Ecological sensitivity study of the South-North Water Transfer central line water source area based on land use change

Land use change and ecological sensitivity studies are relevant to the dynamic stability of the overall regional ecological environment. In this study, Nanyang City, a South-North Water Transfer water source area, was used as the study area to analyse land use changes and landscape pattern changes in Nanyang City from 1990 to 2020 based on land use data. Hierarchical analysis (AHP method) was used and combined with six sensitivity factors to conduct a multi-factor comprehensive ecological sensitivity evaluation of Nanyang City. The results show that: (1) between 1990 and 2020, the transfer of water and construction land in Nanyang City was larger, increasing by 30.25% and 99.56% respectively, with a small decrease in the area of cultivated land and a small increase in the area of forest land; the overall rate of land use change in Nanyang City during the 30-year period was first slow and then fast. (2) At the level of patch types, the fragmentation of cultivated land and construction land is the highest; during the study period, the overall fragmentation of the study area tends to decrease; at the level of landscape, each landscape type develops in the direction of equilibrium. (3) The ecological sensitivity increases gradually from the urban cluster in the central plain area to the periphery, with the highly sensitive areas distributed in the water area, the medium sensitive areas in the mountainous area, and the low sensitive areas and insensitive areas in the cultivated land and town planning area.