the basin ofupper reaches of the Jinsha River has an important effect on the middle-lower reachesof the Yangtze River and the whole country s ecosystem. Exploring the spatialcoupling effect between rich resources, fragile environment and increasing humanactivities in the region, and building collaborative development relations amongresource-environment–development is the key of the research.This article in accordance with land use types in the valley, divides the majortypes of ecological systems, measuring the comprehensive carrying capacity of thisregion by ecosystem services and looking for the standards of a relationship betweenthe carrying capacity of ecosystems and human activities. With the application ofprincipal component analysis and AHP, it has made the evaluation model of couplinghuman and ecological system after the comprehensive assessment of ecologicalcarrying capacity. This provides the scientific basis and decision support for theregional sustainable development in the future. The main results as follow:(1) It has an overview of the evolution of the concept of ecological carryingcapacity and development. It analyses the advantages and disadvantages of existing methods for quantitative analysis of ecological carrying capacity, elaborates on themain problems of present and future development of ecological carrying capacitytrend. It provides the new enlightenment for the sustainable development with aunique perspective and interdisciplinary analysis tool by analyzing the CHANS.(2) It has established for comprehensive evaluation index system of ecologicalcarrying capacity of fragile mountain areas with a four-layer structure. It divides thestudy on compound ecological system of ecological carrying capacity based on the“nature–economy-society” into ecological elastic subsystem, ecological carryingcapacity subsystem and ecological capacity pressure subsystem, including climate,feature coverage, the supply of resources, ecological services, environmentmanagement and so on. Using the method of comprehensive evaluation on the upperreaches of Jinsha River basin of Sichuan–Tibet, it determines the level of ecologicalcarrying capacity of the region, and scientific proofs the necessity for the regulationresearch of the ecological carrying capacity.(3) Research of the upper reaches of Jinsha River basin of ecological carryingcapacity indicates stable. Ecological carrying capacity and pressure are not overloaded,and the situation of ecological carrying capacity is fine. With the analysis ofevaluation results, use and management of forest resources is the most critical factorsaffecting the ecological carrying capacity. On the basis of the analysis, combined withthe valley to the actual situation, it determines that the key factor to improve theecological carrying capacity is to improve ecological carrying capacity support.Improving vegetation coverage is a prerequisite for guarantee the sound developmentof vulnerable ecological environment in mountainous region.(4) On the basis of the assessment of ecological carrying capacity, usingprincipal component analysis method to determine the indicators and weights, itbuilds the model of CHANS and divides the levels of the coordination degree. Itmakes specific analysis and countermeasures of8counties separately and studies onthe spatial distribution pattern of human and ecosystem.(5) Good coordination between human activities and ecosystem can be seenfrom the evaluation results. But the degree of coordination is not high enough,ecosystem and human activities in the system are still in low. Coupling coordinationtypes include Functional-North and Utilizing-South. Environmental stress and humanpressure are within this region. For the present situation of this region, it givescomprehensive countermeasures, comments and suggestions focused on thedevelopment of the counties.