Dynamics of landscape ecological quality based on benefit evaluation coupled with the rocky desertification control in South China Karst

Human uncontrolled land use is the main cause of ecosystem degradation and increased rock desertification in karst areas of Southern China. Landscape ecological quality assessment (LEQA) based on land use plays a significant role in promoting sustainable ecological restoration in karst rocky desertification areas. This paper selects the karst plateau canyon rocky desertification comprehensive control demonstration area in South China as the research object to accurately quantify the impact of ecological management on landscape ecological quality changes (LEQ). Based on the characteristics of the karst ecological environment, the basic theory of spatial heterogeneity and landscape pattern is applied to evaluate the ecological quality of the study area at three levels: landscape stability, landscape disturbance degree, and ecological restoration and reconstruction ability. The results showed that the comprehensive score of regional ecological quality increased from 0.539 to 0.662 from 2015-2020. However, the ecological quality level of unused land and mining areas was still poor, and unsound production activities such as ore mining were the main hindrances to improvements in landscape ecological quality. Areas of better ecological quality were mainly distributed to the north and south of the study area. Treatment measures such as returning farmland to forest and agroforestry effectively improved the ecological environment quality of these areas, but the ecological benefits brought by the treatment in different areas varied significantly. The current analysis results show that the land use-based landscape ecological quality evaluation method is applicable in karst areas with special ecological environments. This work provides a new quantitative research method for the unique ecological environment in karst areas; it can accurately identify trends in ecological environment quality changes and provide a basis for sustainable ecological restoration.