A framework for city aqu-ecoregions partition in a developing city (Jinan), China

Background/Question/Methods

As a typical developing city in China, the water resources in Jinan are severely polluted and reduced in quantity through extraction with rapid industrial development and urbanization in recent decades. Consequently drinking water, human health and well-being are being increasingly threatened as well as the fish community. Policy-makers and stakeholders are aware of the need to rehabilitate the aquatic ecosystems in Jinan City. To facilitate research program on rehabilitating these aquatic ecosystems in developing cities, this paper developed a practical indicator framework for identifying freshwater eco-regions by using rigorous analysis procedures, especially modern statistical methods. Spatial autocorrelation analysis on the partitioning index was conducted by applying geographic information system (ArcGIS), considering the characteristics of the city administrative divisions. Afterwards, the selection of main index was dealt with combination of methods of "top-down" and "bottom-up".

Results/Conclusions

Three-level eco-regions were classified where the first-level eco-region mainly take as basis the characteristics of the city administrative divisions and river watersheds. It is mainly composed of three watersheds of the Yellow, Xiaoqing and Tuhaimajia rivers as well as the city urban area. The classification of the second-level eco-region mainly considers spatial pattern of land use. Based on the second-level eco-region the classification of the third-level eco-region was conducted, where the clustering analysis was conducted with water quality indices at sampling sites. This framework has great ramifications on the aquatic ecosystems rehabilitation in future and is expected to benefit aquatic ecosystem restoration projects all over the world.