Arid Zone Research ›› 2021, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (4): 1128-1139.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2021.04.25

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Ecological security assessment and ecological restoration countermeasures in the dry-up area of the lower Tarim River

KONG Zijie1,2(),DENG Mingjiang3,LING Hongbo4(),WANG Guangyan5,XU Shengwu5,WANG Zengru6   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
    2. School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
    3. Xinjiang Irtysh River Basin Development and Construction Management Bureau, Urumqi 830000, Xinjiang, China
    4. Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
    5. Management Bureau of the Main Stream of Xinjiang Tarim River Basin, Korla 841000, Xinjiang, China
    6. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
  • Received:2021-01-27 Revised:2021-04-10 Online:2021-07-15 Published:2021-08-03
  • Contact: Hongbo LING E-mail:18846921135@163.com;linghongbo0929@163.com

Abstract:

Harnessing the ecological environment of the cutoff river in the lower reaches of Tarim River is of great significance for maintaining the overall ecological security of the downstream Tarim River and consolidating the achievements of ecological water conveyance in the past 20 years. The lower reaches of Tarim River have been involved in ecological water conveyance since 2000, and now remarkable achievements have been made. However, ecological degradation in some areas of the lower Tarim River Basin is severe, and its branches, the Karanqi River and Nashen River, are still fragmented. Remote sensing images and meteorological and hydrological data of the river cutoff area combined with GIS technology and Mann-Kendall nonparametric test method were used to analyze the temporal and spatial variation laws of ecological environment elements, to evaluate the ecological security situation, and to propose countermeasures for ecological restoration. The results show that in terms of meteorological elements, the number of sandstorm days increased under the condition of extremely significant reduction of gale days from 1971 to 2019, the temperature and precipitation showed an upward trend from 1957 to 2019, and the temperature-vegetation drought index increased greatly from 2000 to 2018. In terms of the variation law of vegetation factors, although the vegetation coverage and productivity showed no significant increasing trend from 2000 to 2018, their levels were very low. Furthermore, the ecological security of the cutoff river area is in the early and moderate warning levels.

Key words: lower Tarim River, river cut-off area, ecological safety, ecological restoration, water system connection