Analysis reveals improved ecosystem health driven by vitality and services in the Yellow River region, indicating significant spatial differences.
Clarifying the health of regional ecosystems and their drivers is crucial in promoting sustainable development. Based on the "organizational strength-vitality-elasticity-service (VORS)" framework, the ecosystem health level of counties in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in 2000, 2010, and 2020 was evaluated, and the main driving factors affecting the ecosystem health level were further identified by using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results showed that the ecosystem health level in the middle reaches of the Yellow River was gradually improved from 2000 to 2020, mainly driven by ecosystem vitality and ecosystem services, and the spatial difference of the overall level of ecosystem health in the middle reaches of the Yellow River was significant. The overall level of ecosystem health was spatially aggregated and showed an upward trend. During the study period, the spatial pattern of ecosystem health value in the middle reaches of the Yellow River changed greatly. Among them, the spatial pattern of ecosystem health value in the middle reaches of the Yellow River was basically stable from 2000 to 2010, and the pattern changed greatly from 2010 to 2020. Slope, NDVI, GDP per area, and human impact index were the main driving factors of ecosystem health in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and showed different driving characteristics. Clarifying the ecosystem health status and its influencing factors in the middle reaches of the Yellow River can provide a theoretical reference for promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.
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Li et al. (2025) studied this question.