Eco-environmental Quality Evaluation and Restoration Priority Area Identification in the Hongfeng Lake Town

Taking the Hongfeng Lake Town of Guiyang City as the case study, we evaluated eco-environmental quality and its spatio-temporal changes of the study area by coupling habitat quality module and the remote sensing ecological index(RSEI). Based on the evaluation results, we further identified ecological restoration priority areas. The result shows that from 2010 to 2020, high and low values of habitat quality and the RSEI had the similar spatial pattern. However, the RSEI can reveal eco-environmental quality differences within one specific land use/cover type, while the habitat quality module performs well in considering threats of human activities to eco-environmental quality. Therefore, advantage complementary of the habitat quality module and RSEI is necessary. Spatially, eco-environmental quality of the high level was mainly located in the areas along Hongfeng Lake and the northwestern part of the study area. However, eco-environmental quality of medium and low levels covered a large area, accounting for above 70% of the total area of Hongfeng Lake Town; temporally, the average value of eco-environmental quality experienced a slight decrease. Based on the decrease trend of eco-environmental quality, we further identified 12 ecological restoration priority zones covering a total area of 2.85 km², and most of these zones were located along the main roads. This study proposed a novel index for quantifying eco-environmental quality. This index can not only provide technical support for quantitative ecosystem monitoring, but can also offer a scientific basis for ecological restoration and spatial planning.