Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Land and Environment, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110161, China.
State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, CNPC Research Institute of Safety and Environment Technology, Beijing 102206, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 1;771:145287. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145287. Epub 2021 Jan 22.
Core forests are an important component of forest landscapes and wildlife habitat. Although the core forests were damaged during the development of shale gas sites, it remain unclear how much damage the shale gas development has caused to this ecologically vulnerable region. We analyzed high-resolution remote sensing images of a shale gas development area in 2012, 2014, and 2017 in the karst region in southwestern China. The results showed that the core forest area decreased by approximately 4.0% from 2012 to 2017. Of this decrease, approximately 32.3% was related to the shale gas development activities, while 67.7% was related to other human activities, i.e., agricultural lands and residential developments. Approximately 5.6% of the decrease in the core forest was for new pipelines, with 0.5 ha occurred in 2012-2014 and 248.6 ha occurred in 2014-2017. Of the shale gas development activities, the pipeline constructions were most detrimental to the core forest. The patchiness of the core forest increased by 8.2% from 2012 to 2017 by the expansions of dry fields, towns, and settlements. The core forest Effective Mesh Size (MESH) decreased by 86.3%, primarily caused by the shale gas development pipelines. In conclusion, human activities that were not directly related to shale gas development were the main driver of the core forest decreases. The pipelines caused most losses of the core forest among the shale gas activities and the impacts deteriorated as the shale gas development proceeds. Therefore, we propose that new shale gas pads should be placed adjacent to existing shale gas pipelines and new shale gas pipelines should be constructed in parallel with existing roads to reduce the damages on core forest.
核心森林是森林景观和野生动物栖息地的重要组成部分。尽管页岩气开发破坏了核心森林，但仍不清楚页岩气开发对这个生态脆弱地区造成了多大的破坏。我们分析了中国西南部喀斯特地区页岩气开发区 2012 年、2014 年和 2017 年的高分辨率遥感图像。结果表明，核心森林面积从 2012 年到 2017 年减少了约 4.0%。其中，约 32.3%与页岩气开发活动有关，而 67.7%与其他人类活动有关，如农业用地和住宅开发。约 5.6%的核心森林减少是由于新的管道，其中 2012-2014 年减少了 0.5 公顷，2014-2017 年减少了 248.6 公顷。在页岩气开发活动中，管道建设对核心森林的破坏最大。核心森林的斑块度从 2012 年到 2017 年增加了 8.2%，这是由于旱地、城镇和定居点的扩张造成的。核心森林的有效网格大小（MESH）减少了 86.3%，主要是由于页岩气开发管道造成的。总之，与页岩气开发不直接相关的人类活动是核心森林减少的主要驱动因素。在页岩气活动中，管道造成了核心森林的最大损失，随着页岩气开发的进行，影响也在恶化。因此，我们建议新的页岩气开采平台应建在现有页岩气管道附近，新的页岩气管道应与现有道路平行建设，以减少对核心森林的破坏。
