Assessment of the ecological carrying capacity based on the ecosystem health
基于生态系统健康的生态承载力评价

An assessment of the ecological carrying capacity can provide an overall understanding of environmental impacts resulting from the continuous reservoirs construction. Therefore, studies on the theories and methods of the ecological carrying capacity assessment are significant for watershed or regional sustainable development. The concept of the ecological carrying capacity based on the ecosystem health is investigated to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional studies that were not convenient to use in practice due to their relatively simple assessment standards and conclusions. A corresponding conceptual model and computation model of the ecological carrying capacity are further proposed to analyze impacts of the continuous reservoirs construction. In addition, the establishing methods of the index system and the assessing standards for the ecological carrying capacity assessment are proposed. As an example, the ecological carrying capacity of Qinghai Province in the Yellow River Basin is researched. An index system, weights, and corresponding appraisal standards for the ecological carrying capacity are established for systematically analyzing the effects of the continuous hydroelectric power construction in this area. The results show that all ecological carrying capacity indices of Gonghe County keep increasing under different stages of watershed exploitation, whereas those of other counties have a tendency to decrease. With the overall enforcement of continuous reservoir construction planning, the ecological carrying capacity index of Qinghai Province will decrease 9.9%, and state of ecosystem will depress from sub-healthy level to un-healthy level.