Health Assessment And Early Warning Of Road Ecosystem In The Western Qinling Mountains

Road ecosystem is a complex artificial-natural ecosystem that composed of many different ecosystems.In-depth study of road ecosystem health has important theoretical significance for improving the productivity of road ecosystem,maintaining the stable development of the ecosystem and enhancing the management of highway ecological.In this paper,Weiwu Expressway as a representative highway in the West Qinling Mountains,which was taken as the research object.Based on the particularity of the structure and function of the road ecosystem in the West Qinling Mountains,the health evaluation index system of the road ecosystem was established.The ecological environment,landscape characteristics,road characteristics,socio-economics and other indicators were selected to evaluate the road ecosystem health status in the west Qinling Mountains.Based on the grey prediction model,the paper studied the future health status of the road ecosystem and proposed the specific countermeasures for protection and restoration of the road ecosystem.The study fills a gap in the health evaluation of the road ecosystems in the West Qinling Mountains,with a view to providing scientific guidance for the conservation and development of the road ecosystems in the West Qinling Mountains.The main research conclusions are as follows:(1)The health evaluation index system of road ecosystem in the West Qinling Mountains including 23 indicators in four aspects: ecological environment,landscape characteristics,road characteristics and socio-economics.The weight sizes of the four criterion layers are,in order,the ecological environment index layer(0.3755),the road characteristics index layer(0.2651),the socio-economics index layer(0.2082),and the landscape characteristics index layer(0.1512).(2)The health status of the road ecosystem of Weiwu Expressway in the West Qinling Mountains was classified into five classes: healthy,subhealthy,average,fragile,and pathological.From 2018 to 2021,the ecosystem health of Weiwu Expressway in the West Qinling Mountains was rated as "fragile","average","average" and "average".(3)Based on the grey warning model GM(1,1),the health of the road ecosystem of Weiwu Expressway from 2022 to 2031 shows a trend of good development.On the whole,it presents a healthy state of abundant ecosystem resources,stable socio-economic development and high level management of road.(4)The ecosystem of the West Qinling Mountains is fragile.Road operations have a significant impact on the healthy development of road ecosystem.Therefore,economy measures,environmental protection and management measures should be combined to maintain the health of the road ecosystem.We should adopt advanced engineering technologies and scientific methods to promote the sustainable development of road ecosystem.