Constructing an indices system for evaluating the ecological integrity of forests in western Sichuan, China based on structural equation modeling

作者：Honghong Jia, Peng Luo, Hao Yang, Chuan Luo, Honglin Li, Yue Cheng, Yu Huang · 发表于：Ecological Indicators · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109745 · 被引用次数：24 · 研究领域：Land Use and Ecosystem Services、Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies、Forest Management and Policy

With the concern for biodiversity conservation and ecological sustainability, the traditional method of assessing conservation management based on single elements such as timber production, stand structure, and forest area is no longer applicable. Especially for China, where the primary goal of national park conservation management is to “protect and maintain the authenticity and integrity of natural ecosystems”, it is necessary to construct a set of indicators that can comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of natural ecosystem conservation management. Therefore, in this study, we take Jiuzhaigou and Giant Panda National Park, in Sichuan, China, as examples, and construct a set of ecological integrity evaluation indices system from the perspective of attributes of forest ecosystems. Initially, we screened the candidate indicators based on the coefficient of variation, distribution range, and redundancy analysis and identified 16 indicators as the evaluation indices of ecological integrity. Next, the model fit and the interrelationship of the components of the ecological integrity model were verified using a combination of structural equation modeling and actual data. The model validation results showed that: (1) CMIN/DF = 1.66, RMSEA = 0.058, GFI = 0.954, and other model fit metrics have reached the best reference standard, indicating that the ecological integrity model overall fit is high. (2) In the parameter estimation results of the model observed and latent variable...