Vulnerability Comparison between Karst and Non-Karst Nature Reserves—With a Special Reference to Guizhou Province, China

Abstract

Studying vulnerability has become one of the hot issues of ecological research under global change and sustainable development scenarios. However, there are few studies focusing on the vulnerability of karst areas, especially on the comparison between karst and non-karst areas. This study integrated climate factors, soil and vegetation factors, and social factors within a vulnerability evaluation framework that combined the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique to evaluate and compare the ecological environments of 10 karst nature reserves and five non-karst nature reserves in Guizhou Province, China. The evaluation results were divided into five categories: potential, light, moderate, severe, and extremely severe vulnerability. The results indicated that the general vulnerability of national nature reserves in Guizhou Province showed moderate vulnerability. The vulnerability index of karst nature reserves was significantly higher than that of non-karst nature reserves. The general vulnerability of karst nature reserves showed moderate vulnerability, while that of non-karst nature reserves showed light vulnerability. Average soil thickness, arable area, and the length of roads may be the factors contributing to the significant difference in the vulnerability between karst and non-karst nature reserves. Overall, this study is conducive to a comprehensive understanding of the ecological environment status of national nature reserves in Guizhou Province, and is of great significance to maintaining ecological security and sustainable development in karst areas.