Department of Earth & Environmental Science, Institute of Global Environmental Change, School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 28;11(1):2449. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-81742-2.
Identifying ecologically fragile areas by assessing ecosystem vulnerability is an essential task in environmental conservation and management. Benin is considered a vulnerable area, and its coastal zone, which is subject to erosion and flooding effects, is particularly vulnerable. This study assessed terrestrial ecosystems in Benin by establishing a hybrid ecological vulnerability index (EVI) for 2016 that combined a composite model based on principal component analysis (PCA) with an additive model based on exposure, sensitivity and adaptation. Using inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation, point data were spatially distributed by their geographic significance. The results revealed that the composite system identified more stable and vulnerable areas than the additive system; the two systems identified 48,600 km and 36,450 km of stable areas, respectively, for a difference of 12,150 km, and 3,729 km and 3,007 km of vulnerable areas, for a difference of 722 km. Using Moran's I and automatic linear modeling, we improved the accuracy of the established systems. In the composite system, increases of 11,669 km in the potentially vulnerable area and 1,083 km in the highly vulnerable area were noted in addition to a decrease of 4331 km in the potential area; while in the additive system, an increase of 3,970 km in the highly vulnerable area was observed. Finally, southern Benin was identified as vulnerable in the composite system, and both northern and southern Benin were identified as vulnerable in the additive system. However, regardless of the system, Littoral Province in southern Benin, was consistently identified as vulnerable, while Donga Province was stable.
通过评估生态系统脆弱性来识别生态脆弱区是环境保护和管理的一项重要任务。贝宁被认为是一个脆弱地区，其沿海地区容易受到侵蚀和洪水的影响，因此尤其脆弱。本研究通过建立一个混合生态脆弱性指数（EVI）来评估 2016 年贝宁的陆地生态系统，该指数结合了基于主成分分析（PCA）的综合模型和基于暴露、敏感性和适应性的附加模型。利用反距离权重（IDW）插值，通过地理意义对点数据进行空间分布。结果表明，综合系统比附加系统识别出更多稳定和脆弱的区域；两个系统分别识别出 48600 公里和 36450 公里的稳定区域，相差 12150 公里，识别出 3729 公里和 3007 公里的脆弱区域，相差 722 公里。通过 Moran's I 和自动线性建模，我们提高了所建立系统的准确性。在综合系统中，除了潜在区域减少 4331 公里外，潜在脆弱区域增加了 11669 公里，高度脆弱区域增加了 1083 公里；而在附加系统中，高度脆弱区域增加了 3970 公里。最后，复合系统确定贝宁南部为脆弱地区，而附加系统则确定贝宁北部和南部为脆弱地区。然而，无论使用哪种系统，贝宁南部的滨海省都被确定为脆弱地区，而多哥省则保持稳定。
